D&D 5E WotC: Why Dark Sun Hasn't Been Revived

In an interview with YouTuber 'Bob the Worldbuilder', WotC's Kyle Brink explained why the classic Dark Sun setting has not yet seen light of day in the D&D 5E era.

I’ll be frank here, the Dark Sun setting is problematic in a lot of ways. And that’s the main reason we haven’t come back to it. We know it’s got a huge fan following and we have standards today that make it extraordinarily hard to be true to the source material and also meet our ethical and inclusion standards... We know there’s love out there for it and god we would love to make those people happy, and also we gotta be responsible.

You can listen to the clip here.

 

[Eubani]

Or maybe people have realized that black-and-white morality is neither realistic nor actually all that

You kind of straw maned my statement there.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You kind of straw maned my statement there.

You were kind of strawmanning modern culture and people as a whole.

 

[Eubani]

You were kind of strawmanning modern culture and people as a whole.

I think we should agree to disagree on that score.

 

[OldOwlbear]

Or maybe people have realized that black-and-white morality is neither realistic nor actually all that interesting.

That’s not quite fair to assume. Good vs evil is very fun to a lot of people. While it may not be nuanced, I still thoroughly enjoy those kinds of plot lines. There are plenty of popular examples of it too: the MCU, Star Wars, and the even the main setting of D&D. They may dress it up with good guys sometime doing shady things or bad guys sometimes look nice, but the plot boils down to good vs evil and it still sells. And there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that as a form of entertainment.

On the topic at hand, Dark Sun is specifically not that. It’s a world of grey morals and evil standards that require good people to risk a lot. It resonates with a lot of people’s real world experiences for a variety of reasons and is for that very appealing as a setting to some.

 

[Faolyn]

That’s not quite fair to assume.

But it is fair to assume that modern people can't tell fiction from fact anymore?

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I’ve used the older DarkSun material on DMSGuild as-is with D&D 5E and it works fine in a non-balanced-encounters play style. The old Complete Psionics Handbook can be used pretty much as-is with D&D 5E - it was already it own sub-system in AD&D 2E.

My friend owned a lot of this and I never purchased it: was waiting for a 5e version.

If it’s easy to convert, I may follow your lead and grab some of this…

 

[overgeeked]

My friend owned a lot of this and I never purchased it: was waiting for a 5e version.

If it’s easy to convert, I may follow your lead and grab some of this…

As much as I love Dark Sun and psionics, the old 2E system for psi was kinda bad and overly complicated. You’re better off grabbing or making psi stuff if the official stuff leaves you cold. Beyond that, you’d need thri-kreen (done), half-giants (goliaths), weapon breakage, and defiling. Depending on the psi stuff, it might take an hour or two to whip up everything you’d need.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

As much as I love Dark Sun and psionics, the old 2E system for psi was kinda bad and overly complicated. You’re better off grabbing or making psi stuff if the official stuff leaves you cold. Beyond that, you’d need thri-kreen (done), half-giants (goliaths), weapon breakage, and defiling. Depending on the psi stuff, it might take an hour or two to whip up everything you’d need.

I need the lore actually!

I know we avoided psionics in 1e entirely.

Reskinning sounds reasonably doable.

 

[overgeeked]

I need the lore actually!

I know we avoided psionics in 1e entirely.

Reskinning sounds reasonably doable.

Sure. I was talking mechanics. Converting the mechanics to 5E would take an hour or two depending on the psi stuff.

Or just look at older threads covering the topic and swipe away.

D&D 5E - What do you need for Dark Sun that is already out there?

So with Dark Sun looking increasingly less likely (or more likely, depending on your viewpoint) what do we have already? If I wanted to run a Dark Sun Campaign what resources do we have published, that could come in handy? Psychic Spells Some psychic subclasses Variant / customisable races...

www.enworld.org

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Sure. I was talking mechanics. Converting the mechanics to 5E would take an hour or two depending on the psi stuff.

Or just look at older threads covering the topic and swipe away.

D&D 5E - What do you need for Dark Sun that is already out there?

So with Dark Sun looking increasingly less likely (or more likely, depending on your viewpoint) what do we have already? If I wanted to run a Dark Sun Campaign what resources do we have published, that could come in handy? Psychic Spells Some psychic subclasses Variant / customisable races...

www.enworld.org

Thanks! Cool!

With current trends I would probably prefer older lore anyway. Harsh is an ok distraction from our typical heroic stuff