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.

 

[nevin]

Couldn't they (Anakin's family) have just been in debt, stuck working it off...and the same part of the plot could have happened? How is slavery integral to this?

stuck working for someone you can't pay off is indentured servitude. Its just slavery with bells whistles and justifications.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean that's fine to believe, but it doesn't change the reality that there are people here, and on social media who claim that regardless of research, work that references or plays off a region in the real world, can only be appropriately done by someone with ancestry from the region with sensitivity readers from the same.

Yes, and as a result, there is functionally an active push towards less content. Generally speaking, the perfect has become the enemy of the good.

 

[Imaro]

Have you been paying attention to how this has been handled in society in recent years? A white person writing an adventure based on asian culture would be problematic. An asian person writing an adventure based on asian culture would be appropriate. That's how it has been for a number of years now.

Lol... like Oriental Adventures?? I think its beyond ridiculous to boil it down to the race of the authors without acknowledging if the material is or isn't actually appropriately written.

Edit: As well as acknowledging the track record of previously published books on the subject matter.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Did Radiant Citadel get any backlash?

Oh, there was. Not for the same reasons as other works discussed.

It happened right on this very board; for the same reasoning for insisting there was no backlash in this thread.

Even today, the D&D community can't come to grips with the issues the game and community itself still have with race and far too many of us don't approach it responsibly.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm starting to believe this place is about as indicative of reality as Twitter

The sad thing is that EN World used to be a lot better than this. Sure, there were edition wars and heated disagreements, but the abject moralizing wasn't there (or at least, was less ubiquitous and less vociferous). Sadly, things have gone downhill; the best you can say today is that most other places are worse.

 

[Imaro]

The sad thing is that EN World used to be a lot better than this. Sure, there were edition wars and heated disagreements, but the abject moralizing wasn't there (or at least, was less ubiquitous and less vociferous). Sadly, things have gone downhill; the best you can say today is that most other places are worse.

Or the game is becoming more diverse and with it there comes less fear of speaking out about things non-white, non-hetero gamers have problems with.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Or the game is becoming more diverse and with it there comes less fear of speaking out about things non-white, non-hetero gamers have problems with.

And people become unfortunately more comfortable using veiled language to talk about their problems with non-white, non-hetero people making themselves heard.

 

[Alzrius]

Or the game is becoming more diverse and with it there comes less fear of speaking out about things non-white, non-hetero gamers have problems with.

Or the game is becoming less diverse as more people assert that anything they have problems with is evidence of moral corruption, creating a climate of fear. (Hence why we aren't getting Dark Sun, apropos this thread.)

 

[Imaro]

Or the game is becoming less diverse as more people assert that anything they have problems with is evidence is moral corruption, creating a climate of fear.

Says those trying to keep Darksun the same as it was 30+ years ago... or loudly proclaiming "WOKENESS"!! because a single book by non-white authors was published... lol!!

 

[Alzrius]

Says those trying to keep Darksun the same as it was 30+ years ago... lol!!

Says those who keep saying how Dark Sun is morally repugnant for having slavery in it. ROFLMAO!