D&D 5E (2024) Unconfirmed Dark Sun World Book

[MonsterEnvy]

2024 core rulebooks don't seem to indicate WotC moving past anything.

Maybe explain instead of being vague about it.

 

[Yaarel]

Right, because people have taken a couple vague statements of "that seems difficult to pull off" as an absolute final answer. And that "this current design team" would inevitably create a Kumbayah My Little Pony version of Dark Sun because...kids these days?

For me the main indicator about the discontinuance of Dark Sun, was plans for Spelljammer to literally annihilate the Dark Sun setting canonically: "Athasspace".

But I also see the last minute decision to walk this back, as when WotC chose to explore a way past its controversies. When the e24 Players Handbook actually mentioned the Dark Sun setting by name (p. 5, 193), it indicated they arrived at a design goal that can save the setting.

 

[Yaarel]

As far as I can tell, WotC views the borderline between acceptable slavery themes versus unacceptable taboo:

the moment player characters can own slaves.

This participation in the system of slavery would include purchase, capture, or encountering "happy willing" slaves. It relates to immersion in historical slavery.

Any setting where slavery is too societally prevalent, where roleplayers can own slaves, becomes a defacto WotC official public endorsement of slavery.

This is why I suspect e24 will completely eliminate slavery from Dark Sun. The earlier slavery theme was too central, too prevalent, too normalized. Any future possibility of slavery, no matter how indirect, would likely revert to the earlier full-on slavery immersion. So there wont be any.

 

[sevenbastard]

but killing slavers (with not one shred of guilt),

Almost as fun as killing Nazi.

Slavery is evil, murder is evil.

Fighting against evil is satisfying.

 

[Morrus]

I have to suspect what you are really objecting to is the unlikelihood of images of slave girls in bondage gear and other Gor type adolescent male fantasies.

Was that really necessary? Please try to make your points without levelling random insults at those you disagree with.

 

[Maxperson]

There is nothing “entertaining” about slavery.

In movies, roleplaying games, etc., it's all done for entertainment. That doesn't mean that entertainment has to be light, fluffy, non-serious, etc., but it's still there for our enjoyment. Serious Dramas like Schindler's List, Harriet and others such movies have people leaving those movies saddened, horrified, perhaps learning things, but still entertained. They enjoyed going to those movies to see the serious handling of those sensitive and serious topics. They didn't leave saying how horrible those movies were, but rather how good they were.

Dark Sun is no different. The slavery depicted can and should be portrayed as something that is horribly wrong with Dark Sun society and something to strive against, but that depiction doesn't stop it from being entertainment. We play the game to be entertained, just like we go to the movies to be entertained.

@Superchunk77 perhaps isn't explaining himself well, but your interpretations of his comments have been very uncharitable at best. Nothing I have seen indicates that he likes slavery or portrays it lightly. Just that it was pervasive in 2e and he wants that to be present in 5e.

 

[MGibster]

There is nothing “entertaining” about slavery.

You never saw Spartacus, 12 Years a Slave, Django Unchained, Roots, or Amistad? We have a tendency to turn even the most terrible things into entertainment including war, poverty, plague, genocide, and persecutions of all kind, etc., etc. The biggest problem isn't the subject matter it's how its handled.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There is not a single person who wants and prefers 2E Dark Sun that should be following or concerning themselves with any information regarding a Dark Sun book for 5E24. If you are... you are basically repeatedly slamming your face into a wall right now for absolutely no reason.

You KNOW how this is going to go. You KNOW what WotC is going to produce. You KNOW you are going to hate the result. So why you are actually watching how things are progressing is beyond the realm of sanity.

There is nothing wrong with just walking away. Use your 2E Dark Sun books to create and run your own Dark Sun campaign in the style of Dark Sun you want. Do a quick google search and find a couple house rules that someone invariably has already created to update some mechanical bits to 5E if necessary. Then play the Dark Sun game you prefer using 5E and never once concern yourself with what WotC does with it. Because it is not worth your time and not worth getting all bent out of shape over what other people are going to play when they play their own version of "Dark Sun".

See: Spelljammer, Planescape, Dragonlance, Ravenloft etc. etc. etc.

 

[sevenbastard]

You KNOW you are going to hate the result.

 

[Scribe]

You KNOW how this is going to go. You KNOW what WotC is going to produce. You KNOW you are going to hate the result. So why you are actually watching how things are progressing is beyond the realm of sanity.

The same reason people watch the news, doom scroll, or pick fights over inane subjects on niche forums.