Wizards of the Coast Re-Registers Dark Sun With USPTO

Wizards of the Coast recently filed an application to register Dark Sun in the US, a sign that D&D could be bringing back the campaign setting in the near future. The trademark claim was filed on October 13th, 2025 and is poised to replace a previous trademark that was cancelled by the USPTO in 2024. The trademark, like most involving D&D properties, covers both "downloadable electronic games," "games and playthings," and "entertainment services." Similar active trademarks exist for other D&D campaign settings such as Spelljammer and Forgotten Realms, although neither of those have lapsed in recent years.

We'll note that, as the previous Dark Sun trademark lapsed a year ago, this could be a case of simple paperwork, or it could be the latest sign that a Dark Sun product is eminent. Earlier this year, Wizards released an Unearthed Arcana for the Psion class and several subclasses that all but spelled out a return to the setting, complete with mentions of sorcerer-kings, gladiatorial fights, and preservers and defilers.

 

[tetrasodium]

I prefer a more hopeful Dark Sun. I would this by having one or more remote locations elsewhere on the planet. They would be subterranean communities (perhaps magitech) with large aquifers nonvisible from the surface, thus the Table Lands were unaware of them. The remote communities are relatively benign, with civic responsibility and trying to rebuild the planetary environment. But the resources are scarce, selfdefense is necessary against outside desperate populations despite feeling compassion for their plights.

I think it was called dragon spine mountains or something. A bunch of gith(?) had been stranded there since the sphere was sealed

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I amticipate that the controversial elements will more or less remain but the new authors and editors will change a few random things that nobody expected them to touch and fail to capture the tone and unique elements.

I don’t really know why people think this given that the other setting books released matched the tone and felt like the setting

 

[Superchunk77]

Huhn. "Arcane Shadows" mentions the pentad books and that it is a follow-on to "Road to Urik", but I wasn't aware the others weren't related to the metaplot - other than "Forest Maker" and "Black Flames/Black Spire".

Unfortunately, my group didn't have a good experience with "A Little Knowledge" and noped out of Dark Sun, so I never got to run the others.

The Arcane Shadows plot is totally unrelated to Road to Urik and the pentad novels. The only thing it has in common with Road to Urik is that it starts in Urik.

That's unfortunate about your experience with "A Little Knowledge". Many of us Dark Sun fans enjoy that adventure immensely.

 

[Superchunk77]

So do you think you were wrong about Dark Sun not coming now?

From WotC? Nope, they won't touch that setting. The people at WotC who find it problematic are still there.

 

[Scribe]

From WotC? Nope, they won't touch that setting. The people at WotC who find it problematic are still there.

1. Bruh.
2. Are they?

A Dark Sun branded book is coming. Just as the other settings have faced adjustment, so to will DS.

 

[Chaltab]

I’ve never used DM’s Guild—how bad is it?

Depends on the week, but there are accounts that just flood the service with cheap or PWYW products that are largely if not entirely AI generated. There's settings in the interface to hide AI-generated stuff, but that only works if the creators bother to specify AI was used.

 

[Chaltab]

From WotC? Nope, they won't touch that setting. The people at WotC who find it problematic are still there.

If they have no plans for Dark Sun then why give the Psion class two passes and test a bunch of blatant Dark Sun subclasses.

This feels like the people who kept insisting the Switch 2 wasn't real.

 

[Incenjucar]

I don’t really know why people think this given that the other setting books released matched the tone and felt like the setting

Easy to explain: That is not a universal opinion. People can get different takes on things.

 

[Knightfall]

Dark Sun! Dark Sun! Dark Sun!

 

[Zardnaar]

Dragon's Crown is my favorite 2e-era adventure. Yes, it is fairly rail-roaded, but it is epic as heck, and brings the PCs all across the Tablelands from Tyr to Urik to the Sea of Silt and then back again and across the Ringing Mountains, across the Forest Ridge, and finally to the Dragon's Crown. And in addition to the main plot, there are lots of side quests to spice all that travelling up.


Freedom happened in parallel with the The Verdant Passage, and the adventure's finale happens at the same time as the book's. Road to Urik is sort of a prequel to The Crimson Legion – Urik's been threatening Tyr now that they don't have a Sorcerer-king anymore, and the PCs (likely through connections they made in Freedom) help in recruiting troops and get to lead them in early skirmishes before the proper fighting begins. Arcane Shadows starts out in Urik, and it's suggested that the PCs are there as a consequence of the war between Tyr and Urik, but that's a very tenuous link and the adventure doesn't otherwise have any ties to the novels other than sharing the same cover as the back of the Amber Enchantress. Asticlian Gambit and Dragon's Crown doesn't have anything at all to do with The Obsidian Oracle or The Cerulean Storm other than sharing back covers.

Dragons crown at least is interesting. Its one of the railroaded ones I was thinking of.