Wizards of the Coast Re-Registers Dark Sun With USPTO

A Dark Sun book is rumored to be released in 2026.
1762538303222.png

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.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


log in or register to remove this ad

Yeah. I thought the same thing when I played BG3 myself, but the counter argument is that video games are different from table top role playing games. I think D&D is many things to many different people. For some people, D&D can be a video game featuring some hot bear on humanoid action. For others, D&D shouldn't have anything in it that's inappropriate for a 12 year old. It's tough to make everyone happy.

12 year odds are a small minority of the player base. DiA and CoS went a bit further.
Its really only here in ENworld you get the reverse puritan types.

"Modern audiences"

Go elsewhere they're all thirsting after their favorite BG3 characters. I'm DMing for some 13 and 14 years odds and theyre interested in dad's/mums BG3 game. Or GTA V/VI. R18 my ass.
Then you have your NSFW sub reddit dedicated to BG3. I dont think its the old grogs doing it.

Dark Sun has a reputation of D&Ds forbidden setting. Tens of thousands of views on YouTube younger players on the private Facebook groups.

Twitters dead and buried its not 2019 anymore.

Younger players seem fine with sex, blood and violence.
 


Ummm what? Dark Sun had a ton of products/adventures for 2e. Athas.org (official fan site) carried it through to 3.5e and is actively working on edition flexible products to this day. They even run their own Dark Sun convention now, Athascon. Even the 4e version had a lot of support in the Dragon and Dungeon pdf's as well as a few official adventures.

If you're looking for good dark sun stuff it's already there. Don't wait for WotC to muck it up.
So do you think you were wrong about Dark Sun not coming now?
 


I’m not sure all mention of slavery will be scrubbed from a new version of Dark Sun. The brand new Forgotten Realms books mention the drow of Menzoberranzan enslaving surface dwellers. It doesn’t go into any great detail but it’s still there!

Yup.

WotC may be going in a different direction. Wait and see i suppose.
 



DMs Guild is weirdly way more full of AI slop than DriveThruRPG is, despite using the same back end.
D&D more popular, ergo is more attractive to people who want to make a quick buck rather than actually create something. The less popular the ruleset, the more dedicated you have to be to want to make something for it. DMG in effect filters out the less popular rulesets.
 

I’m not sure all mention of slavery will be scrubbed from a new version of Dark Sun. The brand new Forgotten Realms books mention the drow of Menzoberranzan enslaving surface dwellers. It doesn’t go into any great detail but it’s still there!
Yeah, they won't remove slavery, they just won't dwell on it, or make the PCs either slaves or slavers.
 

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top