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.

 

[Zardnaar]

If a kender and an Athasian halfling wear the same cloths, could you notice the difference with only to watch their faces?

I am also interested into lands around the region of Tyr but the Dead-Land is too hard to be explored. At least in the zombies apocalypses you still can find food and water. It may be interesting for the metaplot but wrong for the gameplay in your tabletop.

The setting can be expanded but it can't be like a MMORPG. If you play for example World of Warcraft you can be killing monsters until level up until the top, until there is a new expansion where you can keep leveling up but in a TTRPG some players would rather to start from zero in that new zone. Do you remember how in 5e any planes have been "nerferd" to allow adventures with lower-level characters? The players aren't too interested if the new zones are too dangerous to be played with low-level PCs. Let's imagine somebody who is playing "Champions Online" where you can see the enemies from certain street are too weak but near in other group of blocks they are too hard.

DS is not about killing hordes of monsters like if it was Blizzard's Diablo videogame saga but the PCs have to worry mainly about food, water and temperature, and the top of this arcane magic could be too dangerous to be used. It is not only about how to defeat the tyrants but also how to rebuild the civilitation and to restore the damaged ecosystem.

What if there are jungles in the moons because Athasians believe it? I mean those green zones haven't got a natural origin but the beliefs by the Athasians created it. Or they are the astral domains of the moon gods, who are worshipped by secret cults. These moon cults could have got some "rotten apples" but most of the followers wouldn't be bad people or they would lack hostile intentions.

Yes, I like the idea of adding secret moon cults what promise the "Celestial Garden" in the other life and this is relatively true because those souls go toward an astral domain.

After reading the PP novels I don't want to believe the people from the free city of Tyr are going to suffer a horrible end in the future because Athaspace will suffer a cataclysm. I would rather to believe the population will can evacuate.

* DS is not only a world what has suffered an apocalipse but it has got a feeling of shame and guilty because it was not a natural disaster or bad luck but it was fault of the defilers. It is something that could have been avoided. This causes a feeling of rage and frustration

* What if the Athasian sun god was the responsible of the "maltheism" by the Athasian people? This was betrayed by the other suns (now moons) and he asked help to the elemental spirits. These punished the traitors but this caused something like the creation of the demiplane of dread by Strahd von Zarovich and the Dark Powers.

What if the paraelemental planes of sun and rain are like the "Heaven" of the Athasian souls? And magma and silt would work like the infernal planes to punish the sinners. And these planes would have their own genies courts with their own conflicts.

Other idea is some Athasian souls in the afterlife don't become undead spirits like ghosts or wraiths but elemental, some times this is willing and even an honor, for example a rain spirit could help her tribe. But these elementals can be "catched" and used as magic batteries by spellcasters.

Kender tend to go extinct. Catapult ammo and battering rams always useful.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Teorically the kenders should extinct because they are too daredevil and imprudent to survive serial killers and other supernatural predators from horror movies but some females kenders who needed money started to work as gravure idols (only legal SFW pictures) and then... they became too popular among certain groups within otaku community. (yes, they may be very sick, I want to say nothing about the Welchselkind because it makes me nauseous)

What if there are dragon-gods within the sun and the moons? Maybe the cults of the moons Gal and Guthay are allowed in Draj by Tectuktitlay because officialy these are the parents of the sorcerer-king. Secretly among the leaders of these cults there are infiltrated moon dragonborns.

Other theory is in the First War when nature-masters fought against the nature-benders some populations were evacuated, at least some nature-benders who didn't want to be "hunted" by the nature-masters.

My new crazy idea is to add a new transitive realm, the "invisible domains", practically the Athasian version of the plane of the mirrors. Mirrors with the size of a door aren't easy to be found in Athas but in palace or richest one's homes but the mirages are possible in the desert. These could be zones of the Feywild that were conquered or tainted by some outsider power causing a planar shatering. The invisible domains weren't affected so much by the defiler magic. Some "mirage lands" within the invisible domains could show moments from the past or the future of Athas, but also possible alternate timelines. This could be good or bad. For example an Athas in the blue age where the nature-benders won the First War but the Athaspace was invaded by the illithids, and this caused the creation of the "zerns". In other timeline the gnomes and faeries could survive the cleasing war, or a technologically advanced solarpunk Athas thanks the arrival of the reptilian alien T'sa .

Zern from MM IV

Maybe those invisible domains were created intentionally to be the ultimate hideout.

And within the "Land-within-the-Wind" (Athasian Feywild) there are "domains of delight" but these are very bittersweet, like keeping your favorite toys from your childhood gifted by your dead grandparents. So much nostalgia that it hurts. Here the native could be very xenophobic and we shouldn't blame them too much.

* Other idea is the end the Athaspace happened... several times... and time after time because it is an infernal plane in a time loop. Here the irony is the population could be evacuated but they don't want to do because they don't trust who offer help. They suspect it may be a trick to be catched as slaves. But here lots of slaves dare to take the risk because if it is a trap the new owners maybe aren't worse than the previous.