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.

 

[Justice and Rule]

Like I said, I read his letters and I have read his stories. I am aware he had bad views towards these groups. But as the quoted shows, his views of other ethnicities could be just as bad (unless you think wishing a gust of gas to asphyxiate the mixed Italians, Jews and Irish is someone more benign than his attitude towards black people/

I think if you want to play the game of "But he thought everyone was bad!" when he said black people were "semi-human" full of "vice", it'll be a losing battle.

This whole argument feels like saying "Well, I can get over it, why can't others?" and missing that the racism he gave doesn't exist like it did then for a Catholic person like me, but still does for an African-American.

I am not really sure what you mean by the delegations point.

Again, people can do what they wish with him. I don't think moving away from Lovecraft is helpful, especially since his influence is undeniable. And I think we can both address his beliefs while also appreciating his work. A lot of figures in history are like this. And a lot of artists are extremely imperfect, even vile in their personal lives and views. Personally I find it helpful to be exposed to how someone like this thought. I don't like his views, but I think it is much better to be exposed to it, understand it, yet also have to reconcile that with his genius stories.

On the bust, I am not particularly hung up on that. Like I said I don't really care what an awards ceremony does. I do think it is possible to have busts of people and understand we aren't supporting everything they said or did, but are valuing some other contribution they made to the arts.

I think there's a difference between recognizing his influence and using him in your ad copy as well as making trophies out of his bust. This seems like an easy concept to grasp.

 

[Umbran]

Mod Note:
Folks getting snarky, getting personal, and continuing an argument that was part of another thread getting closed recently?

Thread closed.