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.

 

[DorkForge]

Huh, I was going through books for images for thumbnails and came across an interesting one. The art for the Tasha's Mind Whip spell is very Dark Sun: set in a desert, weapons made of natural nonmetal materials, and the spell is a psionic-y style of spell. The combination feels too much to be a coincidence, so a reference maybe?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Huh, I was going through books for images for thumbnails and came across an interesting one. The art for the Tasha's Mind Whip spell is very Dark Sun: set in a desert, weapons made of natural nonmetal materials, and the spell is a psionic-y style of spell. The combination feels too much to be a coincidence, so a reference maybe?

WotC had been trying to find a way to make Dark Sun work in 5e for a considerable tine. Hence the various attempts to do psionics. I think when they gave up some stuff that had been originally designed for Dark Sun was dumped in Tasha's, other bits went in Spelljammer.

 

[DorkForge]

WotC had been trying to find a way to make Dark Sun work in 5e for a considerable tine. Hence the various attempts to do psionics. I think when they gave up some stuff that had been originally designed for Dark Sun was dumped in Tasha's, other bits went in Spelljammer.

Whilst I could kind of see that, that line of thinking does make it seem like they created the art a long time ago when it didn't have a place to go, which doesn't seem like how they'd commission art pieces from a layout/financial standpoint.
Tasha's has by far the most Psionic content in it, enough that the setting would be workable in 5E without too much add on, I just hope they polish the Mystic and don't full abandon it, but that's a pipe dream.

 

[Staffan]

Whilst I could kind of see that, that line of thinking does make it seem like they created the art a long time ago when it didn't have a place to go, which doesn't seem like how they'd commission art pieces from a layout/financial standpoint.
Tasha's has by far the most Psionic content in it, enough that the setting would be workable in 5E without too much add on, I just hope they polish the Mystic and don't full abandon it, but that's a pipe dream.

Tasha's has nowhere near enough psionics in it for either Dark Sun or a Dreaming Dark-focused Eberron campaign. It barely has enough in it that you could make a character that kind of looks like a psion if you squint.

The issue with "You can make a psion-like character by taking this class with this sub-class and then choosing these spells" is that it allows you to make one character like that. But when you have a full class, supported by a whole spell/power list, that lets you make many different types of psions, which is what's needed for a setting like Dark Sun where psionics is an established part of the setting and not just some weird freak.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

What happened with Dreamscarred Press? They published the Ultimate Psionic for Pathfinder, and they had got some good ideas for Starfinder. I am afraid something has happened because they are no news about them in the last years. Maybe WotC could hire them as outsiders.

Psionic Powers in 5th Ed would be better with some ideas by some 3PP, for example Athanatism, the psionic art of manipulating souls and spirits. The Ultimate Psionic showed a new class, a fighter with an astral construct used as exo-suit.

* What about the Athasian genasies, or the elfling, the PC specie? And about those primal classes, the wander and the seeker? And the wilden? this PC specie is perfect.

* And the Athasian "primal spirtis" should return: Father Forest, Silver Wind, the Spirit Khanate and Stone Brother.

 

[James Gasik]

What happened with Dreamscarred Press? They published the Ultimate Psionic for Pathfinder, and they had got some good ideas for Starfinder. I am afraid something has happened because they are no news about them in the last years. Maybe WotC could hire them as outsiders.

Psionic Powers in 5th Ed would be better with some ideas by some 3PP, for example Athanatism, the psionic art of manipulating souls and spirits. The Ultimate Psionic showed a new class, a fighter with an astral construct used as exo-suit.

As far as Psionic supplements go, Steampunkette successfully funded this one, which I'm looking forward to.

 

[DorkForge]

Tasha's has nowhere near enough psionics in it for either Dark Sun or a Dreaming Dark-focused Eberron campaign. It barely has enough in it that you could make a character that kind of looks like a psion if you squint.

The issue with "You can make a psion-like character by taking this class with this sub-class and then choosing these spells" is that it allows you to make one character like that. But when you have a full class, supported by a whole spell/power list, that lets you make many different types of psions, which is what's needed for a setting like Dark Sun where psionics is an established part of the setting and not just some weird freak.

I never said they wouldn't have to add more, just that there was a base established in Tashas.
You're also painting it like the only option is something like the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, both Fighter and Rogue have psionic subclasses and with Telekinetic and Telepathic we have two psionic feats. You could handily make three psionic characters with no crossover at the moment.
With a Dark Sun book they'd just need to add a couple more subclasses, a couple more feats, and a psionic class to give a full roster.

 

[jurrubin]

Wow. Good thing WotC doesn't have the license for the "Empire of the Petal Throne" RPG by M.A.R. Barker. They'd end up whimpering in a corner.

 

[Minion X]

Even if Wizards of the Coast decided to put out a new Dark Sun sourcebook, would it be the same without the art by Brom?

 

[Haplo781]

Even if Wizards of the Coast decided to put out a new Dark Sun sourcebook, would it be the same without the art by Brom?

4e Dark Sun was amazing in its own right and arguably better.

It did not have art by Brom.