D&D General Would you like there to be a new publication of Dark Sun?

[Jasperak]

I'm so bad at this marketing stuff! Link to the website has been added (here and above) and Patreon for the development process is coming soon. Nothing yet on DriveThru since the project is just beginning but our goal will be a full setting book in both 5e and Pathfinder Second Edition flavours and if folks think that intermediate materials like a Foe Folio for a dozen or so monsters would be a great extra way to gain support, that might be quite possible.

No worries. Didn't realize it was still in production.

 

[cwallach]

I didn't care for Dark Sun when it was first released and am not interested in a 5e version. There is also the opportunity cost. I'd much rather see a whole new setting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I didn't care for Dark Sun when it was first released and am not interested in a 5e version. There is also the opportunity cost. I'd much rather see a whole new setting.

Neither possibility seems likely at this point, sad to say.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Hi all, considering how heated the discussion here has been since WotC stated they would not revisit Dark Sun, I thought I'd ask how many of you would have liked them to do so (in an ad-hoc unscientific convenience sample).

The poll is deliberately simple, so that you can answer, on balance, which way you lean, and explain your reasoning and any conditions or complicating factors downthread.

Importantly, it's not meant to be asking "should WotC publish new Dark Sun books?", but rather do you want new Dark Sun books to be published.

...Also, please don't continue the argument from the other thread here. Ty

So it’s not clear in the OP if the choice is whether we want WotC to publish Dark Sun or someone publish Dark Sun, bc my vote is the latter. I definitely DON’T want WotC to develop and publish it in-house. I think there are great writers and designers who can do it justice (and hopefully make a lot of money from it).

I voted but rescinded it bc I don’t want WotC anywhere near it.

EDIT: guess I can only change my vote, not withdraw it. So it’s a resounding NO - give it to someone else to try.

 

[Bill Zebub]

If it's compatible with Shadowdark, yes.

 

[cbwjm]

So it’s not clear in the OP if the choice is whether we want WotC to publish Dark Sun or someone publish Dark Sun, bc my vote is the latter. I definitely DON’T want WotC to develop and publish it in-house. I think there are great writers and designers who can do it justice (and hopefully make a lot of money from it).

I voted but rescinded it bc I don’t want WotC anywhere near it.

EDIT: guess I can only change my vote, not withdraw it. So it’s a resounding NO - give it to someone else to try.

If you read the opening post, it explains things more clearly. Your answer should be yes since wotc making it isn't a requirement, just wanting a new and updated dark sun is.

 

[squibbles]

So it’s not clear in the OP if the choice is whether we want WotC to publish Dark Sun or someone publish Dark Sun, bc my vote is the latter. I definitely DON’T want WotC to develop and publish it in-house. I think there are great writers and designers who can do it justice (and hopefully make a lot of money from it).

I voted but rescinded it bc I don’t want WotC anywhere near it.

EDIT: guess I can only change my vote, not withdraw it. So it’s a resounding NO - give it to someone else to try.

@cbwjm has it right. My intention was that preferences of "WotC delegates a 3rd party publisher to write Dark Sun" or "WotC sells the IP" or "WotC releases Dark Sun to the DMs Guild" would fall on the lean yes side of the poll, since the question "would you like there to be a new publication of Dark Sun" does not explicitly mention WotC just whether you want to see further content set in the setting.

But, by all means, interpret what a yes and a no are for yourself, and go with what suits you.

 

[Stormonu]

Yeah, if WotC isn’t going to give it a go, hand it off to someone who will.

‘That was something I liked in 3E - Arhause was doing Ravenloft, Margaret Weiss Production was doing Dragonlance. If only some had picked up Dark Sun then, maybe they could do it again.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe there is an opened door by means of other media product, like a videogame or comic, but they will be stopped if they fear too much the complains by some toxic lobby who proclaims to be the voice of the people but they only want money.

My suggestion is after the cósmic event linked with Vecna, Athas will be replace into a new "Athaspace", the demiplane of the desolation, with more realms besides the Athasian Tablelands. The other domains would be something like the same doll but with a different dress, or a different doll wearing the same dress. Other "domain" would be the "clone" of the Athasian Tablelands after the Pentad Prism, when several sorcerer-kings have fallen, but the fight against the defilers and the slavery still has to continue.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

Rather than a full blown setting to start, maybe just do a single adventure path book in the setting ala Curse of Strahd that can focus the on the feel of the setting through a new or rebooted old adventure that is told in such a way to avoid problematic content. If it is successful in the fan community as Curse of Strahd or at least indicates there is an interest there they could then look at doing a setting reboot ala what they did with the Ravenloft book.

Honestly, I wish they had gone with this approach for Spelljammer... a single adventure path book with enough info to play in the setting followed by a fully detailed setting later rather than what we got.

As for Dark Sun, another alternative would be a BIPOC written collection of adventures for the setting in the vein of Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel but set on Athas and with a non-hopepunk tone.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

Duplicate.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I would rather to allow a little touch of hopepunk. Not everyone wants the meal to be cooked in the same way, but someones would rather different styles.

The marketing strategy by WotC is the modules/adventures should be easy to be placed in the different settings. Then an adventure in Athas shouldn't be sold as something exclusive and only for Athas.

Maybe WotC should hurry and to publish a sourcebook about the "demiplane of the desolation" as a mini-setting before it was by a 3PP in DMGuild. Technically a 3PP could publish an updated version of Sandstorm, and adding crunch elements, nothing of lore about the Athasian Tablelands, because it would respect the lock for Dark Sun.

I guess we will have to await about the event linked with Vecna because this could reboot the D&D multiverse... again.

 

[Minigiant]

I'll be honest

I only wanted Dark Sun because it required Psionics and WOTC would only make the Psion in 5e if a setting required Psions.

Outsideof that, Dark Sun felt like an edgy nonsense setting where a powerhungry DM used slavery and racism to excuse his class and race bans and railroading. Like it sounds like something you heard on RPG Horror Stories or a forum post from a player complaining about a DM.

If there was another setting that promoted Psionics I'd push that far over Dark Sun.

 

[Loren the GM]

Eberron was created in 2004 if memory serves me right, so it's almost 20 years old. Since then we've had nothing. I know this might sound dismissive (and it's not intended that way) but the truth seems to be that the current generation of creators at WotC can't just make a new world/campaign. Whatever the reason, they haven't done it. I suspect that's because that level of design requires resources that they're not willing (or able?) to dedicate.

There have been several new settings released with 5e. Radiant Citadel, Theros, Ravnica, Strixhaven, and of course Wildemount/Crit Role.

 

[SteveC]

There have been several new settings released with 5e. Radiant Citadel, Theros, Ravnica, Strixhaven, and of course Wildemount/Crit Role.

The fact that I am largely unaware of them says it all, I suppose.
Edited to add: I was unaware that most of them were distinct settings. I assumed they were just part of the Realms with the exception of the Critical Role products.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The fact that I am largely unaware of them says it all, I suppose.
Edited to add: I was unaware that most of them were distinct settings. I assumed they were just part of the Realms with the exception of the Critical Role products.

Theros, Strixhaven and Ravnica are Magic settings. Radiant Citadel is a new meta-setting

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

But it is not the same. Wildermount is almost a licence by a 3PP. Radiant Citadel is a mini-setting. Theros, Ravnica and Strixhaven are adaptation of previous setting, wellcome but it is not the same work and merit starting from zero.

I miss the psionic powers, the ki martial adepts and the vestige pact binders, but psionic classes need a lot of work. It is not only the list of powers. The new classes need their own identity, in the same way the wizards, sorcerer and warlocks enjoy theirs. They have to choose if they are going to "borrow" ideas from 3PPs, and if there is a future no-fantasy setting, then how the psionic-powers could be adapted easily.

Psionic powers don't need verbal, somatic or material components. This means if a psionic mystic was infiltrated into a dinner of high society, she could do a lot of actions (reading minds, using teletransportation to add somniferous to a cup..) and nobody would notice. You could create an astral construct and this be sent to explore a dungeon to check any possible trap.

Or psionic powers could be rewritten to allow an easier adaptation to videogame.

A player could create a homebred feat about two characters sharing a telepatic link, then the player could control two PCs.

Let's imagine one of the game designers creates the "psionic technique". It works as a martial maneuver, almost an at-will power but to reload you need a concentration check, or await a round/turn. A new class, the "cultivator" could be based in "psionic techniques" (and xianhia fiction). And they have to choose how to explain the possible link between ki and psionic.

 

[Minigiant]

Theros, Strixhaven and Ravnica are Magic settings. Radiant Citadel is a new meta-setting

The Magic settings were not designed with D&D classes races and mechanics in mind. So parts of them are clunky as hell.


If WOTC actually created a setting that integrated D&D classes, races, and monsters in mind as well as Psionics, I predict ~1/3 of the hype and sire of Dark Sun disappears. I feel Dark Sun is held up by the overall lack of creativity in TTRPGs.

 

[Imaro]

The Magic settings were not designed with D&D classes races and mechanics in mind. So parts of them are clunky as hell.


If WOTC actually created a setting that integrated D&D classes, races, and monsters in mind as well as Psionics, I predict ~1/3 of the hype and sire of Dark Sun disappears. I feel Dark Sun is held up by the overall lack of creativity in TTRPGs.

Isn't this Eberron?

 

[Minigiant]

Isn't this Eberron?

Psionics is still shifted off to the side. It doesn't feel like just another leg on the table to me. Eberron more or less does the "Sarlona is the Psionic continent so the table is as Psionic as many times Sarlona things appear.

Eberron being decades old now also proves my point.