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.

 

[nevin]

The defiler experience progression is clearly a, "the Dark Side is faster, easier, more seductive" riff. They did the same thing with Black Robes in 1e's Dragonlance Adventures. It's a well-known and long running trope, one I have no problem with. After all, evil is a lot easier to resist if it provides no benefits over not-evil.

to be fair if a player plays a necromancer correctly and creates undead minions they end up much more powerful than thier good clerics. Since it's harder for the one mind DM to beat the 4 or 5 mind party and all their creativity evil creatures and classes have always been a bit more combat powerful to help the DM. That's been going on in all editions and settings since 1e

 

[Imaro]

* In Star Wars Episode 1: the phantom menace there was slavery, and it was an important part of the plot, because the main characters needed Anakin to win the race to get the freedom of the child thanks a bet.

Couldn't they (Anakin's family) have just been in debt, stuck working it off...and the same part of the plot could have happened? How is slavery integral to this?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Just curious... Were you ok with the removal of gender based attribute limitations?

Never came up in any game I've been in, and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone asking for them back. Nice try with the "gotcha" question though.

 

[Imaro]

Never came up in any game I've been in, and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone asking for them back. Nice try with the "gotcha" question though.

Make an absolute statement... I'm going to call you on it. I see you didn't really answer my question though.

 

[Minigiant]

With the promotion of this controversy, I have seen a  huge resurgence of the "4e ruined Dark Sun" crowd.

While these fans don't speak for everyone, it bolsters one of the hypothetical reasons why Dark Sun is being abandoned.

There is likely not a way to please enough Old School Dark Sun fans, New School Dark Sun fans, and potential new Dark Sun fans to make the money WOTC expects for a setting release.

WOTC should sell Dark Sun to somebody, let it be someone else's headache, collect the money for no work done.

 

[Bedrockgames]

With the promotion of this controversy, I have seen a  huge resurgence of the "4e ruined Dark Sun" crowd.

While these fans don't speak for everyone, it bolsters one of the hypothetical reasons why Dark Sun is being abandoned.

There is likely not a way to please enough Old School Dark Sun fans, New School Dark Sun fans, and potential new Dark Sun fans to make the money WOTC expects for a setting release.

WOTC should sell Dark Sun to somebody, let it be someone else's headache, collect the money for no work done.

This is something every setting experiences. For what it is worth, while I wasn't a big 4E fan, I quite enjoyed playing in a 4E Dark Sun campaign. But Ravenoft also had this issue. Fans who came in on the original modules, prefer the 1E era. Fans who came in on the black box, often prefer the early 2E era (though some came in through the black box and were more satisfied by later efforts in the line). People in who came in on Domains of Dread, prefer that era (agains some cam in earlier and always wanted the approach taken here) and its lore (in fairness relatively in sync with the black box), those who came in on the Sword and Sorcery version for 3E like that version and its lore, fans who came in 5E prefer that lore and that version. Threading all that, is a huge challenge. The best way forward for any setting in my view is for the publisher to either have a handle on where the fans are overall presently or to hand the project to someone with a clear vision that can truly revitalize the line (I think there are ways to do this where you might need to do things like change lore previous fans won't like but can be done in a way that retains more old fans, gains new ones, etc). However there is also tremendous division between different generations of gamers in terms of taste, what they find acceptable, what they find exciting and interesting. So also a difficult thing to thread. I think you have the one extreme of trying to please everyone but pleasing no one, and only pleasing a narrow or select group but alienating the larger bulk of the fans. Any long standing property is going to have these challenges

 

[Scribe]

WOTC should sell Dark Sun to somebody, let it be someone else's headache, collect the money for no work done.

Even that degree of separation isnt likely enough to protect them from the fall out. It just wont happen.

 

[Minigiant]

Even that degree of separation isnt likely enough to protect them from the fall out. It just wont happen.

Only if the don't openly and loudly display the sale and force the new publisher to make the separation.

 

[Scribe]

Only if the don't openly and loudly display the sale and force the new publisher to make the separation.

Ah I guess yeah. I was thinking more license it out, not full on sell the IP. Damn, if only. If they did that for DS and Planescape I would be ecstatic.

 

[pemerton]

I am never going to be ok with the concept of removing previously available material.

I don't really see why a commercial publisher is obliged to keep all their works in print indefinitely - but in this particular case, they seem to have done so: Dark Sun Boxed Set (2e) - Wizards of the Coast | AD&D 2nd Ed. | Dark Sun | AD&D 2nd Ed. | DriveThruRPG.com

So you should be OK!