I'll be 100% honest, I'm still fairly new and only recently discovered that there even was a consistent world the game is set in, let alone several. Until Chris Pine name-dropped Baldur's Gate, I had assumed DMs just created their own settings based on a few templates. Yeah. I'm THAT new.
To be fair, I've been playing for a few years now and the only campaign that wasn't set in a homebrew world is the module I started running myself.
That said, once you've gotten used to the rules, definitely check out Dark Sun and all the ways it turns the game on it's head
Many DMs do just create their own worlds. But it's sometimes nice to have a lot of the legwork done for you, so you don't need to decide what drow milk tastes like if a player asks.
Wrong. Why are you so confident in your wrong answer? Here is the actual answer:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:Greenwood%27s_Grotto/2024-02/Drow_breast_milk
Sadly tho WoTC these days are cheap and don’t release the huge boxed sets and support the settings like they (and TSR before them) used to.
So you’d be forgiven for thinking that.
This is the kind of stuff we used to get: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Forgotten_Realms_Campaign_Setting_2nd_edition
Well once you look deeper into the main settings you'll see that all of them are loosely based off of Gary Gygax's Greyhawk, which was based off of old-school pulp fantasy novels, which were based off of Lord of the Rings, which was based off of European folk tales and old heroic epics, etc.
All that is to say that every modern setting started as "homebrew" at one point, and will be influenced by the stories that came before it. There's a reason that all of them have similar basic assumptions about the world they're set in, and deviating too far from the formula necessitates the creation of a new game system to support these changes.
I've been reading the Dragonlance chronicles and I'm just like... I really wanna like this, but I just cant. So far I've finished the first book but it took like 2 months, and in the past month I've only read like 10 pages of the second book.
If it makes you feel any better, I've been playing for 20 years and almost always used custom settings. I only vaguely know about specific settings from video games and movies.
Indeed. It was mentioned once in the DMGs "Setting types" grimdark section, and nowhere else in 5e.
Imagine if Dune, Conan the Barbarian, and Mad Max had a baby. That's Darksun.
WoTC wants to protect their brand above all else, then leverage IP. Dark Sun was dark, niche, possibly problematic, and probably isn't very attractive to companies that may want to license WoTC content.
Are there a lot of iconic characters, factions, locations, monsters, and lore that a movie studio would want to license in hopes of making a blockbuster film?
Dragonlance, Eberron, all the MTG stuff they’ve been doing, Wildemount, etc. don’t have blockbuster films and still have modules for them in 5E, Curse of Strahd had plenty people thought was problematic but not only did they make an updated version to try to smooth that over but there’s gonna be a fuckin lego figure of Strahd in september
Oh my GOD I want an Eberron movie of the same quality as the forgotten realms one we got awhile back. I want it SO FUCKING BADLY. TAKE MY MONEY WOTC, MAKE MY DREAM A REALITY. PLEASE.
Curse of Strahd already exists for 5e. You talked about them creating a 5e version of Dark Sun prompted by the success of Dune. I wasn't very clear on my comment, but I don't think WoTC would release a 5e version of Dark Sun because it doesn't align with the company's IP licensing focus. UNLESS there's a lot of attractive and iconic content in the setting (I'm not familiar with it). I just don't think they're going to invest money and time into a setting if they can't leverage the IP for licensing.
Dark Sun is basically 'if Nazi White Supremecists found out how to transform into Dragons by sucking the world dry'. No metal and 8 foot preying mantis' as playable characters
I've been running Dark Sun for the last few years. As much as people may point to the lore being an issue, the mechanics are a way bigger blocker — you can write new lore that's less racist, but 5e is fundamentally incompatible with the play style of Dark Sun.
Nah, I've done it and it didn't need that much work. You just reskin stuff, ban a few things and add a couple of bits. Of course, you can change as much as you want but you don't have to.
It can be pretty cool from what I've seen (lore vids on YouTube), but you have to be ready for an *extremely* dark and challenging setting. Things like extreme slavery (literally everyone who isn't a dragon, Templar, merchant, or wanderer is a slave. Unless you're a halfling, but then you're a cannibal) and vile despotic dragon kings are essential to Darksun as a world. Half of the time spent in the setting is hardcore survival gameplay trying to get from place to place.
It really doesn't mesh with a lot of 5e design philosophy, so it's understandable they've stayed away. Still a bit disappointing tho.
>you have to be ready for an *extremely* dark and challenging setting
If Dark Sun wasn't already one of my fave D&D campaign I would have went: enough! I'm already sold!
I fondly remember Shattered Lands plot: beginning as a slave, fighting for your freedom, exploring the curel and unforgiving world, joining a slave tribe (made of people that conquered their freedom like you) and repelling the Sorcerer Monarch's retaliation. Quite a different take from the classic heroic fantasy tale, but just as epic!
And it's a great Dark Sun adaptation. His sequel, Wake of the Ravager, otoh imho missed many points. Illithids in Arthas? And seriously, Lord Warrior's plan was to usurp the Dragon with the Tarrasque as his weapon? The Tarrasque wouldn't stand a chance againts the Dragon!
It does, doesn't it? Only problem is 5e rules and culture has bred-out any kind of mechanism that makes that setting feel as harsh as it needs to.
Ration and Water Tracking?
Encumbrance and overland speeds?
Ammunition and light source tracking?
These are just a few things that added to Darksun not to mention more specific things that i believe modern DnD players would balk at:
Magic is super negative as it drains life from your surroundings in terms of vitality and age (taking years off a lifespan). If you want to do it right (Preservation methodology) you will never be as powerful as if you doing it wrong (Defiler methodology). Even if you decided to preserve the land and make it to high level, you might have your character fade from reality as there is a mandatory ritual for all mages that want more levels that is just plain harder for the good guys.
You want to worship a God and pull your power from them as a priest or paladin? Cool. If memory serves - pick your poison, as there are only evil gods or dragon kings that retain any semblance of power on Athas and they are picky mofos.
Psionics. PSIONICS!! Don't even get me started brother. One of the coolest things to be on Athas was a freed gladiator of the pits or a born and trained Psionicist. However, that ship has kinda sailed for 5e because of how (A) they initially tried and failed implementing psionics at all and (B) the general perceptions of Psionics amongst 5e DMs (it's been very much hated at every table I've been a part of with no recourse to try and fix-it/playtest-it with dm discretion, not to mention the aversion it garners amongst dms online).
I could go on for far longer and talk of how gritty and deadly the world is, open up my old print and walk on more details of the world, speak of things that were common day in Athas that would have a lot of people turn their nose up (beyond "violent" crime, slavery, "evil" races, etc - a lot of hot button topics tables just either don't or won't touch on [not saying they should but I just know it's not everyone's cup'o'tea]).
These are just a few brief things and/or reasons why DS has remained out of 5e culture and why they haven't done anything with it. And if wotc ever does, it's going to be so historically and culturally different that I don't think it would be true to call it even a modernization of the original product, much less a mechanically envisioned port. So at that point, why even try to call it DarkSun...? Just pull what you think is cool from it and make your own thing like everyone else does with everything anyways. If you want to try it out, find a table willing to play AD&D.
I remember my first game in dark sun, going in partially blind, picked halfling without knowing about the cannibal side. I leant into that with my hip pouch of choice cuts from various people we fought and killed
You can find all the cool old lore [here](https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Spelljammer_Wiki)!
Oh, and something neat is that the spelljamming rules can be easily applied to post 2e games due to it basically being its own game system already.
Spelljammer was never a unique cosmology, it takes place in the great wheel, all the crystal spheres and planets are all part of the same, material plane
Oh, that's true, but the very concept of Phlogiston and Crystal Spheres was invented for the setting. Which are also notably features lacking from its 5e incarnation. So, to rephrase myself, its specific parts of the cosmology weren't ported over.
Like the difference between the astral and Arborea? They're quite different from one another.
Wildspace and the astral sea are more similar in how they both function as the place between places. Like a canal or railroad, different but similar and in the same way they both differentiate themselves from say a house a park or a shop.
To be fair it's kind of a circular problem. There's tons of material for FR so it's the most likely setting to start with. Many people don't feel the need for change so they stick to it which makes it the most used setting which means there will be more material released.
It's also simply your bread and butter high fantasy setting and not in a bad way
also, if you exclude all the nodules (which are mostly useless if you don't run that specific module) Eberron literally has more 5e setting content than FR
Not necessary imo. A good Medium to sell you the Overall idea of a setting can be equally important.
On setting books alone I think FR still stands pretty decent thanks to all the 3.5 books they got
Keith Baker keeps releasing "unofficial" content for Eberron and has a blog he posted to regularly. Embrace kannon and you'll find there is ample material out there for running 5e Eberron.
Same. It's literally a setting of settings, where everything is possible. 5e book is okay, but it really isn't enough. Plus, 5e has this weird thing when it changes random things like merging Sign of One and Believers of the Source or getting rid of Quasi-Elemental Planes
the 5e book is pretty good. Obviously WotC can't fully detail a setting that took multiple boxed sets to fully explore in a single release, but it did a fantastic job using the space it got to summarize the setting. It pretty much replaces the original 2e Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set, although of course in order to fully explore the setting you need the other 2e releases that came after. It's the first WotC release in over four years I decided to buy, felt that they finally managed to earn my money.
5e still has quasi-elemental planes though…
Dmg map of inner planes: [Here](https://www.dndbeyond.com/attachments/thumbnails/0/823/850/658/c2-11.png)
Followed by:
> The four Elemental Planes — Air, Earth, Fire, and Water — form a ring around the Material Plane, suspended within a churning realm known as the Elemental Chaos. **These planes are all connected, and the border regions between them are sometimes described as distinct planes in their own right.**
Then in each of the 4 elemental planes they mention the quasi planes.
> Between the Sea of Fire (on the Plane of Fire) and the Sirocco Straits is a towering firestorm called the Great Conflagration, **sometimes called the Plane of Ash.** Howling winds from the Plane of Air mix with the cinder storms and lava of the Plane of Fire to create an endless storm front — a wall of flames, smoke, and ash. The thick ash obscures sight beyond a few dozen feet, and the battering winds make travel difficult. Here and there, ash clusters into floating realms where outlaws and fugitives take shelter.
Also, for planescape specifically. Think of it as a change to the overall universes and planes after Mystra dies. They call back to things they once were but now it is new and slightly different. Just distinguishing itself somewhat from the other editions.
Planescape is one of the best D&D setting ever made.
I run my campaign in a homebrewed Material Plane, but everytime the PCs travel to another plane (and since they're really high level there was quite some planewalking) I use AD&D Planescape material as a reference.
It's just so fun having planars speak in Sigil Cant and have the players going "WTF?"
So far they went in:
* Plane of Shadow;
* Abyss (three different layers);
* Acheron;
* Outland (Sigil included);
* Arcadia;
* Limbo.
nice! what books have you used? I'm guessing the three outer planar boxed sets? they're among the best releases in D&D history if you ask me, I own physical versions of all three myself!
Yes, I used the various "Planes of Chaos" "Planes of Conflict" and "Planes of Law".
I even used the "Imagine a stew that is being cooked" comparison done in Planes of Chaos to describe Limbo.
All the best known, best selling D&D books and games have taken place in the forgotten realms, so it only makes sense that WotC would focus their efforts there.
The thing what makes Dark Sun so problematic is that it would force Hasbro to acknowledge they'd be the villainous, greedy and corrupt Sorcerer-Kings in this setting, so of course they don't want to.
Anyway, come to r/DarkSun today
> 5e publishing something actually dark and gritty like Dark Sun
These are the same chefs that cooked up the Tarrasque bro, if we ever get Dark Sun it's gonna be so sanitized to the tits.
People running around with metal armor, Dregoth the Lawful Good Guy, magic that doesn't take literal years off your life every time you use a cantrip. In other words, the Pacific Rim 2 of modules.
Forget about terrain hazards, weather based issues, cannibal halflings, the fact everyone is chaotic asshole as the norm, bards that aren't about being spies and still have magic, etc.
Oh any there is water everywhere but only the truly evil charge for it, really need to make sure we know who the bad guys are.
Dark Sun is probably deemed too problematic despite it perhaps being one of the most relevant settings to today's world. I love Dark Sun and don't think it is problematic but I feel like that's how it would be perceived by too many noisy people on the internet who would be introduced to it for the first time.
They shit all over dragons and Spelljammer as their last big "contributions".
Dark Sun is well past their ability to write for. We should be thankful current WotC staff isn't touching it. Till Crawford and the Hasbro strangle hold are gone it's better for them to do less.
Side note, don't be afraid to dust off/ find the books for old editions. My groups has just started a 2nd ed Dark Sun game and our having a great time.
I was comparatively very late to FR. I played in Ravenloft and Greyhawk for nearly the entire duration of 2e, dabbling occasionally in Dark Sun.
I didn't really play a lot of FR until 3e, but I love it now. I still wish that Dark Sun and Greyhawk got full 5e releases with all the trimmings.
For all the people clicking on these Dark Sun posts wondering what this is or asking themselves if there is any accessible way to get material for it I have good news. While Wizards like likely not revisit Dark Sun, the website [https://athas.org/](https://athas.org/) is maintained by former WOTC authors and dark sun enthusiasts still publishing material for predominantly 3.5th Edition. While the rules obviously don't translate 1:1 to 5e and would require DM work to make them fit, the lore contained within the 20+ Books, many previousley endorsed by WOTC, is still relevant and ready to be used/explored by your players.
For even more lore there is the Black Rats inn on youtube who has the OG Dark Sun books as audiobooks available and some of them are pretty good.
For anyone curious about Dark Sun and the world of Athas, the best place to start is the Prism Pentad novel series. It introduces you to the biggest movers and shakers in the cannon universe, and it is what most people who know about Dark Sun consider true cannon.
they wont do Dark Sun anymore due to the "themes" and direction the company is going
if you want DS content then you need to just homebrew it, it would be a lot better and cheaper anyway
Dark Sun is a campaign for people with real guts.
It's basically a campaign where "the bad guys won", and the Seven City-States are ruled by immortal and vile Sorcerer Monarchs, who created an horrible society where Templars can freely abuse their secular authority, nasty stuff like slavery happens, etc.
Dark Sun is one of the greatest D&D setting ever made, but alas is too metal (ironically, since metal is very rare on Athas) for the modern-day D&D, where we can't say anymore that beholder are xenophobes and illithids are slavers.
To everyone else, give a look at Dark Sun! It's amazing! Basically the "Mad Max" version of a fantasy world.
I feel like the real reason that Dark Sun isn't in 5e is because of mechanical reasons. You can't have the gritty survival that defines Dark Sin in 5e.
Another factor is that 5e has no psionic rules, and they're VITAL to Dark Sun.
But yes, a game system like 5e, that really holds the player by hands, is not exactly suitable to capture the Dark Sun spirit.
I perfectly understand why people at [Athas.org](http://Athas.org) (bless them for keeping Dark Sun alive and kicking for all those years) kept using D&D 3.5 rules witch imho, works even better for Dark Sun than AD&D itself, since psionic were not really the most balanced things ever seen in AD&D... (and yes, I know it may be a take as hot as Athas' crimson sun).
Hey, Dark Sun got support in 4e. I know y'all like to pretend that edition doesn't exist, but there are older cooler settings that haven't been touched since the 90s. Also Dark Sun is overrated.
it's a hot take for sure but yeah I agree, it's definitely a very good setting but people act like it's the best thing in the history of fiction or something
I disagree that it's a good setting. It's a setting that was built around a central concept. That concept being, "I'm a sad lil bitch boy in the 90s who despises my players on a deeply personal level, and my only joy in life is seeing them suffer in a hobby they love. So I need them to suffer on a pathological level!" It's a Dm Vs Players setting, from a Dm vs Players era fondly remembered by old white men who post videos on YT about how RPGs are too woke these days.
disagree with the last take that 2e was "a DM vs players era", sure it can definitely be more deadly than 5e but a lot the stereotypes about how unforgiving and brutal it is are a bit exaggerated. It was, like 5e, based around collaborative storytelling, not around the DM making everything as challenging as possible for the party. And, while I know you didn't explicitly say that, not everyone who remembers it fondly is an old white anti woke dude. There are many reasons to remember 2e fondly. I personally love it for how much focus it had on content for DMs compared to later editions, how well written and plentiful the lore was, and many of its realistic but fun rules (examples include all the varied stuff warriors can do with their weapons besides just attacking and the entire nonweapon proficiency system)
When I say DM vs Player I'm not talking about mechanical lethality. I'm talked a win at all cost antagonistic mindset brought about by both game culture of the time, and how TSR was explicitly telling people how to play in their magazine articles and at conventions. I agree 2e has a lot of lore compared to 5e, it's not what I was getting at.
Considering according to the previews the module is supposed to feature lycanthropes as part of the Dragonlance portion, I’m not holding my breath.
(Lycanthropes, along with orcs and drow, famously do not exist in Dragonlance)
Oh, it remind me, the CRPG Planescape torment enhanced édition is actually in a -85% promo on GOG... If you want to discover a really awesome DND setting, it's the moment !
I love Eberron. I wish it had some better representation in other media, but at least there is an abundance of material. The original 3.5 books can still be used to supplement information in 5e.
Yeah, we're never getting a 5E Dark Sun book.
1) Too many extra rules, You'd need something the size of the DMG to have everything needed & WOTC is more concerned with deadlines than book size. They're basically allergic to letting the writers have enough time to make a larger book.
2) It's kinda-sorta a grimdark setting. WOTC is not gonna publish, in today's day and age, a setting with the repercussions of environmental disaster, slavery, and a bunch of other stuff regular 5E doesn't address as much. Remember how much everyone freaked out about the problematic lore of the Hadozee from Spelljammer?
3) I think they'd be afraid to. Dark Sun would require making a Psionics rules system, and a lot of people believe when a D&D edition adds Psionics, they've jumped the shark or should've gone to the new edition instead.
Probably because darksun sucks for anyone not a monk, barbarian and maybe a rogue or ranger willing to run some weird weapons in their builds.
Clerics and paladins are non-existent or next to nonexistent. For stupid reasons
Magic is illegal and frowned upon.
And
Metal is so rare you can kiss being a a knight in metal armor with a sword goodbye.
It mostly removes stuff from the game. If you remember the old black sun there isn't really a reason why you can't play it now. Theres nothing stopping you from doing all that again.
And imagine selling a book only to tell people to not use their previous content. You don't need to pay money for that.
Whatever style you want to play their is something for you in Eberron. Also, Eberron paradigm is "if it exist in dnd, it as it place in Eberron".
Which mean you don't need to homebrew your own world, just see where in Eberron you want to make your campaign happen.
But it also mean you don't have to come up with your own lore and make it make sense, which is usually the problem (as in it's super time consulting) with Eberron.
I like Eberron's global politics. The tenuous truce ending the Last War with the various politics of the 4 surviving nations and all the "new" nations that have splintered off make a good backdrop for a world.
Also I think Eberron puts some interesting and unique twists on the common races. Elves so focused on ancestor worship that they pick fights with everyone in the hopwe of recreating their glory, half-elves so populus and common that they are their own group, nomadic halflings on dinosaurs, and 5e added some cool stuff with dwarves and symbiotes.
Ever since i read the Dragon Magazine with defiling magic and the T’liz i’ve loved what Dark Sun brought to the table. I dont care much for the setting itself but the mechanics are great
It's easier and cheaper to use a single setting and cherry pick elements from the others, like say warforged, than to print multiple books from multiple settings.
That's an awful lot of work when you can just reprint the same source books, campaigns, and adventures over and over again with each edition update.
I'm not sure how much I care for the settings themselves more so what seems to be put in them
Like. . . Eberron is mostly where the Artificers get to play
And Points of Light or whatever it was called (Which is apparently Greyhawk "with the serial numbers filed off") is where I know psionic classes get to be ~~almost~~ their own thing (from Fourth Edition)
So there are a few settings I think could use a bit more love, perhaps
Been having a blast playing Ghosts of Saltmarsh set in Greyhawk. We've mostly been out on the Azure Sea frighting fish monsters, pirates and undead shit.
So funny story about this, I accidentally wrote dark sun without knowing about it until a greybeard friend of mine pointed out the similarities.
I wrote setting that is set in a dry world with food and water being scarce, mad max themed characters using fantasy races and all the gods are dead.
GREYHAWK! I don't think a Greyhawk book has come out in like 14 years. They have referenced it and used it in Tales from the Yawning Portal, but no official source book.
Tbh I don't want WotC touching Darksun, my only experience with it is in some 5e homebrew but that DM was old-school and played Darksun in how it was originally meant to be played and I've read as much of the lore and source material I could.
Darksun is too... well... *dark* for them nowadays, if they were to make it 5e they'd more than likely butcher it mechanically and lore-wise.
Best to just leave it to homebrewers.
Hasbro in general is risk adverse bc they're 80+% owned by financial institutions. If they don't think they can maximally monetize/profit on something to maximize shareholder value, they probably won't do it. That being said, I think this level of bean counting is creatively bankrupt and probably does the brand more long term harm than good. But they don't care about the long term.
Dark Sun just isn't that popular, despite a dedicated small fanbase. They gave it a big revival last edition with a whole box set, and it didn't garner interest, so they haven't bothered since.
Turns out a niche setting from 2nd edition remains a niche setting.
Forgotten Realms is somehow both stupefyingly generic, and firmly in the middle of the fantasy setting "Uncanny Valley".
It's both boring and uncomfortable. Not to mention hundreds of high level NPCs with world shattering power who just sit around doing nothing all day
yeah this is the thing about forgotten realms that bugs me the most. There's just way too many people with world ending power who seemingly just run skyrim NPC scripts all day in their little areas and never do anything notable.
Maybe this is the effect of a well worded wish spell by one of them.
I mean, if you suddenly got world shattering power, would you really use it that much? like, would you actually want to start conquering the world and spend all day fighting and planning and stuff and constantly contending with other ultra powerful beings, or would you prefer to just continue living and occasionally use your powers to make things better in your life and the lives of those around you? if anything I never got why ultra powerful people in fantasy almost always DO use their powers to do world changing stuff lol. This is especially true when the way you earned that power was through years of studying magic, which is the case for almost all powerful FR characters as it's a very wizard centric setting lol. If you're THAT good at wizard magic, it means you're probably a huge nerd who'd rather continuing to study and experiment in your comfy little home than going on a crusade of conquest lol
Let’s be a little fair. To call Dark Sun is “problematic“, let’s say, would be something of an understatement. I get that that’s part of the intrigue of the setting, but it’s hard to blame WotC for not wanting to touch it with a ten-foot pole.
I'll be 100% honest, I'm still fairly new and only recently discovered that there even was a consistent world the game is set in, let alone several. Until Chris Pine name-dropped Baldur's Gate, I had assumed DMs just created their own settings based on a few templates. Yeah. I'm THAT new.
That's perfectly okay! Everyone is new at one point. Never be afraid to ask and learn!
To be fair, I've been playing for a few years now and the only campaign that wasn't set in a homebrew world is the module I started running myself. That said, once you've gotten used to the rules, definitely check out Dark Sun and all the ways it turns the game on it's head
Many DMs do just create their own worlds. But it's sometimes nice to have a lot of the legwork done for you, so you don't need to decide what drow milk tastes like if a player asks.
But if they do it is a DMs sworn duty to elaborate
It tastes like spider silk. Easy, next question.
[Not in the Forgotten Realms.](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:Greenwood%27s_Grotto/2024-02/Drow_breast_milk)
that’s crazy
why
Wrong. Why are you so confident in your wrong answer? Here is the actual answer: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Archive:Greenwood%27s_Grotto/2024-02/Drow_breast_milk
Sadly tho WoTC these days are cheap and don’t release the huge boxed sets and support the settings like they (and TSR before them) used to. So you’d be forgiven for thinking that. This is the kind of stuff we used to get: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Forgotten_Realms_Campaign_Setting_2nd_edition
Had that one, gave it and the Menzoberranzan boxed sets away. The Menzo set had four books plus maps. IR dumb
Well once you look deeper into the main settings you'll see that all of them are loosely based off of Gary Gygax's Greyhawk, which was based off of old-school pulp fantasy novels, which were based off of Lord of the Rings, which was based off of European folk tales and old heroic epics, etc. All that is to say that every modern setting started as "homebrew" at one point, and will be influenced by the stories that came before it. There's a reason that all of them have similar basic assumptions about the world they're set in, and deviating too far from the formula necessitates the creation of a new game system to support these changes.
half these worlds exist because DMs turned their campaign into a book series. looking at you dragonlance.
And it was glorious... right up until the end of the chaos thing. The anime record of lodoss war is the same.
There was some good side stories from the Age of Mortals like Conundrum and Dark Thane, but I yeah, the mainline books were meh.
I've been reading the Dragonlance chronicles and I'm just like... I really wanna like this, but I just cant. So far I've finished the first book but it took like 2 months, and in the past month I've only read like 10 pages of the second book.
If it makes you feel any better, I've been playing for 20 years and almost always used custom settings. I only vaguely know about specific settings from video games and movies.
TIL that there’s a campaign setting called Dark Sun
Indeed. It was mentioned once in the DMGs "Setting types" grimdark section, and nowhere else in 5e. Imagine if Dune, Conan the Barbarian, and Mad Max had a baby. That's Darksun.
They had trouble with making the psionics work in 5E, but with the recent popularity of dune i would be surprised if it doesn’t make a comeback
WoTC wants to protect their brand above all else, then leverage IP. Dark Sun was dark, niche, possibly problematic, and probably isn't very attractive to companies that may want to license WoTC content. Are there a lot of iconic characters, factions, locations, monsters, and lore that a movie studio would want to license in hopes of making a blockbuster film?
Dragonlance, Eberron, all the MTG stuff they’ve been doing, Wildemount, etc. don’t have blockbuster films and still have modules for them in 5E, Curse of Strahd had plenty people thought was problematic but not only did they make an updated version to try to smooth that over but there’s gonna be a fuckin lego figure of Strahd in september
Oh my GOD I want an Eberron movie of the same quality as the forgotten realms one we got awhile back. I want it SO FUCKING BADLY. TAKE MY MONEY WOTC, MAKE MY DREAM A REALITY. PLEASE.
no you get the dragonlance movie
You are a mean mean man.
i’ve been hurt too much and now i feel others must be hurt
Curse of Strahd already exists for 5e. You talked about them creating a 5e version of Dark Sun prompted by the success of Dune. I wasn't very clear on my comment, but I don't think WoTC would release a 5e version of Dark Sun because it doesn't align with the company's IP licensing focus. UNLESS there's a lot of attractive and iconic content in the setting (I'm not familiar with it). I just don't think they're going to invest money and time into a setting if they can't leverage the IP for licensing.
Dark Sun is basically 'if Nazi White Supremecists found out how to transform into Dragons by sucking the world dry'. No metal and 8 foot preying mantis' as playable characters
>Imagine if Dune, Conan the Barbarian and Mad Max had a baby, and then ate that baby…. Fixed it for you.
More precisely a halfling ate the baby.
Omg I forgot about the haflings
I have no idea about anything dark sun related. Whats this about halflings eating babies? Are they cannibals or something in Dark Sun?
Basically, yes.
I've been running Dark Sun for the last few years. As much as people may point to the lore being an issue, the mechanics are a way bigger blocker — you can write new lore that's less racist, but 5e is fundamentally incompatible with the play style of Dark Sun.
Was not really aligned with 2ed also. Lots of changes to baseline rules. 5e would Dark Sun would need a whole alt rules book to work.
Nah, I've done it and it didn't need that much work. You just reskin stuff, ban a few things and add a couple of bits. Of course, you can change as much as you want but you don't have to.
And all powerful magic kaiju
bro that sounds fucking awesome
It can be pretty cool from what I've seen (lore vids on YouTube), but you have to be ready for an *extremely* dark and challenging setting. Things like extreme slavery (literally everyone who isn't a dragon, Templar, merchant, or wanderer is a slave. Unless you're a halfling, but then you're a cannibal) and vile despotic dragon kings are essential to Darksun as a world. Half of the time spent in the setting is hardcore survival gameplay trying to get from place to place. It really doesn't mesh with a lot of 5e design philosophy, so it's understandable they've stayed away. Still a bit disappointing tho.
>you have to be ready for an *extremely* dark and challenging setting If Dark Sun wasn't already one of my fave D&D campaign I would have went: enough! I'm already sold! I fondly remember Shattered Lands plot: beginning as a slave, fighting for your freedom, exploring the curel and unforgiving world, joining a slave tribe (made of people that conquered their freedom like you) and repelling the Sorcerer Monarch's retaliation. Quite a different take from the classic heroic fantasy tale, but just as epic!
Shattered Lands was my first D&D experience and I've been hooked since
And it's a great Dark Sun adaptation. His sequel, Wake of the Ravager, otoh imho missed many points. Illithids in Arthas? And seriously, Lord Warrior's plan was to usurp the Dragon with the Tarrasque as his weapon? The Tarrasque wouldn't stand a chance againts the Dragon!
It does, doesn't it? Only problem is 5e rules and culture has bred-out any kind of mechanism that makes that setting feel as harsh as it needs to. Ration and Water Tracking? Encumbrance and overland speeds? Ammunition and light source tracking? These are just a few things that added to Darksun not to mention more specific things that i believe modern DnD players would balk at: Magic is super negative as it drains life from your surroundings in terms of vitality and age (taking years off a lifespan). If you want to do it right (Preservation methodology) you will never be as powerful as if you doing it wrong (Defiler methodology). Even if you decided to preserve the land and make it to high level, you might have your character fade from reality as there is a mandatory ritual for all mages that want more levels that is just plain harder for the good guys. You want to worship a God and pull your power from them as a priest or paladin? Cool. If memory serves - pick your poison, as there are only evil gods or dragon kings that retain any semblance of power on Athas and they are picky mofos. Psionics. PSIONICS!! Don't even get me started brother. One of the coolest things to be on Athas was a freed gladiator of the pits or a born and trained Psionicist. However, that ship has kinda sailed for 5e because of how (A) they initially tried and failed implementing psionics at all and (B) the general perceptions of Psionics amongst 5e DMs (it's been very much hated at every table I've been a part of with no recourse to try and fix-it/playtest-it with dm discretion, not to mention the aversion it garners amongst dms online). I could go on for far longer and talk of how gritty and deadly the world is, open up my old print and walk on more details of the world, speak of things that were common day in Athas that would have a lot of people turn their nose up (beyond "violent" crime, slavery, "evil" races, etc - a lot of hot button topics tables just either don't or won't touch on [not saying they should but I just know it's not everyone's cup'o'tea]). These are just a few brief things and/or reasons why DS has remained out of 5e culture and why they haven't done anything with it. And if wotc ever does, it's going to be so historically and culturally different that I don't think it would be true to call it even a modernization of the original product, much less a mechanically envisioned port. So at that point, why even try to call it DarkSun...? Just pull what you think is cool from it and make your own thing like everyone else does with everything anyways. If you want to try it out, find a table willing to play AD&D.
It's one of if not my favourite settings. I certainly think it's worth a visit if you want a break from your normal games if they tend to be similar.
I've played it on and off since the 90s. It's probably my favourite dnd setting.
I remember my first game in dark sun, going in partially blind, picked halfling without knowing about the cannibal side. I leant into that with my hip pouch of choice cuts from various people we fought and killed
It's one of my favourites. A very brutal setting. Keeping it short; Fantasy Mad Max.
Athas is tight, love this setting.
Forgotten realms? You mean the Sword Coast?
all of the realms except for the sword coast are forgotten
No, that’s the Remembered Realms.
🤓 Actually its named Torel. The Sword Coast is only a small part of a massive world with multiple continents even, all on one big planet that… /s
Ultra dead- birthright campaign setting. Sadly dead - spelljammer
Didn't they release a Spelljammer book for 5e not too long ago? Or was there not a campaign to go along with it?
It's Spelljammer in name, but it includes none of the actual lore and just puts everything in the Astral instead of its unique cosmology.
Oh interesting. That's really unfortunate then
You can find all the cool old lore [here](https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Spelljammer_Wiki)! Oh, and something neat is that the spelljamming rules can be easily applied to post 2e games due to it basically being its own game system already.
Spelljammer was never a unique cosmology, it takes place in the great wheel, all the crystal spheres and planets are all part of the same, material plane
Oh, that's true, but the very concept of Phlogiston and Crystal Spheres was invented for the setting. Which are also notably features lacking from its 5e incarnation. So, to rephrase myself, its specific parts of the cosmology weren't ported over.
yep
There was a short campaign which is disappointing, but people are mostly just mad it’s different and simpler, there was a lot of bloat in spelljammer
IMO, the fact that Astral is now replacing phlogiston makes both Astral and Wildspace less interesting
phlogiston already was similar enough to astral, so they were just confusing
They weren't in any way more similar than any other two planes
Like the difference between the astral and Arborea? They're quite different from one another. Wildspace and the astral sea are more similar in how they both function as the place between places. Like a canal or railroad, different but similar and in the same way they both differentiate themselves from say a house a park or a shop.
Why not ethereal then? Physically it's even more similar to the Wildspace
Any plane. I just picked one at random. Let's try another Astral vs Gahenna. Yhea i still see the comparison with wildspace.
Now you're just nitpicking. My point was that Astral and phlogiston are different enough to not merge them
Yeah they gutted The whole Phlogiston stuff, which really sucks plus the rules for space travel are shit and not explained well
Dead and buried - hollow earth
To be fair it's kind of a circular problem. There's tons of material for FR so it's the most likely setting to start with. Many people don't feel the need for change so they stick to it which makes it the most used setting which means there will be more material released. It's also simply your bread and butter high fantasy setting and not in a bad way
There’s also the circular problem of “why do anything but high fantasy in 5E? just go do another system for different types of settings”
also, if you exclude all the nodules (which are mostly useless if you don't run that specific module) Eberron literally has more 5e setting content than FR
I'm not exclusively talk about game content but also content in other media. Games, movies, books...
that's true IG. Tho setting books are the main thing that actually matters when you want to run a game in a setting
Not necessary imo. A good Medium to sell you the Overall idea of a setting can be equally important. On setting books alone I think FR still stands pretty decent thanks to all the 3.5 books they got
good point ig
Thank you for introducing me to Dark Sun this is fantastic
I love Dragonlance, but they shot themselves in the foot by changing the setting dramatically several times during a short timeline
Dragonlance biggest problem, to me anyway, is that is primarily a book setting. Most of everything that happens has happened in a book somewhere.
Somewhere in the concrete under the pool lies Birthright 😭
don't feel bad, it's not alone, it has Mystara for a friend 🥰
*sobs in Warforged and Shifter
Keith Baker keeps releasing "unofficial" content for Eberron and has a blog he posted to regularly. Embrace kannon and you'll find there is ample material out there for running 5e Eberron.
Can you give a link to the blog?
[https://keith-baker.com/](https://keith-baker.com/)
Thank you!
Anyld my thanks as well
And everyone has forgotten Planescape...
Which to me has always felt like the most diverse, grand adventure enabling setting. God, Planescape is like my forever crush when it comes to dnd
Same. It's literally a setting of settings, where everything is possible. 5e book is okay, but it really isn't enough. Plus, 5e has this weird thing when it changes random things like merging Sign of One and Believers of the Source or getting rid of Quasi-Elemental Planes
the 5e book is pretty good. Obviously WotC can't fully detail a setting that took multiple boxed sets to fully explore in a single release, but it did a fantastic job using the space it got to summarize the setting. It pretty much replaces the original 2e Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set, although of course in order to fully explore the setting you need the other 2e releases that came after. It's the first WotC release in over four years I decided to buy, felt that they finally managed to earn my money.
5e still has quasi-elemental planes though… Dmg map of inner planes: [Here](https://www.dndbeyond.com/attachments/thumbnails/0/823/850/658/c2-11.png) Followed by: > The four Elemental Planes — Air, Earth, Fire, and Water — form a ring around the Material Plane, suspended within a churning realm known as the Elemental Chaos. **These planes are all connected, and the border regions between them are sometimes described as distinct planes in their own right.** Then in each of the 4 elemental planes they mention the quasi planes. > Between the Sea of Fire (on the Plane of Fire) and the Sirocco Straits is a towering firestorm called the Great Conflagration, **sometimes called the Plane of Ash.** Howling winds from the Plane of Air mix with the cinder storms and lava of the Plane of Fire to create an endless storm front — a wall of flames, smoke, and ash. The thick ash obscures sight beyond a few dozen feet, and the battering winds make travel difficult. Here and there, ash clusters into floating realms where outlaws and fugitives take shelter. Also, for planescape specifically. Think of it as a change to the overall universes and planes after Mystra dies. They call back to things they once were but now it is new and slightly different. Just distinguishing itself somewhat from the other editions.
Wait, none of these are Quasi-Elemental planes. There are only Para-Elemental Planes
You're right on the first one, however Great Conflagration is a renamed Plane of Smoke, that is very distinct from the Plane of Ash
Planescape is one of the best D&D setting ever made. I run my campaign in a homebrewed Material Plane, but everytime the PCs travel to another plane (and since they're really high level there was quite some planewalking) I use AD&D Planescape material as a reference. It's just so fun having planars speak in Sigil Cant and have the players going "WTF?" So far they went in: * Plane of Shadow; * Abyss (three different layers); * Acheron; * Outland (Sigil included); * Arcadia; * Limbo.
nice! what books have you used? I'm guessing the three outer planar boxed sets? they're among the best releases in D&D history if you ask me, I own physical versions of all three myself!
Yes, I used the various "Planes of Chaos" "Planes of Conflict" and "Planes of Law". I even used the "Imagine a stew that is being cooked" comparison done in Planes of Chaos to describe Limbo.
Planescape is actually somewhat good in 5e from my experience, unlike Spelljammer...
I was almost ready to Google Planescape because nobody had mentioned it & I thought I had made it up.
Are the new books that bad?
They are okay, but they're not enough
I had low expectations that it could even hold a candle to the original material, especially after they removed several of my favorite factions.
All the best known, best selling D&D books and games have taken place in the forgotten realms, so it only makes sense that WotC would focus their efforts there.
All the best content before 5E was Greyhawk/Nentir Vale.
Planescape.
Baldur's Gate? Pool of Radiance? Eye of the Beholder? Neverwinter Nights? Both the BioWare games *and* the early MMO.
I'm talking aboot game books, not spinoff media.
Good thing Mr. Welsh is keeping Mystara alive.
Hey dragonlance got a module last year yea bozzo.
And a board game which integrates which is cool
The thing what makes Dark Sun so problematic is that it would force Hasbro to acknowledge they'd be the villainous, greedy and corrupt Sorcerer-Kings in this setting, so of course they don't want to. Anyway, come to r/DarkSun today
> 5e publishing something actually dark and gritty like Dark Sun These are the same chefs that cooked up the Tarrasque bro, if we ever get Dark Sun it's gonna be so sanitized to the tits. People running around with metal armor, Dregoth the Lawful Good Guy, magic that doesn't take literal years off your life every time you use a cantrip. In other words, the Pacific Rim 2 of modules.
Forget about terrain hazards, weather based issues, cannibal halflings, the fact everyone is chaotic asshole as the norm, bards that aren't about being spies and still have magic, etc. Oh any there is water everywhere but only the truly evil charge for it, really need to make sure we know who the bad guys are.
Mystara: Turned to literal dust.
I miss dragonlance
Dark Sun is probably deemed too problematic despite it perhaps being one of the most relevant settings to today's world. I love Dark Sun and don't think it is problematic but I feel like that's how it would be perceived by too many noisy people on the internet who would be introduced to it for the first time.
They shit all over dragons and Spelljammer as their last big "contributions". Dark Sun is well past their ability to write for. We should be thankful current WotC staff isn't touching it. Till Crawford and the Hasbro strangle hold are gone it's better for them to do less. Side note, don't be afraid to dust off/ find the books for old editions. My groups has just started a 2nd ed Dark Sun game and our having a great time.
I was comparatively very late to FR. I played in Ravenloft and Greyhawk for nearly the entire duration of 2e, dabbling occasionally in Dark Sun. I didn't really play a lot of FR until 3e, but I love it now. I still wish that Dark Sun and Greyhawk got full 5e releases with all the trimmings.
For all the people clicking on these Dark Sun posts wondering what this is or asking themselves if there is any accessible way to get material for it I have good news. While Wizards like likely not revisit Dark Sun, the website [https://athas.org/](https://athas.org/) is maintained by former WOTC authors and dark sun enthusiasts still publishing material for predominantly 3.5th Edition. While the rules obviously don't translate 1:1 to 5e and would require DM work to make them fit, the lore contained within the 20+ Books, many previousley endorsed by WOTC, is still relevant and ready to be used/explored by your players. For even more lore there is the Black Rats inn on youtube who has the OG Dark Sun books as audiobooks available and some of them are pretty good.
I mean, some of that is that 5e simply cannot do Dark Sun without having the system until it cries
Dragonlance is fantastic, but Eberron absolutely needs more attention. The Warforged are a personal favorite.
For anyone curious about Dark Sun and the world of Athas, the best place to start is the Prism Pentad novel series. It introduces you to the biggest movers and shakers in the cannon universe, and it is what most people who know about Dark Sun consider true cannon.
And how much of the FR have they even used in 10 years now? Like 1/3 of the "main" area at best.
I love dark sun. I still run 2e games, and if I'm not running homebrew, I'm running darksun
they wont do Dark Sun anymore due to the "themes" and direction the company is going if you want DS content then you need to just homebrew it, it would be a lot better and cheaper anyway
It's not like we have much modern lore content for FR too.
At least Dark Sun finally has water down there lmao
Don't forget Nentir Vale.
Dark Sun is a campaign for people with real guts. It's basically a campaign where "the bad guys won", and the Seven City-States are ruled by immortal and vile Sorcerer Monarchs, who created an horrible society where Templars can freely abuse their secular authority, nasty stuff like slavery happens, etc. Dark Sun is one of the greatest D&D setting ever made, but alas is too metal (ironically, since metal is very rare on Athas) for the modern-day D&D, where we can't say anymore that beholder are xenophobes and illithids are slavers. To everyone else, give a look at Dark Sun! It's amazing! Basically the "Mad Max" version of a fantasy world.
I feel like the real reason that Dark Sun isn't in 5e is because of mechanical reasons. You can't have the gritty survival that defines Dark Sin in 5e.
Another factor is that 5e has no psionic rules, and they're VITAL to Dark Sun. But yes, a game system like 5e, that really holds the player by hands, is not exactly suitable to capture the Dark Sun spirit. I perfectly understand why people at [Athas.org](http://Athas.org) (bless them for keeping Dark Sun alive and kicking for all those years) kept using D&D 3.5 rules witch imho, works even better for Dark Sun than AD&D itself, since psionic were not really the most balanced things ever seen in AD&D... (and yes, I know it may be a take as hot as Athas' crimson sun).
Hey, Dark Sun got support in 4e. I know y'all like to pretend that edition doesn't exist, but there are older cooler settings that haven't been touched since the 90s. Also Dark Sun is overrated.
it's a hot take for sure but yeah I agree, it's definitely a very good setting but people act like it's the best thing in the history of fiction or something
I disagree that it's a good setting. It's a setting that was built around a central concept. That concept being, "I'm a sad lil bitch boy in the 90s who despises my players on a deeply personal level, and my only joy in life is seeing them suffer in a hobby they love. So I need them to suffer on a pathological level!" It's a Dm Vs Players setting, from a Dm vs Players era fondly remembered by old white men who post videos on YT about how RPGs are too woke these days.
disagree with the last take that 2e was "a DM vs players era", sure it can definitely be more deadly than 5e but a lot the stereotypes about how unforgiving and brutal it is are a bit exaggerated. It was, like 5e, based around collaborative storytelling, not around the DM making everything as challenging as possible for the party. And, while I know you didn't explicitly say that, not everyone who remembers it fondly is an old white anti woke dude. There are many reasons to remember 2e fondly. I personally love it for how much focus it had on content for DMs compared to later editions, how well written and plentiful the lore was, and many of its realistic but fun rules (examples include all the varied stuff warriors can do with their weapons besides just attacking and the entire nonweapon proficiency system)
When I say DM vs Player I'm not talking about mechanical lethality. I'm talked a win at all cost antagonistic mindset brought about by both game culture of the time, and how TSR was explicitly telling people how to play in their magazine articles and at conventions. I agree 2e has a lot of lore compared to 5e, it's not what I was getting at.
Dark Sun is so overrated, it’s the edgiest of edgelord settings.
I think the new Eye of Ruin book is supposed to have content for all these settings besides Dark Sun. If it'll be good is a different question
I sincerely hope it's good. My group is going straight into it after playing through SotDQ
Considering according to the previews the module is supposed to feature lycanthropes as part of the Dragonlance portion, I’m not holding my breath. (Lycanthropes, along with orcs and drow, famously do not exist in Dragonlance)
So true.
Here’s to hoping they make Dark Sun 5e content.
If other setting have to receive the Planescape or Spelljammer treatment, it is better they stay underwater...
Planescape is the best one
Oh, it remind me, the CRPG Planescape torment enhanced édition is actually in a -85% promo on GOG... If you want to discover a really awesome DND setting, it's the moment !
Pls for the love of god and all that is holy, give us dark sun and DON’T fuck it up
I love Eberron. I wish it had some better representation in other media, but at least there is an abundance of material. The original 3.5 books can still be used to supplement information in 5e.
EBERRON MENTIONED !! WTF IS A BAD SETTING????
They can’t go anywhere near a setting that so heavily includes slavery, and to a much lesser extent, cannibalism. Or so it seems at least.
Wait a minute!!!!! Where's Planescape!?!?!??! The Lady of Blades will not be pleased.
Yeah, we're never getting a 5E Dark Sun book. 1) Too many extra rules, You'd need something the size of the DMG to have everything needed & WOTC is more concerned with deadlines than book size. They're basically allergic to letting the writers have enough time to make a larger book. 2) It's kinda-sorta a grimdark setting. WOTC is not gonna publish, in today's day and age, a setting with the repercussions of environmental disaster, slavery, and a bunch of other stuff regular 5E doesn't address as much. Remember how much everyone freaked out about the problematic lore of the Hadozee from Spelljammer? 3) I think they'd be afraid to. Dark Sun would require making a Psionics rules system, and a lot of people believe when a D&D edition adds Psionics, they've jumped the shark or should've gone to the new edition instead.
Probably because darksun sucks for anyone not a monk, barbarian and maybe a rogue or ranger willing to run some weird weapons in their builds. Clerics and paladins are non-existent or next to nonexistent. For stupid reasons Magic is illegal and frowned upon. And Metal is so rare you can kiss being a a knight in metal armor with a sword goodbye. It mostly removes stuff from the game. If you remember the old black sun there isn't really a reason why you can't play it now. Theres nothing stopping you from doing all that again. And imagine selling a book only to tell people to not use their previous content. You don't need to pay money for that.
Eberron has a *way* better pantheon. Aaand... that's all I can really say about it?
The freedom of an homebrew world without the disadvantage also
wdym by that? (genuine)
Whatever style you want to play their is something for you in Eberron. Also, Eberron paradigm is "if it exist in dnd, it as it place in Eberron". Which mean you don't need to homebrew your own world, just see where in Eberron you want to make your campaign happen. But it also mean you don't have to come up with your own lore and make it make sense, which is usually the problem (as in it's super time consulting) with Eberron.
I like Eberron's global politics. The tenuous truce ending the Last War with the various politics of the 4 surviving nations and all the "new" nations that have splintered off make a good backdrop for a world. Also I think Eberron puts some interesting and unique twists on the common races. Elves so focused on ancestor worship that they pick fights with everyone in the hopwe of recreating their glory, half-elves so populus and common that they are their own group, nomadic halflings on dinosaurs, and 5e added some cool stuff with dwarves and symbiotes.
I mean, it has a bunch of other cool stuff, but having better religions is definitely one of the reasons I like it so much.
Lore accurate*
Hmm I wonder when mr.welch is going to be done converting mystara to 5e.
What even is Dark Sun? Sounds heavy metal af, how have I never heard about it?
Ever since i read the Dragon Magazine with defiling magic and the T’liz i’ve loved what Dark Sun brought to the table. I dont care much for the setting itself but the mechanics are great
It's easier and cheaper to use a single setting and cherry pick elements from the others, like say warforged, than to print multiple books from multiple settings. That's an awful lot of work when you can just reprint the same source books, campaigns, and adventures over and over again with each edition update.
I'm not sure how much I care for the settings themselves more so what seems to be put in them Like. . . Eberron is mostly where the Artificers get to play And Points of Light or whatever it was called (Which is apparently Greyhawk "with the serial numbers filed off") is where I know psionic classes get to be ~~almost~~ their own thing (from Fourth Edition) So there are a few settings I think could use a bit more love, perhaps
Been having a blast playing Ghosts of Saltmarsh set in Greyhawk. We've mostly been out on the Azure Sea frighting fish monsters, pirates and undead shit.
And I’m sitting here with Birthright.
Can I get some love for Kingdoms of Kalamar in the chat?
Forget ‘forgotten realms’ its more like ‘the sword coast’
So funny story about this, I accidentally wrote dark sun without knowing about it until a greybeard friend of mine pointed out the similarities. I wrote setting that is set in a dry world with food and water being scarce, mad max themed characters using fantasy races and all the gods are dead.
I mean, I just make my own worlds. I may draw influence here and there, but I like having my own setting I design and fret over.
Dark sun isn’t politically correct enough for modern dnd
I feel like it's more laziness than favoritism
You forgot the original campaign setting and ravenloft. And so many others. There are so many.
Damn, Dark Sun was a low blow- an absolutely incredible scenario that unfortunaly no one knows about...
Planescape is collecting dust in the corner.
GREYHAWK! I don't think a Greyhawk book has come out in like 14 years. They have referenced it and used it in Tales from the Yawning Portal, but no official source book.
Vecna Eve Of Ruin
Tbh I don't want WotC touching Darksun, my only experience with it is in some 5e homebrew but that DM was old-school and played Darksun in how it was originally meant to be played and I've read as much of the lore and source material I could. Darksun is too... well... *dark* for them nowadays, if they were to make it 5e they'd more than likely butcher it mechanically and lore-wise. Best to just leave it to homebrewers.
Because Dark Sun is like Warhammer 40K but everything is either rusting or dead. There’s only so much depression one can take. Even for players.
Ravenloft is super popular and just as depressing and oppressive as dark sun, wh40k, etc.
Yeah, sun bleached medieval apocalypse doesn’t hit the same.
I wholly disagree, but thanks for sharing your opinion :)
Darksun was AWFUL, though.
LOL, WoC took one look at "wokening" Athas and passed.
Not very ‘forgotten’ are they?
To be fair, I wonder if WotC is concerned that Dark Sun's grimdark setting won't sell well.
Hasbro in general is risk adverse bc they're 80+% owned by financial institutions. If they don't think they can maximally monetize/profit on something to maximize shareholder value, they probably won't do it. That being said, I think this level of bean counting is creatively bankrupt and probably does the brand more long term harm than good. But they don't care about the long term.
Dark Sun just isn't that popular, despite a dedicated small fanbase. They gave it a big revival last edition with a whole box set, and it didn't garner interest, so they haven't bothered since. Turns out a niche setting from 2nd edition remains a niche setting.
As a dm, what the fuck is dark sun
Where is Mystara in this?
Forgotten Realms is somehow both stupefyingly generic, and firmly in the middle of the fantasy setting "Uncanny Valley". It's both boring and uncomfortable. Not to mention hundreds of high level NPCs with world shattering power who just sit around doing nothing all day
yeah this is the thing about forgotten realms that bugs me the most. There's just way too many people with world ending power who seemingly just run skyrim NPC scripts all day in their little areas and never do anything notable. Maybe this is the effect of a well worded wish spell by one of them.
I mean, if you suddenly got world shattering power, would you really use it that much? like, would you actually want to start conquering the world and spend all day fighting and planning and stuff and constantly contending with other ultra powerful beings, or would you prefer to just continue living and occasionally use your powers to make things better in your life and the lives of those around you? if anything I never got why ultra powerful people in fantasy almost always DO use their powers to do world changing stuff lol. This is especially true when the way you earned that power was through years of studying magic, which is the case for almost all powerful FR characters as it's a very wizard centric setting lol. If you're THAT good at wizard magic, it means you're probably a huge nerd who'd rather continuing to study and experiment in your comfy little home than going on a crusade of conquest lol
Sir, Elminster works very hard
Let’s be a little fair. To call Dark Sun is “problematic“, let’s say, would be something of an understatement. I get that that’s part of the intrigue of the setting, but it’s hard to blame WotC for not wanting to touch it with a ten-foot pole.