Wizards in its current form couldn’t be less qualified to do a modern Dark Sun. Their sensibilities as designers are literally everything Dark Sun isn’t.
If its like 4th it will be the last book they release before One D&D. It will be a half-assed, toothless thing judging by recent trends. Better to convert the old books to an OSR.
My Late Best Friend was my DM for Athas! In our 8 year Campaign my Water Priest, my Fighter grandest achievement was to create self sustaining lake. ( Many other real life play came and went. Many Characters died or went rouge on me. My perserver became a defiler.) Seems like an impossible goal, but trust me it was not easy! We took a break and that is when Cancer found him. He died at 54 Father of 4. We gamed together for 41 years. I thank TSR for enjoyment of D&D. Enjoy every moment of gaming. I was sell my vacation property just for another week.
@@spellandshield Thanks. Been a couple of years. TY for giving me a moment to reflect on my friend and our enjoyment. Funny even before the cancer on his 50th Birthday party ( I was 49 1/2 ) we would still talk about D&D adventures we had in High School and laugh like idiots! Good times.
I had first played Dark Sun on a campaign ran by one of my friends and I remember being perplexed that I couldn't really be a "Cleric" in the conventional sense. Turns out the Priest that I ended up making became one of my favorite characters: an exiled would-be Templar who went insane after being isolated in the desert for decades, reaching his mental breaking point after witnessing the Pristine Tower, claiming the sun and the sands guided him to it's grace, essentially becoming a Cleric of Fire and Sun. I took great inspiration from Durance of Pillars of Eternity in his appearance and demeanour, whenever we got ourselves deep in the shit, he'd scoop up sand from the ground, rub it all over his bald pate and chant prayers, and the kicker is the dice would always turn up good, if not a straight 20 (this was 3.5), which almost made the whole party convert to my whack-ass pseudo-religion. Fucking hell, I miss playing Dutch in Athas, man... it was so good.
I loved Dark Sun when it came out back in the late 80's. It was so refreshing to have some mysteries to explore again in tabletop D&D. The one down side to playing a lot of D&D is that once you learn they systems, patterns and monsters, you end up knowing too much and it gets harder and harder to surprise your players. Dark Sun changed all the rules and things were a challenge again! Far more of a Sword and Sandals/Bronze Age adventure (Think old school Conan the Barbarian instead of the typical D&D setting of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table), Dark Sun stripped away the simple comforts of a having a tavern, inn and temple in every town. Just travelling between cities could be deadly. You took nothing for granted. It was essentially living in a word where the Champions of Evil won the Final Battle verses the Armies of the Light a thousand years ago, and now the world is barely hanging on through their apathy and corruption. But that's what made the players efforts to be heroic all that much more meaningful. But Dark Sun's more grim and gritty setting is a much tougher sell in todays Hasbro owned D&D setting. I've got no problems with D&D evolving to be more appealing to a wider audience. That just means more players to game with! But Athas is a much more mature setting by comparison. It's why I'm just adapting 5th Ed. to suit a home-brew game.There plenty of online materials for adapting Dark Sun. Even the 4th Ed. hardcover had a lot of great stuff in it. But with current D&D becoming a major IP for Hasbro in multi-marketing development, I have a hard time seeing them giving the Dark Sun setting much love without changing it so fundamentally as to not really be Dark Sun anymore. All we can do is wait and see.
Doing the same in my campaign- I am a fan of settings like Grimhollow and when I discovered this setting, I was instantly sold on it. It makes you feel as if you EARN every victory you have, that every victory against evil actually means something. There is acceptance of defeat and joy in triumph.
The concept of a being a glimmer of hope in a hopeless world is extraordinary. Interesting how all beings possess some level of psionic ability, even though most have it in a very limited capacity. Draws you deeper into the mystery in the history.
I agree 100%, Dark Sun was literally the second campaign setting I ever played in. The setting itself literally begs to be explored and have its secrets discovered.
I love Dark Sun. I really like the way they handle dragons, that dragons are not a different race from humanoids, but humanoids who have reached a sort of apotheosis. A dragon being something a person becomes, not something that is hatched from an egg. The Avangion metamorphosis is similar, if opposite in method and intention. Ever since I found out about these transformations, I was hooked. The unique nature of how magic works, either harming or preserving the land, is also really interesting. Magic comes only at a high price, so every spell cast has so much more substance behind it.
It's quite playable with the original rules. We did it when Dark Sun came out, and really enjoyed it. I haven't done 5th edition so I'm not sure how afar those changes might go, but i'll bet you'll find it worth it. Or try to update it. Just because the rules are a little different don't be afraid to give it a chance.
They'd have no choice but to lighten it up. And that would destroy the whole meaning of Dark Sun. Heroes in Dark Sun are much worse off than Heroes in Eberron or Faerun or hell even Greyhawk heroes have a better chance of a happy ending than Dark Sun heroes XD
I played Darksun on computer many years ago and the world immediately draws you in because it’s so brutal and untamed and has a Conan the Barbarian vibe to it. As you say the weapons you find are made made of bone and obsidian. Weapons in fantasy are usually beautiful and almost majestic looking but weapons made of Stone Age material are just savage looking. Yes there is a brutal beauty to them to be sure but what they are made of gives you a sense that it is not a mark of status or something that decorates someone’s house, it is something that bashes someone’s head in or tears their flesh apart. I actually have a obsidian club called macuahuitl in my weapon collection and it is scary looking lol.
I used to love Dark Sun back in the day. On the one hand I would love to see a new game but I worry about how it would be produced and processed now. I still would like to see it and like you said would be willing to support a kickstarter.
I'd love to see a well funded fan project to do the setting justice, but WoTC would need to significantly change their policies regarding their IPs before such a thing would be possible. A more likely alternative would be to see a new Sword and Sandals setting be developed, indoor by DS.
I echo this sentiment as well, especially after viewing the most recent Spelljammer books and the direction they've taken with them. If Darksun was chosen by wizards for a re-release, then I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the brutal and unforgiving aspects of the setting were either retconned or whitewashed to the point where little risk exists within the setting for the average hero.
Yeah, this. WotC doesn't even have evil orcs or drow now. Spelljammer was incrediibly low-effort. Darksun is a great setting but they'd absolutely butcher it today. Please leave it in the past where it was awesome rather than animate its corpse.
I wish for that often...I don't think it'll ever happen, though. 5e is completely married to the Forgettable Realms. It's sad. I mean, it's fine for the TTRPG. I have Dark Sun material from 2e and 4e and have run it in 5e. But a CRPG set in Dark Sun could be so great, if just done by the right studio with the right budget...
What you said about the Green Age leaving lots of mysteries to be explored gives a lot of freedom to the DM. You could take your favorite (or homebrewed) stock fantasy setting and just declare that THIS is was the green age in your campaign. Just stick some druidic halflings somewhere in the woods closed off from everywhere else and you're free to leave behind any unique mcguffins or stories of heroes that slew dragons and of wandering preservation wizards who overthrew defiler after defiler before that Rajaat feller finally scored a touchdown for team Evil...
Thanks for doing this. I actually have a dark sun script for a video on the back burner and your video made me realize I left out preservers when talking about magic
I remember playing a halfling that wielded a morning star made of sinew and a sand packed skull and spinal column. It would break eventually but skulls are plentiful and spines got the juice of life in them...
The art and setting is quite reminiscent of planetary romance and I think that was Broms inspiration for the art. If you look at Broms Dark Sun art and Frazettas Princess of Mars art you can clearly see it :D
This sounds very much like the world of John Norman's Gor. I am not a pen-and-paper role player anymore (have been in my misspent youth, though), but I find this strange world a lot more interesting than the usual High Fantasy setting.
Best setting ever.Loved it so much more than the others.Also Gamma World was awesome sauce.That needs a baldurs gate style game.I want a Mobile mutated spine throwing intelligent rose bush.
It's so worth revisiting that WotC would probably change core elements to make it more appealing within their current marketing scheme. Couldn't leave Spelljammer well enough alone, I've no expectation that they'd get Dark Sun right either.
Nice video. Going more in depth could be cool. Seperate videos about different city states, characters and storyline is something im missing here on yt. There are a couple of dark sun projects around, in the neverwinter nights engine.
@@spellandshield that would be awesome. Just Google dark sun nwn for more. There is also a group trying to recreate to old dark sun mmo, but dont know how that one is going.
From what WotC is doing with D&D, I think Dark Sun would be better off if individual tables adapted the 2e source material to their particular favorite edition and playstyle. I think the same for every setting. By the way, I have never been much of a fan of psionics, at least not their widespread use, so I wonder how you think Dark Sun would be without them?
Two thoughts I'm not sure Dark Sun is really suited to DnD any more. I'd love to see it receive more published support, but I think it would be better for it to have it's own rule set. As a time set, DnD is not strong with its survivalist have play. About half the PHB traces would need to be banned and replaced. Most of the MM didn't apply. And so on and so on. Better, in my opinion, to produce a boxed set with a new set of core books with rules that emphasize to grim character of Athas. Things like Piece-meal armor, the unique and dynamic weaponry, more robust roles for survival, travel, and trade. A monster Manuel that describes the unique ecology of Athas. While Dark Sun was one of TSRs must unique settings, Tekumel preceded it by a long time. Admittedly, it got it's own rule sets.
I was just thinking that I'd love to see a Forgotten Realms tv-show in the spirit of the new Rings of Power show. I feel like the feel of what they pulled off with that show would make more sense thematically in a 'The Forgotten Realms' setting... Plus they could go ahead and make-up as much as they like without having to trample all over source material, since that's the spirit of DnD already. Dark Sun would be cool too. DnD meets Mesopotamia meets Mad Max... With a dash of psionic powers, because it's the '90s and why not.
I got into Dark Sun very little until I joined a game a guy was running in Neverwinter Nights. It had started in the Forgotten Realms, party got pulled into Ravenloft, and the BBEG used Strahd's death to take over the Realm of Dread, tossing us into the far future, that showed Faerun had become Athas, with a featureless Grey cutting the plane off from all but the elemental planes. And it was awesome to experience. Especially when shenanigans happened. But as a Druid\Shifter, I took the setting by storm... and ending up eating Tecty's brain while I was a Mind Flayer. >.> That was a bad idea, but was going to be a hell of a plot point if the game had continued.
To revive Dark Sun in the current politicized Wotc would kill it,best to download it at Drive-thru and integrate it into your Osr campaign.Unless of course Goodman games would rerelease it IMHO.
I love Dark Sun's setting. def needs more love in the modern day. I always felt Conan hyborian age/mad max/ and ancient near east stuff was a major inspiration of the setting. I love the concept that magic destroys the world and those that use it are hated. Because of all the slavery stuff though, I doubt anyone would make a game in that setting right now.
There are a large number of fan creators that are putting out new Dark Sun stuff regularly. I myself have monthly releases. If it’s a video game your looking for there is a guy working on a Dark Sun game using the never winter nights engine. If I had the cash I’d buy the IP from wizard, they aren’t going to put anything out for it. As far as they are concerned it’s radioactive.
@@spellandshield Slavery, brutality, skimpy outfits, bleak setting, the whole Howardian 'sword and sorcery' vibe is the exact antithesis of what they are doing now. Even if they did to keep the IP alive they'd butcher it. Do you want to see literally every character race-, gender-, sexuality- and sexual identity -swapped as they did with Ravenloft? I'm a bisexual left-leaning old-lady gamer and even *I* didn't want to see that.
I 100% agree it needs re-released, but the current state of the world would have a fit with some of the .... lore / setting ... and it wouldnt be the same unfortunately
@@spellandshield It was for a good while my favorite CRPG. It was displaced by Divinity: Original Sin, but remains my favorite Baldur's Gate-alike. Bonus points for the thematic synergy between the music and the video subject. :D
If Dark Sun were brought back, it would almost certainly be focused primarily on the Free City of Tyr storyline. It would be how they'd try and satisfy both old fans and new fans; Dark Sun is back and the Free City is a place of political intrigue that's trying to balance it's survival and freedom in a world against much of what it stands for.
It’s a great setting… but like other titles and settings released of late, I doubt Wotc would release a non watered down version and leave some of the “problematic” concepts in it.
Dark Sun Memory: Some guy getting howling mad at the DM when they couldn't get away with drinking blood or body fluids from monsters in place of the daily water req.
I would like to have Dark Sun with 5e rules. However, Dark Sun is *so* far from what modern WotC is about that they'll either never do it or totally fuck it up. Simply put, it's too dark for WotC's current brand image.
It's not "so far from what modern WotC is about". WotC has just acknowledged that their player base isn't exclusively white dudes. Slavery is still a huge issue for some people. Releasing a product where slavery is a central theme is a huge problem.
@@devriestown yes. It is. That doesn't mean that toxicity has a place in our games and unfortunately a significant portion of our community aren't mature enough to distinguish fantasy from reality in terms of shaping their attitudes. As evidenced by your comment
As more and more people are interested in OSR and sword & sorcery fiction, I'm hoping WotC will release a new Dark Sun or at least license it out to someone else. I'm sure Goodman Games would do a good job.
Symbaroum, OSE, and a few others are for sure a way better fit than 5e. As much as I love Darksun and Planescape the two pinnacle settings of the 2e time period... unfortunately DarkSun just doesn't work with the 5e ruleset and a huge change would be needed to capture the feel of the setting and a whole another ruleset would be better. BUT as WoTC owns the property maybe a huge hack would be the best bet...maybe from 4e inspirations?
Veteran DND Players: "Yes, we would love a darker setting with an apocalypse feel again. Dark Sun was one of the most well written and interesting classic OG DND settings and I wish they'd officially convert it to 5e." Newfangled Neo-purist DND players: "But it has slavery and BIG R and that's bad." Vet: "What are you talking about? Strahd is one of the worst people in the whole game yet he's the most well known villain. Dude literally stalked and forced a woman to be with him and then took out his bullshit on a whole demiplane of people. Are you telling me that Kalak is worse than Strahd? Neophyte: "Who's Kalak?" Vet: "....omfg....."
First Campaign box I purchased! At one point I owned every thing produced. I dont play 5th or what ever but that would be something that could drag me kicking and screaming. That or Planescape.
@@spellandshield Dark sun is an incredibly brutal setting; It's like a mand max/conan the barbarian mash up where slavery is regarded not merely as acceptable but neccesary and you have a whole race of people who are bred purely to be laborers/warriors and can't reproduce by themselves while halflings consider everything else as being food. This is completely at odds with the direction that WotC seems to want to go with the game wherein they want to be more open minded and tolerant and understanding, so if darksun got an update by this crew you'd see everything made considerably more bland and banal; Like imagine that people decided to do remake of the god father trilogy and decided to make it PG rated for comparison. Further, One only needs to look at what they did with Spelljammer to be very, very concerned about them adapting extent properties. Frankly, I am terrified for dragonlance.
Looks kind of like WotC is trying to bring back(earn some money) on the old 2nd Ed. TSR Campaign settings....Ravenloft, SpellJammer, Forgotten Realms(Primarily). I was never that excited with Dark Sun universe but it was playable. That would be a hard sell for a modern Video game, but who knows. There was one game I believe from Atari? For the Amiga500? About the time of the Original Pools of Radiance? Quite a ways back. Thy for the video. Peace
Unfortuatenly few devs are willing to brave the subjects that the Dark Sun setting brings up, and WoTC already came out and stated they find the setting "problematic" and won't give it the time of day, which is unsurprising considering that company has been artistically bankrupt for more than a decade, we'll have to settle for Shattered Lands.
Amazing books!! Epic world. Rikus Sadara and Aegis are awesome!! And have better character development than most have in books.! Wish they would make a show out of it. Could be the best shit ever since GOT. And everyone talking about them not doin it bcz of slaves.....gladiators was what most actually was....and they got freed..in Tyr. Then the main characters went on n tried to liberate most of the other cities.
I also loved Dark Sun to pieces, it was an entry into the post-apocalyptic genre before it even existed. While I would love to see it again, I have to agree with other commentors who fear what presentism and the culture war would do to it. I can already hear the REEing of players, "oh, the giantocracy is oppressive!" ... "No, it's perfectly heroic for my character to trade her body for water, but only to NPCs because dealing with the actual social roleplay consequences of my character being used or owned by another player is icky. Besides, all the (male) players are creepy. I don't even really feel safe playing with them in the first place. I swear, I'm bringing bear spray to our next session and if Joe so much as looks in my direction again..."
I like the concept of dark sun, but never got to play it. In my campaign I envision Athas as the future setting for Abier. Ruled by dragons, no access to the gods, only Primal magics and in a locked crystal sphere. This would be the future where the primordials set the rules.
There are a few unofficial conversions to 5E out there, would be nice to see something official and some new lore. But at the same time the setting I don't think would survive modern PC sensibilities, the very nature of the world would trigger someone and that is probably why they've avoided bringing the setting forward.
5E is not suited for sword and sorcery or sword and sandal/Planet style. 5E is the New Mutants becoming the X Men or the Teen Titans developing into the Justice League. Plot armour, superhero like abilities, etc.
Kill death saves. Kill Goodberry's starvation cancellation ability. Kill unarmored defense, Mage armor, and laugh every time a heavy armor class asks to buy plate, or even ring mail. Get yourself some decent wilderness survival rules. I don't like short rests (Warlocks make me break out in hives), but perhaps roll hit dice for long rests...only restoring the "pool" of hit dice based when the PCs are properly fed and watered enough to be healthy.
I think One DND might be just what we need to revive interest in Dark Sun. There is some activity on Reddit and what Dark Sun needs is something many settings (like the Underdark and Planescape) need: a game developed with high level in mind. Sure, the game gives 20 levels for each class, but be honest only 14 year olds would consider that balanced and fulfilling. The amount of feats is a fraction of what it should be and caster levels and hitpoints are too high, giving too much of a difference between high and low levels. So every 20 level is an overpowered gimp of a character. A mundaner is a bag of hitpoints that relies on items for magic and a certain situation to unleash all their gimmicks. Spellcasters get increasingly more power with each spell level, don't run out as fast and get less squishy. Dark Sun has rules for combining two such epic progressions without first fixing them. And while it hints at everyone being like super strong, novels just portray noobs and gods. We can combine the strengths of various editions into a homebrew and hopefully One DND. Simple core classes that can be combined. Each having a class ability like HD (warrior) or caster level ALTERNATING with feats. Getting both at 5th rewards players constructing their characters in blocks of five lowering minmaxing dips of just one or two levels. Then replace the concept of single class with one full class and one "half class" that alternates with an ability score upgrade. Then replace the concept of multi- and dual class with a full class and both an ability score upgrade and a third benefit (two alternating half classes or a second full class). With the most simple xp progression (1kxp per level per level) the single class is about 3/2 times as high but you get 2/3 the benefits. Ability score upgrades can also be spend on supernatural abilities you can get for race, those outer planers have and passive abilities typical for high level druids and monks. Instead of dumping loads of abilities on advanced being, these are to be enjoyed a lot sooner as one slowly increases one's supernatural nature. This means a 20th level character has 10 levels to play around with as support class levels and can have decent stats regardless of starting score, race and background. Everyone needs warrior for hitpoints (I would have all start out with Con) and some psionics. I wouldn't create psionics to compete with a spellcaster, but focus and flexible support powers. Think of cantrips, outerplaner shape changing or telepathic abilities and weak but still and silent spells. I'd use a three (half) action economy, with one action used to draw power (every except defiling) and one action to cast. Psionics could then (like quickened spells) be cast as part of another action. This makes preserving slow. But defiling creates a taint, with each tainted spell slot no longer usable for preserving. It takes a year of not using each tainted spell slot to be redeemed again. Many more ideas to this, but it needs a lot of balancing and reworking spells and powers. Let me know if you're interested!
Standard D&D is “Sword and Sorcery” but Dark Sun is “Sword and sandal” or even “dagger and blood” considering how hard it is. But it is a dead campaign unless they modify it a LOT. And I love it but scratch the surface, everything that can make a modern gamer freak out is there!
WotC has hinted at possibly making a 5e version, but that's all it's been a faint hint. I have seen several attempts at recreations of Dark Sun, but they all have fallen short. Probably because of the mechanics of psionics. Then there is also the character trees that many players now days that are fearful of making multiple charcters whith the understanding that most of those characters are going to die. As stated in the video, Dark Sun is a dark and desolate place. Hope is a fantasy that will never come true..., until the events of the Prism Pentad, and that hope has soured.
I remember the Dark Sun PC games, bought and completed them both. First one's great but the second one.... it could be just as good perhaps even better but it's buggy as hell and I'm not just talking about the Thri-kreen.
There’s a decent amount of evidence that WotC wanted to feature Athas in Spelljammer, a lot of monsters featured in the bestiary are from Dark Sun, not Spelljammer, and one monster had access to Defiler magic as an attack. Also an Athasian Caravaner Background was discovered in D&D Beyond. I personally don’t think WotC would do Dark Sun justice in terms of Lore and Mechanics, and I’ve been burnt enough times by recent releases to be hesitant to pick up new books.
I think the stuff included was for a little backdoor support, toss in a few tools while they were playing with a 2e setting.. After the Hadozee debacle I'd be shocked they would even touch Athas with a 10' pole.
Wizards in its current form couldn’t be less qualified to do a modern Dark Sun. Their sensibilities as designers are literally everything Dark Sun isn’t.
Say you are a straight white male without saying you are a straight white male.
Based
@@justaguy10100 try using your words
@@fraqtl I’m good for now thanks though.
@@justaguy10100 that you were ever good remains debatable
Dark Sun is an incredibly underrated setting. I wish they resurrected it!
Its not..its was a very popular settings..its just didn't got a book for wotc because its to much not happiness and sun shin
@@yuvalgabay1023 they will not touch it because slavery is a normal thing in the setting
Maybe for OSE or C&C. Would be totally inappropriate for 5E.
Current wotc would sadly not be able to do dark sun justice.
If its like 4th it will be the last book they release before One D&D. It will be a half-assed, toothless thing judging by recent trends.
Better to convert the old books to an OSR.
My Late Best Friend was my DM for Athas! In our 8 year Campaign my Water Priest, my Fighter grandest achievement was to create self sustaining lake. ( Many other real life play came and went. Many Characters died or went rouge on me. My perserver became a defiler.) Seems like an impossible goal, but trust me it was not easy! We took a break and that is when Cancer found him. He died at 54 Father of 4. We gamed together for 41 years. I thank TSR for enjoyment of D&D. Enjoy every moment of gaming. I was sell my vacation property just for another week.
Sorry to hear about your loss.
@@spellandshield Thanks. Been a couple of years. TY for giving me a moment to reflect on my friend and our enjoyment. Funny even before the cancer on his 50th Birthday party ( I was 49 1/2 ) we would still talk about D&D adventures we had in High School and laugh like idiots! Good times.
I had first played Dark Sun on a campaign ran by one of my friends and I remember being perplexed that I couldn't really be a "Cleric" in the conventional sense.
Turns out the Priest that I ended up making became one of my favorite characters: an exiled would-be Templar who went insane after being isolated in the desert for decades, reaching his mental breaking point after witnessing the Pristine Tower, claiming the sun and the sands guided him to it's grace, essentially becoming a Cleric of Fire and Sun.
I took great inspiration from Durance of Pillars of Eternity in his appearance and demeanour, whenever we got ourselves deep in the shit, he'd scoop up sand from the ground, rub it all over his bald pate and chant prayers, and the kicker is the dice would always turn up good, if not a straight 20 (this was 3.5), which almost made the whole party convert to my whack-ass pseudo-religion.
Fucking hell, I miss playing Dutch in Athas, man... it was so good.
After Spelljammer and Ravenloft I fear it may be more merciful for them not to touch Dark Sun.
Agreed
What did they do to Spelljammer?
@@samuelrodriguez9801 They half assed it mostly. For example the ship rules went form like 30 pages to 1.5 pages.
@@Ahglock I see.
@@samuelrodriguez9801 they also took out the Hadozee and other aspects because they were deemed "problematic"
I loved Dark Sun when it came out back in the late 80's. It was so refreshing to have some mysteries to explore again in tabletop D&D. The one down side to playing a lot of D&D is that once you learn they systems, patterns and monsters, you end up knowing too much and it gets harder and harder to surprise your players. Dark Sun changed all the rules and things were a challenge again! Far more of a Sword and Sandals/Bronze Age adventure (Think old school Conan the Barbarian instead of the typical D&D setting of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table), Dark Sun stripped away the simple comforts of a having a tavern, inn and temple in every town. Just travelling between cities could be deadly. You took nothing for granted. It was essentially living in a word where the Champions of Evil won the Final Battle verses the Armies of the Light a thousand years ago, and now the world is barely hanging on through their apathy and corruption. But that's what made the players efforts to be heroic all that much more meaningful. But Dark Sun's more grim and gritty setting is a much tougher sell in todays Hasbro owned D&D setting. I've got no problems with D&D evolving to be more appealing to a wider audience. That just means more players to game with! But Athas is a much more mature setting by comparison. It's why I'm just adapting 5th Ed. to suit a home-brew game.There plenty of online materials for adapting Dark Sun. Even the 4th Ed. hardcover had a lot of great stuff in it. But with current D&D becoming a major IP for Hasbro in multi-marketing development, I have a hard time seeing them giving the Dark Sun setting much love without changing it so fundamentally as to not really be Dark Sun anymore. All we can do is wait and see.
Doing the same in my campaign- I am a fan of settings like Grimhollow and when I discovered this setting, I was instantly sold on it. It makes you feel as if you EARN every victory you have, that every victory against evil actually means something. There is acceptance of defeat and joy in triumph.
I wouldn't say more mature; Different audiences, different themes, more niche.
The concept of a being a glimmer of hope in a hopeless world is extraordinary. Interesting how all beings possess some level of psionic ability, even though most have it in a very limited capacity. Draws you deeper into the mystery in the history.
I agree 100%, Dark Sun was literally the second campaign setting I ever played in. The setting itself literally begs to be explored and have its secrets discovered.
I love Dark Sun. I really like the way they handle dragons, that dragons are not a different race from humanoids, but humanoids who have reached a sort of apotheosis. A dragon being something a person becomes, not something that is hatched from an egg. The Avangion metamorphosis is similar, if opposite in method and intention. Ever since I found out about these transformations, I was hooked. The unique nature of how magic works, either harming or preserving the land, is also really interesting. Magic comes only at a high price, so every spell cast has so much more substance behind it.
It always struck me as the D&D variant of the Hyperion Age giving some love to Conan and that setting. Many great adventures. Definitely worth a look.
I always played homemade worlds and never really got into the origin worlds. Love that you can bring them all here and introduce us to them.
I love the Darksun Setting I would love updated rules but I don't believe the Current Wizards of the Coast is Capability or Will of making it.
They’re going to do it, and it’s going to be bastardized garbage unfortunately.
I believe they could but hmm is it profitable
It's quite playable with the original rules. We did it when Dark Sun came out, and really enjoyed it. I haven't done 5th edition so I'm not sure how afar those changes might go, but i'll bet you'll find it worth it. Or try to update it. Just because the rules are a little different don't be afraid to give it a chance.
They'd have no choice but to lighten it up. And that would destroy the whole meaning of Dark Sun. Heroes in Dark Sun are much worse off than Heroes in Eberron or Faerun or hell even Greyhawk heroes have a better chance of a happy ending than Dark Sun heroes XD
@@mordredoforkney6185 no they have the choice, they are just aren't willing to make it. :P
I played Darksun on computer many years ago and the world immediately draws you in because it’s so brutal and untamed and has a Conan the Barbarian vibe to it. As you say the weapons you find are made made of bone and obsidian. Weapons in fantasy are usually beautiful and almost majestic looking but weapons made of Stone Age material are just savage looking. Yes there is a brutal beauty to them to be sure but what they are made of gives you a sense that it is not a mark of status or something that decorates someone’s house, it is something that bashes someone’s head in or tears their flesh apart. I actually have a obsidian club called macuahuitl in my weapon collection and it is scary looking lol.
I used to love Dark Sun back in the day. On the one hand I would love to see a new game but I worry about how it would be produced and processed now. I still would like to see it and like you said would be willing to support a kickstarter.
Oh yeah, if its anything like the first pillars game from Obsidian how well that was received via KS I would love that idea!
I'd love to see a well funded fan project to do the setting justice, but WoTC would need to significantly change their policies regarding their IPs before such a thing would be possible. A more likely alternative would be to see a new Sword and Sandals setting be developed, indoor by DS.
Modern Game without monetization, free to play mechanics and "personalization" option masquerading nickel and diming techniques. One can only hope.
I echo this sentiment as well, especially after viewing the most recent Spelljammer books and the direction they've taken with them. If Darksun was chosen by wizards for a re-release, then I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the brutal and unforgiving aspects of the setting were either retconned or whitewashed to the point where little risk exists within the setting for the average hero.
Yeah, this. WotC doesn't even have evil orcs or drow now. Spelljammer was incrediibly low-effort. Darksun is a great setting but they'd absolutely butcher it today. Please leave it in the past where it was awesome rather than animate its corpse.
Dark sun needs a crpg adaptation for sure.
It had 3 DOS games during the 90s. Dark Sun Shattered Lands, Wake of the Ravager and Online.
I wish for that often...I don't think it'll ever happen, though. 5e is completely married to the Forgettable Realms. It's sad. I mean, it's fine for the TTRPG. I have Dark Sun material from 2e and 4e and have run it in 5e. But a CRPG set in Dark Sun could be so great, if just done by the right studio with the right budget...
Ooooooo some new lore to hyper-fixate on. I hadn't dug too much into this setting-- but I'm sold now.
Thank you for the Dark Sun video. One the most underrated campaign settings dealing with day to day survival.
It's not under rated. It was extremely popular. It's just not appropriate for today's social landscape.
What you said about the Green Age leaving lots of mysteries to be explored gives a lot of freedom to the DM. You could take your favorite (or homebrewed) stock fantasy setting and just declare that THIS is was the green age in your campaign. Just stick some druidic halflings somewhere in the woods closed off from everywhere else and you're free to leave behind any unique mcguffins or stories of heroes that slew dragons and of wandering preservation wizards who overthrew defiler after defiler before that Rajaat feller finally scored a touchdown for team Evil...
Beautifully explained. I love the artwork. Enjoyed every second, thanks!
Thanks for doing this. I actually have a dark sun script for a video on the back burner and your video made me realize I left out preservers when talking about magic
Brom artwork of Dark Sun has always been awesome to me growing up.
Best intro to Dark Sun I ever heard. Would so love to dig back into this world.
Thanks for the explainer man! I’d heard about this setting but I appreciate you really going in-depth on it, sounds cool! God bless you :)
I remember playing a halfling that wielded a morning star made of sinew and a sand packed skull and spinal column. It would break eventually but skulls are plentiful and spines got the juice of life in them...
The art and setting is quite reminiscent of planetary romance and I think that was Broms inspiration for the art. If you look at Broms Dark Sun art and Frazettas Princess of Mars art you can clearly see it :D
You may want to look at the TTRPG Dragon Kings by Tim Brown Part of the original DS design team. It's a spiritual successor to Dark Sun.
I really enjoyed the campaign I was in back in the day. An entire new world, new rules for survival. New races. I played a Thri Kreen and loved it.
I've never heard of this before, I'm glad you did a video on it!!
Not a fan of sand myself, but it seems like a very rich setting!! Hope some developer gives it a shot.
I hate sand too. It's coarse and rough and irritating. And it gets everywhere.
Youngling killer hands typed this.
Every day that goes by without a new Dark Sun book is a day where you can ask "Why do we even bother with TTRPGs?"
InXile or Obsidian would be a great developer for an rpg in this setting.
This sounds very much like the world of John Norman's Gor. I am not a pen-and-paper role player anymore (have been in my misspent youth, though), but I find this strange world a lot more interesting than the usual High Fantasy setting.
Best setting ever.Loved it so much more than the others.Also Gamma World was awesome sauce.That needs a baldurs gate style game.I want a Mobile mutated spine throwing intelligent rose bush.
It's absolutely deserving. Even the idea of this type of setting is really worth revisiting.
It's so worth revisiting that WotC would probably change core elements to make it more appealing within their current marketing scheme. Couldn't leave Spelljammer well enough alone, I've no expectation that they'd get Dark Sun right either.
This is one of the best game settings. I still think 2nd Ed. Psionics was perfect and the Dark Sun Campaign rocked!
I can't separate Mad Max and Dark Sun in my mind, but that makes me love Dark Sun even more.
I cannot express how much I love Dark Sun and the world of Athis.
Gerald Brom, one of my favorite fantasy artists is the author of many of the images in this video.
I have been wondering if savage worlds could be a good medium for it. The system seems like a okay sandbox set of rules that could handle it.
Fingers crossed that we'll get to see it get an adaptation in the future.
Nice video. Going more in depth could be cool. Seperate videos about different city states, characters and storyline is something im missing here on yt.
There are a couple of dark sun projects around, in the neverwinter nights engine.
I was not aware there is a Neverwinter project. I would love to see it in the Infinity Engine.
@@spellandshield that would be awesome.
Just Google dark sun nwn for more. There is also a group trying to recreate to old dark sun mmo, but dont know how that one is going.
Love Dark Sun. So unique and interesting. I can't believe it kind of disappeared over the years.
Really? With all of the slavery, misogyny and all the rest? You can't believe that's disappeared?
From what WotC is doing with D&D, I think Dark Sun would be better off if individual tables adapted the 2e source material to their particular favorite edition and playstyle. I think the same for every setting. By the way, I have never been much of a fan of psionics, at least not their widespread use, so I wonder how you think Dark Sun would be without them?
I can't fathom how many hours I pumped into the CRPG Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (1993). Man I loved that game.
An official low fantasy dnd setting would be pretty dope
considering Savage Worlds has been scoping up IP such as Rifts, Battlelords of the 23rd Century and Pathfinder, Dark Sun would be a perfect fit.
Two thoughts
I'm not sure Dark Sun is really suited to DnD any more. I'd love to see it receive more published support, but I think it would be better for it to have it's own rule set. As a time set, DnD is not strong with its survivalist have play. About half the PHB traces would need to be banned and replaced. Most of the MM didn't apply. And so on and so on.
Better, in my opinion, to produce a boxed set with a new set of core books with rules that emphasize to grim character of Athas. Things like Piece-meal armor, the unique and dynamic weaponry, more robust roles for survival, travel, and trade. A monster Manuel that describes the unique ecology of Athas.
While Dark Sun was one of TSRs must unique settings, Tekumel preceded it by a long time. Admittedly, it got it's own rule sets.
I was just thinking that I'd love to see a Forgotten Realms tv-show in the spirit of the new Rings of Power show.
I feel like the feel of what they pulled off with that show would make more sense thematically in a 'The Forgotten Realms' setting... Plus they could go ahead and make-up as much as they like without having to trample all over source material, since that's the spirit of DnD already.
Dark Sun would be cool too. DnD meets Mesopotamia meets Mad Max... With a dash of psionic powers, because it's the '90s and why not.
I liked Dark Sun myself. I always saw it as a D&D in the Dune universe.
I got into Dark Sun very little until I joined a game a guy was running in Neverwinter Nights. It had started in the Forgotten Realms, party got pulled into Ravenloft, and the BBEG used Strahd's death to take over the Realm of Dread, tossing us into the far future, that showed Faerun had become Athas, with a featureless Grey cutting the plane off from all but the elemental planes. And it was awesome to experience. Especially when shenanigans happened. But as a Druid\Shifter, I took the setting by storm... and ending up eating Tecty's brain while I was a Mind Flayer. >.> That was a bad idea, but was going to be a hell of a plot point if the game had continued.
I would love to try dark sun in gurps. It would definitely be a lot of fun
I was very inspired by Dark Sun since learning about in 1994.
To revive Dark Sun in the current politicized Wotc would kill it,best to download it at Drive-thru and integrate it into your Osr campaign.Unless of course Goodman games would rerelease it IMHO.
You may have missed the reaction to the Hadozee. Suffice to say that no setting with slavery as a core component is going to be embraced by WotC.
Dark Sun is awesome. Despite how great DS is, I have zero desire in seeing a WOTC version of the setting.
They already made a wizards of the coast version. I own the fourth edition book for it.
@@lberghaus sorry i should have been more specific. I have no desire to see a 5e version of Darksun done by WOTC.
I love Dark Sun's setting. def needs more love in the modern day.
I always felt Conan hyborian age/mad max/ and ancient near east stuff was a major inspiration of the setting.
I love the concept that magic destroys the world and those that use it are hated.
Because of all the slavery stuff though, I doubt anyone would make a game in that setting right now.
I can dig it. Everyone would be making Muad'Dib, Bene Gesserit sisters, and Fremen, but I can dig it.
There are a large number of fan creators that are putting out new Dark Sun stuff regularly. I myself have monthly releases. If it’s a video game your looking for there is a guy working on a Dark Sun game using the never winter nights engine.
If I had the cash I’d buy the IP from wizard, they aren’t going to put anything out for it. As far as they are concerned it’s radioactive.
Why do you think they think it is radioactive?
@@spellandshield Slavery, brutality, skimpy outfits, bleak setting, the whole Howardian 'sword and sorcery' vibe is the exact antithesis of what they are doing now. Even if they did to keep the IP alive they'd butcher it. Do you want to see literally every character race-, gender-, sexuality- and sexual identity -swapped as they did with Ravenloft? I'm a bisexual left-leaning old-lady gamer and even *I* didn't want to see that.
I 100% agree it needs re-released, but the current state of the world would have a fit with some of the .... lore / setting ... and it wouldnt be the same unfortunately
I love this setting I would love to see a 5e edition
Are you, by chance, using the soundtrack to the Tyranny CRPG in the background?
I am. It is a great game, with great music.
@@spellandshield It was for a good while my favorite CRPG. It was displaced by Divinity: Original Sin, but remains my favorite Baldur's Gate-alike. Bonus points for the thematic synergy between the music and the video subject. :D
@@brianjennings I kind of see some similarities between the settings.
If Dark Sun were brought back, it would almost certainly be focused primarily on the Free City of Tyr storyline. It would be how they'd try and satisfy both old fans and new fans; Dark Sun is back and the Free City is a place of political intrigue that's trying to balance it's survival and freedom in a world against much of what it stands for.
It’s a great setting… but like other titles and settings released of late, I doubt Wotc would release a non watered down version and leave some of the “problematic” concepts in it.
I’ve tried creating a 5e handbook for Dark Sun, but I just haven’t had the time to flesh it out.
Given WotC's handling of Spelljammer I really hope they never touch this setting.
Dark Sun Memory: Some guy getting howling mad at the DM when they couldn't get away with drinking blood or body fluids from monsters in place of the daily water req.
I would like to have Dark Sun with 5e rules. However, Dark Sun is *so* far from what modern WotC is about that they'll either never do it or totally fuck it up. Simply put, it's too dark for WotC's current brand image.
It's not "so far from what modern WotC is about". WotC has just acknowledged that their player base isn't exclusively white dudes. Slavery is still a huge issue for some people. Releasing a product where slavery is a central theme is a huge problem.
@@fraqtlLOL ITS A
(FANTASY GAME)
@@devriestown yes. It is. That doesn't mean that toxicity has a place in our games and unfortunately a significant portion of our community aren't mature enough to distinguish fantasy from reality in terms of shaping their attitudes.
As evidenced by your comment
Or as the old Yamara comic dubbed it the world of Hard Fun. But yes a great setting and played lots of fun sessions back in the 90s.
As more and more people are interested in OSR and sword & sorcery fiction, I'm hoping WotC will release a new Dark Sun or at least license it out to someone else. I'm sure Goodman Games would do a good job.
Agreed, I absolutely love Dark Sun.
Dark Sun doesn't really work in the D&D ruleset - the Symbaroum corruption mechanic would work pretty well for this I think
Symbaroum, OSE, and a few others are for sure a way better fit than 5e. As much as I love Darksun and Planescape the two pinnacle settings of the 2e time period... unfortunately DarkSun just doesn't work with the 5e ruleset and a huge change would be needed to capture the feel of the setting and a whole another ruleset would be better. BUT as WoTC owns the property maybe a huge hack would be the best bet...maybe from 4e inspirations?
love Broms art for this setting
Veteran DND Players: "Yes, we would love a darker setting with an apocalypse feel again. Dark Sun was one of the most well written and interesting classic OG DND settings and I wish they'd officially convert it to 5e."
Newfangled Neo-purist DND players: "But it has slavery and BIG R and that's bad."
Vet: "What are you talking about? Strahd is one of the worst people in the whole game yet he's the most well known villain. Dude literally stalked and forced a woman to be with him and then took out his bullshit on a whole demiplane of people. Are you telling me that Kalak is worse than Strahd?
Neophyte: "Who's Kalak?"
Vet: "....omfg....."
Nice choice of music
If you want something along the lines of steampunk mixed with magic, then what about Eberron? Anybody still playing that?
First Campaign box I purchased! At one point I owned every thing produced. I dont play 5th or what ever but that would be something that could drag me kicking and screaming. That or Planescape.
I agree. One of the best settings ever.
Doesn’t Monty cook games offer a re-invisioning of this brand with its “invisible sun” game?
"Dark sun, dark sun over paradise!!!"
Dark sun is an amazing setting that I in no way want the current staff at WotC to work on because their is no way they would be able to get it right.
Why do you think they would not?
@@spellandshield Dark sun is an incredibly brutal setting; It's like a mand max/conan the barbarian mash up where slavery is regarded not merely as acceptable but neccesary and you have a whole race of people who are bred purely to be laborers/warriors and can't reproduce by themselves while halflings consider everything else as being food.
This is completely at odds with the direction that WotC seems to want to go with the game wherein they want to be more open minded and tolerant and understanding, so if darksun got an update by this crew you'd see everything made considerably more bland and banal; Like imagine that people decided to do remake of the god father trilogy and decided to make it PG rated for comparison.
Further, One only needs to look at what they did with Spelljammer to be very, very concerned about them adapting extent properties. Frankly, I am terrified for dragonlance.
Looks kind of like WotC is trying to bring back(earn some money) on the old 2nd Ed. TSR Campaign settings....Ravenloft, SpellJammer, Forgotten Realms(Primarily). I was never that excited with Dark Sun universe but it was playable. That would be a hard sell for a modern Video game, but who knows. There was one game I believe from Atari? For the Amiga500? About the time of the Original Pools of Radiance? Quite a ways back. Thy for the video. Peace
Unfortuatenly few devs are willing to brave the subjects that the Dark Sun setting brings up, and WoTC already came out and stated they find the setting "problematic" and won't give it the time of day, which is unsurprising considering that company has been artistically bankrupt for more than a decade, we'll have to settle for Shattered Lands.
Amazing books!! Epic world. Rikus Sadara and Aegis are awesome!! And have better character development than most have in books.! Wish they would make a show out of it. Could be the best shit ever since GOT. And everyone talking about them not doin it bcz of slaves.....gladiators was what most actually was....and they got freed..in Tyr. Then the main characters went on n tried to liberate most of the other cities.
I loved Dark Sun and Dragonlance.
I had cards from Dark sun. I had no Idea what they where from
Are there miniatures for this setting?
I loved Dark Sun back in the day
I also loved Dark Sun to pieces, it was an entry into the post-apocalyptic genre before it even existed.
While I would love to see it again, I have to agree with other commentors who fear what presentism and the culture war would do to it. I can already hear the REEing of players, "oh, the giantocracy is oppressive!" ... "No, it's perfectly heroic for my character to trade her body for water, but only to NPCs because dealing with the actual social roleplay consequences of my character being used or owned by another player is icky. Besides, all the (male) players are creepy. I don't even really feel safe playing with them in the first place. I swear, I'm bringing bear spray to our next session and if Joe so much as looks in my direction again..."
cool artwork
Dark Sun "too masculine", "too problematic" to nowadays WotC
I like the concept of dark sun, but never got to play it. In my campaign I envision Athas as the future setting for Abier. Ruled by dragons, no access to the gods, only Primal magics and in a locked crystal sphere. This would be the future where the primordials set the rules.
There are a few unofficial conversions to 5E out there, would be nice to see something official and some new lore. But at the same time the setting I don't think would survive modern PC sensibilities, the very nature of the world would trigger someone and that is probably why they've avoided bringing the setting forward.
5E is not suited for sword and sorcery or sword and sandal/Planet style. 5E is the New Mutants becoming the X Men or the Teen Titans developing into the Justice League. Plot armour, superhero like abilities, etc.
Kill death saves. Kill Goodberry's starvation cancellation ability. Kill unarmored defense, Mage armor, and laugh every time a heavy armor class asks to buy plate, or even ring mail. Get yourself some decent wilderness survival rules.
I don't like short rests (Warlocks make me break out in hives), but perhaps roll hit dice for long rests...only restoring the "pool" of hit dice based when the PCs are properly fed and watered enough to be healthy.
@@Titan360 then I'll play any other D&D versión. Also I should kill most cantrips and every magical feat they earn.
I think One DND might be just what we need to revive interest in Dark Sun. There is some activity on Reddit and what Dark Sun needs is something many settings (like the Underdark and Planescape) need: a game developed with high level in mind.
Sure, the game gives 20 levels for each class, but be honest only 14 year olds would consider that balanced and fulfilling. The amount of feats is a fraction of what it should be and caster levels and hitpoints are too high, giving too much of a difference between high and low levels.
So every 20 level is an overpowered gimp of a character. A mundaner is a bag of hitpoints that relies on items for magic and a certain situation to unleash all their gimmicks. Spellcasters get increasingly more power with each spell level, don't run out as fast and get less squishy.
Dark Sun has rules for combining two such epic progressions without first fixing them. And while it hints at everyone being like super strong, novels just portray noobs and gods.
We can combine the strengths of various editions into a homebrew and hopefully One DND. Simple core classes that can be combined. Each having a class ability like HD (warrior) or caster level ALTERNATING with feats. Getting both at 5th rewards players constructing their characters in blocks of five lowering minmaxing dips of just one or two levels.
Then replace the concept of single class with one full class and one "half class" that alternates with an ability score upgrade.
Then replace the concept of multi- and dual class with a full class and both an ability score upgrade and a third benefit (two alternating half classes or a second full class). With the most simple xp progression (1kxp per level per level) the single class is about 3/2 times as high but you get 2/3 the benefits.
Ability score upgrades can also be spend on supernatural abilities you can get for race, those outer planers have and passive abilities typical for high level druids and monks. Instead of dumping loads of abilities on advanced being, these are to be enjoyed a lot sooner as one slowly increases one's supernatural nature.
This means a 20th level character has 10 levels to play around with as support class levels and can have decent stats regardless of starting score, race and background. Everyone needs warrior for hitpoints (I would have all start out with Con) and some psionics.
I wouldn't create psionics to compete with a spellcaster, but focus and flexible support powers. Think of cantrips, outerplaner shape changing or telepathic abilities and weak but still and silent spells.
I'd use a three (half) action economy, with one action used to draw power (every except defiling) and one action to cast. Psionics could then (like quickened spells) be cast as part of another action. This makes preserving slow. But defiling creates a taint, with each tainted spell slot no longer usable for preserving. It takes a year of not using each tainted spell slot to be redeemed again.
Many more ideas to this, but it needs a lot of balancing and reworking spells and powers. Let me know if you're interested!
Standard D&D is “Sword and Sorcery” but Dark Sun is “Sword and sandal” or even “dagger and blood” considering how hard it is. But it is a dead campaign unless they modify it a LOT. And I love it but scratch the surface, everything that can make a modern gamer freak out is there!
I have the books. It was brutal.
No gods can intervene on Athos?
Thats hardcore o.O
Kinda sounds like Fallout with magic and low technology.
WotC has hinted at possibly making a 5e version, but that's all it's been a faint hint. I have seen several attempts at recreations of Dark Sun, but they all have fallen short. Probably because of the mechanics of psionics. Then there is also the character trees that many players now days that are fearful of making multiple charcters whith the understanding that most of those characters are going to die. As stated in the video, Dark Sun is a dark and desolate place. Hope is a fantasy that will never come true..., until the events of the Prism Pentad, and that hope has soured.
Athas is IMHO the best, most well designed setting ever. For the simple reason that it is not a simple LOTR/european fantasy trope.
I remember the Dark Sun PC games, bought and completed them both. First one's great but the second one.... it could be just as good perhaps even better but it's buggy as hell and I'm not just talking about the Thri-kreen.
There’s a decent amount of evidence that WotC wanted to feature Athas in Spelljammer, a lot of monsters featured in the bestiary are from Dark Sun, not Spelljammer, and one monster had access to Defiler magic as an attack. Also an Athasian Caravaner Background was discovered in D&D Beyond. I personally don’t think WotC would do Dark Sun justice in terms of Lore and Mechanics, and I’ve been burnt enough times by recent releases to be hesitant to pick up new books.
I think the stuff included was for a little backdoor support, toss in a few tools while they were playing with a 2e setting.. After the Hadozee debacle I'd be shocked they would even touch Athas with a 10' pole.