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So WotC is bringing Dark Sun back.

Will be there first product rated 18+ and will have warnings on the books to protect all the sensitive wieners out there.

Will it be butchered, and how badly so? I'm mainly happy cause this means that it opens the door for an Owlcat rpg, which I would kill for.
 
Whats this acronym? Please OP mention it in your post somewhere

The owners of the D&D property, Wizards of the Coast, who are notoriously known for being asshats to game developers and not having a clue about the games industry and how it operates.

They are bringing back a very dark post apocalyptic D&D campaign called "Dark Sun" and OP is speculating / wishing Owlcat Games, known for crpgs, to get a shot at developing a game based off of it, aside from the comics and board game box sets.
 
For anyone out of the loop:

Article:
D&D's Dark Sun Is Back With a Brutal and Bloody 18+ Rating

Article Summary
  • Wizards of the Coast confirmed that Dark Sun is officially returning, with new content for D&D 5.5E.
  • It will be D&D's first mature-rated (18+) setting, as it contains violence, nudity and profanity.
  • The release includes five products totalling 500 pages: a setting expansion (Edge of Oblivion), gameplay expansion (Blood and Power), map pack, DM Screen and a limited edition reprint of the 2024 Player's Handbook with new art.
  • Dark Sun anchors the new Season of Survival, which kicks off in February 2027.

What is Dark Sun?
Dark Sun is a Dungeons & Dragons setting that takes place on the planet Athas, a once green and verdant paradise that has been reduced to a barren wasteland in the wake of a magical apocalypse. The survivors – composed of the traditional D&D races of elves, dwarves, halflings and humans, along with several other species such as Thri-Kreens and Muls – now struggle to survive the inhospitable environment and the tyrannical rule of a group of warring city states.

Why is the new Dark Sun material mature-rated for 18+?
Wizards of the Coast confirmed Dark Sun is being developed as D&D's first mature-rated (18+) setting, going so far as to say their legal department required a shrink-wrap and an on-package warning label. According to the team, the books will include "profanity and depictions of bloodshed, nudity and sexuality," a notable departure from the otherwise family-friendly tone D&D has been going for in recent years. The Wizards of the Coast team was also explicit that Dark Sun is leaning heavily into its brutal themes, rather than high fantasy. During the pre-Gen Con press conference, D&D Executive Producer Greg Bilsland noted that "This isn't the world that you save, it's a world you survive."


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It will be interesting to see how Wizards of the Coast handles this. I'll be pleasantly suprised if they don't fuck it up in some way in the name of "modern audiences".

As for a theoretical video game, yeah both Owlcat and Larian could probably pull it off.
 
Really? I thought Dark Sun was no bueno today because of genocide, slavery and other stuff.
Except for the DOS game, I never played it. But I know there are enthusiasts keeping the setting alive with new homebrew. Same with other controversial settings like Al-Qadim.

If Santa is listening, please give Tribute Capcom's D&D license to make a proper third game in the series, based on the old Mystara stuff. No fucking tieflings!
 
The beautiful thing about DnD is that no matter what WotC tries to do, in the end they're never going to be more powerful than the DM. Species? Nope, still called Races in my game. Orcs are inherently evil? Nope, they're still a savage warmongering race.

I'm glad Dark Sun is coming bad, and I'll be sure to use my Godlike powers to change whatever stupid shit they inject into it.
 
For anyone out of the loop:

Article:
D&D's Dark Sun Is Back With a Brutal and Bloody 18+ Rating

Article Summary
  • Wizards of the Coast confirmed that Dark Sun is officially returning, with new content for D&D 5.5E.
  • It will be D&D's first mature-rated (18+) setting, as it contains violence, nudity and profanity.
  • The release includes five products totalling 500 pages: a setting expansion (Edge of Oblivion), gameplay expansion (Blood and Power), map pack, DM Screen and a limited edition reprint of the 2024 Player's Handbook with new art.
  • Dark Sun anchors the new Season of Survival, which kicks off in February 2027.

What is Dark Sun?
Dark Sun is a Dungeons & Dragons setting that takes place on the planet Athas, a once green and verdant paradise that has been reduced to a barren wasteland in the wake of a magical apocalypse. The survivors – composed of the traditional D&D races of elves, dwarves, halflings and humans, along with several other species such as Thri-Kreens and Muls – now struggle to survive the inhospitable environment and the tyrannical rule of a group of warring city states.

Why is the new Dark Sun material mature-rated for 18+?
Wizards of the Coast confirmed Dark Sun is being developed as D&D's first mature-rated (18+) setting, going so far as to say their legal department required a shrink-wrap and an on-package warning label. According to the team, the books will include "profanity and depictions of bloodshed, nudity and sexuality," a notable departure from the otherwise family-friendly tone D&D has been going for in recent years. The Wizards of the Coast team was also explicit that Dark Sun is leaning heavily into its brutal themes, rather than high fantasy. During the pre-Gen Con press conference, D&D Executive Producer Greg Bilsland noted that "This isn't the world that you save, it's a world you survive."


------------------------

It will be interesting to see how Wizards of the Coast handles this. I'll be pleasantly suprised if they don't fuck it up in some way in the name of "modern audiences".

As for a theoretical video game, yeah both Owlcat and Larian could probably pull it off.

lol, thanks for putting in actual info that my lazy ass didn't use in the op.
 
WotC has been butchering DnD and Larian wants nothing more to do with them after BG3 so I wouldn't expect much good to come out of it.

I don't want Larian doing Dark Sun. I enjoyed BG3 more than I thought I would, but it was severely lacking in some areas. Writing would go from decent to "let's include a Mind Flayer romance option." WTF is that shit. Everybody got a hard on for Shadowheart, but I thought the companions and their writing were TERRIBLE. Owlcat excels at this.
Party size of 4 blows. Gimme six and balance the game around that.
Level cap of 12 sucks, especially when there will be no follow up to transfer parties too.

After the phenomenal job Owlcat did with Pathfinder and 40k, I really feel like they would knock this outta the park.
 
Didn't Dark Sun has slavery and stuff like that? Is Wokes of the Coast really going to keep it the same?
Or are they now "involuntary but fairly compensated workers"?
 
Owlcat excels at this.

Excels at what? Writing garbage? The whole time I played Wrath of the Righteous, I kept on thinking "WTF are these characters saying? Who acts like this?"

Not to defend Baldur's Gay. I'm only enjoying it right now because I modded in magical laser rifles, and used a whole pack of mods that de-gayifies the entire game. The fact that I'm playing something that's causing someone at Larian rectal pinching is basically one of the only things I can enjoy about the experience.

RPGs are in a bad spot, and have been for, quite frankly, a long time.

As for Dark Sun, to hear WOTC is working on this right now really makes me go "hmm." I have literally no idea what to expect. I mean, they're kinda closet into depravity, so I guess they could just go for the pure-raunch angle, and try to sell it as "dark fantasy." At this point, they're basically an advertising arm for the kink brigade, so....
 
I don't want Larian doing Dark Sun. I enjoyed BG3 more than I thought I would, but it was severely lacking in some areas. Writing would go from decent to "let's include a Mind Flayer romance option." WTF is that shit. Everybody got a hard on for Shadowheart, but I thought the companions and their writing were TERRIBLE. Owlcat excels at this.
Party size of 4 blows. Gimme six and balance the game around that.
Level cap of 12 sucks, especially when there will be no follow up to transfer parties too.

After the phenomenal job Owlcat did with Pathfinder and 40k, I really feel like they would knock this outta the park.
Playable cast in BG3 IMO is objectively terrible. Nowhere near as memorable as characters from the Golden Age of Bioware DnD adjacent RPGs. People like Shadowheart because she is the most attractive option out of a ugly Ensemble.

Game has a Mindflayer arc that should only take 1 act instead of 3. It becomes one long boring fetch quest. On top of this you never really reach Epic level unlike say Neverwinter Nights. And NWN has multiple modules to play and then hundreds of fanmade modules as well. BG3 only has one campaign so...

But that's mostly an issue that BG3 uses a inferior ruleset. 5e is garbage compared to 3.5 or even 4th edition.

I've heard great things about Rogue Trader. Better story, pacing, isn't a glorified dating sim, intricate systems, you get your own battle cruiser(that you manage and command ho wow) for space battles and much more. When they stop adding DLC to it I'll jump in proper.
 
Excels at what? Writing garbage? The whole time I played Wrath of the Righteous, I kept on thinking "WTF are these characters saying? Who acts like this?"

Not to defend Baldur's Gay. I'm only enjoying it right now because I modded in magical laser rifles, and used a whole pack of mods that de-gayifies the entire game. The fact that I'm playing something that's causing someone at Larian rectal pinching is basically one of the only things I can enjoy about the experience.

RPGs are in a bad spot, and have been for, quite frankly, a long time.

As for Dark Sun, to hear WOTC is working on this right now really makes me go "hmm." I have literally no idea what to expect. I mean, they're kinda closet into depravity, so I guess they could just go for the pure-raunch angle, and try to sell it as "dark fantasy." At this point, they're basically an advertising arm for the kink brigade, so....


I'd trade the entire BG3 cast for one Regill Derenge. Supporting npc selection was far superior in WotR, you could actually run an evil party.
 
Lol, as if the collection of asshats and woke devs at WotC, including that trans director who butchered DA, is able to produce anything even meaningfully decent with Dark Sun.

I really want to see this get released in video game format as it's going to be so gloriously terrible at least the memes will be good.
 
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I'd trade the entire BG3 cast for one Regill Derenge. Supporting npc selection was far superior in WotR, you could actually run an evil party.
Here's my take: the cast of BG3 is basically evil across the board, except for Wyll, who's bowlerdized to the point of having no personality. By recruiting the origin NPCs, you basically have an evil party right from the get-go.

Just... not a very interesting or well-written one.
 
I have zero faith in those cunts currently working at WotC of not utterly fucking up a campaign setting that literally sumbolizes EVERYTHING they hate.

There's no way they'll not fuck it up.
 
Will be there first product rated 18+ and will have warnings on the books to protect all the sensitive wieners out there.

Will it be butchered, and how badly so? I'm mainly happy cause this means that it opens the door for an Owlcat rpg, which I would kill for.
Will probably be woke/be smeared with progressive politics somehow considering modern WotC
 
One of the main themes in Dark Sun is slavery.

You know, that thing that doesn't exist in modern D&D.

Yeah good luck with that.
 
One of the main themes in Dark Sun is slavery.

You know, that thing that doesn't exist in modern D&D.

Yeah good luck with that.
The modern Dark Sun setting will be focusing on 'climate change' and the destruction of the environment, and nothing else. This is an angle that they love to work on, but the slavery thing will be completely retconned.

Also, expect anything NSFW content in the book to be lame and gay.
 
Dark Sun is my favorite D&D setting but I am fucking afraid of how they will attempt to "censor" it. Because OG Dark Sun is full of slavery and racism, and it's an integral part of the setting. And as soon as you introduce the notion of tolerance etc., the whole setting begins to fall apart.
 
Dark Sun is my favorite D&D setting but I am fucking afraid of how they will attempt to "censor" it. Because OG Dark Sun is full of slavery and racism, and it's an integral part of the setting. And as soon as you introduce the notion of tolerance etc., the whole setting begins to fall apart.
Dragon King: "Do you consent to working for me for minimum wage? You can quit whenever you feel uncomfortable about the working hours."
 
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