D&D finally revealed its return to Dark Sun at a Gen Con Keynote on July 30. We’ve known this was coming for a while, but Wizards of the Coast has still managed to surprise us – by declaring Dark Sun its first-ever mature-rated sourcebook.
D&D executive producer Greg Bilsland told press to expect gore, nudity, and adult themed content, “so much so the lawyers told us we had to shrink-wrap it and put a warning on it”.
First introduced to D&D in 1991 and absent since fourth edition, Dark Sun is a grim, low-magic, wasteland fantasy. Here, as Bilsland puts it, “survival is its own act of defiance”.
“It is a world where the dragon leaves you splattered in gore, your bones and viscera spread in the sand.” A brutal animated trailer was shown at Gen Con to hammer the vibes home.
Dark Sun’s distinct setting means it’s well loved by many, but its handling of topics like genocide and slavery meant that Wizards labelled it “too problematic” to reboot back in 2023. Clearly, sentiments at the executive level have changed – probably nothing to do with my colleague Tim calling them all cowards, but he’s acting like it is.
Wizards says Dark Sun will get three new books in 2027. Well, technically it’s two. A Dark Sun setting guide and campaign are accompanied by a limited-edition Player’s Handbook with alternate art. Still, that’s “almost 500 pages of new content”.
One confirmed bit of content is the Psion, fifth edition’s second official addition to the DnD classes. Beyond this, we can make some educated guesses about what’s coming (looking at you, Witch-King Warlock), but we’ll have to wait for the 2027 DnD release schedule to find out.
Want to hear all the news from this year’s Gen Con? Wargamer is at the show, and you can keep up with our floor reports in the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
