r/DarkSun

You don't have to do anything that WOTC says, even read the damn books. This plays into the mindlessness that is 5e era thinking: rule 0 everything

There is no reason to play any edition of DnD or buy any material if nothing matters or nothing is concrete and everything is rule zero 100 page homebrew document calvinball. We shouldn't have such low expectations of everything WOTC puts out with our precious IP.

He goes on a little of a tangent , but I think that’s just passion. Hits the nail on the head I think

Since slavery is so central to the setting, let’s talk about all the forms that slavery (or near slavery) can take.

Impressment and conscription are forms of forced state labor, but they are legally and historically distinct from chattel slavery. Both strip individuals of bodily autonomy by forcing them into service against their will.

Chattel slavery involves lifelong, generational ownership of human beings as property, whereas impressment and conscription are temporary, state-mandated military or labor obligations.

There‘s also coercion, kidnapping, forced prison labor, indentured servitude, wage slavery, serfdom, debt bondage, thralls, prisoners of war, and forced marriage.

How many different forms of slavery or theft of bodily autonomy are explicitly present in the original campaign setting?

Which forms are you using in your game?

What forms have I missed that are great role-playing fodder?

How are you using slavery in your game?

Wtf a lot of slavery supporters trying to redefine terms to be more palatable and reshape "slavery is bad" to "actually it's a complex nuanced discussion and I'm sooo reasonable and you're not and (insert every logical fallacy and propaganda technique)" lately.

Can't upset the Great Merchant Houses after all someone has to kiss and wipe the butts of Altaruk.

I’ve seen several interviews and dungeontubers say something to the effect of “slavery is controversial and is therefore excluded from Dark Sun 5.5e published material” in various posts. “Controversial” means there is public disagreement, argument, or strong opposing opinions about it. Slavery in the real world has existed in many societies across the entirety of human history, and it still exists today in some places. But it’s not like there’s disagreement about how it’s an immoral, vile, evil practice that should not be tolerated. That is, “slavery” is not really controversial; there isn’t an ongoing debate (beyond a few fringe knuckle-dragging, rebel flag flying idiots). Slavery is clearly evil and slavers seem like obvious enemies for PCs to oppose in a ttrpgs. Can anyone explain why “controversial” means that the topic must be excluded, and if a topic is truly controversial, why isn’t the “mature content” label sufficient to ensure people who might be offended by controversial content stay away from it?

RENTON, WA — After years of careful consideration, countless focus groups, and several meetings where someone repeatedly asked, "But what if there just... wasn't any slavery?", Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce the long-awaited return of the legendary Dark Sun campaign setting.

Fans of Athas can once again explore its scorching deserts, psionic powers, cannibal halflings, gladiatorial combat, tyrannical sorcerer-kings, ecological collapse, ritual defiling of the environment, and cities ruled by immortal despots.

Just to be absolutely clear:

There is no slavery.

None.

Not a single slave.

We checked.

In fact, every citizen of Athas is now an enthusiastic volunteer participating in an exciting, self-directed labor experience. While they may spend sixteen hours a day quarrying obsidian under armed supervision with little access to food or water, they are doing so because of a profound commitment to civic engagement.

This distinction is extremely important. Some fans have asked how the famous gladiator arenas function without slavery. Simple! Every gladiator is a freelance independent contractor who has accepted a flexible performance agreement. They can leave at any time, provided they defeat the arena guards, survive the desert, and complete the standard exit paperwork.

Likewise, the massive plantations outside the city-states are staffed entirely by passionate agricultural interns pursuing valuable experience in the field of subsistence farming.

Every occurrence of the word "slave" has been carefully replaced with terminology reviewed by at least four committees and one branding consultant.

We're confident this preserves everything fans loved about Dark Sun while removing the only thing anyone ever talked about online.

We know some longtime fans may wonder whether eliminating one of the defining institutions of Athasian society changes the themes of oppression, desperation, and survival.

We encourage those fans to remember that everyone is still miserable.

Just consensually.

Dark Sun returns this fall, proving that even on a dying world beneath a crimson sun, where magic has devastated the ecosystem and psychic tyrants rule through fear, there is always room for positive workplace reform.

https://preview.redd.it/3p5qrechcekh1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=92db8443e32eb526021488f5994338b2aa69d747

Hello, everyone.

If you had asked me about Dark Sun a little under one year ago, I would have said "I never played Dark Sun, nor am I interested in Athas, but I am vaguely familiar with it thanks to a particular cRPG." Well, things change. Although standard high fantasy is still my go-to setting, I have come to appreciate the qualities of this spent world created by Denning and Brown. If nothing else, this is a fantastic place to hold regular "one-shots" (an occasional change of pace, if you will).

By the way, I once had an opportunity to snag the "revised" boxed set; thankfully, I waited until I could find the original release. From what I understand, the revised version softens the depiction of Athas thanks to certain developments both in the actual game line itself and in the line of accompanying novels.

I do have a few concerns about the new books (omission of slavery, trying to soften up the fucked up bits when THEY ARE THE BLOODY POINT) but I'm fine with the gore. This is a setting with slavery, ecocide, dictatorships, cannibalism, and genocide-if anything I EXPECT there to be guts all over the place.

Check it out!

Just for some context, I've been reading the original/revised books for Dark Sun so I can port it and run it in 5e

1. Where does the cannibalistic Halflings come from? At least in the section from the boxed set where it goes over races, Halflings being cannibals isn't mentioned

2. Why have all the 5e ports for Dark Sun that I've read never included a feature that gives Halflings a magic resistance trait when they have one in the boxed set?

I'm very confused on how the original dark sun handles people and animals and plants having psionics when it's a mental and intelligence based thing now, how do they use wisdom and constitution?

This makes no sense to me and any advice would be appreciated

So, I found out about the Dark Sun setting via the new dnd 5.5 announcement, and i'm super excited for it. Ive seen plenty of grimdark settings, but something about Dark Sun is just... special? Diving into the lore I find the setting crazy interesting and how everything and everyone is just BARELY surviving. How magic is basically killing the planet, water is rare, and metal is rarer.

But the thing that has my attention is the lack of gods in the setting. Most settings ive seen have a form of divinity which allows players to use divine classes and subclasses, but apparently theres something that prevents the divine (and infernal) from existing on the planet, with a thick barrier outside the world being a popular theory as to why.

Made me wonder what if a god actually managed to establish a link to the world? A player with genuine holy healing powers, however weak it would be, being born. Has any player group or DM experimented with this?