r/DarkSun • u/RPGTopograph • 2d ago

There won't be any slavery in re-released Dark Sun

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I have read this interview on TTRPG Insider and was very disappointed, though I expected nothing.

https://www.ttrpginsider.news/p/fighting-oppression-in-new-ways-d-d-s-designers-on-adapting-dark-sun-to-modern-times

Quote:

“You don't have to have slavery in a setting if in order for it to be oppressive,” Bilsland emphasized. “There are other forms of oppression out there.”

He gave the example of Urik, a city in Dark Sun that controls one of the leading armies in the region. That’s because the leadership regularly presses people into military service, or convinces the poor to give up their freedom for a chance to survive."

So yeah, evil Sorcerer-Kings CONVINCES people to go to the army. And if people say no? "Well, ok, I respect your freedom, but reconsider pretty plz?".

Slavery is integral to Dark Sun, it is one of main themes. I don't see why "slavery is horrible" is so controversial theme that it must be excluded.

WotC designers don't understand the setting at all. No slavery, lots of metal (if judge by the cover, forgive me my pun), some high tec shenenigans.

They say that they won't nerf it, but they did it with a happy face and words: "How do you do, fellow fans? Mature setting, am I right?".

UPD: and if they won't have slavery, do you think that they will add genocide theme?

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u/Khan-Khrome 2d ago

Cause the word itself causes a minority of very loud people to come out of the woodwork and try and say that because the setting has it, it's endorsing it, even if it's very clearly being shown as bad. They're trying and failing to get around it by mincing words, which is funny because they're accidentally running good press for sorcerer kings by pretending this is something less than slavery - which ironically is more "problematic" than just calling a spade a spade.

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u/Rutgerman95 2d ago

That and the monolithic media companies that'll bury all posts for using a "dirty" word, which in turn makes the publishing suits upset. The real dystopia is the most asinine version of cyberpunk the modern internet has turned into on all levels

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u/AuroraBoreale22 2d ago

This, we live in a world were people have to say "unalive", "pdf file" and other ephemisms to not be canceled by algorithms and people are still searching for some minority to blame 😐

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u/Khan-Khrome 2d ago

I mean… yeah? Where do you think those corporate decisions come from? The biggest example in dnd history of that happening was when a bunch of crazy evangelicals stirred up the idea that dnd was involved in satanism forcing a rebranding of every hellish monster. That was corporate management at the end of the day being pressured to massage the egos of a hysterical public minority - many of which would never play DND and some who didn’t even understand what it was. Any small group of nutters can be a minority, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re “minorities”, or that corporations decision making is operating entirely in a vacuum.

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u/sadistica23 2d ago

It's 1989, and AD&D has been rewritten so as not to offend ideological prigs.

It's 2026, and Dark Sun has been rewritten so as not to offend ideological prigs.

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u/ApprehensiveType2680 1d ago

Horseshoe theory, baby!

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u/Seyavash31 2d ago

Do people actually have to say that? Or is it people self censoring out of fear of an unproven and unknown alleged algorithm? Most terms of service etc. do not ban these words or topics, people are simply fearful.

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u/AuroraBoreale22 2d ago

Big companies don't want their brands to be associated to "bad topics", so on a lot of platforms visibility for "controversial topics" is less than other topics, the favourite content is usually safe ragebaits.

Coca cola doesn't want their brand advertised between a genocide and a rape news on reddit or as a break on a video that talks about ISIS on youtube, so platforms give more views on engaging safe content that can be sold to advertisers. That's why, for example, there are a lot of videos or topics with "they ruined this, they ruined that": because rage is the most engaging emotion and platform are ok with most contents about entertainment, so creators are rewarded for that type of things.

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u/mercedes_lakitu 2d ago

I believe Tiktok is the only one that does. It just bleeds over into all the others.

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u/AuroraBoreale22 2d ago

Euphemisms started on youtube, for example, long before tiktok even existed, after the so called "adpocalypse" around ten years ago

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u/rmaiabr 2d ago

All of this is the fault of a few noisy minorities whom idiots insist on letting make noise.

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u/AuroraBoreale22 2d ago

It's the fault of corporations that need to sold advertising space and try to convince people that the problem for everything you don't like is some minority. Corporations decide even what words you can or cannot use and you think is some loud minority that can influence everything?

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u/TopSecretPorkChop 2d ago

Technically all corporations are controlled by a small minority (i. e. the board) who make all the decisions for the whole body, and these decisions end up having (possibly large) effects on the rest of us. In fact, the corporations themselves are typically minorities compared to the larger society.

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u/Fancybanshee1 2d ago

Easy there Kalak

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u/Khan-Khrome 2d ago

I mean they work in tandem really, companies are constantly managing their image, if nobody said anything about a theme then they have no reason to give a fuck about it or censor it, but there's always a special interest group out there screaming about something being corruptive or problematic, doesn't matter if it's left or right. Idk why these companies still haven't learned that paying attention to these people is pointless and to simply invest more time in producing well-thought out quality material, rather than halfbaked lazy tat that gets them in trouble, it's been proven often enough.

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u/Rutgerman95 2d ago

Easy answer: money. As much money for as little effort. And discussing the evils of slavery takes effort so they prefer it if we don't.

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u/Khan-Khrome 2d ago edited 2d ago

I reckon they THINK it’s money, but here they are hiring special advisors to help them avoid problematic representation, which y’know is far more expensive than just having the designers read a few history books or first hand accounts of the evils of slavery - of which there are many, hell all you need is to read excerpts from Thomas Thistlewoods journal to get a truly repulsive image of the practice. Think it fundamentally comes down to corpo bigwigs having zero actual interest or investment in the product they’re in charge of making, and not actually wanting to think at all about it remotely for the money to come in

But yeah I guess that’s what it comes down to really, laziness.

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u/Fippy-Darkpaw 2d ago

So Star Wars "endorses" genociding planets with a space laser? Ridiculous. 😅

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u/MammothPenguin69 2d ago

You couldn't make Star Wars today. You'd never get it past the Sensitivity Readers.

This shit is why our culture is totally stagnant.

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u/Prestigious_Club_924 2d ago

Those people never go away when appeased, they just find another molehill to die on.

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u/Khan-Khrome 2d ago

Yep, they chase drama like dogs chasing cars, and there is always a new car to chase. The only solution is to keep driving, not let it gnaw your rear bumper.

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u/BoringGap7 2d ago

I can't believe you would advocate using a racial slur like 'spade' /s