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Dark Sun Original Creators Reunite for New D&D Book That You Can Play Like in the 1990s
Strange Owl Games has announced Dragon Kings, a new tabletop role-playing book reuniting several original creators of Dungeons & Dragons' Dark Sun setting, including Timothy Brown, Troy Denning, Brom, Bill Slavicsek, Rich Baker and Shane Hensley. The project is being pitched as a "spiritual successor" to Dark Sun, offering fans an alternative to Wizards of the Coast's own upcoming Dark Sun revival, which some players fear will soften the setting's darker themes, such as slavery, that defined the original 1990s books.
Dragon Kings traces back to a 1992 TSR module of the same name and later Kickstarter campaigns from 2014 onwards that built out its Khitus setting for various rule systems. The new edition is compatible with D&D 5th edition and includes a full setting, six new ancestries, fresh classes and subclasses, over 30 creatures and more than 60 pieces of human-made art, alongside optional conversion rules for D&D 2nd edition to replicate the classic Dark Sun experience. The project launches on Backerkit on 22 September, with early backers offered discounted pricing, previews, exclusive extras and a limited-edition ceramic dice set.
In short
- Dark Sun's original creators launch spiritual successor Dragon Kings via Strange Owl Games
- Positioned as alternative to Wizards of the Coast's own Dark Sun revival
- Backerkit crowdfunding launches 22 September, with 2nd-edition-style rules included
Explained simply
Dark Sun is a Dungeons & Dragons setting first published in the 1990s. It takes place on a harsh, drought-stricken world where powerful rulers control scarce resources, and its stories include difficult themes such as slavery.
Dragon Kings began as a 1992 adventure by TSR, the company that published Dungeons & Dragons at the time, and later grew into the separate world of Khitus. Its creators include several people who worked on the original Dark Sun books, among them writer Timothy Brown, novelist Troy Denning and artist Brom.
The new book is designed for Dungeons & Dragons’ fifth edition, with optional rules to use it with second-edition D&D. It offers another way to explore ideas associated with Dark Sun, as Wizards of the Coast is also expected to revive that setting.