D&D is getting a spiritual successor to Dark Sun, made by the original creatives

Timothy Brown’s Dragon Kings returns to Dungeons and Dragons (5e AND 2e!) as its own distinct desert setting.

Dungeons and Dragons book, Dragon Kings, by Timothy Brown
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Dragon Kings, a spiritual successor to Dark Sun from the iconic world's co-creator, comes back to crowdfunding in September. This time, the system-agnostic setting is coming to D&D.

Dragon Kings started life as a 1992 Dark Sun supplement, so this is a homecoming of sorts. Developed by Dark Sun co-creator Timothy Brown, it introduced the titular Dragon Kings as the most powerful beings in Athas, Dark Sun's apocalyptic desert world.

Brown left D&D publisher TSR in the 90s, and by 2014, Dragon Kings had developed into its own system-agnostic setting. It's now set in Khitus, a desolate desert world formerly ruled by the Dragon Kings. Sorcery and psionics are rare yet powerful magical forces. Lizard and insect peoples populate the ruins of the world, rebuilding it with blood and bone.

It clearly shares a lot of DNA with Dark Sun, but there are distinctions. As the new book's Backerkit page puts it: "Where Dark Sun told of a world squandered, Khitus is a world grown complacent and now paying for it". "The difference is this: it is not yet too far gone."

Dragon Kings 5e brings several original Dark Sun contributors into the fold. Brown's co-creator, Troy Denning, is on the development team. Former TSR designers Bill Slavicsek and Rich Baker are credited, and key Dark Sun artist Brom is also returning. Strange Owl Games are responsible for publishing.

The new book seemingly offers everything you'd need to play. Six ancestries are promised, along with new DnD classes and subclasses. A gazetteer introduces the setting, and there are 30+ creatures to populate it. The Backerkit page also says there'll be new rules for Psionics - something D&D is also introducing in next year's official Dark Sun revival.

Dragon Kings will be a 5e product (no word on whether that's 5.5e compatible), but it'll also be playable in D&D 2e "for those that prefer to stay in the original system of Dark Sun". The Backerkit campaign launches on September 22.

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Mollie Russell is Wargamer's resident D&D and guides specialist. She has a degree in Creative Writing and English Literature, and you can also find her writing at Pocket Tactics and in various poetry magazines. She's covered some of the biggest and weirdest releases for Wargamer - including the DnD movie, Frosthaven, and Baldur's Gate 3. Mollie is constantly playing Dungeons and Dragons, but she's still on her quest to try every tabletop RPG she can get her hands on. An avid fan of MTG drafts and horror board games, she will take any opportunity to info-dump about why Blood on the Clocktower is the best social deduction game. (She/Her)