Dark Sun  Dark Sun is an original "Dungeons & Dragons" (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. "Dark Sun" featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take on traditional fantasy role-playing. The product line began with the original "Dark Sun Boxed Set" released for D&D's 2nd edition in 1991, originally ran until 1996, and was one of TSR's most successful releases. "Dark Sun" deviated from the feudalistic backdrops of its Tolkienesque pseudo-medieval contemporaries, such as "Greyhawk" or "Forgotten Realms", in favor of a composite of dark fantasy, planetary romance, and the Dying Earth subgenre. "Dark Sun"s designers presented a savage, magic-ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle. The traditional fantasy races and character classes were altered or omitted to better suit the setting's darker themes. "Dark Sun" differs further in that the game has no deities, arcane magic is reviled for causing the planet's current ecological fragility, and psionics are extremely common. The artwork of Brom established a trend of game products produced under the direction of a single artist. The setting was also the first TSR setting to come with an established metaplot out of the box. "Dark Sun"s popularity endured long after the setting was no longer supported, with a lively online community developing around it. Only third-party material was produced for the third edition D&D rules, but a new official edition of "Dark Sun" was released in 2010 for the fourth edition. TSR released the second edition of "Battlesystem", its mass-combat ruleset, in 1989. In 1990 the company began pre-production on a new campaign setting that would use this ruleset, the working title of which was "War World." The team envisioned a post-apocalyptic world full of exotic monsters and no hallmark fantasy creatures whatsoever. TSR worried about this concept, wondering how to market a product that lacked any familiar elements. Eventually, elves, dwarves, and dragons returned but in warped variations of their standard "AD&D" counterparts. The designers credited this reversion as a pivotal change that launched the project in a new direction. Contributors to this project at its beginnings included Rich Baker, Gerald Brom, Tim Brown, Troy Denning, Mary Kirchoff, and Steve Winter. With the exception of Denning and Kirchoff, design veterans such as David "Zeb" Cook declined to join the conceptual team (though Cook would write the first two adventure modules: "Freedom" and "Road to Urik").