Dragonlance More DRAGONLANCE Information: Kender, Battles, W&H's Novels, & More!

In addition to the official videos announcing Dragonlance releases for late 2022, I got to talk to talk to the D&D team and get a few more details not in the public D&D Direct event.

• Because Dragonlance is a setting about war, Ray Winninger, Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons, was asked if Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen would have large-scale combat rules. He said that they would in an broad abstract form. The board game or battle game Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is actually focused on large-scale combat and can be played independently or RPG players could switch to Warriors of Krynn for their big combat scenes, including porting in their characters and then switch back to the RPG after the battle. So the RPG adventure can be played alone, the board game can be played alone or they can be combined, depending upon the group's preference.
• Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is a cooperative game.
• When asked if Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn could be used for large-scale battles in other D&D settings Winninger said it was designed with that idea in mind. However, if Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is poplar they'll consider making more customized, large-scale combat board games for other settings.
• Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a brand new story, independent of the upcoming novel, Dragonlance: Dragons of Deceit. Winninger said that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are telling their own story set in Krynn while Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a different story set in Krynn and is blazing a trail to help players create their own stories in Krynn. So Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Dragons of Deceit are both set in the same world but different stories.
• There will be some cameos from old Dragonlance characters, especially villains, in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
• Price points for Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn and Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen are not finalized yet.
• When asked about player races for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen – especially Kender – Winninger said that Kender have gotten a good reception from the Unearthed Arcana play test but they're making some tweaks. Yes, Kender will be an option. He said the play test material gives hints as to what playable races it will have but would not mention to confirm any specifically beyond Kender.

 

[NaturalZero]

I have a strange relationship with Dragonlance. I read a lot of the novels when I was young but don't really feel that nostalgic about it compared to Dark Sun or Spelljammer. I am, however, tentatively excited about a mass combat system that would allow games to switch between RPG and mass battles. I want to see where this goes.

 

[Dr. Bull]

If the adventure is set during the War of the Lance, all Draconians are minions of the Dark Queen. They didn't having a change to be "good" until after her defeat. So having one as a PC would again be change that doesnt exactly fit.

In another tweet they said this adventure would easily fit into the books narrative yet changing Kender and Gully Dwarves and Draconioans etc would show that not to be true.

Does Tass just use Faewild Powers to get Glasses of True Seeing which was needed to help the heroes at one point? If you change or remove Bupu the Gully Dwarf that seriously changes things for Raistlin.

Etc

You make some excellent points. I agree with you entirely.

 

[Dr. Bull]

I am excited for a mass combat board game that crosses-over with D&D. It's been done in the past, with some mixed results. I have a feeling that it will be a pretty good system, although it sounds like the systems will be more abstracted and (perhaps) less strategic. Some hard-core war gamers might not like it, but it will be useful for a lot of "middle-of-the-road" gamers.

 

[bedir than]

But that was back in 2014 BT (before Tasha's). Who knows how much of any of that stuff will survive in the AT era?

Wasn't there a sidebar in Fizban's about PC draconian?

 

[Lidgar]

I'm pretty pumped about the mass combat board game. Hearing that it can be used as an accessory the adventure is a win-win. While I'm not a huge DL fan, this sounds like a new, creative approach our group can have fun with.

 

[Helena Real]

I'm SO excited about Dragonlance in 5E. It's my favorite D&D setting by far!

Love that the battle game is cooperative, although I think it'll probably be more 1 vs All than truly cooperative, with the GM running the baddies and the players running their units + heroes.

I'm a bit worried about the adventure, in the sense of how they'll adapt all the divine-magic related stuff (clerics, druids, paladins, rangers) to a setting that, at least canonically, at that time had no such options available for PCs.

All in all, very wonderful news for me and everybody else who loves Krynn. Long Live the Lance!

 

[Weiley31]

If the adventure is set during the War of the Lance, all Draconians are minions of the Dark Queen. They didn't having a change to be "good" until after her defeat. So having one as a PC would again be change that doesnt exactly fit.

In another tweet they said this adventure would easily fit into the books narrative yet changing Kender and Gully Dwarves and Draconioans etc would show that not to be true.

Does Tass just use Faewild Powers to get Glasses of True Seeing which was needed to help the heroes at one point? If you change or remove Bupu the Gully Dwarf that seriously changes things for Raistlin.

Etc

Evil PC Draconians.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

draconians: the pc is one of the few that has resisted the indoctrination of the dragon armies or resist the call of Thakhisis (thanks Fizban)

gulley Dwarves: reflavored to hype up the post apocalyptic conditions rather than making them comic foils for being poor and uneducated.

kender: just because the ability is from the feywild doesn’t mean anyone knows it. Try being a sage researching Kender culture, Astinus would have lost his mind.

 

[Jaeger]

If the adventure is set during the War of the Lance, all Draconians are minions of the Dark Queen. They didn't having a change to be "good" until after her defeat. So having one as a PC would again be change that doesnt exactly fit.

In another tweet they said this adventure would easily fit into the books narrative yet changing Kender and Gully Dwarves and Draconioans etc would show that not to be true.

Does Tass just use Faewild Powers to get Glasses of True Seeing which was needed to help the heroes at one point? If you change or remove Bupu the Gully Dwarf that seriously changes things for Raistlin.

Etc

They are glossing over the fact that with their lore changes the Shadow of the Dragon Queen obviously takes place in an alternate DL universe.

They did say they were going all-in on a "multiverse"...

He mealy-mouthed the answer because corporate WotC likes to have things both ways as much as they can.

I have a strange relationship with Dragonlance. I read a lot of the novels when I was young but don't really feel that nostalgic about it compared to Dark Sun or Spelljammer. I am, however, tentatively excited about a mass combat system that would allow games to switch between RPG and mass battles. I want to see where this goes.

AD&D1e already did this with the TSR Swords & Spells and Chainmail mini combat rules.

You'd just scale 1:10 or 1:20 depending on what size of units you wanted to use. Typically 1:10.

There was a reason all Monster Manual HD were universally one die type, the listings for creatures like Orcs had number appearing: 30-300, and all move rates were given in inches...

The listings for stuff like brigands and merchant had sections for the GM to determine the size and strength of a combat group.

Gygax assumed people who bought the books would be familiar with Swords & Spells/Chainmail, and would naturally see how to scale combat in the game session to fit the situation at the table.

There are a lot of Gygaxian assumptions in the AD&D1e rules that if you didn't know why Gygax put it in there, you were like: "What is this for?"

 

[Erdric Dragin]

To think the Kender got good survey from their playtest is all the evidence I need they only listen to the "yes man" portion of the D&D community and not the real fans who know that Kender's taunts are not supernatural, that they're actually IMMUNE to fear (which is a massive part of their actual character and personalities!), and they don't pull items from an Acme Looney Tune bag and retrieve random items. Got actual cartoon characters now? Who's running this game?