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.

 

[Quickleaf]

In the preview video there was a floating city/citadel/castle. Does that place it in time?
View attachment 155805

EDIT: It's been a hot minute, but didn't the land conquered by Lord Soth – I think it was Nightland, or it got renamed to that – get invaded by a flying citadel tied to the Red Dragonarmy?

 

[Hussar]

Which mechanics that Kender have is to blame? The ability to auto make fear saves? The taunt which is optional? They can steal like a thief... which is also optional. Which ability do they have that MUST be employed breaks them for you?

Well, let's see shall we? We have a race with no concept of personal possessions where the player is encouraged to steal from the party - after all that's right out of the novels that Tasselhoff "borrows" from fellow PC's. Stealing from the party is pretty much the poster child for problem behavior by a player.

But, wait, there's more. The race is also supposed to be entirely fearless and easily bored, meaning that you have an entire race that comes with an built in excuse to Leroy Jenkins every single encounter. Again, probably in the top three of problematic player behavior.

Hrm, I wonder why I would think that it's the mechanics to blame here. Let's bake in two of the most egregious examples of bad players right into a race and try to pass it off as a good thing.

 

[Hussar]

Considering your opinions about campaign settings, I'm surprised you're weighing in on this at all, actually. Your style seems to eskew the pre-established details that are the subject of discussion.

Sorry, having a little trouble parsing this actually. What do you mean by eskew?

And, again, just because I don't think I should tell other people how to play and don't think that it's a good idea to bake my personal play style into the mechanics so I can bludgeon the players over the head with the books to force them and every other table in the world to play the way I want to play, doesn't mean that I have any problems playing in established settings and diving straight into whatever the DM puts in front of me.

Not wanting to force players to conform to what I want is not the same as me being perfectly happy going along with whatever the DM wants. Heck, when I play established settings, I almost always try to make characters that directly fit with that setting. My Dragonlance character in a recent 5e campaign was a human fighter who was trying to become a Knight of Solamnia. I couldn't embed my character into the setting more if I tried.

 

[Hussar]

As I recall, and it's been a while, the flying citadels appear really early in the War of the Lance. Like in the second module IIRC. Very early in the war anyway.

 

[Helena Real]

In the preview video there was a floating city/citadel/castle. Does that place it in time?
View attachment 155805

It looks like the flying citadels that Kitiara employs during the Blue Lady's War, a couple of years after the War of the Lance. Those events are contemporary with the Legends novel trilogy.

 

[Demetrios1453]

It looks like the flying citadels that Kitiara employs during the Blue Lady's War, a couple of years after the War of the Lance. Those events are contemporary with the Legends novel trilogy.

They were used in the War of the Lance itself, as well.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Well, let's see shall we? We have a race with no concept of personal possessions where the player is encouraged to steal from the party - after all that's right out of the novels that Tasselhoff "borrows" from fellow PC's. Stealing from the party is pretty much the poster child for problem behavior by a player.

But, wait, there's more. The race is also supposed to be entirely fearless and easily bored, meaning that you have an entire race that comes with an built in excuse to Leroy Jenkins every single encounter. Again, probably in the top three of problematic player behavior.

Hrm, I wonder why I would think that it's the mechanics to blame here. Let's bake in two of the most egregious examples of bad players right into a race and try to pass it off as a good thing.

Those aren’t mechanics. They are a description

 

[Mecheon]

Those aren’t mechanics. They are a description

Its the description that's made Kender the most maligned, hated, disliked of all D&D races in the entire history of the game.

Seriously, not even gnomes get as much flak at Kender do, and there isn't a whole heap of people writing stories about "This one player played a gnome and disrupted the party". No other race has the reputation Kender do. Nothing in the history of the game has that exact same, controlled, "We will ensure this never spreads" level. You can blame players all you want, but, they're basing it off something. The original descriptions and 'you should play them like this' details deliberately lead people down this path. If you're blaming players at this point, then you're basically saying "Anyone who picks a Kender is going to lead to this" which.... Well, I think that says a lot about Kender. Why is it only Kender this happens with and nothing else?

Kender failed at their original job of being heroic small-folkls, instead being type-cast as obnoxious, and there has been a massive outpouring of positivity for the UA Kender because they take the idea that Kender were aiming for (Short, blatently fairy-esque being good at stealing) and carry them across the line. Kender did not work originally. They were a failure

 

[Hussar]

Those aren’t mechanics. They are a description

So Kender weren't immune to fear? Funny, I seem to remember that. But, in any case, that's some pretty fine hairs your splitting. You claimed that the problem was with players, not the race. Moving the goalposts to claim that it wasn't mechanics that was the problem isn't really winning any points here.

 

[Raunalyn]

So Kender weren't immune to fear? Funny, I seem to remember that. But, in any case, that's some pretty fine hairs your splitting. You claimed that the problem was with players, not the race. Moving the goalposts to claim that it wasn't mechanics that was the problem isn't really winning any points here.

No, they are not immune to fear. There are several times in the books when Tasselhoff was described as feeling fear and being scared. He said that Lord Soth made him feel funny, Raistlin terrified him (Legends), and he thought he was cursed by the dragon Beryl during the War of Souls because he was scared of her.