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.

 

[Azzy]

Hmm. So the mass combat rules are a separate board game? That was lame when they did it with BATTLESYSTEM and it's lame now.

Right—it's a separate game. While it can be integrated into the DL adventure, it is primarily a self-contained game.

 

[Parmandur]

Right—it's a separate game. While it can be integrated into the DL adventure, it is primarily a self-contained game.

It is also worth noting that Winninger has said the Adventure will have quick and dirty basic mass combat resolution mechanics, that can serve if a table doesn't want to simulate the strategic level war in detail.

 

[Malmuria]

So why are Baker and Daviau the perfect designers for this project? Well, both have had a lot of experience working in the genre of wargames. They share excellent design credits on the Risk franchise, for instance. Baker, on the other hand, is the designer behind Battle Masters, a sprawling tabletop wargame using 28 mm miniatures and a massive plastic playmat. Daviau of course is the creator of the legacy system, which creates board games that change every time you play them.

But Daviau is also one of the co-founders of Restoration Games, a company that specializes in resurrecting older games and giving them new life. Expect him to go back to the original source material to bring forward as much of that excellent TSR design work as possible.

New Dragonlance board game was designed by Rob Daviau and Stephen Baker

It’s fully integrated with the D&D campaign as well

www.polygon.com

 

[Henadic Theologian]

"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."

I've reread the UA and besides the obvious Kender I saw no hints as to other races, have any of you seen hints in the UA about other Dragonlance races?

 

[Parmandur]

"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."

I've reread the UA and besides the obvious Kender I saw no hints as to other races, have any of you seen hints in the UA about other Dragonlance races?

I'll wager they reprint the Fizban's Dragonborn, and maybe Goliaths and/or Firbolg gor "Ogres."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Hmm. So the mass combat rules are a separate board game? That was lame when they did it with BATTLESYSTEM and it's lame now.

That's just the sort of thing an Evil Soul Sucking Corporation(tm) would do!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"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."

I've reread the UA and besides the obvious Kender I saw no hints as to other races, have any of you seen hints in the UA about other Dragonlance races?

It's an adventure, not a setting book. I can't see it having much in the way of character options beyond those we already know about. The first dragonlance product published only had kender.

The will probably be some setting specific cultural info on qualinesti elves etc. There is an outside chance they include lineages for some PHB races as a 5.5 head start.

I'll wager they reprint the Fizban's Dragonborn, and maybe Goliaths and/or Firbolg gor "Ogres."

Minotaurs would be a more setting appropriate "big guy" lineage. I don't think there will be space for a much of this kind of thing though.

 

[Parmandur]

Minotaurs would be a more setting appropriate "big guy" lineage. I don't think there will be space for a much of this kind of thing though.

They may just refer to the Monsters of the Multiverse book for viable options.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Something else just occurred to me. With everyone getting bonus feats at 1st and 4th level, it might be signs that the variant human is toast. And the standard human doesn't fit the Tasha's paradigm. So maybe "the new lineage hinted at by the UA" is human?

Or maybe he just meant a list of what races are not excluded by the setting,

 

[Parmandur]

Something else just occurred to me. With everyone getting bonus feats at 1st and 4th level, it might be signs that the variant human is toast. And the standard human doesn't fit the Tasha's paradigm. So maybe "the new lineage hinted at by the UA" is human?

Or maybe he just meant a list of what races are not excluded by the setting,

I'd actually think the opposite: if they bring Feats into full core rules, the Variant Human may just become "standard Human."