WotC Dragonlance: Everything You Need For Shadow of the Dragon Queen

WotC has shared a video explaining the Dragonlance setting, and what to expect when it is released in December.

World at War: Introduces war as a genre of play to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Dragonlance: Introduces the Dragonlance setting with a focus on the War of the Lance and an overview of what players and DMs need to run adventures during this world spanning conflict.

Heroes of War: Provides character creation rules highlighting core elements of the Dragonlance setting, including the kender race and new backgrounds for the Knight of Solamnia and Mage of High Sorcery magic-users. Also introduces the Lunar Sorcery sorcerer subclass with new spells that bind your character to Krynn's three mystical moons and imbues you with lunar magic.

Villains: Pits heroes against the infamous death knight Lord Soth and his army of draconians.

Notes --

• 224 page hardcover adventure
• D&D's setting for war
• Set in eastern Solamnia
• War is represented by context -- it's not goblins attacking the village, but evil forces; refugees, rumours
• You can play anything from D&D - clerics included, although many classic D&D elements have been forgotten
• Introductory scenarios bring you up to speed on the world so no prior research needed

 

[Micah Sweet]

What's so important about Orcs being banned in the world that making it up to the DM somehow takes away the setting's uniqueness? This isn't Dark Sun where Orcs are purposefully excluded because of a canonical reason (they all got killed awhile back). So long as they aren't mentioned in the book . . . what's the big deal? Why does the book have to say "Orcs are banned in Dragonlance"?

Because they are. Their narrative roll was taken by the goblinoids and the draconians.

Look, if some group wants orcs and drow in their Dragonlance, go for it! I'm not policing anyone's table. But many settings have restrictions built into them, and any product based on that setting should at least make mention of that. Even 4e, the most "everything we make exists everywhere, accept it" version of D&D, acknowledged that in Dark Sun, the default is that only elemental clerics exist.

Maybe every setting does not need to be designed for every D&D player, no matter their tastes. People like different things.

 

[Maxperson]

What's so important about Orcs being banned in the world that making it up to the DM somehow takes away the setting's uniqueness? This isn't Dark Sun where Orcs are purposefully excluded because of a canonical reason (they all got killed awhile back). So long as they aren't mentioned in the book . . . what's the big deal? Why does the book have to say "Orcs are banned in Dragonlance"?

They are mentioned in the 1e Dragonlance Adventures book.

Dragonlance Adventures page 49, "There are no Half-orcs in Krynn........Half-orcs would be considered magical freaks or abominations as there are no orcs in Krynn."

So on the one hand it says Half-orcs don't exist in Krynn, and on the other it says how to play one if one shows up. Orcs on the other hand are just plain not there.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A setting doesn't matter because of the trivia. No one cares about trivia in the real world, let alone in fiction.

What matters in settings are there story themes and literary archetypes covered.

Yes, they appear to be abandoning trivia. This will be very bad for anyone who was the dragonlance specialist at pub trivia.

The story themes don't seem to have changed, which will be very good for GenX and older gamers who want to play the game setting we played in our youth.

That is extremely reductive. "Trivia", as you call it, is the richness that makes a setting feel special and alive to me. I love trivia.

 

[Maxperson]

Given that my point was the disconnect between what the rulebooks have said characters could do and what the novels actually described them doing, I appreciate you expounding on that very idea.

It's not a disconnect at all, though. The novels are from the time period just before the setting. You can buy the modules and play through the War of the Lance, but the setting is set after the war when the Order had time to become clerics.

 

[bedir than]

That is extremely reductive. "Trivia", as you call it, is the richness that makes a setting feel special and alive to me. I love trivia.

I aim not at the individuals who enjoy the trivia, but their demands that the trivia is why Dragonlance was popular.

 

[Micah Sweet]

@Ath-kethin said in the core novels and he is correct. They may have been in the setting from the start, but the setting did not start at the beginning, but rather started after the war. During the time period covered by the war there were no clerics until Goldmoon became the first one and then gave the discs to what's his name(blanking on his name) who became the first cleric of Paladine. As clerics became more prevalent, the Order of the Sword would have become battle clerics.

Elistan. But I'm sure that's just "trivia", that no one cares about.

 

[Maxperson]

Elistan. But I'm sure that's just "trivia", that no one cares about.

Thanks. I'm bad with names and even worse when tired, and that's one I haven't seen or thought about in many years.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I aim not at the individuals who enjoy the trivia, but their demands that the trivia is why Dragonlance was popular.

To me, setting details make the setting interesting and fun. To me, that's important, and taking it away for a supposed broader appeal weakens the story of Dragonlance.

 

[Maxperson]

To me, setting details make the setting interesting and fun. To me, that's important, and taking it away for a supposed broader appeal weakens the story of Dragonlance.

Yep. It's those unique differences from the default kitchen sink setting that make an official setting worthwhile to buy and play. Spellcasters are relatively rare, except in Eberron where they are common and spellcasters are all over. Metal weapons are a gold piece a dozen, except on Athas where metal is almost unknown.

 

[Reynard]

Yes... that is why I don't play in the realms. Everything I dislike about DL heroes being in the war at the same time is multiplied by 500 for the realms... I often on here (and in my home game) call it the JLM (Justice League Midnight)

Edit: Playing Mutants and Masterminds in DC universe is great if you are street level... Go to atlanta GA and stop street level crime... but you can't level up to stopping the president from being kidnapped becuse "Why doesn't clark kent or lois lane kent know this is going on, and if they do where is the JLA, let alone going to save the planet form an alien invasion...
Now you can be a small part of a big cross over, but after a while it gets old to be doing things that you know if you do them or not they don't matter if the JLA fail you all lose, and if you fail and the JLA doesn't they can come clean up your mess... I don't like book canon to interact with setting.

That's... not accurate. Literally every comic book ever in a shared universe deals with this. In a DC game the answer is: it's their book.