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

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Because the only reason to do this is because a PC wants to play an orc, which means there are orcs in your world, represented by this PC who will presumably be taking an equal amount of spotlight to the others.

but what was the reason for no orcs? just cause they didn't show up until then? was there a reason even a theme?

What PCs exist determine in large part what players in the setting are important. In this case, orcs are important even if they're far away. You shouldn't have to have that if the official rules, especially if they've explicitly never existed as a culture on Krynn before.

 

[Velderan]

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.

Setting details are the reason the setting even exists. If you strip away the things that make Dragonlance different, what makes the adventure even need to take place there to begin with? You could make the book be a sequel to Rise of Tiamat, pick a random large city in the Realms to set it, and provide the rules for resolving battles. That's selling point enough for people looking for that type of product.

 

[dmar]

Repeated

 

[dmar]

I, for one, am in favor of the introductory mini-adventures. I've always been in favor of the players learning the world while playing, whether it is a homebrew or published one. At most I'd give them a one page primer. Learning while playing is better.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

but what was the reason for no orcs? just cause they didn't show up until then? was there a reason even a theme?

To hazard a guess, they had draconians as the "dark lord's" shock troops, and minotaurs as the burly big guy race, so orcs we're deemed redundant.

 

[Micah Sweet]

but what was the reason for no orcs? just cause they didn't show up until then? was there a reason even a theme?

I explained it. Their narrative role was taken by goblinoids and draconians. I suspect the novelty of having a setting without orcs in D&D was also a factor.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Setting details are the reason the setting even exists. If you strip away the things that make Dragonlance different, what makes the adventure even need to take place there to begin with? You could make the book be a sequel to Rise of Tiamat, pick a random large city in the Realms to set it, and provide the rules for resolving battles. That's selling point enough for people looking for that type of product.

And IMO they should have done that.

 

[DarkCrisis]

To hazard a guess, they had draconians as the "dark lord's" shock troops, and minotaurs as the burly big guy race, so orcs we're deemed redundant.

Orcs died so Draconians and Minotaurs could thrive. Not to mention Hobgoblins got a boost as well.

Heck this world even introduced "Good Ogres" as a race.

 

[bedir than]

Setting details are the reason the setting even exists.

This is similar to insisting that the only way to share Shakespeare is by including the exact types of weapons and clothing worn at the time of the specific play -- which would mean West Side Story is a failure.
Or insisting that Jesus Christ Superstar (original 70s film) is bad because of the inclusion of rifles and planes.

Those elements are trivial and don't impact the story. Setting details that aren't story elements don't matter in any other fiction. Why should we insist that non-story point details are important in our version of storyteling?

 

[Ath'kethin]

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

Elistan wasn't a cleric until Goldmoon, though. In fact, he was an adamant heretic, dying of some malady. She healed him, and thus converted him to her teachings. He then went on to become the head of the new church of Paladine.