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

 

[Hussar]

It looks like a very creative work. I just don't see it as representative of the company's output, largely due to the heavy freelance aspect. In short, Radiant Citadel seems like an aberration to me.

Which 5e modules weren't written by freelancers? Heck, how many 3e modules were written in-house?

 

[Dragonhelm]

Curious how they'll handle adding in classes to the setting that didn't exist before, at least as far as I'm aware:

Artificer
Bard
Druid
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Sorcerer
Warlock

Far as I know, none of these classes had a prominent NPC that I can recall. Friend of mine said one of the novels did have a Monk from a far off land. I can see these classes coming from "Beyond Ansalon" continent. It was always "Wizard" when it came to magic, not sure where Sorcerers fit in. Are they just treated the same albeit different methods of using arcane magic? Same with Warlock, which I'm guessing would probably be those outcast kind of magic users.

Were there any Druids? I can't recall. I've read a lot of Dragonlance novels back then and the only classes I ever saw represented were Barbarian, Fighter, Cleric, Thief (Rogue), and Wizard. Heck I don't even know if Psionics exist in Krynn.

I'm going to recommend picking up a copy of the Dragonlance Campaign Setting for 3.5! That will answer a bunch of those questions.

With the exception of the artificer and warlock, every one of those classes have been featured in Dragonlance.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Which 5e modules weren't written by freelancers? Heck, how many 3e modules were written in-house?

They hired virtually all-new writers, and came out with a cool, creative product. Where was that in the last couple years? Where are they going now with 6e? Nothing particularly creative about that, even if you (general you) like it.

 

[Dire Bare]

Dude.

WotC hasn't written ANY of it's modules in house in decades. Or barely anyway. Virtually every adventure for 5e has been written by freelancers. And, frankly, that's been true since the early 3e days. You can't piddle on WotC for hiring freelancers to write this adventure when that's all they've ever done.

But, as far as the discussion over setting design goes, my take is this. WotC is refusing to do your work for you. You don't want orcs in Dragonlance? Fine. No problem. But YOU convince your players that this is a good idea. You can't use WotC anymore as a beat stick to tell your players, "Well, I'd let you be a half-orc, but, WotC says no, so, sorry." You, the DM, have to actually justify your preferences to your players and if you cannot do that, then, well, that's your problem.

Now, in the actual adventures? Guess what? They aren't going to feature half-orcs or tieflings or tabaxi. Look at those released images. How many tieflings do you see in those pictures? How many half-orcs? Because WotC isn't in the business of negative advertising. They're telling you, "Look, play in Dragonlance and you can be this or that really cool thing - a minotaur pirate or a moon-wizard or a kender." What they are not telling you is, "Hey, look at all these cool things you CAN'T be in this setting."

So, it will be just like Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It's set in Greyhawk. Very firmly set in Greyhawk. And, yup, there's a couple of pictures of dragonborn in the adventure art, but, guess how many dragonborn NPC's there are? Zero. There's exactly ONE NPC Tiefling, and she's from a land very far away that you will never visit in the scope of this campaign.

There won't be orcish strongholds in the new DL adventure. There won't be tiefling shopkeepers. There won't be dragonborn villages. YES, your players can play one of those things as far as WotC is concerned. But, they won't support it. Your tabaxi warlock will be the only tabaxi in the setting unless your DM decides to add more.

It utterly baffles me that people view world building in light of negatives. This setting doesn't have X or Y or Z. Who cares what the setting doesn't have? I don't run settings by what they exclude. I run settings based on the cool and interesting things they bring to the table. There's so much more to Dragonlance than what it excludes.

I remember the old adverts for the Talislanta RPG game. The tagline was "No elves!"

Turned me right off, didn't buy it. I didn't really care if elves weren't a part of that setting or not, but tell me what is cool about your setting, not about what your setting doesn't have.

What makes Dragonlance cool isn't the absence of orcs or drow. It's the armies of Takhisis swarming over the land with dragons and dragonmen with the tarnished yet noble Knights of Solamnia fighting back, along with the secretive Wizards of High Sorcery, and the occasional nutty tinker gnome or kender handler.

By the gods of light, darkness, and balance, I HATE worldbuilding by subtraction. Our setting is TOTALLY DIFFERENT because, NO ORCS. Whatever.

 

[Velderan]

It’s supposed to give an overview of the history, and setting details on the area it takes place in. It’s an adventure not a full setting book.

If people want a 5e setting book, Dragonlance Nexus released a PDF that was quite good. They removed it saying they're working on adding to it for a future republishing on DMs Guild so we'll see how that goes. I'm curious why they didn't go the DMs Guild route originally but I also have no idea how getting something sold there works either.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Which 5e modules weren't written by freelancers? Heck, how many 3e modules were written in-house?

I never bought 3e modules. Just crunch and setting. All my adventures are 1e, 2e and 5e.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If people want a 5e setting book, Dragonlance Nexus released a PDF that was quite good. They removed it saying they're working on adding to it for a future republishing on DMs Guild so we'll see how that goes. I'm curious why they didn't go the DMs Guild route originally but I also have no idea how getting something sold there works either.

I'm SO glad I grabbed that before it was taken down!

 

[MonsterEnvy]

They've said it includes every option for players. What's the difference between one kitchen sink and another?

Everything about Dragonlance? It’s not the player options that make a setting unique.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Everything about Dragonlance? It’s not the player options that make a setting unique.

It is, however, the first thing virtually everyone will look at.

 

[Kai Lord]

Anyone noticed that the Kender looks afraid?

Maybe he's just heartbroken that the dagger he "found" on the knight's belt was plunging into the lava. Yeah, yeah that's the ticket...