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

 

[Haplo781]

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[Maxperson]

"The feel of the setting" can be altered in minor ways. Like by not making a mention of a race that used to be banned in it. Or by including that.

Orcs didn't exist in Dragonlance because Draconians were their version of Orcs. But now Orcs have changed. So the reason why they weren't included in the first place isn't a valid reason for why they wouldn't be included anymore.

I think Hobgoblins were their version of orcs. The draconians were something more.

Now, I don't particularly care if Orcs are included or not. I don't like the vast majority of the Dragonlance setting or the novels. But I do think that freaking out about the option of playing them being included or not outright banned is stupid and childish. It's like saying that the Lord of the Rings movies suck because they didn't include Tom Bombadil.

My guesses as to the setting are that to start as a cleric you will have to go through one of the mini-adventures and pull a "Goldmoon" to be accepted as a cleric. They mentioned in the video that the gods had been gone. I also think that the setting is going to be full of holes. It's small like Spelljammer which didn't have enough pages to give anywhere near the amount of setting info that they needed to.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No they do, just not the restrictive type you do.

Anyway I fell people are assuming too much about a book that’s not out.

Mod Note:

Howzabout not making the disc personal like this. Thanks.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I think Hobgoblins were their version of orcs. The draconians were something more.

My guesses as to the setting are that to start as a cleric you will have to go through one of the mini-adventures and pull a "Goldmoon" to be accepted as a cleric. They mentioned in the video that the gods had been gone. I also think that the setting is going to be full of holes. It's small like Spelljammer which didn't have enough pages to give anywhere near the amount of setting info that they needed to.

It's bigger than Spelljammer and is an adventure not a setting book.

It will no doubt have details on the setting but it's focusing on a certain area, and it's not going to have a 64 page bestiary or 30 pages of ships, like Spelljammer. So it should have room for it's setting details.

 

[Maxperson]

It's bigger than Spelljammer and is an adventure not a setting book.

That's not better.

 

[Hussar]

That is a very important point to remember. This ISN'T a setting book. It's an adventure. Which means that what's between the covers will be very different.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I am no expert, but I read the first two triloogies and played in 2e in the setting, and even I know that Raistlin has already taken the test of the tower so he is at least 5th level... .

3rd level, he explicitly mentioned being unable to cast fireball. In the original module they were 3-5th, I think. Raistlin was 3rd.

In addition the original novel, there are druids "Gilthanas paused, clearing his throat. “Druids in the woods tended my injuries. From them, I learned that many of my warriors were still alive and had been taken prisoner. Leaving the druids to bury the dead, I followed the tracks of the dragonarmy and eventually came to Solace.”

 

[mach1.9pants]

No Knight in any of the core novels ever cast a spell, and there is no reference anywhere to their ability to do so.

Yes there is, at least using magic, in relation to using the dragon orb in the second trilogy, clerical magic pre cataclysm

 

[AnotherGuy]

I'm an older demographic and I'm feeling pretty darn appeased by Dragonlance's return, period. Orcs, no orcs, tieflings in, tieflings out, tinker gnome red wizards, whatever. I'm not going to kvetch about little changes to make it feel more modern. Everything I've seen so far feels like Dragonlance to me, and that's what's important.

That is great and I also like most of the direction taken by WotC on this module (from the video I saw)
But since you do not give a hoot whether they include or don't include orcs and tieflings in the DL setting - I'm going to take you up on that and say they can make us both happy by not including them.

 

[Morrus]

I might be running a classic Dragonlance campaign soon (using A5E) and I'll almost certainly let people play orcs if they want. Dragonborn maybe not, as draconians really are iconic and intrinsic to the setting, but the absence of orcs? Eh.