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

 

[Kai Lord]

Outside of the gods and especially learned scholars, how many among the general populace in any given region are going to make the distinction between "I've never seen someone that looks like that" and "no one on this world has ever seen someone that looks like that"?

I'm a purist when it comes to what is included in official rules but the point you make is extremely valid. Picture a half-orc walking into the Inn of the Last Home compared to say a Minotaur or Draconian. The former would most likely be met with confusion and/or disgust. The latter two would likely see a crowd gathering to run them out of town or kill them outright. A halfling? Probably wouldn't get more than a second glance. So in many cases playing a non-Krynn native would be easier for the player than an indigenous character that is the subject of prejudice and/or hatred.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm a purist when it comes to what is included in official rules but the point you make is extremely valid. Picture a half-orc walking into the Inn of the Last Home compared to say a Minotaur or Draconian. The former would most likely be met with confusion and/or disgust. The latter two would likely see a crowd gathering to run them out of town or kill them outright. A halfling? Probably wouldn't get more than a second glance. So in many cases playing a non-Krynn native would be easier for the player than an indigenous character that is the subject of prejudice and/or hatred.

I doubt that would necessarily be the case for, say, a tiefling. Though I suppose a warforged would be thought of as some runaway gnome experiment.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, but honestly, no more so than a player choosing to play a noble, or a celebrity, or an obvious traveler from a distant land would.

None of which I would be happy with if it didn't make sense for the setting.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

None of which I would be happy with if it didn't make sense for the setting.

What "makes sense for the setting" is a subjective judgement that will differ from person to person and table to table.

 

[Kai Lord]

I doubt that would necessarily be the case for, say, a tiefling. Though I suppose a warforged would be thought of as some runaway gnome experiment.

Tieflings often look somewhat draconic on account of their horns and tails but on Krynn there are Dragonspawn which look pretty close to tieflings with wings.

So the aesthetic isn't completely without precedent, once again it would just come down to how the inclusion of such creatures is explained.

 

[Alzrius]

Tieflings often look somewhat draconic on account of their horns and tails but on Krynn there are Dragonspawn which look pretty close to tieflings with wings.

Minor nitpick: the dragonspawn (as opposed to draconians) didn't appear until almost two decades after the Chaos War.

 

[Kai Lord]

Minor nitpick: the dragonspawn (as opposed to draconians) didn't appear until almost two decades after the Chaos War.

Yes, my point wasn't that people would see a tiefling and go "Aha! A wingless Dragonspawn! Wait, those don't exist yet!" (And even after the Chaos War how many people would even recognize a dragonspawn on sight anyway.) But rather I was just calling out that later on in the world's timeline writers were able come up with a reason for these creatures to be seamlessly integrated into the setting. Therefore if "winged tieflings" can be added without breaking the setting then I would think that clever DM's and players would have just easy a time explained a tiefling.

Now I'm not a tiefling guy and wouldn't ever want them in my DL campaign but playing devil's advocate I could definitely see how others could fit them in.

 

[Older Beholder]

I‘ve been going back and forth on whether I’ll get this when it comes out. At first I was super keen when I thought it was a campaign setting, but started to go off the idea when I realised it was an adventure. (Mostly because I’m not sure I need another adventure, but also because I’d like to maybe one day play it.)

I guess we’ll see when it comes out how I feel.

The idea of playing a Tinker Gnome actually has me interested in playing an artificer for the first time.

 

[Dire Bare]

See, that could work. There's room to fit a character like without changing the history of the world.

And yet, no one is changing the history of the world, of Krynn.

Again, WotC isn't adding orcs to Dragonlance, they are just not going to tell gamers to keep orcs out. If a player wants to play an orc, or a drow, and the table is okay with it . . . it's all good.

A DM rolling with that, and adding small tribes of orcs in remote places for a PC to originate from . . . . doesn't really change the history or anything about the setting in any major or important way. Same with a PC playing a drow elf from Krynn's underdark, it's an easy add that just simply doesn't break the setting.

What you're advocating for, is for WotC to put unnecessary restrictions into the upcoming book and setting for players and DMs. Why on Paladine's green Krynn would they do that? Why can't you, a long-time Dragonlance fan, let other folks tables have their orcs and drow in Dragonlance. How does this lessen the setting for you, or for anybody, at all?

I think I'm going to have to bow out of this thread of the conversation . . . . the negativity and gate-keeping here is just getting too much.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It's not as bland as possible, no. Take out the Sword Coast setting book sometime and compare it to the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign setting and you'll see the difference he's talking about with regard to lore levels.

The SCAG is a bad book, I'm with you on that. But there are books with more lore and setting details than the SCAG in 5e (Eberron, Wildemount, Theros, Ravnica).