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]

I obviously haven't seen the adventure yet, but I am pretty sure you could recreate it 95% or more in Faerun, if you really wanted to. It's not like you need to include Orcs in it if it were in Faerun. Not sure why you would want to though.

As @Veltharis ap Rylix says, that's pretty much true of any adventure. While there might be some outliers, it's not exactly a strike against an adventure that it can be run in Forgotten Realms. That's kinda the point of FR is that it can be used for pretty much any D&D adventure. Might take a bit of jiggery pokery, but, it certainly can be done.

 

[DragonBelow]

Now, if you insist on later (and not much later mind you) canon, then my group consisting of a minotaur, thanoi walrus man, kyrie bird man and irda ogre walk into the Inn of the Last Home and you should be absolutely groovy with it. After all, this is 100% canon for the setting. Has ties right back to the original modules (if you include DL 16) and predate virtually everything else in the setting.

As a player you also have a responsibility to play something that fits the parameters of the campaign.

This reminds me of a friend that insisted in playing a Gun Gan Jedi every time someone suggested playing Star Wars. His funny suggestion made sure we never played it, since he was obviously not going to take it seriously.

 

[Hussar]

As a player you also have a responsibility to play something that fits the parameters of the campaign.

This reminds me of a friend that insisted in playing a Gun Gan Jedi every time someone suggested playing Star Wars. His funny suggestion made sure we never played it, since he was obviously not going to take it seriously.

Totally agree. And yeah as a player I believe that there’s at least some responsibility to make sure you’re reading the table before suggesting a character.

If you know it’s going to piss off your dm to suggest playing an orc in the Dragonlance campaign, maybe don’t? Save that idea for another day?

But I do draw the line at insisting that it’s WotC’s job to tell players what they can and cannot play at my table. That’s my job thankyouverymuch. I’m perfectly capable of handling that.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I obviously haven't seen the adventure yet, but I am pretty sure you could recreate it 95% or more in Faerun, if you really wanted to. It's not like you need to include Orcs in it if it were in Faerun. Not sure why you would want to though.

Sure, you can put an adventure in any setting if you hack enough out of it and ignore what makes both settings what they are, but as you say, I don't know why you would.

War of The Lance just doesn't make sense to bother with if there's no preceeding period of no dragons and no gods. Like...okay, Tiamat is back with a dragon army. A dragon cult tried to bring her into the world several years ago. My uncle fought them alongside some heroes out of Waterdeep.

Like, could you place the whole adventure in the Cormanthor forest and surroundings, and focus on the Purple Dragon Knights? Sure! And you could have in the original adventure!

 

[Dire Bare]

To be fair, I do get it. I have had loads of players that could not give a rat's patoot about whatever setting we are playing and will come with character concepts that are whatever they want to play and have basically nothing to do with the setting. And, yeah, it bugs me. I remember one play who typically played what I called "anti-setting" characters. Characters that deliberately swam against any stream the DM placed down as a setting concept.

But, the thing is, I also realize that the books will not save me here. If you have players that literally do not care about what the setting suggests for character, then having the book "forbid" certain things will just be this giant sign for them that says, "I WANNNA PLAY THIS!!!" This is a table issue and not something the books can ever resolve for you.

The issue you describe is a disconnect between DM and players. The issue some are railing against here is . . . . not that. It's folks with a narrow view of setting purity.

How you want to run your home Dragonlance campaign should be a discussion with your players, and everybody should be on the same page for maximized fun and minimized stress. If that means, "no orcs" at your table, good. If that means, "Orcs? Sure, why not?" that's good too.

Even if WotC DOES decide to explicitly add orcs, drow, and all sorts of mayhem to Dragonlance (they've done it before, in 4E setting books), it's just such a nothing burger. I don't really expect them to do this, however, and nothing leaked so far is suggesting they will take this approach.

The best path for WotC is a sidebar listing player options that traditionally haven't been a part of Dragonlance, with perhaps some context as to why. THEN explicitly state, "But, if your table wants to include orc PCs . . . GO FOR IT! Here's some ideas on how to incorporate new player options to Dragonlance".

After the book comes out, I'm hoping for an invite to a Dragonlance game using the new material. I don't have much of a desire to play an orc, drow, tiefling, goliath, genasi, or other option traditionally not part of Dragonlance. But if the DM's pitch is exclusionary, as some here are advocating, I'll pass on that game. Life is too short for that.

Although, now that I think about it . . . . I've starting to percolate some ideas on how to Dragonlancify drow . . . . perhaps a long lost offshoot of the elves who escaped to the underdark, worship the Dark Queen (Takhisis, not Lolth), the . . . Embranesti? Could be fun!

 

[DarkCrisis]

Wait, you harassing the DM into giving you what you wanted is somehow a sign of . . . what? That DMs should never slightly change the setting to let the players play what they want? Or that you should have compromised with the DM instead of, in your own words, been "a huge A-hole".

How in the world did you get "the problem is the DM letting the players have the characters they want!" instead of "bad players ruin the game, not kitchen sinks".

Yes. The player should bend to the will of the other players who want to experience a setting or theme.

Trying to play say Gothic Horror and one player wants to make an anime magic girl… no the table shouldn’t bend to that players will. They should bend to the tables. Because it’s not about one person. It’s a group activity.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Yes. The player should bend to the will of the other players who want to experience a setting or theme.

Trying to play say Gothic Horror and one player wants to make an anime magic girl… no the table shouldn’t bend to that players will. They should bend to the tables. Because it’s not about one person. It’s a group activity.

I mean, say what you will about it being "gothic" enough, but you can very much pull off a magical girl in a Ravenloft-y horror setting, as anyone who has watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica past episode 3 can attest.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Yes. The player should bend to the will of the other players who want to experience a setting or theme.

Trying to play say Gothic Horror and one player wants to make an anime magic girl… no the table shouldn’t bend to that players will. They should bend to the tables. Because it’s not about one person. It’s a group activity.

No. Each player's wants in a game are equally valid. There should be a compromise. And "anime magic girls" or similar characters can exist in Ravenloft. They just have to be changed slightly to fit the setting (maybe the "magical transformation" is a Dark Gift more akin to a superpowered evil side, or it's actually an Undead Warlock's Form of Dread or Barbarian's Rage).

The table should bend to the will of all players equally. Instead of one player forcing the rest of the party to include a character that doesn't fit, you should have all come together to find a way to make the character (or a similar enough one) fit in the campaign without ruining it for everyone. The game is about all of the characters.

 

[Maxperson]

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.

I see what you did there!

 

[DarkCrisis]

No. Each player's wants in a game are equally valid. There should be a compromise. And "anime magic girls" or similar characters can exist in Ravenloft. They just have to be changed slightly to fit the setting (maybe the "magical transformation" is a Dark Gift more akin to a superpowered evil side, or it's actually an Undead Warlock's Form of Dread or Barbarian's Rage).

The table should bend to the will of all players equally. Instead of one player forcing the rest of the party to include a character that doesn't fit, you should have all come together to find a way to make the character (or a similar enough one) fit in the campaign without ruining it for everyone. The game is about all of the characters.

We will have to agree to disagree.