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

 

[bedir than]

No, but most of the people that will buy this book probably haven't played or read Dragonlance before. So the book saying Orcs are banned would alter how newer players play the game.

This seems a good time to remind people that it is likely that more people buy the first printing of Shadow of the Dragon Queen than bought every single TSR Dragonlance game product.

 

[Cruentus]

And others don't want to share a table with a DM who throws their toys out of the pram because a player doesn't want to just play characters from the novel the DM wrote in their head.

Chicken and egg, yeah? If the DM puts forward a campaign concept, including class/race/whatever restrictions, its up to the players to accept or not. Not to try to change the DM's mind about their campaign concept. There are a lot more DMs than players. As a player, I've skipped over so many games because the concept didn't fit what I wanted to play in. I've never had a problem building a character within clear guidelines as set out by the DM though.

And all of these discussions around all of these "reboots" remind me why its never a good thing to have "updated" games, particularly if you're going for the nostalgia angle/crowd. Fortunately, what WOTC puts out has zero impact on our game table.

 

[ersatzphil]

There are a lot more DMs than players. As a player, I've skipped over so many games because the concept didn't fit what I wanted to play in. I've never had a problem building a character within clear guidelines as set out by the DM though.

At least in my experience, I think you have that first part reversed. That being said, that's to my mind a very healthy attitude - if I were to announce that I wanted to run a Middle Earth game and a player showed up announcing that they wouldn't play unless they got to be a Jedi? It may just not be the right game for them, in a "no harm, no foul" sort of way.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And others don't want to share a table with a DM who throws their toys out of the pram because a player doesn't want to just play characters from the novel the DM wrote in their head.

Strawman. "You can't play as a dalek" is a very different proposition to "you must play Han Solo".

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That is the problem with RPGs adapted from other sources - are you faithful to the fiction or to the game? I thought that the recent Witcher RPG did a good job at threading that needle, but it's a tough one to handle. I've also played in some RPGs where everyone felt like sidekicks to the character that picked a powerful option that was OP because it was trying to model the fiction too closely (The Dresden Files).

Sounds like the Jedi problem: you cannot accurately represent everything a Jedi can do and have it remotely balanced with nonjedi.

Ahhh, tough call. Do I go with an iconic villain, Lord Soth? Is it the original Heroes of the Lance and their stories? Or the Cataclysm and how it shaped the world?

General question: what’s your favourite thing about Dragonlance?

 

[Stormonu]

The orc discussion now has me wondering - where does the first mention of the exclusion of Orcs from Dragonlance occur? I’ve been looking through the old adventures and such and thought I remembered it either being mentioned in the first adventure (when Toede first appears) or in DL5 - Dragons of Mystery, but I can’t find any such notes. Other than the fact only goblins appear in the adventures, is there a place in the actual text (Dragon mag maybe?) that states “No orcs on Krynn” ? I’m almost certain there was one, but I can’t find it.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Strawman. "You can't play as a dalek" is a very different proposition to "you must play Han Solo".

We're talking 'strawmen' when the counter arguments are about daleks and jedi when the question was about a core race?

 

[mamba]

We're talking 'strawmen' when the counter arguments are about daleks and jedi when the question was about a core race?

Yes, because there is a difference between playing a char of a certain race and playing a certain char, and you confused the two

And others don't want to share a table with a DM who throws their toys out of the pram because a player doesn't want to just play characters from the novel the DM wrote in their head.

‘You cannot play a Dalek’ in SW is different from ‘you must play Han Solo’ and demonstrates the flaw in your argument perfectly

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yes, because there is a difference between playing a char of a certain race and playing a certain char, and you confused the two

I did not. The whole thing is the DM controlling the players' choices for ~their vison~.

 

[mamba]

I did not. The whole thing is the DM controlling the players' choices for ~their vison~.

You absolutely did, I even quoted where you did it.

Yes, not letting the player be an Orc is restricting their choice, but not at all in the same way as the player must be Raistlin. One is perfectly fine, your player cannot be Orcus / a dragon either after all, the other is not.

If the DM wants no orcs under any circumstance and the player absolutely insists on being one, then the player has to find a different DM.