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

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You could conceivably make a dalek work in a Doctor Who game. Obviously they would be vastly different in outlook from virtually every other member of their race, and would terrify anyone who had ever heard of them, but if the table wants to try, go for it!

The point applies though. You want the races of the player characters to match the fiction of the setting.

You see, daleks exist in Doctor Who. Orcs (outside of unique extra-planar travelers) do not.

You sure?

 

[Micah Sweet]

The point applies though. You want the races of the player characters to match the fiction of the setting.

You sure?

I was talking DL in regards to orcs, but point taken.

 

[Vaalingrade]

The DM has every right to restrict options, whether setting, races, classes, subclasses or individual skills / spells.

They have the right, but that doesn't make them right.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Having butted heads with you a few times here, I'm left with the impression that you've played with - and had your opinions formed by - some really terrible DMs.

I have conversed with a lot of really terrible DMs fostered by the 'traditional' idea that the DM and their options and thoughts are the only important ones at the table.

 

[Cruentus]

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

So whose "vision" wins out here? Does the DM give in to the player? Does the player harangue the DM? Mope at the table?

If I'm a DM, running a campaign, and have set the ground rules, and a player's "vision" doesn't mesh with those ground rules? Seems pretty clear to me what has to give... the player can find another game.

I get that the game is now all about "player choice, player vision, player player agency, I want, I want, I want", but holy smokes, how is a DM supposed to run a game that they might also find enjoyable, and WANT to actually DM.

I ran a recent game with my ongoing, long-running group, and they subverted my initial ground rules, and I didn't push back because I didn't want to be "that guy", and you know what? The game crashed because it was unfun for me to prep for, run, and manage. The player "vision" for their character sucked the fun out of running the game... sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for/demand.

 

[bedir than]

A

Appeal to popularity doesn't do anything for any given individual though, which of course all of us are.

That's not at all my point.

My point is that people who insist that there's this latent cultural knowledge about dragonlance ignore that there's been a lack of novels for basically two decades, a lack of RPG product (which wasn't actually popular!) for about three decades.

Insisting on a continuity or honoring a canon that a miniscule amount of people actually know is not just destructive to the business -- it's destructive to our ability to have strong conversations about a product we haven't read.

 

[ersatzphil]

I have conversed with a lot of really terrible DMs fostered by the 'traditional' idea that the DM and their options and thoughts are the only important ones at the table.

I get that, but you seem - as recently as the discussion on the Lady of Pain - to always assume the absolute worst of the DM. Most of us are just trying our best to run a game for our friends where we all have fun pretending to be elves and wizards.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I get that the game is now all about "player choice, player vision, player player agency, I want, I want, I want", but holy smokes, how is a DM supposed to run a game that they might also find enjoyable, and WANT to actually DM.

By wanting to be an entertainer? By wanting to provide a fun and enjoyable game for their friends? By not hanging their enjoyment on denying things to others?

I hate gnomes. Absolutely despise the existence of these faux halflings who exist to make anti-science jokes and talk to hamsters. But. I'm not going to tell someone they can't play one or design my world around them not being there so I have plausible deniability to keep them from playing what they like. Because it's not all about me just because I chose to run a game.

People treat DMing as if it's this arduous task that they can only do if they're compensated via control, but I and I hope many others actually like DMing and doing collaborative storytelling and the exercise of working with others in the collaborative nature.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I get that, but you seem - as recently as the discussion on the Lady of Pain - to always assume the absolute worst of the DM.

To be fair, the Lady of Pain is the personification in-universe of the absolute worst of a DM. No questions, no saves, just follow my rules or punishment; I am the coolest and most powerful at my singular little table and I will NEVER let you forget it.

 

[ersatzphil]

To be fair, the Lady of Pain is the personification in-universe of the absolute worst of a DM. No questions, no saves, just follow my rules or punishment; I am the coolest and most powerful at my singular little table and I will NEVER let you forget it.

I mean - I ran a Sigil-based game for a year, and my players never even saw the Lady of Pain. Again, I agree that what you’re describing is bad, it’s just a huge disconnect from any game I’ve been in, and honestly disconnected from the source material, at least as I read it.