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

 

[mamba]

this IS in bad faith, you are trying to compare useing the PHB to make a character to homebrewing or useing another game system to make a character

Don’t tell me whether I make an argument in bad faith, I admit it has flaws, imo it still was closer than the one we had, so there

Also, you conveniently seem to ignore the rest of my post

 

[Micah Sweet]

why? not what WHY? what does it change if there are tribes of orcs?

Where did the orcs come from in the lore of the setting? What value do the orcs have to the campaign? Without ASIs and culture stuff, orcs don't really have much going for them to me.

 

[mamba]

Right there. In that sentence.

Ha, thanks, I did not feel like repeating the same thing over and over, but for you I repeat it

What is in or out at the table is decided by the DM, because someone ultimately has to and the DM is the natural choice for that.
Now that does not mean the players have no input and that there should not be a discussion and maybe even a vote (this assumes one is needed because no suitable compromise was found)… but, if the DM feels so strongly about it that he rather not run the campaign and the one player feels so strongly about it that he rather not play in it (which is the scenario we are discussing here and I took for granted in my reply), THEN the DM decides, because you cannot very well force him to do something he is so opposed to.

I said time and again that the real solution is compromise, but if that is unattainable, then it absolutely is the DM who decides, and the player is left with deciding whether he wants to play or not. Anything else means one side is forcing their will on the other.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Of course they don't. But if either side won't compromise, they can't play together. That applies to both the DM and the player. Your arguments come across to me as very "player wins all disputes about PC choices".

no my argument has and forever will be... the why matters.

2 whys to be presise.

why are they not here?
and
why would it hurt the setting/story if there were?

In Dark Sun I can answer both. In Dragon Lance the best answer ANYONE has come up with is the creators said so, and/or tradition.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It's the Oath and the Measure, not the Oath and the MUSTACHE.

Jeez, life is going to be awful awkward for female Solamnic Knights if mustaches are compulsory...

There's absolutely no way I'd consider mandating mustaches on Knights. I'm pretty bloody sure the Oath and the Measure doesn't mention facial hair anywhere. Have it be a tradition among the Knights, sure, have senior traditionalist NPC Knights look askance on clean-shaven PC Knights, sure. But mandatory? That's going far too far across the line of my PC being a character in the DMs novel. It's FASHION.

 

[Micah Sweet]

no my argument has and forever will be... the why matters.

2 whys to be presise.

why are they not here?
and
why would it hurt the setting/story if there were?

In Dark Sun I can answer both. In Dragon Lance the best answer ANYONE has come up with is the creators said so, and/or tradition.

I asked if the DM has to have every heritage in their campaign, and you said, "just the ones the players pick". How is that not saying that the players always win that dispute?

 

[Remathilis]

Where did the orcs come from in the lore of the setting? What value do the orcs have to the campaign? Without ASIs and culture stuff, orcs don't really have much going for them to me.

If that's the metric, kiss 90% of the Monster Manual goodbye.

Who is the God that created medusa? Where did owlbears come from in the lore of the setting? What value do mimics have to the campaign? I need my deep lore explanation of harpies!

 

[Stormonu]

I would say the table is... but okay you elevate 1 player over the others...

this isn't a homebrew this is an official setting released that need to answer to the whole market not just people who noticed a restriction 30 years ago that was a retcon to begin with.

I don't think either the mustache or orc discussion is even on WotC's radar, nor something they even need to take a stand on. But, for all I care, WotC could publish DL and state that everyone has to play a Kender, even if it flies in the face of everything that's come before.

But once the book hits people's tables, I'm all for letting individuals interpret things they want to, officialdom be damned. If the DM at their own table wanted to exclude PC orcs or half-orcs (or Kender), that's their choice. If something becomes an issue, I'm all for the two sides working it out amicably, but if either side won't relent and its a real sticking point, then it's probably better for one side or the other to not be involved in that game.

 

[Xamnam]

In Dragon Lance the best answer ANYONE has come up with is the creators said so

That's a really good answer, or at least good enough, for a lot of people.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The High God created the Good, Neutral, and Evil gods, who each created races in their likeness. None of them created orcs, so they don't exist. Considering you're the same person who said adventures don't work in the Realms because Elminster exists and would just solve every problem despite the book never saying he runs around just solving problems, I'm not sure how this is so hard for you to grasp.

let me say 1st that is a gross simplification of my "I dislike running modern Forgotten Realms" but not the point... The high god created the gods the gods created mortal races... and this changes how much if we say 1 of them made orcs and they are a tribe over there... now the player can play what they want?

And according to WotC, you'd be wrong. From the PHB:

In the Dungeons & Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). Working together, the group might explore a dark dungeon, a ruined city, a haunted castle, a lost temple deep in a jungle, or a lava-filled cavern beneath a mysterious mountain. The adventurers can solve puzzles, talk with other characters, battle fantastic monsters, and discover fabulous magic items and other treasure.

One player, however, takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM), the game’s lead storyteller and referee. The DM creates adventures for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore. The DM might describe the entrance to Castle Ravenloft, and the players decide what they want their adventurers to do. Will they walk across the dangerously weathered drawbridge? Tie themselves together with rope to minimize the chance that someone will fall if the drawbridge gives way? Or cast a spell to carry them over the chasm?

Then the DM determines the results of the adventurers’ actions and narrates what they experience. Because the DM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, D&D is infinitely flexible, and each adventure can be exciting and unexpected.

I am having some trouble reading this... where does it say the DM can tell you what you can and cannot play out of the base book?

In the Dungeons & Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends).

this is about the player making his half orc

One player, however, takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM), the game’s lead storyteller and referee.

this says just 1 player takes on a different role...

The DM creates adventures for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore.

this says the DM makes the adventure, but nothing about making restricting or removing options... and nothing to indicate they get MORE power then the rest of the table on deciding what races to play...

Then the DM determines the results of the adventurers’ actions and narrates what they experience. Because the DM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, D&D is infinitely flexible, and each adventure can be exciting and unexpected.

more about in play...


so again, there may be a rule or suggestion (I think there may be in the common/uncommon races section) but not one I see in what you coppied.