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

 

[Velderan]

They never evolved / were created by a god in the first place. Not sure why that reason is any worse than they all got butchered 1000 years ago… and if for you it somehow is replace ‘never existed’ with ‘they all got butchered in the dragon wars 1000 years ago’

Its not my argument, I'm summarizing what the chief complaint I see here is. I don't agree it's a problem but I can certainly understand the complaint.

 

[Maxperson]

Why else would they not exist…

The might not exist because they were killed. Never evolved there. Left Krynn en masse to go find the orc shoe of creation. Were driven out by the elves. The gods created an anti-orc field that kills any full blooded orc that enters Krynn. And on and on and on and on.

Edit: orcs aren't real.

Why do orcs not exist in Earth?

Because they aren't real. Let me add that to the reasons above.

 

[Velderan]

We have an incredibly bad DM. Just look at the past two years of the campaign.

If you figure out how to leave this table and go play under a better DM, please share.

 

[ersatzphil]

We have an incredibly bad DM. Just look at the past two years of the campaign.

I may disagree with you often on this board, but bon mot.

 

[mamba]

The might not exist because they were killed.

pretty sure that would have been mentioned, just like it was for Dark Sun, yet at no point are orcs mentioned in the creation story or after. So we can safely rule this one out

Never evolved there. Left Krynn en masse to go find the orc shoe of creation. Were driven out by the elves. The gods created an anti-orc field that kills any full blooded orc that enters Krynn. And on and on and on and on.

Same, never mentioned in the history of Krynn, which is sufficiently detailed to have mentioned something like that, if it had happened.

Again we are left with conclusions, 1) orcs NEVER existed on Krynn, so your first option, 2) you do not know the history of Krynn.

Also, if it really mattered to you why orcs do not exist, 2) would not be the case and you would have long ago come to the conclusion of 1)

Edit: orcs aren't real.

Because they aren't real. Let me add that to the reasons above.

Not a good reason, as neither are dragons, draconians, the entire world of Krynn

 

[Maxperson]

pretty sure that would have been mentioned, just like it was for Dark Sun, yet at no point are orcs mentioned in the creation story or after. So we can safely rule this one out

You can say that, but I've shown how that's absolutely not be the case. You literally cannot rule out any reasonable explanation, because good stuff gets chopped out of books, movies, shows, whatever in order to get down to the amount of space or time desired.

How many movies have done something that seems like a glaring plot hole because it doesn't make sense, only to see the director's cut and the inclusion of a cut scene that explains everything? I've seen lots. The same goes for RPG books. Every explanation I gave with the exception of "orcs aren't real" is valid a possibility and cannot be ruled out.

Same, never mentioned in the history of Krynn, which is sufficiently detailed to have mentioned something like that, if it had happened.

Like literally every setting ever made, there are holes you could drive the Enterprise D through in the setting lore. There isn't enough space an a 24 volume Encyclopedia set to cover everything. One small hardcover books is not sufficiently detailed to guarantee mention of something like that.

Again we are left with conclusions, 1) orcs NEVER existed on Krynn, so your first option, 2) you do not know the history of Krynn.

Not conclusions. Assumptions not born out by anything in the book. And the assumptions are based on faulty logic as I showed above.

Also, if it really mattered to you why orcs do not exist, 2) would not be the case and you would have long ago come to the conclusion of 1)

Or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 12746 or 9826463. There's no reasonable explanation that can be ruled out as a possibility.

Not a good reason, as neither are dragons, draconians, the entire world of Krynn

I sort of figured you'd realize that one was pretty obviously a joke.

 

[Faolyn]

Dragonlance was an experiment. It was the first setting to change ANYTHING. And yes it did add stuff (kender, draconians). But it was conservative in what it did. It only removed things that where rubbish and didn't matter, like orcs. If you want to say "Dragonlance was bad" because of that, fair enough. But it was an innovative prototype that paved the way for all the diverse campaign setting we have now. I could come up with a long list of other reasons Dragonlance was bad too, but the absence of orcs doesn't make the list.

I'm not saying Dragonlance is bad because it removes orcs. When I make a setting, I also curate my monster and race lists heavily. I'm saying that if its main claim to fame is that it doesn't have certain things, and adding those things back makes it like every other setting, then that's pretty boring. And if the things it has are a lot like the things it doesn't have then that's not an improvement.

Let's face it, the draconians fill the same niche as orcs do--they're mechanically different, sure, but thematically the same, and the mechanics really only matter as a difference until the players get used to them and know not to stand right next to one as they kill it. Halflings have always been "everyman burglars that are short and seem innocent," and kender are just that dialed up way past 11.

This is a completely different setting, nothing like Krynn. Sounds more like Pern. Why not replace Takhisis with a Red Star whilst you are at it?

And that's my other point. If enhancing the things it does have makes it into "nothing like" its original form, then that also doesn't say much good about the setting.

Maybe your setting would be a be better setting - but it wouldn't be Dragonlance.

Then what could be done to make Dragonlance better?

How about "orcs are humans in cheap looking rubber masks". Which is actually the truth about them.

Only if you're (general you're here) too lazy to make them more than that.

 

[Maxperson]

Let's face it, the draconians fill the same niche as orcs do--they're mechanically different, sure, but thematically the same, and the mechanics really only matter as a difference until the players get used to them and know not to stand right next to one as they kill it. Halflings have always been "everyman burglars that are short and seem innocent," and kender are just that dialed up way past 11.

Draconians don't fill the same niche as orcs. Orcs are a numerous low level monster to face. Draconians are significantly more powerful monsters. Orcs in Dragonlance filled the same niche as the hobgoblins and goblins in the dragon armies filled.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Maybe they aren't a thing in Dragonlance. Why would cats and wolves be on every world in existence?

Wolves and Cats certainly exist. Takhisis even calls out Dire Wolves at one point.

 

[mamba]

You can say that, but I've shown how that's absolutely not be the case.

You absolutely have not shown that. That’s like you saying ‘I have given you 10 reasons why the Earth could be flat’.
You are ignoring what we know beyond a shadow of a doubt (because we do have Krynn’s history) and then spout things we know never happened as possible reasons. That is not how anything works.

There isn't enough space an a 24 volume Encyclopedia set to cover everything.

agreed, but you would expect it to cover the major events, esp since we have a history covering much more minor events

Also, Occam's Razor: we know orcs do not exist, we have no evidence that they ever existed, we also have not heard anything about them being wiped out (unlike for Dark Sun), easiest solution: they never existed.
Works as well for orcs on Krynn as for the Tooth Fairy on Earth

Not conclusions. Assumptions not born out by anything in the book.

There is more than one book, this goes back to 2) you do not know what you are talking about and never bothered finding out