Dragonlance Dragonlance Creators Reveal Why There Are No Orcs On Krynn

Talking to the Dragonlance Nexus, Dragonlance creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman revealed why the world of Krynn features no orcs -- in short, because they didn't want to copy Tolkien, and orcs were very much a 'Middle Earth' thing.

Weis told Trampas Whiteman that "Orcs were also viewed as very Middle Earth. We wanted something different." Hickman added that it was draconians which made Krynn stand out. Read more at the link below!

Why are there no Orcs in Krynn? Weis and Hickman give us the answer! - Dragonlance Nexus

Dragonhelm gets the scoop from Weis and Hickman on why there are no orcs in Krynn. Read More

dragonlancenexus.com

 

[Velderan]

The BEST thing would be not to mention orcs or half orcs and let it be... the 2nd best is mention it ia side bar "Once apon a time these races were not here but it doesn't matter today if DMs do or don't allow them it wont break anything"

The best is an incredibly subjective thing.

 

[wicked cool]

The Bestiary of Krynn disagrees with you.

Never encountered in books or modules? It’s been a while though

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Orcs were replaced with draconians to show Dragolance wasn't a copy of "lord of the rings", but now I am suspecting orcs PCs are popular by fault of World of Warcraft.

What the matter with the hobgoblings? In other franchises hobgoblings and orcs are "cousins", they share the same greenskin blood. They could be redesigned like the gorillas from "the planet of the apes".

Or why not the bugbears...

or the half-ogre?

Maybe those are from tribes living, or surviving, in the Feywild-Krynnspace.

 

[Velderan]

no need for a poll, cause even if 99% of enworld came down one way or the other it would not mean anything. We are not an accurate representation of the D&D base in 2022

The bolded part is incredibly important. People seem to frequently forget despite so many people using the internet, the vast majority of people who play D&D don't care enough to post on forums or social media about it. At my table of 7, I'm the only person who reads anything about D&D online. At the risk of stirring up a controversial issue, try asking 10 people at your local game shop about the Hadozee and see how many are even aware WotC released a statement and made changes to the digital book while promising to change future printings to match. The few conversations I've had with people at my local gamestores have largely led me to believe most people don't follow this stuff like that. These are also incredibly small sample sizes, so your mileage may vary of course.

If the new DL book sells poorly, imo it's far more likely due to something like how WotC marketed it or just the length of time it's been since the franchise has had anything published as a D&D product than anything WotC could put in the book about orcs. Heck, I've heard more people simply say "I can't afford it and the holidays are coming up, so going to have to pass".

 

[Oncewasbenji]

I mean from WotC's side of the equation, not homebrew or third-party.

The rationale given for the lack of orcs in Dragonlance is that the original developers of the setting didn't want to include orcs in Dragonlance. I am not making a statement one way or the other on whether that was the correct decision. I don't find the rationale in question particularly compelling, but I am also not a Dragonlance fan, so I have little real investment in the matter.

What I am trying to understand is why there is so much resistance to even the hypothetical that WotC might create a place for orcs in the 5e version of Dragonlance, as they did for Dragonborn and Eladrin in the 4e release of Eberron.

Quite frankly, I didn't like the putting dragonborn in Eberron. The resistance to orcs in dragonlance is the same reason I don't want Jedi in faerun. It's a retcon that undermines decades of there being no orcs there. It changes Canon for no reason except to make all places feel the same. It's OK to add flavour and keep it consistent. If you want an orc equivalent player race in dragonlance, minotaurs exist. Play that and do something new. Then it will feel like a unique experience.

 

[AnotherGuy]

The bolded part is incredibly important. People seem to frequently forget despite so many people using the internet, the vast majority of people who play D&D don't care enough to post on forums or social media about it. At my table of 7, I'm the only person who reads anything about D&D online. At the risk of stirring up a controversial issue, try asking 10 people at your local game shop about the Hadozee and see how many are even aware WotC released a statement and made changes to the digital book while promising to change future printings to match. The few conversations I've had with people at my local gamestores have largely led me to believe most people don't follow this stuff like that. These are also incredibly small sample sizes, so your mileage may vary of course.

If the new DL book sells poorly, imo it's far more likely due to something like how WotC marketed it or just the length of time it's been since the franchise has had anything published as a D&D product then anything WotC could put in the book about orcs. Heck, I've heard more people simply say "I can't afford it and the holidays are coming up, so going to have to pass".

This.

At my table, only 1 player has a D&D Beyond subscription. No one owns any books (legally), but me and 1 player. They couldn't care less about the noise that happens online about this or that issue. What matters is when is the next play date and what occurs at the table.
But at least half know the lore of DL

 

[Oncewasbenji]

no, but they need to have good enough reasons for the removal of any of the basic options.

What qualifies as a good enough reason? I mean orcs are stated as not existing on all worlds in the PH. That is a good enough reason.

 

[ART!]

I don't use orcs, either, and for the same reason.

Talking to the Dragonlance Nexus, Dragonlance creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman revealed why the world of Krynn features no orcs -- in short, because they didn't want to copy Tolkien, and orcs were very much a 'Middle Earth' thing.

Weis told Trampas Whiteman that "Orcs were also viewed as very Middle Earth. We wanted something different." Hickman added that it was draconians which made Krynn stand out. Read more at the link below!

Why are there no Orcs in Krynn? Weis and Hickman give us the answer! - Dragonlance Nexus

Dragonhelm gets the scoop from Weis and Hickman on why there are no orcs in Krynn. Read More

dragonlancenexus.com

I don't use orcs, either, and for the same reason.

 

[Velderan]

What qualifies as a good enough reason? I mean orcs are stated as not existing on all worlds in the PH. That is a good enough reason.

The irony is I've seen far more good reasons to not include them than any good reasons to include them. "Player choice" is not a world building theme, these races exist and here's what they're about here is.

 

[mamba]

discussions with 0 ability to change someones mind makes it an odd way to have a discussion. If wotc comes out and says "Hey we didn't want to limit players" would that do it? I bet not cause they already said that about class...

All I am saying is that sales will essentially be independent of this topic, do you disagree with that?

As to changing anyone’s mind, that seems overly optimistic. Esp. since both are valid perspectives (it is hard enough when one clearly is not…), there is no right or wrong here, so why do you even expect to change it?