Krynn Returns: A Preview of Dragonlance

WotC is experimenting as it brings the world of Krynn and the classic Dragonlance setting to 5th Edition. Those experiments take a few different forms.

WotC is experimenting as it brings the world of Krynn and the classic Dragonlance setting to 5th Edition. Those experiments take a few different forms.

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The Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen Combo Bundle​

The first is one that fans have been clamoring for—bundles that combine the physical and digital versions of a book. Earlier this year, WotC purchased D&D Beyond, which has been producing digital content for D&D. Now the much-requested bundles are debuting with Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, and the digital book will unlock on November 22 for those who pre-order the bundle, two weeks earlier than the official release date.

The other experiment is pairing the RPG adventure with a board game. Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn can be played alone or in combination with the RPG, which similarly can stand independent of the board game. Why create two different games for one story?

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Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen​

“[Dragonlance] is a war adventure. Characters will find themselves flung into battle,” said F. Wes Schneider, lead designer for DL:SotDQ. The board game is one way to create that feeling of mass combat.

The D&D team created new rule subsystems for battles that are taking place in the middle of larger conflicts. When you get to the mass combat sections in DL:SotDQ it notes when you can switch to DL:WoK if you have both. If you only have DL:SotDQ, then it instructs the DM how to proceed.

Speaking of rules, DL:SotDQ uses the current 5E rule set. D&D One is still being play-tested, but Schneider emphasized again that D&D One will be fully compatible with existing D&D adventures. If you do have both DL:SotDQ and DL:WoK, what happens during the board game interludes matters. Whether players succeed or fail will affect what happens next in the RPG. “We think of these two experiences as additive to each other,” said Greg Tito, senior communications manager for WotC.

To give a sense of how it works, Schneider compared how things play out with the new rule subsystem as well as how it connects to the optional board game to the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Specifically, he referenced Eowyn fighting the Witch King: A giant battle is taking place, but the story is focusing on this one part of the battle.

The new RPG mass combat rule subsystem and board game were both made to emphasize Dragonlance's defining theme. “It's best known for its iconic war,” said Schneider. “It's caught up in this sweeping conflict called the War of the Lance, where the forces of Takhisis, the evil dragon queen, are sweeping across a world that has already been reeling from a planet-spanning apocalypse and now they find themselves just as they're starting to emerge back into a new era, these oncoming dragon armies and forces of this evil queen.”

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In DL:SotDQ a new group of heroes will gather in a new area of the setting. Characters find themselves embroiled in this massive, war and they have the opportunity to shape this conflict. DL:SotDQ begins in the fishing village of Vogler. The war hasn't yet begun. No one knows about the dragon armies.

One of the first NPCs the players will meet is Darrett Highwater, the squire of a knight who has been sent to get breakfast. Highwater is returning with breakfast handpies as he meets the players. They will continue to meet Highwater over the course of the adventure as the war escalates.

But before that war starts, the players get to enjoy the Kingfisher Festival in the lovely town of Vogler. They can compete in a fishing style mini game against Mayor Raven Uth. Players should genuinely enjoy their time in Vogler—and then the first glimmers of war appear. Rumors emerge that don't quite make sense. Ogres mercenaries begin to raid. Then Vogler becomes the first stop for an incursion by the dragon army.
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Because Vogler is unprepared for war it's up to the PCs to decide what to do. Can they create defenses in time? Gather enough forces to defend it? Or hold off the dragon army until the citizens can evacuate to the fortified city of Kalaman? Schneider said that a large part of the adventure took inspiration from real-world history like the evacuation of Dunkirk during WWII.

But Dragonlance has a long history that includes novels, adventure modules, and video games so a common question is when does DL:SotDQ take place? For that, Schneider had two answers. “A lot of the timeline for this is very vague,” said Schneider. “The story of your Krynn and of this Dragonlance setting is very much up to DMs and players to define.”

So DMs can modify DL:SotDQ as they see fit and place it in whatever time period they choose. “But were we [the D&D team] to place this somewhere,” Schneider continued, “literally this story would actually take place before a lot of the novels, before a lot of the other stories of the Heroes of the Lance... by several months to several years.”

Schneider continued to explain that Krynn is a big planet, and compared how this particular story works to Star Wars in that there's a whole universe of stories to tell. Those stories include everything from Rogue One to the saga, The Mandalorian to The Book of Boba Fett. “Where's Luke and Leia?,” continued Schneider as he expanded on the analogy. “They're out there. They're doing their own thing, but we're focused over here on this story.”

Because so much material already exists, don't expect a repeat of in-depth world building. Instead Schneider compared DL:SotDQ to how Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden introduced the Ten Towns. “A lot of the setting is revealed through play and adventure,” said Schneider

DL:SotDQ also includes three short prelude adventures that will allow new players to learn more about the world of Krynn and key story elements of it. Those include evidence that the deities are returning to the world, draconians, and learning about the mages of high sorcery. A gazetteer also helps to fill in essential material.

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While the threats in DL:SotDQ are dire, some lighter moments are included. For example, the inventive tinker gnomes have invented something called “gnomeflingers” for rapid transportation. As the name indicates, it's “a catapult that fires people.” Unfortunately, landing isn't built-in. That's a difference device called a “narrycrash.”

Kender will be a playable species as usual in DL:SotDQ. A variety of dwarves are also mentioned, but gully dwarves are not.

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Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn​

Speaking of playable characters, one of the features if you have both DL:SotDQ and DL:WoK is that players can bring their characters into the board game, putting them into the field of battle. DL:WoK also comes with unpainted minis, but players can substitute their own minis if desired.

The board game's lead designers are Rob Daviau and Stephen Baker. Daviau explained that DL:WoK isn't the game most people probably expect to depict battlefield combat. “It's not a traditional wargame,” said Daviau. “You are not commanding the units. The battle is bigger than you. You can influence the battle, but the battles are happening around you. Players are doing a special mission during the battle.”

Daviau also cautioned people against opening and reading all of the game components before beginning to play. While DL:WoK is not a legacy game where some cards are destroyed, certain elements are in shrink-wrapped packages that are marked “do not open until...” so there are surprises. Instead it directs you to “use X if Y happens.”
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There are also recruit, veteran, and legendary cards. Those packs should also stay sealed until indicated. Players will start with low-level abilities and advance to the higher level ones. Because the battle is so big, players will get some different abilities in certain situations. Players will also encounter NPCs from DL:SotDQ like Darrett Highwater in DL:WoK (he gets a battlefield promotion quickly).

The board game also supports role-playing. For example, if a player or NPC gets the Shaken condition in the board game that effect can be role-played when the players resume the RPG side. What the players do in the board game absolutely makes a difference because the alliance army is almost always outnumbered. The players help to shift the focus so the alliance can survive. Daviau said they play-tested version where the players did nothing, and it affected the outcome for the alliance.

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DL:WoK is a cooperative game. Not all cards are played on your turn. If you have the right cards in your hand, you can exert influence on someone else's turn. Cards are regained through rest. The game is designed for 3-5 players so the DM can take on the role of a mercenary and play if there aren't enough players. If there are, the DM can act as a facilitator and play the NPCs. DL:WoK is challenging. It's hard for the alliance to get units back, and bad guys win ties in dice rolls. Interestingly, the game only uses d6s—no d20s.

DL:WoK starts with a sandbox opener to give the players a sense of how it works. A group of farmers need to be rescued. Vile champions will impede the players' paths. As the game progresses, the battles become more complex and bigger to simulate the feel of combat against an overwhelming dragon army.

The board game has many battlefields, and the players will need to manage many flanks. One flank will always be active to create a cinematic feel, and players will move back and forth between the battlefields so it feels epic.

Daviau expects DMs to create their own scenarios to extend DL:WoK beyond what's provided and for them to kit bash the game to handle war scenarios for any D&D or homebrew setting. If it sells well, WotC could offer future versions customized for other settings.

When a battle ends in the board game, there is an interlude to tie the RPG and board game together. Winning board game battles bring advantages to the RPG campaign. DMs are given clear instructions so it's an easy transition between the two, such as if you had a win, do X, if it's a hold, do Y, and if it was a loss, do Z. And that works both ways. For example, after a certain meeting in DL:SotDQ a certain vile commander won't appear again in the board game.

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What Makes Dragonlance Different​

While Dragonlance is a war story, the designers emphasize that the best war stories are about people coming together. War isn't fun. Vogler was a lovely community until an evil goddess ruined it. The heroes are meant to be a beacon of hope.

That war also provides a certain sense of scale that the art is designed to reinforce. For example, the art scenes are big instead of zooming in on a few characters. Rather than a single full page of art to open each chapter, DL:SotDQ opens each chapter with a two-page spread so it's more cinematic.

When asked how Dragonlance is different from Forgotten Realms or Spelljammer, Schneider said, “A lot of it is certainly thematic... [Spelljammer is] high magic, far flung, wild explorations in space, even if you're exploring a dungeon or you go and fight a dragon, you're doing that in context of wild explorations in space, and that has a theme that influences everything you do.”

“In Dragonlance,” Schneider continued, “you go to dungeons, you fight dragons, you encounter hobgoblins. You do all of that, but it's in context of war. These are the enemies of a larger invading force. There is an evil queen uniting them who plans to conquer the world. You are heroes standing against all of this happening. You will have all of the typical D&D adventures you love, but the stakes are much higher.”

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The Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen combo bundle can be pre-ordered through the WotC website for $59.94 plus shipping. D&D: Dragonlance Deluxe, containing the board game and the physical and digital versions of the book for $154.98 plus free shipping for the U.S., UK, France, and Germany. Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn by itself is $79.99.
 

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Beth Rimmels

Beth Rimmels

I think you missed the "if" in this.

"Goldmoon didn't bring the gods back until after the war began and people knew about the dragon armies. If PCs in this new adventure can be clerics or other divine classes right out of the gate, then the timeline is borked."
With the preface that I am not a Dragonlance expert myself by any means, I've seen in people in other discussions seemingly claiming that there are conflicting sources about whether the gods were truly refusing to answer after the Cataclysm or if mortals simply lost the knowledge of how to properly commune with the gods during that time. While the gods refusing to reconnect the proverbial telephone line until Goldmoon does her thing makes it hard for clerics to predate her, it's much easier to imagine if the "line" is still connected and people just need to learn the correct "phone number" in order to make the call go through.

They've already made it clear they're doing a 'reimagining' rather than adhering strictly to past canon, so I don't see much issue in a handful of PC clerics regaining divine magic a bit earlier than the official timeline would suggest.
 

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Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
With the preface that I am not a Dragonlance expert myself by any means, I've seen in people in other discussions seemingly claiming that there are conflicting sources about whether the gods were truly refusing to answer after the Cataclysm or if mortals simply lost the knowledge of how to properly commune with the gods during that time. While the gods refusing to reconnect the proverbial telephone line until Goldmoon does her thing makes it hard for clerics to predate her, it's much easier to imagine if the "line" is still connected and people just need to learn the correct "phone number" in order to make the call go through.
They literally took their clerics and went home. It's hard to claim that it was mortals who lost the knowledge when you deliberately take everyone with that knowledge away.

The knowledge was deliberately stolen from them by the gods who could have taught mortals at any time prior to Goldmoon if they really wanted them to know. :)
They've already made it clear they're doing a 'reimagining' rather than adhering strictly to past canon, so I don't see much issue in a handful of PC clerics regaining divine magic a bit earlier than the official timeline would suggest.
It's the reimagining that's the issue. There was no need for it outside of gully dwarves and perhaps kender.
 

I don't see much issue in a handful of PC clerics regaining divine magic a bit earlier than the official timeline would suggest.
Me too.

Dragonlance PCs are special. They do special things and have special abilities and have unique one-of-a-kind backgrounds. Princesses, rangers and half elves in a setting and edition where both are canonically very rare, a wizard destined to challenge the gods, an elf whose girlfriend is a dragon, and a fistful of fighter types with improbable 18/xx strength stats. For epic heroes, uniqueness and exceptions to the rule are almost expected. It was true back for the original Heroes of the Lance, it can be true now.

Goldmoon can still be the one who discovers the disks of Mishakal amd brings back the gods. Having one very special cleric of Kiri-Joleth or something running around in an obscure fishing village isn’t going to ruin everything. Especially since the truth will likely be lost or confused or drowned out by rumours of war anyway.
 

Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
Yeah it's called Dragons of Autumn Twilight. The good and neural gods didn't "return" until Goldmoon does her thing. I would think that the DL Superfan the writer apparently is would know better than to completely invalidate the original novel, but hey I get it. Can't not have the option to play 6 months before the end of the first novel.
That would be a pretty blatantly bad retcon. It's absolutely established by the books, the gods and more that she brought back the gods. And yes, I saw that they would have a part to deal with clerics. I just hope it's more along the lines of moving the timeline up to match Goldmoon than a bad retcon to allow an option that doesn't need to be allowed.
I don't care much for poor retcon justifications. I mean, I could come up with a retcon justification for no draconians being created on Krynn. That doesn't make it good. People don't need the immediate option for divine classes.

It would have been better to instruct people to start as another class and then have the gods use their power when they show up to convert PC classes into clerics of the same level than retcon this.
I think you missed the "if" in this.

"Goldmoon didn't bring the gods back until after the war began and people knew about the dragon armies. If PCs in this new adventure can be clerics or other divine classes right out of the gate, then the timeline is borked."
The timeline of the books should not take precedence over the enjoyment of the PCs in a prequel adventure. Goldmoon doesn't have to exist in this adventure for clerical magic to have come back. The PCs can be this timeline's equivalent of Goldmoon, or a precursor that paves the way for clerical magic to come back completely later on.

This is something that consistently boggles my mind in these discussions. Why do you want your players to be second fiddle to the Heroes of the Lance in a Dragonlance campaign? Why shouldn't they be the Heroes of the Lance (or an alternative version of them)? The players should get to do the fun stuff. Not NPCs from 40-year-old novels.
 

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
With the preface that I am not a Dragonlance expert myself by any means, I've seen in people in other discussions seemingly claiming that there are conflicting sources about whether the gods were truly refusing to answer after the Cataclysm or if mortals simply lost the knowledge of how to properly commune with the gods during that time. While the gods refusing to reconnect the proverbial telephone line until Goldmoon does her thing makes it hard for clerics to predate her, it's much easier to imagine if the "line" is still connected and people just need to learn the correct "phone number" in order to make the call go through.

They've already made it clear they're doing a 'reimagining' rather than adhering strictly to past canon, so I don't see much issue in a handful of PC clerics regaining divine magic a bit earlier than the official timeline would suggest.
It would be nice if they said something like that in the book and not just in a promotional video.
 

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
The timeline of the books should not take precedence over the enjoyment of the PCs in a prequel adventure. Goldmoon doesn't have to exist in this adventure for clerical magic to have come back. The PCs can be this timeline's equivalent of Goldmoon, or a precursor that paves the way for clerical magic to come back completely later on.

This is something that consistently boggles my mind in these discussions. Why do you want your players to be second fiddle to the Heroes of the Lance in a Dragonlance campaign? Why shouldn't they be the Heroes of the Lance (or an alternative version of them)? The players should get to do the fun stuff. Not NPCs from 40-year-old novels.
Again, make that clear in the book if that's what you intend.
 


They literally took their clerics and went home. It's hard to claim that it was mortals who lost the knowledge when you deliberately take everyone with that knowledge away.

The knowledge was deliberately stolen from them by the gods who could have taught mortals at any time prior to Goldmoon if they really wanted them to know. :)
Yes, but that's the point - they took away the people who knew the "phone numbers" and how to work the "telephone system", but as long as the "telephone system" itself was still intact, then all that prevents an aspiring cleric from making contact is learning how to operate it.

To torture the analogy further, the PC clerics here might find a scrap of paper with a god's name and number on it, while Goldmoon later uncovers an intact phone book.
 

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
And the book hasn't come out yet so complaining that the book is breaking canon without being able to read the book is idiotic.
Well, based on what they've told us, I think there's a good chance they are breaking canon, so I wouldn't consider expressing that concern idiotic. I suspect the fact that the issue doesn't seem to matter to you is a factor, just like it would be a factor if it did.

But of course, you're right. We don't know.
 

Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
The timeline of the books should not take precedence over the enjoyment of the PCs in a prequel adventure. Goldmoon doesn't have to exist in this adventure for clerical magic to have come back. The PCs can be this timeline's equivalent of Goldmoon, or a precursor that paves the way for clerical magic to come back completely later on.

This is something that consistently boggles my mind in these discussions. Why do you want your players to be second fiddle to the Heroes of the Lance in a Dragonlance campaign? Why shouldn't they be the Heroes of the Lance (or an alternative version of them)? The players should get to do the fun stuff. Not NPCs from 40-year-old novels.
I have yet to see a compelling reason why every option in the PHB should be available in every setting. Dragonlance doesn't need divine casters right out of the gate for people to have lots of fun with it.
 

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