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...

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
 
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Morrus

Morrus is the owner of EN World and EN Publishing, creator of the ENnies, creator of the What's OLD is NEW (WOIN), Simply6, and Awfully Cheerful Engine game systems, publisher of Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, and co-host of the weekly Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast. He has been a game publisher and RPG community administrator for over 20 years, and has been reporting on TTRPG and D&D news for over two decades. He is also on the socials.
Dire Bare

Dire Bare

Legend
Hussar said:
I'm still trying to figure out how Dragonlance isn't a kitchen sink setting. Good grief, have you actually LOOKED at the races in Dragonlance?
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I hate the term "kitchen sink" when describing fantasy settings, it's a lazy and often inaccurate stereotype. It implies that setting elements are just thrown in without regard to how they fit into the larger setting. Which certainly happens in almost every official D&D setting to some degree, but doesn't truly characterize any of them. IMO, of course.

Dragonlance, in my view, isn't a "kitchen sink" setting. It has some very well thought out world-building. It also has some regrettable worldbuilding-by-subtraction that I don't care for, such as "this is different because no orcs". And, there are some seemingly random elements thrown in, sure. There are definitely some weird elements added, that don't seem to thematically match . . . kyrie and thanoi, I'm looking at you . . .

But part of that is simply the setting is almost 40 years old and has had dozens, if not hundreds of authors, designers, editors, and artists contribute to it over the years. Weird crap is gonna creep in, and D&D fans sometimes obsess over every small "canon" detail, no matter how ridiculous or how poorly it fits into the larger setting.

A soft reboot, jettisoning some of the cruft and allowing for newer elements to be added . . . is necessary to keep Dragonlance relevant to today's audience and not just the grognards who grew up with the setting in the 80s, like me.
 

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GMforPowergamers

GMforPowergamers

Legend
Kai Lord said:
DL16 "World of Krynn" that came out just one year after Dragonlance Adventures revealed that Lord Soth kept a Tarrasque in his basement so him riding a Death Dragon in the new material isn't too much to get fussed about. ;)
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I'm sorry but...WHAT!?!?! is this a joke? or was this really... do I have DL16? If I do it would be in storage... I am texting the group to see if anyone has this out and easy to get to...
 

Kai Lord

Kai Lord

Hero
Dire Bare said:
I hate the term "kitchen sink" when describing fantasy settings, it's a lazy and often inaccurate stereotype. It implies that setting elements are just thrown in without regard to how they fit into the larger setting. Which certainly happens in almost every official D&D setting to some degree, but doesn't truly characterize any of them. IMO, of course.

Dragonlance, in my view, isn't a "kitchen sink" setting. It has some very well thought out world-building. It also has some regrettable worldbuilding-by-subtraction that I don't care for, such as "this is different because no orcs". And, there are some seemingly random elements thrown in, sure. There are definitely some weird elements added, that don't seem to thematically match . . . kyrie and thanoi, I'm looking at you . . .

But part of that is simply the setting is almost 40 years old and has had dozens, if not hundreds of authors, designers, editors, and artists contribute to it over the years. Weird crap is gonna creep in, and D&D fans sometimes obsess over every small "canon" detail, no matter how ridiculous or how poorly it fits into the larger setting.

A soft reboot, jettisoning some of the cruft and allowing for newer elements to be added . . . is necessary to keep Dragonlance relevant to today's audience and not just the grognards who grew up with the setting in the 80s, like me.
Click to expand...
Great post, I agree with everything you stated except for the sentiment that not including orcs when the setting was originally published was regrettable. Removing orcs and halflings was a great way to de-Tolkienize the aesthetic of the world, even if a lot of elements of the Chronicles trilogy did seem very reminiscent of LOTR.
 

GMforPowergamers

GMforPowergamers

Legend
Dire Bare said:
I hate the term "kitchen sink" when describing fantasy settings, it's a lazy and often inaccurate stereotype. It implies that setting elements are just thrown in without regard to how they fit into the larger setting.
Click to expand...
I dislike the term because (like many with RPGs) it is loaded and people use it too many different ways.

If tomorrow I made a setting, I would most likely start with an area smaller then the state I live in. In that range I would put multi races (maybe not all of them... most likely not all of them) and then expand to maybe 2-3 times that size with MUCH less detail... and still be smaller then some states here in the US.

If someone came to be and really wanted to play something and I didn't have it already in the above area, I would most likely see if I could work it in. "Okay, so I guess we have half orcs here now" (again unless it was a hard no with a reason) but if I couldn't make it work I would just say it was from somewhere not detailed yet.

I can't imagine just out right saying "you can't play that" and then not have a reason.
 

V

Velderan

Hero
GMforPowergamers said:
I'm sorry but...WHAT!?!?! is this a joke? or was this really... do I have DL16? If I do it would be in storage... I am texting the group to see if anyone has this out and easy to get to...
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There's an adventure in DL16 that details Dargaard Keep and when Soth is encountered in his throne room, he waves his hand opening a door to somewhere that a tarrasque comes out of. There's some gimmick with a rod that must be assembled to banish it or something like that, it's been a long time since I've read it. Douglas Niles and Harold Johnson were involved in the project so let's just say not everything TSR put out back then was amazing and made sense. lol
 

Kai Lord

Kai Lord

Hero
Velderan said:
There's an adventure in DL16 that details Dargaard Keep and when Soth is encountered in his throne room, he waves his hand opening a door to somewhere that a tarrasque comes out of. There's some gimmick with a rod that must be assembled to banish it or something like that, it's been a long time since I've read it. Douglas Niles and Harold Johnson were involved in the project so let's just say not everything TSR put out back then was amazing and made sense. lol
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Suddenly I'm imagining that adventure ending like the She-Hulk finale with Soth dramatically waving his hand, opening the door so that the Tarrasque can step through and then just abruptly stopping himself to say, "I'm sorry, I just can't. This adventure seriously ends with me waving my hand to summon a Tarrasque? In my own house?? Who writes this stuff?"

Skeletal Warrior Bodyguard: "My lord, please, you're deviating from the box text, the PC's are about to--"

Soth: "Silence! Let me speak to L.O.R.R.A.I.N.E.!"
 

Stormonu

Stormonu

Legend
GMforPowergamers said:
I'm sorry but...WHAT!?!?! is this a joke? or was this really... do I have DL16? If I do it would be in storage... I am texting the group to see if anyone has this out and easy to get to...
Click to expand...
Here it is, in all it's glory ... Level 7, room 9 of Dargaard Keep

1666285915483.png

1666285963433.png

1666285893686.png
 

Dire Bare

Dire Bare

Legend
Kai Lord said:
Great post, I agree with everything you stated except for the sentiment that not including orcs when the setting was originally published was regrettable. Removing orcs and halflings was a great way to de-Tolkienize the aesthetic of the world, even if a lot of elements of the Chronicles trilogy did seem very reminiscent of LOTR.
Click to expand...
Probably, sure. There are a lot of folks in this thread stating rather definitively WHY and WHEN orcs, drow, etc were excluded from Dragonlance . . . . I have a feeling the original design team might have different stories to tell . . . .

But, yeah, probably some of that exclusion was to say, "this is different". Personally, I don't feel it really succeeded. The lack of orcs and drow isn't what gives Dragonlance it's unique feel, theme, and tone. IMO. Which is why, adding them in, isn't a big deal for me, and I don't feel it breaks the setting by doing so.

Making the halflings of Dragonlance a unique culture, the kender . . . now that was excellent worldbuilding! Even if it quickly went off the rails and suffers from some logic problems. Likewise tinker gnomes, the dwarven clans, the elven nations . . . .
 


Remathilis

Remathilis

Legend
Kai Lord said:
Great post, I agree with everything you stated except for the sentiment that not including orcs when the setting was originally published was regrettable. Removing orcs and halflings was a great way to de-Tolkienize the aesthetic of the world, even if a lot of elements of the Chronicles trilogy did seem very reminiscent of LOTR.
Click to expand...
One of the things I've heard (and I don't know if it was right) was since Dragonlance was going to be a major player in the fantasy novel scene, they did a lot to "de-Tolkienize" it to avoid any side eyes from the Tolkien estate. I don't know if that's true, but a lot of the changes made were either to filter off things like Hobbits and Orcs or to make it less confusing for non-players (like simplify all priests rather than have clerics and druids). None of that stuff seems overly relevant anymore.
 

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