D&D General Did Dragonlance/Krynn exist in 4e canon?

I thought draconians had been somewhere in 4e. Thanks for the info!

Don't suppose any other DL species/monsters got official 4e writeups + lore in the magazines? Say, kender? (All Google is showing me is fanmade material...)

In addition to the articles on draconians and legendary items of Krynn (e.g., dragonlances, staff of Magius, etc.) in Dragon 421, there was also an article on tinker gnomes in Dragon 422.
 

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Ooh, another excuse to spend an hour or two researching D&D lore!

There are a number of mentions of Dragonlance and Krynn in 4e sources but with a few notable exceptions they are mostly references to earlier material, and don't cover Krynn as a 4e setting. Here's what I could find:​
  • The Player's Handbook mentions Dragonlance as one of the first campaign settings in the sidebar on The History of D&D (p7).​
  • Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons mentions the Dragonlance setting in a few places. The armies of Takhisis are given as an example of Mixed Societies (p23). In the Famous Dragons section (p88) four dragons from the setting get a paragraph each (Albino, Ember, Khisanth and Malystryx). Finally Cyan Bloodbane gets a two-page spread (p234-235) including his origins as a villain in Dragons of Winter Night.​
  • The Manual of the Planes notes that the sages of Ansalon know their world as Krynn (p7) and lists Krynn as an example of a natural world in the section on The World Axis Cosmology (p12).​
  • In Dragon #372 James Wyatt's Design & Development article (p69) reveals that the introduction of Dragonlance's tinker gnomes made him lose interest in gnomes as a race.​
  • In Dungeon #163 the Save My Game article (p102) references the Dragonlance saying "evil turns on itself" but says nothing at all about the setting.​
  • Dragon #376 mentions a Dragonlance 25th Anniversary event taking place at Gencon 2009 (p86) but again says nothing about the setting.​
  • The 25th anniversary is mentioned again in Dragon #377. The Ampersand article (p87) mentions several upcoming releases with Dragonlance connections: Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (the last book in Weis and Hickman's Lost Chronicles Trilogy), the debut of 4e draconians in the Monster Manual: Legendary Evils miniatures set and in Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons.​
  • Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons doesn't actually mention the Dragonlance setting in the section updating the draconians to 4e but there is a two-page spread on Silvara (p215) that includes an excerpt from Dragons of Winter Night as part of a sidebar on her origins.​
  • In Dragon #381, the D&D Alumni article (p110) covers Metallic Dragons, and the emphasis placed on the split between chromatic and metallic dragons in the Dragonlance setting gets a mention.​
  • In Dragon #382 there is a perfunctory mention of Dragonlance in the Ampersand article Looking Back (p115) but this retrospective simply notes that there were new Dragonlance novels published in 2009.​
  • Dungeon #178 has an article on Fantastic Terrain: Elemental Motes (p70) which mentions Krynn's flying citadels as examples of sky islands that have been torn from the ground and are held aloft by powerful rituals.​
  • In Origin Stories (p8) in Dragon #389, Raistlin taking the test of High Sorcery early is given as an example of the price of ambition.​
  • The Rules Compendium repeats The History of the Game (p8) from the Player's Handbook, including the mention of Dragonlance as one of the first campaign settings.​
  • Dragon #392 has an article on Everwatch (p11), a community intended as a base for an adventuring group. This draws a comparison to Solace being the home to the Heroes of the Lance in the Dragonlance Chronicles.​
  • The Editorial in Dungeon #184 (p3) mentions the Dragonlance Chronicles as an example of "saving the world" stories.​
  • Dragon #400 reprinted a number of articles from earlier issues. In Mike Mearls's introduction to the reprinted Jester article he notes that the original Dragonlance trilogy taught him that gnomes were supposed to be played as complete goofballs.​
  • The Editorial in Dragon #404 notes that Dragonlance was one of the three most popular classic settings in a recent WotC poll. (The other two were Ravenloft and Planescape, in case you were wondering.)​
  • The Book of Vile Darkness mentions three Dragonlance characters in its section on villains (p43). Takhisis is given as an example of a detached villain, Lord Soth as an example of a tangential villain and Kitiara as an example of a personal villain.​
  • D&D Love Stories in Dragon #407 references both Riverwind's quest to prove himself worthy of the daughter of his tribe's chieftain and Raistlin's romance with Crysania as examples of forbidden love. Lord Soth's transition to a death knight as a result of his wife's curse is also called out as an example of undying love.​
  • In the editorial of Dragon #408, Chris Perkins expresses the controversial view that while the War of the Lance is his pick as the most iconic D&D story, the Dragonlance setting is hamstrung by the fact that there is only one story worth telling, and that every other adventure seems to pale in comparison.​
  • Dungeon #200 lists all of the Dragonlance adventures that have appeared in Dungeon in its index of issues #1-200 and highlights Tracy Hickman's Anvil of Time adventure from issue #86. In A History of Dungeon later in that issue, Chris Perkins mentions that he wished he'd turned down an assignment to write a Dragonlance: Fifth Age adventure, because although he likes the setting he is a "dice man". Amusingly, where he later became the editor of Dungeon with issue #65, one of the first things he had to edit was his own Dragonlance: Fifth Age adventure that he hadn't wanted to write in the first place.​
  • In Dungeon #410's Editorial, Chris Perkins notes that they would love to provide more support for Dragonlance, but that WotC gets so few proposals for adventures in that setting. A second Editorial in the same issue, by Greg Bilsland, supports this by listing Dragonlance as a theme for which they would welcome article proposals. As we'll see below, some contributing writers paid attention to this call.​
  • In Dragon #412 an article on Chauntea and Silvanus mentions the Dragonlance goddess Chislev as an example of a nature deity in an Other Worlds sidebar.​
  • Dragon #416 has some actual 4e Dragonlance content! There is a seven-page article on The Life of Soth including a comprehensive 4e stat block.​
  • Dragon #421 has more Dragonlance content, with a five-page article covering Legendary Items of Krynn. This includes Brightblade, Rabbitslayer, the Kender Spoon of Turning, Wyrmslayer, the Staff of Magius, the Staff of Mishakal, and of course, the Dragonlance. That issue also has a four-page article on Draconians, which explains their origins and history on Krynn. [credit to @pemerton for correcting this]​
  • There is yet more 4e Dragonlance content in Dragon #422, with a five-page article on Tinker Gnomes, including a sidebar mentioning their Dragonlance origins and the character Gnimsh from Dragonlance Legends.​
  • The final mention of Dragonlance in 4e seems to be in an article on Time Travel in Dragon #430. The article mentions the time travel shenanigans in the Dragonlance Legends trilogy and notes Huma defeating Takhisis as a "fixed point" in history. The article also covers characters from past eras being transported into the campaign's current time, using the example of a Dragonlance character who had been a contemporary of Huma and possibly a participant in the Third Dragon War.​
 
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I thought draconians had been somewhere in 4e. Thanks for the info!

Don't suppose any other DL species/monsters got official 4e writeups + lore in the magazines? Say, kender? (All Google is showing me is fanmade material...)
They did not get any direct write-up, but they are referenced in the Drag 421 stuff I mentioned. One of the items from the "Legendary Items of Krynn" is the "Kender Spoon of Turning," which explicitly references Tasselhoff and Usha. Strangely, the item says you have to be a kender to use it...but to the best of my knowledge there never were any official published kender rules. Most likely it would just be interpreted as "you must be a halfling"?

I'd say that that line actually acts as reasonable evidence that they intended to make a proper 4e Dragonlance book, but it got cancelled far too early in development.
 

And just as silly a question. WotC do not need to publish anything for a setting for it to exist. All it takes is for players to play in it.

WotC didn’t publish any for the forgotten Realms for a couple of months : “oh no, the Forgotten Realms doesn’t exist any more!”

The vast majority of D&D stuff WotC publish is setting agnostic. Ergo a setting does not need to be mentioned by name for it to be supported.
 

I'd say that that line actually acts as reasonable evidence that they intended to make a proper 4e Dragonlance book, but it got cancelled far too early in development.
Maybe, that would fit with @Parmandur and @mamba's comments earlier. Though from @Echohawk's timeline there, looks like the 4e Dragonlance rules material in the magazines might have been prompted by the request in Dungeon #410. So maybe there was intended to be a 4e kender followup article that never happened? Interesting in any case.
 

Maybe, that would fit with @Parmandur and @mamba's comments earlier. Though from @Echohawk's timeline there, looks like the 4e Dragonlance rules material in the magazines might have been prompted by the request in Dungeon #410. So maybe there was intended to be a 4e kender followup article that never happened? Interesting in any case.
One has to assume that when 4e first launched they had all sorts of big plans that never happened because the edition died prematurely.
 


Dragon #421 has more Dragonlance content, with a five-page article covering Legendary Items of Krynn. This includes Brightblade, Rabbitslayer, the Kender Spoon of Turning, Wyrmslayer, the Staff of Magius, the Staff of Mishakal, and of course, the Dragonlance. That issue also has a four-page article on Draconians, but it makes no specific mention of the Dragonlance setting.
The article on Draconians has the following (Dragon 421, p 22):

Draconians are unique among the races of Krynn. Most races were created by the gods in ages long past, but draconians were shaped by servants of the Dark Queen for one purpose: the conquest of the world. Thousands of dragon eggs were transmuted (some say cursed), resulting in the hatching of powerful, disciplined, and seemingly endless shock troops. . . .

Even in the midst of waging the war for which they were created, though, some draconians found a purpose other than blind servitude. Some, such as the sivak Slith, obeyed their orders loosely, more concerned with turning a healthy profit than conquest. Others, such as the renowned bozak engineer Kang, struggled with a foreign concept learned on the field of battle: honor.

These exceptional draconians and others like them were pioneers. Their individuality inspired others, until the draconian race eventually learned to not only survive without the direction of their Dark Queen but to also thrive without it. With time, they learned to coexist with the other races of Krynn.​

So I don't think it's quite right to say there was "no specific mention of the Dragonlance setting".
 

Putting the above together, the five official incarnations of Krynn would theoretically include...

Krynn-1: As presented in Dragonlance Adventures, and assorted 1e modules and sourcebooks.

Krynn-2: As presented in Tales of the Lance, and assorted 2e sourcebooks and modules. Notably expanded to include the continent of Taladas, in Time of the Dragon.

Krynn-3: As presented in the 3e Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Despite being third-party products, the 3e Sovereign Press sourcebooks and modules do seem to be treated as official as well (they're among the official products on the DM Guild site).

Krynn-4: A world where exists (per @Echohawk and others):
  • A place called Ansalon (per MOTP 4e)
  • Named dragons such as Cyan Bloodbane and Silvara (per the Draconomicons)
  • An entity called Takhisis, AKA the Dark Queen (per Draconomicons and Dragon Magazine)
  • The nature deity Chislev (per Dragon Magazine)
  • Lord Soth (Dragon Mag)
  • Local flavors of draconians and tinker gnomes (Dragon Mag)
  • Assorted legendary items, including the Dragonlance (Dragon Mag)
  • Tasselhoff and Usha, members of a species called kender, that can use the Kender Spoon of Turning (Dragon Mag)
Krynn-5: A world where exists (per the 2024 DMG Lore Glossary):
  • Fizban
  • The Heroes of the Lance
  • Lord Soth
May or may not include any earlier 5e Dragonlance references, since the current printing of the core rules supersedes any previous material. However, the setting as presented in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is almost certainly official canon, since it's not been declared Legacy Content or noticeably contradicted.

None of the above would include Dragonlance: Fifth Age materials, nor any Dragonlance novels, comics, video games or animated films, each of which is set in its own canon.
 

Ooh, another excuse to spend an hour or two researching D&D lore!

There are a number of mentions of Dragonlance and Krynn in 4e sources but with a few notable exceptions they are mostly references to earlier material, and don't cover Krynn as a 4e setting. Here's what I could find:​
  • The Player's Handbook mentions Dragonlance as one of the first campaign settings in the sidebar on The History of D&D (p7).​
  • Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons mentions the Dragonlance setting in a few places. The armies of Takhisis are given as an example of Mixed Societies (p23). In the Famous Dragons section (p88) four dragons from the setting get a paragraph each (Albino, Ember, Khisanth and Malystryx). Finally Cyan Bloodbane gets a two-page spread (p234-235) including his origins as a villain in Dragons of Winter Night.​
  • The Manual of the Planes notes that the sages of Ansalon know their world as Krynn (p7) and lists Krynn as an example of a natural world in the section on The World Axis Cosmology (p12).​
  • In Dragon #372 James Wyatt's Design & Development article (p69) reveals that the introduction of Dragonlance's tinker gnomes made him lose interest in gnomes as a race.​
  • In Dungeon #163 the Save My Game article (p102) references the Dragonlance saying "evil turns on itself" but says nothing at all about the setting.​
  • Dragon #376 mentions a Dragonlance 25th Anniversary event taking place at Gencon 2009 (p86) but again says nothing about the setting.​
  • The 25th anniversary is mentioned again in Dragon #377. The Ampersand article (p87) mentions several upcoming releases with Dragonlance connections: Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (the last book in Weis and Hickman's Lost Chronicles Trilogy), the debut of 4e draconians in the Monster Manual: Legendary Evils miniatures set and in Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons.​
  • Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons doesn't actually mention the Dragonlance setting in the section updating the draconians to 4e but there is a two-page spread on Silvara (p215) that includes an excerpt from Dragons of Winter Night as part of a sidebar on her origins.​
  • In Dragon #381, the D&D Alumni article (p110) covers Metallic Dragons, and the emphasis placed on the split between chromatic and metallic dragons in the Dragonlance setting gets a mention.​
  • In Dragon #382 there is a perfunctory mention of Dragonlance in the Ampersand article Looking Back (p115) but this retrospective simply notes that there were new Dragonlance novels published in 2009.​
  • Dungeon #178 has an article on Fantastic Terrain: Elemental Motes (p70) which mentions Krynn's flying citadels as examples of sky islands that have been torn from the ground and are held aloft by powerful rituals.​
  • In Origin Stories (p8) in Dragon #389, Raistlin taking the test of High Sorcery early is given as an example of the price of ambition.​
  • The Rules Compendium repeats The History of the Game (p8) from the Player's Handbook, including the mention of Dragonlance as one of the first campaign settings.​
  • Dragon #392 has an article on Everwatch (p11), a community intended as a base for an adventuring group. This draws a comparison to Solace being the home to the Heroes of the Lance in the Dragonlance Chronicles.​
  • The Editorial in Dungeon #184 (p3) mentions the Dragonlance Chronicles as an example of "saving the world" stories.​
  • Dragon #400 reprinted a number of articles from earlier issues. In Mike Mearls's introduction to the reprinted Jester article he notes that the original Dragonlance trilogy taught him that gnomes were supposed to be played as complete goofballs.​
  • The Editorial in Dragon #404 notes that Dragonlance was one of the three most popular classic settings in a recent WotC poll. (The other two were Ravenloft and Planescape, in case you were wondering.)​
  • The Book of Vile Darkness mentions three Dragonlance characters in its section on villains (p43). Takhisis is given as an example of a detached villain, Lord Soth as an example of a tangential villain and Kitiara as an example of a personal villain.​
  • D&D Love Stories in Dragon #407 references both Riverwind's quest to prove himself worthy of the daughter of his tribe's chieftain and Raistlin's romance with Crysania as examples of forbidden love. Lord Soth's transition to a death knight as a result of his wife's curse is also called out as an example of undying love.​
  • In the editorial of Dragon #408, Chris Perkins expresses the controversial view that while the War of the Lance is his pick as the most iconic D&D story, the Dragonlance setting is hamstrung by the fact that there is only one story worth telling, and that every other adventure seems to pale in comparison.​
  • Dungeon #200 lists all of the Dragonlance adventures that have appeared in Dungeon in its index of issues #1-200 and highlights Tracy Hickman's Anvil of Time adventure from issue #86. In A History of Dungeon later in that issue, Chris Perkins mentions that he wished he'd turned down an assignment to write a Dragonlance: Fifth Age adventure, because although he likes the setting he is a "dice man". Amusingly, where he later became the editor of Dungeon with issue #65, one of the first things he had to edit was his own Dragonlance: Fifth Age adventure that he hadn't wanted to write in the first place.​
  • In Dungeon #410's Editorial, Chris Perkins notes that they would love to provide more support for Dragonlance, but that WotC gets so few proposals for adventures in that setting. A second Editorial in the same issue, by Greg Bilsland, supports this by listing Dragonlance as a theme for which they would welcome article proposals. As we'll see below, some contributing writers paid attention to this call.​
  • In Dragon #412 an article on Chauntea and Silvanus mentions the Dragonlance goddess Chislev as an example of a nature deity in an Other Worlds sidebar.​
  • Dragon #416 has some actual 4e Dragonlance content! There is a seven-page article on The Life of Soth including a comprehensive 4e stat block.​
  • Dragon #421 has more Dragonlance content, with a five-page article covering Legendary Items of Krynn. This includes Brightblade, Rabbitslayer, the Kender Spoon of Turning, Wyrmslayer, the Staff of Magius, the Staff of Mishakal, and of course, the Dragonlance. That issue also has a four-page article on Draconians, but it makes no specific mention of the Dragonlance setting.​
  • There is yet more 4e Dragonlance content in Dragon #422, with a five-page article on Tinker Gnomes, including a sidebar mentioning their Dragonlance origins and the character Gnimsh from Dragonlance Legends.​
  • The final mention of Dragonlance in 4e seems to be in an article on Time Travel in Dragon #430. The article mentions the time travel shenanigans in the Dragonlance Legends trilogy and notes Huma defeating Takhisis as a "fixed point" in history. The article also covers characters from past eras being transported into the campaign's current time, using the example of a Dragonlance character who had been a contemporary of Huma and possibly a participant in the Third Dragon War.​
Would it be okay for me to post this on the Dragonlance Nexus?
 

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