Dragonlance Dragonlance 5E

[Khisanth the Ancient]

I agree that Dragonlance doesn't really need many special rules, at least in the War of the Lance-Chaos War era and the post-War of Souls era when magic is 'D&D normal'.

The distinctive elements have more to do with the setting; it's a somewhat more "constrained" setting than, say, FR (all wizards are part of one organization which aggressively monopolizes arcane magic, the gods fit into a balanced 7x3 pattern, there are no orcs...)

In some ways that constrained nature does tend to make things 'simplified' in some ways, but only really on the cosmic level (purely mortal conflicts can still be quite ambiguous), and even then, in the Chaos War the Knights of Takhisis who want to control the world are opposed to the forces of Chaos who want to destroy the world. So "all evil is always united" isn't a theme of the setting. (In fact, "evil turns upon itself" explicitly is, in the original setting at least...)

 

[TheWriterFantastic™]

Yeah, that's a good point, but if we are still in this situation a year from now something is seriously wrong. I realize it costs money and time, but can't they at least put something on hold to get a few rules packages out the door?

To be fair, the size of WotC's D&D staff has reduced quite a bit, and they're a business first -- their product line production schedule is relatively sparse now, likely due in part to their limited staffing -- pushing back one of the few products they plan to release could cut into Hasbro's expected profits per quarter, which in turn could affect their staffing levels in the long run. This likely is also why the Out of the Abyss supplement got "lost in the shuffle" and they've been passively sweeping the "all adventures playable with just the Basic rules" line under the rug, not even mentioning the Basic rules in the last three published adventure books. Granted, this is all speculation, but you may want to cut them some slack -- up until recently, they've been fairly generous with the free game material through Unearthed Arcana, but it shouldn't have come as a surprise to see them tighten their purse strings at some point. Loving to be in the business of being games doesn't prevent them from being in a business, and having to make a profit to warrant the staffing they have in place.

 

[RotGrub]

To be fair, the size of WotC's D&D staff has reduced quite a bit, and they're a business first -- their product line production schedule is relatively sparse now, likely due in part to their limited staffing -- pushing back one of the few products they plan to release could cut into Hasbro's expected profits per quarter, which in turn could affect their staffing levels in the long run. This likely is also why the Out of the Abyss supplement got "lost in the shuffle" and they've been passively sweeping the "all adventures playable with just the Basic rules" line under the rug, not even mentioning the Basic rules in the last three published adventure books. Granted, this is all speculation, but you may want to cut them some slack -- up until recently, they've been fairly generous with the free game material through Unearthed Arcana, but it shouldn't have come as a surprise to see them tighten their purse strings at some point. Loving to be in the business of being games doesn't prevent them from being in a business, and having to make a profit to warrant the staffing they have in place.

Do you think they are only breaking even at this point?

 

[TheWriterFantastic™]

Do you think they are only breaking even at this point?

I'm sure they're turning a profit -- it just may not be the profit that Hasbro expects, and they may be getting pressure from Hasbro because of that.

 

[RotGrub]

I'm sure they're turning a profit -- it just may not be the profit that Hasbro expects, and they may be getting pressure from Hasbro because of that.

But isn't that a sign that something is wrong?

Many gamers I know don't run or purchase modules. I guess there must be enough bleeding hearts who will buy modules out of loyalty alone.

 

[Morrus]

But isn't that a sign that something is wrong?

It's not a sign of anything; it's pure conjecture. We have no insight into the financials at WotC.

 

[TheWriterFantastic™]

But isn't that a sign that something is wrong?

Many gamers I know don't run or purchase modules. I guess there must be enough bleeding hearts who will buy modules out of loyalty alone.

On the other hand, most gamers I know don't have the time to home brew content regularly, given the time required for work and family - and they're thrilled to have the option of prepacked campaigns to host for friends - that doesn't make them bleeding hearts. That's not to say that WotC's offerings are perfect, but they are still quality products that have been selling well - WotC is just offering less content annually than they used to - twice per year instead of once per month - I'm sure that put a dent in profits.

 

[Jester David]

It would be pretty cool to see Dragonlance Chronicles reborn as an all-in-one level 5-15 mega adventure.
Especially it reimagines the whole campaign, making it a single story rather than diverging halfway through. And makes the railroads a little less obvious. Plus punches up the final third, which is pretty terrible. The War of the Lance modules have some great ideas and fun stuff, but there's a whole lot of mediocre stuff just mixed in.

 

[the Jester]

IMO, we really need a rules document for 5e Dragonlance. I'd even go so far to say that it should also include the rules for Taladas.

I really don't understand why WotC isn't updating the rules for each setting.

In what format? Freebies will (and already have) appeared piecemeal in Unearthed Arcana. If you're talking about a published, for-profit book- don't hold your breath. The supplement treadmill is over and is not likely to return, from all indications.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Kender appeared in the playtest materials and were well implemented. So, there are signs that it could happen at some point, I suppose.

What was their write up in the playtest?

The War of the Lance modules have some great ideas and fun stuff, but there's a whole lot of mediocre stuff just mixed in.

My group loved Dragon's Rest. It didn't follow the War of the Lance plot at all but was a fantastic adventure. (Although I haven't looked at it since I was in high school, so my own mileage may vary.)