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

 

[Umbran]

just proving what I said. I am not blaming you for not changing your mind, I am blaming you for pretending it can be changed when it cannot

Mod Note:
You are making this discussion more about the people speaking than about the things they say, and that's a problem. Even more so coupled with your condescending approach.

We expect folks to offer each other a base level of respect, and you're not meeting that pretty low bar. Please be better to your fellow posters. Thanks.

 

[Maxperson]

short lived tribesman that can stand in for native Americans without making them blond hair blue eyed

heroic defenders of nature

There's no such existing lore that = orcs. You're inventing again, which is fine, but the creator's reasoning for no orcs still stands after all this time.

 

[Dragonhelm]

What about the tarmaks from Ithin'carthia?

So a few of us at the Nexus have talked recently about the idea of using orcs to represent Tarmaks (Brutes). This would be a way to include orcs while still respecting the mythos that the Dragonlance design team had created.

 

[Dragonhelm]

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

We talked about gnolls on the Dragonlance Nexus Facebook group recently, and one of the board members posted this list of appearances of gnolls in Dragonlance.

Gnolls are mentioned in:
*Seventh Sentinel (3rd book in Defenders of Magic trilogy)
*War of the Lance 3.5 sourcebook
*Bestiary of Krynn Revised 3.5 sourcebook
*DM Screen 3.5
*SAGA era Bestiary
*Towers of High Sorcery 3.5 sourcebook
*Races of Ansalon 3.5 sourcebook
*gnoll is mentioned as a language option in the Dragonlance campaign setting 3.0 sourcebook
*gnolls are a possible result on the Talis deck in Tales of the Lance box set

 

[Morrus]

That just shows terrible creativity and lack of worldbuilding

You keep saying these things like they’re fact. Yet again, all I can say is that I strongly disagree that the Mona Lisa and Middle Earth show terrible creativity.

 

[Minigiant]

I have no problem with removing orcs. Especially if they are only going to be villians and never allowed to be PCs.

My gripe was always with removing base mechanical options.

I always go by this rule: Take one out Add one in.

Take a Strong or Dexterous Guy race out, add one in or let any PC be exceptionally Strong or Dexterous.

My gripe with many settings' race choices is that the race set aren't often chosen for actual gameplay. So they stifle fun in use if at many tables if the base ruleset isn't permissive. No reason for 2 Con races and 2 Dex races but no Wis or Str races if gameplay is an important driving factor, the game is heavily attributed to ability scores, and the game going for mass appeal.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You keep saying these things like they’re fact. Yet again, all I can say is that I strongly disagree that the Mona Lisa and Middle Earth show terrible creativity.

But it's clear that the Mona Lisa would be greatly improved, by a moustache.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I have no problem with removing orcs. Especially if they are only going to be villians and never allowed to be PCs.

Minotaur
Also, back in the day there weren't any tiefling or dragonborn options, and that is before we get to the classes.

My gripe was always with removing base mechanical options.

Why? You prefer that particular number of mechanical choices? What is magical about that number?

 

[Velderan]

As I said in... I have no idea which of the half dozen DL flamewars I posted, but...

Basically players aren't going to ask for a whole history with settlements and lore for their--I'm gonna say Tabaxi to keep people form fixating on orcs. The lore and DM just need to not obstruct. The player can come up with a justification or... not. They're a weird unique thing in the world like any other PC.

Nothing has to be forced, going either way. People just need to get out of each others' way.

Definitely, basically summarizing something I said somewhere else a DM should try to accommodate a players request and work with them to find a way. A player for my upcoming DL campaign wanted to play a kenku, we discussed how it could work and together decided that sounded like it wasn't going to be fun and he put the character back into the future campaign idea list. I told him if I'm DM for the next campaign, 100% I'll make sure his kenku idea will work without a bunch of compromises. A flat no without at least exploring the concept isn't very healthy for what I'd assume are 2 friends trying to play a game together. DL out of the box isn't immediately the most flexible setting, but luckily a DM can tinker if they want to accommodate their tables tastes.

 

[wicked cool]

We talked about gnolls on the Dragonlance Nexus Facebook group recently, and one of the board members posted this list of appearances of gnolls in Dragonlance.

I go back the original I guess. No encounters in modules or books. Goblins, 1 hobgoblin that I’m aware of, draconians then later Minotaurs appeared which opened them up for player characters