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

 

[mamba]

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

heroic defenders of nature

that is the theme of orc andhalf orc

I don’t know, that is not what comes to my mind, not even after reading the PHB and MotM descriptions

 

[Minigiant]

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

I believe that is one reason why minotaur are in DL.

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

6

One for each ability score.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Folks, I am seeing a lot of circular arguments here, and it just isn't productive.

My goal with talking to Weis and Hickman was to set the record straight so that folks could see where they came from.

So here's my take...If orcs and half-orcs are a must in your game, then try to find a way to add them in that makes them fit organically.

Reskinning things in 5e is easy. I had one time in a one-shot where a player came with a half-orc. I told him about the lack of orcs in Krynn, but said that we could just call the character a half-ogre. He was fine with that.

There's always the excuse of saying he's from a far-off continent, or that he was blessed/cursed by a god and transformed. The possibilities are endless.

Ask yourselves how you can be a helper and how you can make a player's experience as fun as it can be.

And sometimes we just want to play a War of the Lance story using characters with story-hooks connected to the setting and I do not mean an off-world Tabaxi having fallen for a Solamnic Knight.
Players can be helpers too.

EDIT: And let's be brutally honest, it is mostly the DMs that will buy the adventure. It would be nice for players to accommodate the DM and the setting.
Yes, I know, exceptions exist and we will hear all about those in the posts to follow, but just for those posters I said the word mostly.

 

[Cruentus]

The decision to make everything connected was one of 2E's worse ideas. A DM who wants to run a game in the Dragonlance setting should not also be shackled to the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, and Planescape. Each setting should be free to stand on its own.

Anyhow, Dragonlance was published five years before Spelljammer. It's a 1E setting; there was no assumption of "everything's connected" when it was made.

When I run any of my games, there is no expectation that it is connected to anything else. That is a conceit that the game designers might want to push, but has never been a thing for our table in 40+ years. Unless, of course, you're playing in Sigil, but that is expressly the point of that setting.

 

[Velderan]

Folks, I am seeing a lot of circular arguments here, and it just isn't productive.

My goal with talking to Weis and Hickman was to set the record straight so that folks could see where they came from.

So here's my take...If orcs and half-orcs are a must in your game, then try to find a way to add them in that makes them fit organically.

Reskinning things in 5e is easy. I had one time in a one-shot where a player came with a half-orc. I told him about the lack of orcs in Krynn, but said that we could just call the character a half-ogre. He was fine with that.

There's always the excuse of saying he's from a far-off continent, or that he was blessed/cursed by a god and transformed. The possibilities are endless.

Ask yourselves how you can be a helper and how you can make a player's experience as fun as it can be.

I frequently get the feeling people in these threads don't actually talk to the people at their table before playing. I'm sure that's not the case, but there's just so much unconstructive hyperbole floating around that it's hard not to get that impression.

 

[Velderan]

And sometimes we just want to play a War of the Lance story using characters with story-hooks connected to the setting and I do not mean an off-world Tabaxi having fallen for a Solamnic Knight.
Players can be helpers too.

It goes both ways though. Ask the player WHY they want to play a tabaxi and see what can be done to find common ground. Sometimes in that discussion, both sides organically can come to the same conclusion (whatever that may be, whether to allow or disallow).

 

[Vaalingrade]

I do not mean an off-world Tabaxi having fallen for a Solamnic Knight.

Or he's just a knight with the absolute finest moustache being that it covers his entire body.

 

[Velderan]

Or he's just a knight with the absolute finest moustache being that it covers his entire body.

One might say the knightiest knight even.

 

[AnotherGuy]

It goes both ways though. Ask the player WHY they want to play a tabaxi and see what can be done to find common ground. Sometimes in that discussion, both sides organically can come to the same conclusion (whatever that may be, whether to allow or disallow).

To be honest, at session 0 for a War of the Lance story, I'd frankly state that I wouldn't care (to find common ground).
If I'm going to make the effort in prepping a setting with limitations and particularly in a historically integral part of that setting - I would be less inclined to compromise. Same way, if I were running a Camelot Knights storyline and someone wanted to play a monk. No thanks, step off.

I'm currently running a FR campaign - I'm practically kitchen-sinking the playable races.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I believe that is one reason why minotaur are in DL.



6

One for each ability score.

Do you have a response to the "ASIs are no longer connected with race" argument made in response to one of your previous posts?