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

 

[AnotherGuy]

I 100% hope you don't know what that is if you're accusing people of wanting it.

I just googled it.
Not an American so no that is not what I meant at all - I meant replacement theory as in take a playable option away replace with another playable option. Amended post #484.

 

[Minigiant]

I see no difference. Two of my roles as DM are world designer and setting writer

That's a choice.

The DM can choose an already made setting or run the default from the PHB/MM/DMG.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A flimsy answer at best.

There are elves in Dragonlance. But these are--openly!--also Tolkien elves. Like...they are very specifically aping on all the tropes and concepts etc., a legacy Tolkien left on the high fantasy genre completely without intending to. Yet they are NOT given the same rigorous requirements. They weren't the first children of Iluvatar. For goodness' sake, they even have their own kinslayer wars, even though that's nowhere near as mythologically deeply-rooted as it is with the Ñoldor due to the silmarils (literally the single most important story in the entire legendarium) and Fëanor's (and his sons') idiotic blood oath.

So they're perfectly fine "borrowing" from Tolkien wholesale when it suits them for one race. But they can't do so for another? That's downright capricious.

They can. They chose not to. That's allowed, I think.

 

[Maxperson]

BING BING BING! This is what I've been talking about. The setting was written for the system, and therefore included what was in that system.

No! That's not how it works. Writing a setting for a system only includes what of that system the writer wanted to include, not EVERYTHING.

They do if they want me to spend $50+ on the setting. If I were to buy Dragonlance and discovered that out of all the standard D&D races, they failed to include one of them, and they didn't replace it with something as or more interesting, I'd want to know why.

Then don't buy it. If I see it and it's as sparse and terrible as a setting book as Spelljammer, I'm not buying it. If it's well done and includes every race under the sun, I'm also not buying it. I'm not going to spend another $50 on kitchen sink setting #471. They're going to need to curate things and give me something unique for me to spend money on a setting.

We all have our reasons for spending money or not.

Or did you forget we were talking about a product published by a major company and not your homebrew world? (generic your)

Nope. But why buy yet another generic setting from WotC when I already have multiples from them?

and orcs are actually an established mythical creature, originally a "devil-corpse," although I fully realize that this may not have been known to Weiss and Hickman at the time.

I'm not sure how this is important? That's an undead creature that is nothing like orcs in D&D or Tolkien.

Why? Neither movie contains every other Tolkienesque trope like how Dragonlance does

Dragonlance does not. It doesn't have Eru(one god), Valar(archangels), Maia(angels), immortal elves with gifts of telepathy, far seeing, pass without trace and more, nor does it have dwarves that hate elves and vice versa for how the races treated each other, elves who were banished from heaven for heinous crimes, and on and on and on.

Hell, most of the "Tolkien" stuff it does have is just D&D stuff that originally drew on Tolkien for inspiration. It's not actually Tolkien at all.

 

[Maxperson]

That's a choice.

Not really. Any time I make a ruling I am putting on both hats. I would literally have to follow RAW exactly, which in 5e is impossible as it is deliberately written vaguely and with major holes in it.

The DM can choose an already made setting or run the default from the PHB/MM/DMG.

And will still put on both hats if he's running the game.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I just googled it. Not an American so no that is not what I meant at all

There are no words for the level of envy I have for you have not known, not the depths of remorse I have for making you aware of it.

 

[Maxperson]

You are not producing a setting that is for sale.

There is not much difference. Not every WotC setting has to include everything in D&D. That is just a false and unreasonable position to take.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There were when Weiss and Hickman designed Dragonlance.

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything fixes some of the the poor game design caused by the thematic choices of Dragonlance's race and class tweaks.

If you agree that the new book uses the current 5e rules, then what do you mean by "strong races"? Just ones with the Powerful Build ability?

 

[Micah Sweet]

There are strong races who have abilities that allow them to carry heavy loads or make charging attacks, though. The fact that they don't automatically do one extra point of damage doesn't make them not-strong.

Sure, but @Minigiant was talking about attribute modifiers.

 

[AnotherGuy]

There were when Weiss and Hickman designed Dragonlance.

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything fixes some of the the poor game design caused by the thematic choices of Dragonlance's race and class tweaks.

Ok well this is confusing to me.
Can you please provide me with an example of what you mean?