WotC Dragonlance: Everything You Need For Shadow of the Dragon Queen

WotC has shared a video explaining the Dragonlance setting, and what to expect when it is released in December.

World at War: Introduces war as a genre of play to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Dragonlance: Introduces the Dragonlance setting with a focus on the War of the Lance and an overview of what players and DMs need to run adventures during this world spanning conflict.

Heroes of War: Provides character creation rules highlighting core elements of the Dragonlance setting, including the kender race and new backgrounds for the Knight of Solamnia and Mage of High Sorcery magic-users. Also introduces the Lunar Sorcery sorcerer subclass with new spells that bind your character to Krynn's three mystical moons and imbues you with lunar magic.

Villains: Pits heroes against the infamous death knight Lord Soth and his army of draconians.

Notes --

• 224 page hardcover adventure
• D&D's setting for war
• Set in eastern Solamnia
• War is represented by context -- it's not goblins attacking the village, but evil forces; refugees, rumours
• You can play anything from D&D - clerics included, although many classic D&D elements have been forgotten
• Introductory scenarios bring you up to speed on the world so no prior research needed

 

[Velderan]

I do not expect them to sneak in a band of orcs someplace. If they add orcs it is so half-orc players are a thing.

Having the graygem also create orcs is probably the best spot for this, but then they are not a tiny local faction like you seem to envision.

In a 224 page adventure book, I don't expect them to say anything at all about player character race selection beyond "here's how to make a Kender".

 

[Velderan]

I don't see why that matters in the least. The PHB tells players to find out what house rules are in play before they start making characters, so the game doesn't assume that every race and class will be available. A "core" race just doesn't need to be in every official setting. Nor should any given race be in every setting.

Apparently a few people in this thread never bothered to read that part.

Your DM might set the campaign on one of these worlds or on one that he or she created. Because there is so much diversity among the worlds of D&D, you should check with your DM about any house rules that will affect your play of the game. Ultimately, the Dungeon Master is the authority on the campaign and its setting, even if the setting is a published world.

 

[mamba]

In a 224 page adventure book, I don't expect them to say anything at all about player character race selection beyond "here's how to make a Kender".

I hope the section on the history of Krynn and races, classes etc. is no more than maybe 32 pages. Kender is certainly the only race I wish to see for that reason.

And if the intro adventures were made available online like the SJ Academy, so they do not count towards the pagecount, that would be even better.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

But why would you bother? As you say, there are already goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and kobolds. Why change the world to add a heritage that brings no value to it?

Bugbears and Kobolds apparently don’t exist going by the list Max told me about, only those 50 or so creatures exist on Krynn apparently. Absolutely nothing else.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yep these are the only monsters that exist in Dragonlance no matter what other novels and books say.

 

[Faolyn]

They were not playable then, they are playable now. Why draw the line at goblin and kobold, why not include most of the races that are in Mordenkainens then ?

I do not see it happening, but we all will know soon

Well, why not?

But for those people who are Dragonlance purists and don't want orcs, goblins and kobolds do in fact exist in-setting and so have precedent.

Although it's also a world with walrus-people, so I hardly see how having other anthro races like tabaxi would be a deal-breaker.

 

[Faolyn]

You only had to have three, and of those you really didn't NEED the DMG if you were able to wing treasure, XP and such. Not one other book was "had to have." Plenty were very good and a lot of people bought them for that reason, but they were all extras.

Not really. I mean, sure, you didn't need all those other books--but if you got Book A that had monsters or NPCs that referenced feats or spells from Book B, and you didn't have Book B, then you were missing out on often very important information.

Whereas in 5e, its incredibly rare for Book A to reference anything other than the core books and Book A.

 

[mamba]

Well, why not?

Because WotC generally does not include a lot of shared races in their adventures / settings when they already exist elsewhere from my understanding. I see no reason why the DL book would be any different.

But for those people who are Dragonlance purists and don't want orcs, goblins and kobolds do in fact exist in-setting and so have precedent.

Although it's also a world with walrus-people, so I hardly see how having other anthro races like tabaxi would be a deal-breaker.

I was not referring to whether goblins etc. become playable races, only to whether their stats would be included in SotDQ.

 

[Faolyn]

Yep these are the only monsters that exist in Dragonlance no matter what other novels and books say.
View attachment 265207
View attachment 265208

The 2e Dragonlance MC added a bunch more monsters: griffons, sylphs, gnolls, hydrae, ettins, naga, gargoyles, harpies, dryads, satyrs, swanmays, pixies, sprites, aboleths, xorn, ropers, umber hulks, random giant animals, all the typical oozes, slimes, and jellies... seems like they actually had most of the standard D&D monsters in there.

 

[mamba]

The 2e Dragonlance MC added a bunch more monsters: griffons, sylphs, gnolls, hydrae, ettins, naga, gargoyles, harpies, dryads, satyrs, swanmays, pixies, sprites, aboleths, xorn, ropers, umber hulks, random giant animals, all the typical oozes, slimes, and jellies... seems like they actually had most of the standard D&D monsters in there.

and the 3e campaign setting says

"Almost all the creatures in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Monster Manual are appropriate for a DRAGONLANCE campaign, with a few notable exceptions (primarily driders, drow elves, halflings, lycanthropes, mind flayers, orcs and half-orcs, and titans)."

 

[GMforPowergamers]

But, you know, it's pretty weird--when I look up descriptions of Dragonlance, descriptions written by people who presumably really like the setting, like on the various Dragonlance wikis and on fan pages, I get "armies on dragonback" and "war against the Gods of Evil/Chaos" with "Epic High Fantasy," "fabled dragonlances," "lots and lots of dragons," "color-coded wizards," and "lots of named NPCs" thrown around as well. But I never get "frontier America fight against villains in black hats" or anything that even hints that what's the setting's about. Not even once.

So it's kind of odd that you're claiming that it's not a setting where people ride around on dragons and use lances, whereas basically every single fan source out there says it is. So, are you right and everyone else is wrong?

it's an interesting issue with ALL the D&D settings, I see people who are trying to talk up the setting say things like this... then wonder why people seem to think what they talk about ARE the selling points. Even the settings I LOVE get this.

 

[Faolyn]

I don't see why that matters in the least. The PHB tells players to find out what house rules are in play before they start making characters, so the game doesn't assume that every race and class will be available. A "core" race just doesn't need to be in every official setting. Nor should any given race be in every setting.

No it doesn't. It could very easily means that the half-orc got there from another setting. There's zero need to have orcs in Krynn to allow half-orcs in Krynn.

OK, you completely failed to understand what I mean, so allow me to use an analogy.

I play The Sims. I also watch a Sims youtuber, LilSimsie, who mostly does building videos, and then she puts her completed builds up on the Sims gallery so other people can download them.

There are, at this moment, the base game and a total of 57 additional expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, and kits for The Sims 4, because EA is good at making DLC. You only need the base game to play, but it's nice to be able to have your sims go hiking or get killed by vending machines or follow them to school or raise llamas or whatever.

More often than not, LilSimsie will build a house using the base game only, so that everyone can download her build. After all, if she decides to do a build that features the base game and Get to Work and Realm of Magic and Cottage Living and Bowling Night Stuff and Moonlight Campers, then only people who also have those packs can get full use out of her builds. People who don't have those packs can download the house, but it will have a big MISSING ITEMS error when it's loaded, and then it's anywhere from a pain in the neck to nearly impossible to fix the build so that it looks nice again.

Likewise, if minotaurs are a playable race in Dragonlance, but their stats aren't included in the Dragonlance book, then only people who own or have access to Mordenkainen's can get full use out of the Dragonlance book, which is very much not everyone. But they would be able to get use out of half-orcs, because they're in the PHB, and can even reskin them to be full orcs instead of only half-orcs.

Understand?

 

[Velderan]

and the 3e campaign setting says

"Almost all the creatures in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Monster Manual are appropriate for a DRAGONLANCE campaign, with a few notable exceptions (primarily driders, drow elves, halflings, lycanthropes, mind flayers, orcs and half-orcs, and titans)."

I was wondering where the no drow bit came from. I couldn't find it in DLA or the 2E Tales of the Lance book.

 

[Velderan]

There are, at this moment, the base game and a total of 57 additional expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, and kits for The Sims 4, because EA is good at making DLC. You only need the base game to play, but it's nice to be able to have your sims go hiking or get killed by vending machines or follow them to school or raise llamas or whatever.

I have many questions about your hobbies... lol

 

[Faolyn]

I have many questions about your hobbies... lol

Hah! Sometimes, you just want to kill a Sim. Especially the annoying ones.

 

[Maxperson]

I hope the section on the history of Krynn and races, classes etc. is no more than maybe 32 pages. Kender is certainly the only race I wish to see for that reason.

And if the intro adventures were made available online like the SJ Academy, so they do not count towards the pagecount, that would be even better.

I'd like to see Irda, but I don't expect that since they didn't have it in the UAs.

 

[bedir than]

Yep these are the only monsters that exist in Dragonlance no matter what other novels and books say.
View attachment 265207
View attachment 265208

No women, only Man

 

[Maxperson]

Yep these are the only monsters that exist in Dragonlance no matter what other novels and books say.
View attachment 265207
View attachment 265208

The novels aren't really relevant. The settings often differ from the novels which take liberties.

 

[Maxperson]

Not really. I mean, sure, you didn't need all those other books--but if you got Book A that had monsters or NPCs that referenced feats or spells from Book B, and you didn't have Book B, then you were missing out on often very important information.

Nope. You weren't missing anything since they were all optional. If you wanted it, you got it. The only required books were the core three. Nothing in the core three referenced anything outside of them. Except the Deities and Demigods, which you didn't need.

 

[Maxperson]

OK, you completely failed to understand what I mean, so allow me to use an analogy.

I play The Sims. I also watch a Sims youtuber, LilSimsie, who mostly does building videos, and then she puts her completed builds up on the Sims gallery so other people can download them.

There are, at this moment, the base game and a total of 57 additional expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, and kits for The Sims 4, because EA is good at making DLC. You only need the base game to play, but it's nice to be able to have your sims go hiking or get killed by vending machines or follow them to school or raise llamas or whatever.

More often than not, LilSimsie will build a house using the base game only, so that everyone can download her build. After all, if she decides to do a build that features the base game and Get to Work and Realm of Magic and Cottage Living and Bowling Night Stuff and Moonlight Campers, then only people who also have those packs can get full use out of her builds. People who don't have those packs can download the house, but it will have a big MISSING ITEMS error when it's loaded, and then it's anywhere from a pain in the neck to nearly impossible to fix the build so that it looks nice again.

Likewise, if minotaurs are a playable race in Dragonlance, but their stats aren't included in the Dragonlance book, then only people who own or have access to Mordenkainen's can get full use out of the Dragonlance book, which is very much not everyone. But they would be able to get use out of half-orcs, because they're in the PHB, and can even reskin them to be full orcs instead of only half-orcs.

Understand?

Sure. You think that something the happens once in a blue moon(LilSimsie using expansions) means that every option needs to be in every setting. You're wrong. There's nothing wrong with LilSimsie Climbs a Mountain to be unusable by someone in setting B32. They have the choice to use a different setting, not use that Sim(adventure) or make an exception for their game which any DM can do.

The setting shouldn't have to have every option just to keep the DM from having to make a decision.