Dragonlance Dragonlance Nexus Posts Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything

The Dragonlance Nexus -- the fan site for all things Dragonlance -- has created a free 94-page PDF detailing the Dragonlance setting for D&D 5th Edition. The PDF includes races, organizations, equipment, gods, magic, monsters, geography, a timeline, and more.

Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything - Dragonlance Nexus

Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything is your one-stop shop for all things Dragonlance and Krynn for D&D 5th Edition. Read More

dragonlancenexus.com

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Tasslehoff’s Pouches of Everything is your one-stop shop for all things Dragonlance and Krynn for D&D 5th Edition. During our journey through the people, organizations, monsters and magic of Ansalon, Uncle Tas will be your guide. Tas’ life is easily one of the most storied of anyone from Krynn. He has traveled through time and space, and done things that defy even the wildest of kender tales. That’s why we’ve recruited him to give us insight about every aspect of the world we love!

Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything is a continuation of the mission of the Ennie Award-winning Dragonlance Nexus - to keep Dragonlance alive (including in gaming) and to celebrate the best of fandom.

So please have a look, and keep watching the Dragonlance Nexus for more new content for Dragonlance in 5th edition.

Long live the Lance!

 

[Dire Bare]

Okay, I'm reading through the races chapter right now . . . some thoughts as I go . . .

• This isn't really a product for gen pop, it's geared towards existing DL superfans. I'm in the races section, and there isn't enough fluff info for each race to tell me what they are all about, if I wasn't already (fairly) familiar with Dragonlance. However, I haven't consumed the entirety of Dragonlance canon up to this point, and it's been decades since I've read through novels and played through the games . . . there are a few races that have me confused . . .
• But the actual design of the races/subraces seems fairly solid and evocative (for the races that I know). They've been working on this for a long time, but I wish they had taken some cues from Tasha's and Ravenloft on newer approaches to race. Especially with the . . . .
• Gully dwarves! Ugh. There's no minus to mental stats and no race abilities trying to model the inherently mentally challenged dwarves, so that's good, but . . . I'm cringing with the "pitiable" and "cowardly" abilities. They fit the canon, but the canon is problematic.
• Are there half-dwarves, half-gnomes, and half-kender in DL canon? Probably, I guess . . .
• I like the "guild affiliation" ability for tinker gnomes. But both tinkers and thinkers don't seem to have an "invention" ability . . . perhaps that's covered in classes or backgrounds later in the book . . .
• The races seem to model existing canon fairly well, but also carry forward the problematic issues of how DL treats with race. Gullies, goblins, ogres, the tarmak . . . although, interestingly, the kender and irda as written up do seem to avoid the worst of the classic archetypes.
• The phaethon are neat! Elves who can manifest wings of fire!
• I'm not very good at judging "balance" with races (or classes, or feats, or anything really), I'm more of a "is it fun?" type of gamer. But I did wonder about the draconians . . . felt "fun", but potentially too much? Their fluff write-up was good.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I wouldn't read to much into that.

Assuming the Nexus' "official fan-site" status is still legit, they were given the right to publish fan-fic (or, fan-design) in the Dragonlance setting. I'm pretty sure they didn't have to float specific releases in front of WotC for approval.

I'm not convinced we're getting an official Dragonlance book next year . . . but this release isn't evidence of that.

Since I publish a fair amount on DMSGuild, I am reading quite a bit into this.

Right now, the only legal way to use Wizards IP in a publication is to publish on DMSGuild, and publish products set in their approved settings. Any other Wizards IP is off limits, whether the product is free or not.

A small, insignificant publisher might get away (briefly) with using Wizards IP in their stuff, but the Nexus has WotC connections and was literally the official site for Dragonlance for a while. They aren't insignificant and they aren't low profile in any way. What I'm getting at is that there is no way this product was made without Wizards' involvement or at least awareness, and that means it has Wizards' OK.

That doesn't mean that Wizards isn't planning to release Dragonlance material, and it doesn't mean that we will never see DL opened up on DMSGuild. But I think it's safe to saw we won't see either of those anytime soon.

EDIT: I'm mostly curious about what permission they have to use the art in the book. None of it is available to be used for free, and and even the artists don't have authority to OK its use as far as I know (at least in the case of Larry Elmore), which again suggests an allowance or license from WotC.

 

[Dire Bare]

Right now, the only legal way to use Wizards IP in a publication is to publish on DMSGuild, and publish products set in their approved settings. Any other Wizards IP is off limits, whether the product is free or not.

Nope.

You can publish fan-design without using the OGL or DMsGuild . . . you can just release it for free. You can't plagiarize text or use artwork you don't have rights too, but you can publish your fan-design for any D&D setting (or anything, really). Of course, a lot of fan-design does cross boundaries when it comes to trade dress and art . . .

And, as covered in this thread, before the DMs Guild was a thing, WotC designated an official fan-site for each of their classic settings. The DL Nexus was that site for Dragonlance. They were given explicit permission to publish content for their respective settings. The details on how this differed from simply publishing fan-design, which doesn't need a license, and whether these "official fan-site" statuses are still in place . . . I don't know. Clearly the DL Nexus is publishing under the assumption they still are the Dragonlance official fan-site under that earlier agreement . . . and I'm assuming they're right unless somebody from WotC states otherwise.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Since I publish a fair amount on DMSGuild, I am reading quite a bit into this.

Right now, the only legal way to use Wizards IP in a publication is to publish on DMSGuild, and publish products set in their approved settings. Any other Wizards IP is off limits, whether the product is free or not.

A small, insignificant publisher might get away (briefly) with using Wizards IP in their stuff, but the Nexus has WotC connections and was literally the official site for Dragonlance for a while. They aren't insignificant and they aren't low profile in any way. What I'm getting at is that there is no way this product was made without Wizards' involvement or at least awareness, and that means it has Wizards' OK.

Or because it is the weekend and WotC was rather busy, when Monday rolls around, these people will get served with a Cease & Desist and a Take-down Order.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Nope.

You can publish fan-design without using the OGL or DMsGuild . . . you can just release it for free. You can't plagiarize text or use artwork you don't have rights too, but you can publish your fan-design for any D&D setting (or anything, really). Of course, a lot of fan-design does cross boundaries when it comes to trade dress and art . . .

Not according to WotC, you can't.

Per the 5e SRD:
(b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute;

I'm not a lawyer, but that's seems pretty clear to me. Give the history of the Nexus and WotC, I'd be shocked to learn that Nexus creators aren't aware of these IP restrictions.

Now here's where it gets interesting: there's no mention of the SRD or OGL in the new Dragonlance book (the mention/inclusion of which is expressly required by the license). There is, however, an ad page promising several more Dragonlance products over the next two years.

Which means that either the Nexus folks slipped not under the radar (unlikely, given that much/most of the content was available on their website for ages) or the document was made with WotC's OK. Given the stats of the Nexus and their relationship with WotC, the latter seems far more likely.

 

[Ed Mekeel]

The Fair Use rules from WotC allow us to produce this book as long as we don't monetize it. Fan Content Policy | Wizards of the Coast

 

[Ed Mekeel]

Not according to WotC, you can't.

Per the 5e SRD:
(b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute;

I'm not a lawyer, but that's seems pretty clear to me. Give the history of the Nexus and WotC, I'd be shocked to learn that Nexus creators aren't aware of these IP restrictions.

Now here's where it gets interesting: there's no mention of the SRD or OGL in the new Dragonlance book (the mention/inclusion of which is expressly required by the license). There is, however, an ad page promising several more Dragonlance products over the next two years.

Which means that either the Nexus folks slipped not under the radar (unlikely, given that much/most of the content was available on their website for ages) or the document was made with WotC's OK. Given the stats of the Nexus and their relationship with WotC, the latter seems far more likely.

We do mention the SRD and also link the sales page for the Player Guide in the Using this Book section.

 

[EthanSental]

Some fun reading at the end of the weekend, nice!

 

[Ed Mekeel]

Earlier in the thread a few capitalization errors were mentioned and I'll have them corrected by tomorrow, thanks.

 

[Hussar]

The Fair Use rules from WotC allow us to produce this book as long as we don't monetize it. Fan Content Policy | Wizards of the Coast

Thank you for this. This appears to be a labour of love, and it shows. Well done you.