Dragonlance Dragons of Deceit: Check Out the Dragonlance Novel Cover

While we've known about the upcoming Dragonlance novel trilogy since October 2020, Margaret Weis has shared the wraparound cover of the first book in the new Dragonlance novel trilogy, Dragons of Deceit and confirmed the release date August 9th 2022.

As we've noted before, Weis & Hickman are using the brand "Classic Dragonlance" which features the older-style title banner.

Dragonlance - Here's That Official Dragonlance Novels Announcement, Featuring Classic Characters & An Old Logo!

We've known about it for a while due to lawsuits and product placeholder pages on Amazon, but Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have just announced their new Dragonlance series of novels! It returns 'the most beloved characters from the original novels', as well as a 'new, strong protagonist'...

www.enworld.org

Previous information indicated that the second book in the trilogy would be called Dragons of Fate.

Tracy Hickman shared some more information, including the book description which was revealed back in November.

It’s official! Dragons of Deceit by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, published by Del Rey, will be released August 9, 2022. We’re returning to old friends while introducing a new heroine to the classic world of Dragonlance. Our gift to you this holiday season is to share a first look at the cover!

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman return to the unforgettable world of the New York Times bestselling Dragonlance series as a new heroine—desperate to restore her beloved father to life—sets off on a quest to change time.

Destina Rosethorn—as her name implies—believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. Not only does she lose her beloved father but the legacy he has left her: the family lands and castle. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan—to go back in time and prevent his death.

First, she has to secure the Device of Time Journeying, last known to be in the possession of the spirited kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot. But to change time, she needs another magical artifact—the most powerful and dangerous artifact ever created. Destina’s quest takes her from the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin to the town of Solace and beyond, setting in motion a chain of disastrous events that threaten to divert the course of the River of Time, alter the past, and forever change the future.

Margaret Weis commented on the logo usage -- "We are so pleased that Wizards of the Coast permitted us to use the classic Dragonlance logo from 1984. The logo was designed by the TSR art director at the time, the late James Roslof, and was hand-painted by Larry Elmore."

 

[DarkCrisis]

I guess most folks just read the original 6 books and maybe a few others. It depends how far back the reboot goes

Problems is, restarting the timeline after the WotL fixes nothing. To be a more modern D&D world they have to fundamentally change the setting. DL is very tied to alignments. The various races are very atypical. All dwarves love to craft. All gnomes are tinker etc. yes I know they changed it later.

AD&D and it’s philosophies are hard baked into the setting.

 

[Parmandur]

Problems is, restarting the timeline after the WotL fixes nothing. To be a more modern D&D world they have to fundamentally change the setting. DL is very tied to alignments. The various races are very atypical. All dwarves love to craft. All gnomes are tinker etc. yes I know they changed it later.

AD&D and it’s philosophies are hard baked into the setting.

Unless they change it. Then it isn't!

 

[Storyteller Hero]

How well this novel sells will probably be a litmus test for how likely we get a Dragonlance setting book for DnD 5e sooner than later (if ever).

If Dragonlance and Greyhawk both come back, we'll have the big three for setting up Spelljammer in 5e.

 

[Parmandur]

How well this novel sells will probably be a litmus test for how likely we get a Dragonlance setting book for DnD 5e sooner than later (if ever).

If Dragonlance and Greyhawk both come back, we'll have the big three for setting up Spelljammer in 5e.

We'll get Spelljammer first.

 

[Dragonhelm]

The Dragonlance Nexus fan site will be reporting all the details as they become available!

Plus, check out our Dragons of Deceit product page.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Does the word “Classic” on the logo indicate that there will be something which isn‘t “Classic”?. My money is on an in-universe reboot like the last lot of Star Trek movies which allows WotC to tinker with elements that they deem important to a modern audience. It’s kind of a problem that they‘ll face with any of the older settings with an ongoing timeline. Most have moved past their glory days so it’s a quandary of whether to ignore the later elements or have some big world shattering event like The Sundering for Forgotten Realms and seemingly this for Dragonlance.
I‘m kind of nervous about the plot. Who is the target audience? Older fans will no doubt be annoyed by the changes and new fans will be oblivious to the original novels, so why not just make an entirely new setting?
5e doesn’t seem like a good fit for the heroes of the original novels. Raistlin certainly doesn’t go round firing cantrips every few seconds.

To understand the word "classic," one must first understand the history of Dragonlance. There are three main eras, from a publishing POV.

The classic era is the War of the Lance (WotL) and Legends eras, ending with Dragons of Summer Flame. From a game standpoint, the setting used the AD&D 2e rules.

After Summer Flame, Dragonlance continued with the Fifth Age products. Basically, gods and magic left the world with the end of Summer Flame. The rules changed to the SAGA rules, the timeline jumped ahead 30 years, new magic (read: replacement magic) was found, and gigantic dragon overlords conquered Ansalon, dividing the continent between them. Needless to say, the change in rules and setting caused a rift in Dragonlance fandom.

Weis and Hickman then returned with the War of Souls series, where the gods returned, with the exception of Paladine (Bahamut) and Takhisis (Tiamat). And this is an extremely abbreviated version of events. Dragonlance returned as a D&D setting, and was the first setting launched for D&D 3.5. At this point, it's roughly 70 years after the War of the Lance.

Dragonlance fans have talked quite a bit about whether this new trilogy will be a reboot or not. However it goes, I believe that Weis and Hickman will handle it well.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

First book? FIRST MODULE!!!!!!

How can I forget that Tasselhoff was in DL1? I STILL HAVE THE NIGHTMARES.

I seem to remember that DL1 had a fairly large selection of pregens to choose from, so unless you had a lot of players no one had to play Tasselhoff.

 

[darjr]

I seem to remember that DL1 had a fairly large selection of pregens to choose from, so unless you had a lot of players no one had to play Tasselhoff.

Many of us had that one player though, didn't we?

 

[darjr]

Here is a de logoified version.

 

[Helldritch]

Although I am a fan of DL, I do not know where I stand on that book... I guess that I will buy the 1st one and take a stance on what I will read.