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'. Previous information from the lawsuit about this series indicated that the first book was to be called Dragons of Deceit, and the second Dragons of Fate. The Amazon placeholder page says the release date is 29th July 2021. Of course, any of that information may have changed.

Original (classic) DL logo

Later (Fifth Age) DL logo​

The branding refers to "Classic Dragonlance" and uses the older, original (and my favourite) Dragonlance logo. Whether that in some way distinguishes it from any potential WotC Dragonlance materials remains to be seen. The logo changed in the 1990s, and continued to be used throughout the 3E era.

The news was shared on Twitter and on Tracy Hickman's website.

 PRESS RELEASE

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Wilmington, NC – January 25, 2021 – Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are pleased to announce a multi-year licensing agreement with Wizards of the Coast to produce a new, three book series of Classic Dragonlance novels.

The new trilogy will return fans to the most beloved characters from the original novels along with introducing a new strong protagonist. The books will be published by Del Rey Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Although a publishing date has not yet been formally set, they anticipate announcing when the first book will be released later this year.

“We couldn’t be happier to be returning to the world we love,” says Margaret Weis. “Dragonlance is what brought Tracy and I together so many years ago. We’re thrilled to be able to do this for existing lovers of Krynn while bringing our beloved characters to a new generation of readers.”

The first Classic Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, was written by Weis and Hickman and published in 1984. Since that time, more than 190 novels have been published in the setting. Weis and Hickman have collaborated on numerous series over the last 30 years including projects set within the world of Classic Dragonlance and outside of it. Two notable series are The Death Gate Cycle and The Darksword Series, both published by Penguin Random House.

“We credit the fans of Dragonlance for making this journey possible,” says Tracy Hickman. “We wrote this series out of our thanks to them for this amazing life-long journey…and from our wish that they join us once more on the road to Solace.”

The license for the series was secured by Weis & Hickman in 2018. Their recent dispute with Wizards of the Coast was resolved at the end of 2020, with all parties pleased to have come to agreement on how best to move forward with the trilogy. All are focused on producing the best series possible and will not comment on the past dispute other than to say it has been resolved.

Watch for additional news from Weis and Hickman about Classic Dragonlance and other projects on the horizon in the coming months.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

It is a common point that comes up in many threads regarding Dragonlance. Often used as a justification for why Dragonlance won't see new D&D product.

At any rate, I doubt that the capstone project of MW&TH is going to just be turning a module into a novel. I guess we will see.

 

[MGibster]

If a lawsuit is not a “legal issue”, what is?

I think it's called a kerfuffle or a minor tiff perhaps.

 

[MGibster]

For those of you who are Dragon Lance fans, I hope this new stuff lives up to your expectations.

 

[Mercador]

it seems possible at least.

I think it's written in the sky with 300-feet letters of fire

 

[Dire Bare]

Are they?

Yup. Already came up in this very thread.

IMO, it's a reasonable, if incorrect, assumption. Most authors do own their stories, settings, and characters. Not all fans are familiar with the concept of work-for-hire and shared world franchises. Or at least don't always associate them with novels.

We've long had shared world franchises, and they're big today of course, everybody in Hollywood is trying to create them after the success of the MCU.

But, I think, people view novels as a more personal creation than a movie or television franchise. Some fans get offended by the idea that W&H don't own Dragonlance. Which is ironic, as Dragonlance was born in an environment very similar to a movie or TV writer's room . . . concept art, crafting world and story elements by committee . . . . and, of course, Dragonlance was "transmedia" from the beginning, with the simultaneous release of the initial novels and adventure modules.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The legal issue was because of the breach of contract. A lot of people are under the impression that MW&TH are the owners of the Dragonlance IP, which is more what I was referring to. There wouldn't be any legal issues with turning Dragons of Deceit into a novel, despite the module being written by Doug Niles, as Doug Niles never owned the module, he wrote it as an employee of TSR. Sorry, for the lack of clarity.

The rights to the module undoubtedly belong to WotC. And WotC might have insisted that the Weiss/Hickman novelisation "respected" the work of Doug Niles, in such a way that it interfered with the story they wanted to tell.

Maybe it was resolved when someone said "maybe we should ask Doug?"

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The main two trilogies don't need a reboot, only some little retcons. Krynn allows the idea of parallel timelines, and this mean WotC could create a new one where the age of mortals didn't start. If 3PPs can publish alternate timelines in DM Guild, we could find true surprises about original ideas, for example one where Raitslin's daughter is a half-irda planewalker(!!!) who travels to the past to avoid the apocalypse (and she failed), and the god Raitslin from the alternate future travels to the world where the king-priest is the supreme god.

And this needs a right cinematic trailer with CGI animation to promove the books (and other merchandicing products, for example shirts, posters or toys).

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Here the reason to suspect about a future event. I warn this is practically an spoiler about the module, but only about a detail, I guess not linked with the main plot.

D&D: Do Frostmaiden’s Spoilers Reveal An Upcoming Metaplot?

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

 

[Ath-kethin]

Are they?

I've spoken to many people who are under the impression that Margaret Weis, at least, is the owner of Dragonlance. Aside from Weis herself co-writing the original series of novels, her company was the one licensed to create the 3.5 Dragonlance materials.

It's a fairy common (and somewhat understandable) misunderstanding.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I hope whatever it is, the Majere kids are alive and adventuring. Palin is one of the best characters of the franchise, and his siblings never got a shot before being fridged!