Dragonlance More DRAGONLANCE Information: Kender, Battles, W&H's Novels, & More!

In addition to the official videos announcing Dragonlance releases for late 2022, I got to talk to talk to the D&D team and get a few more details not in the public D&D Direct event.

• Because Dragonlance is a setting about war, Ray Winninger, Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons, was asked if Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen would have large-scale combat rules. He said that they would in an broad abstract form. The board game or battle game Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is actually focused on large-scale combat and can be played independently or RPG players could switch to Warriors of Krynn for their big combat scenes, including porting in their characters and then switch back to the RPG after the battle. So the RPG adventure can be played alone, the board game can be played alone or they can be combined, depending upon the group's preference.
• Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is a cooperative game.
• When asked if Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn could be used for large-scale battles in other D&D settings Winninger said it was designed with that idea in mind. However, if Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is poplar they'll consider making more customized, large-scale combat board games for other settings.
• Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a brand new story, independent of the upcoming novel, Dragonlance: Dragons of Deceit. Winninger said that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are telling their own story set in Krynn while Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a different story set in Krynn and is blazing a trail to help players create their own stories in Krynn. So Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Dragons of Deceit are both set in the same world but different stories.
• There will be some cameos from old Dragonlance characters, especially villains, in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
• Price points for Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn and Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen are not finalized yet.
• When asked about player races for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen – especially Kender – Winninger said that Kender have gotten a good reception from the Unearthed Arcana play test but they're making some tweaks. Yes, Kender will be an option. He said the play test material gives hints as to what playable races it will have but would not mention to confirm any specifically beyond Kender.

 

[bedir than]

Edit: I enjoy kender, both the original and the UA version.

 

[Parmandur]

How many darned "Dragon Queen" adventures do we need anyway?
"Shadow Hoard of the Dragon Heist Queen"

To be fair, bringing Tyranny of Dragons material into this might work well.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I wonder who gave the UA Kender a good reception?

I would have - if I had responded to the survey!

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

To think the Kender got good survey from their playtest is all the evidence I need they only listen to the "yes man" portion of the D&D community and not the real fans who know that Kender's taunts are not supernatural, that they're actually IMMUNE to fear (which is a massive part of their actual character and personalities!), and they don't pull items from an Acme Looney Tune bag and retrieve random items. Got actual cartoon characters now? Who's running this game?

No need to be offense to people with different taste. Grumpy old man much?

 

[Zarithar]

I'm psyched for all of this. Looking forward to more Dragonlance!

 

[ferratus]

I just want to interject that Firbolgs and Goliaths don't have to be reflavored as half-ogres, they can just be Firbolgs and Goliaths. The Graygem means that any monster or player race can be found in Krynn. The only reason orcs and drow are banned from Krynn is because the original designers thought they were over-used as enemies.

True you haven't seen Firbolgs or Goliaths before, but there are whole unexplored swaths of territory on Ansalon (such as the Estwilde) much less the rest of the planet of Krynn.

 

[Jaeger]

No need to be offense to people with different taste. Grumpy old man much?

"No need to be offensive" Then: "Grumpy old man much?"

LOL...

You forgot to preface your reply with: With all due respect...

 

[Hussar]

If the adventure is set during the War of the Lance, all Draconians are minions of the Dark Queen. They didn't having a change to be "good" until after her defeat. So having one as a PC would again be change that doesnt exactly fit.

In another tweet they said this adventure would easily fit into the books narrative yet changing Kender and Gully Dwarves and Draconioans etc would show that not to be true.

Does Tass just use Faewild Powers to get Glasses of True Seeing which was needed to help the heroes at one point? If you change or remove Bupu the Gully Dwarf that seriously changes things for Raistlin.

Etc

How would making Draconians a playable race change anything? If you are DMing, you simply say, "no, you can't have a draconian character, I'm playing in a Classic Era DL game."

It absolutely baffles me that people insist that we MUST HAVE OFFICIAL approval to run our games the way we want to. You want gully dwarves and Raistlin? No problems You can certainly do that. There is nothing stopping you. But, why does it bother you if I don't? What is the problem with my DL having playable Draconians?

Isn't having the option better than not having it?

 

[Parmandur]

Fizban's already laid the groundwork for playable Draconians.

And, hey, assuming Fizban shows up in the Adventure (because of course he will), WotC maintains their perfect record of always including the named NPCs from book titles in Adventures the next year,

 

[kapars]

To think the Kender got good survey from their playtest is all the evidence I need they only listen to the "yes man" portion of the D&D community and not the real fans who know that Kender's taunts are not supernatural, that they're actually IMMUNE to fear (which is a massive part of their actual character and personalities!), and they don't pull items from an Acme Looney Tune bag and retrieve random items. Got actual cartoon characters now? Who's running this game?

I gave positive feedback on the Kender but I promise you I’ve given them lots of criticism on other things. Keep in mind that some of us were not yet born when this stuff was first published and that fundamentally changes our perspective.