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.

 

[Helena Real]

Although I've been a long time fan of Dragonlance—and everything within it, warts and all—I recognize that Kender have been and are potentially problematic. In my mind, they are the same as the now-forgotten "Lawful Stupid" paladins of old.

What Wizards did in that case in 5E—removing alignment restriction from the class—was exactly what was needed. I don't think those are a problem anymore!

As such, I hope that any changes to the Kender can make it so everybody can enjoy them at their tables. They make such amazing characters when done right, in my experience!

 

[JEB]

Folks overwhelming said "No, we don't want this" and Kender were the only race who ended up dumped from the PHB as a result

Not true - the warforged were also in the Next playtest, and they didn't make it into the PHB. (Though they did make it into 5E years before kender did.)

 

[Mecheon]

Not true - the warforged were also in the Next playtest, and they didn't make it into the PHB. (Though they did make it into 5E years before kender did.)

Was that the weird 3 subrace Warforged where the scout one was far and away better than the other two? Because I recall that one getting bad flack at the time for that

 

[JEB]

Was that the weird 3 subrace Warforged where the scout one was far and away better than the other two? Because I recall that one getting bad flack at the time for that

I don't think so? Looking at the last playtest document, it looks pretty close to the one that appeared in UA after 5E was released.

 

[Blackwarder]

Personally I’m pretty sure the Adventure is going to be as meh as the rest of WotC line over the last year and a half and the so called “war-game” is going to be a derivative piece of money grubbing crap.

i hope I’m wrong but I’ve lost all faith on WotC over the last couple if years.

 

[EthanSental]

Personally, I’m pretty sure the adventure will be fine and fun for a vast number of players.

I hope I’m not wrong as I haven’t lost faith in WoTC over the last couple of years…just a different viewpoint from my fun experience

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Personally, I’m pretty sure the adventure will be fine and fun for a vast number of players.

I hope I’m not wrong as I haven’t lost faith in WoTC over the last couple of years…just a different viewpoint from my fun experience

But WotC is an Evil Soul Crushing Corporation(tm)! How can they possibly produce something that doesn't suck?!

 

[Parmandur]

But WotC is an Evil Soul Crushing Corporation(tm)! How can they possibly produce something that doesn't suck?!

The food is terrible, and the portions are so small!

 

[LongTimeLurker]

Hmm. So the mass combat rules are a separate board game? That was lame when they did it with BATTLESYSTEM and it's lame now.

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm. So the mass combat rules are a separate board game? That was lame when they did it with BATTLESYSTEM and it's lame now.

Well, the D&D combat system is a tactical wargame, not a strategic one.a different scale calls for different systems. They've been mulling hiw to do strategic level combat for the entire existence of 5E, and I'm intrigued to see what they have in the box.