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.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

What you're showing here is you misreading my comments (and indeed your "quote" there is the opposite of a quote lol) and interpreted them in an... idiosyncratic... way, when everyone else understood them correctly, rather than anything else.

You're acting like I said "Athasian Halflings and Kender are basically the same thing".

I would never say that.

Kender are far more disruptive and problematic than stone-age cannibal sociopaths.

Except that not everyone does agree with your words (which is btw another logical fallacy: ad populism, I'm noticing a trend in your posts here), I firmly agree with Raunalyn's statements, interpretations, and interpretations of the words. I have also had many successul kender players in my games and while that is indeed anecdotal, one of the key things I stress to the players who wish to play one is to try and always approach situations as though they were through a childlike sense of innocence.

Additionally if you actually read the books literally every Kender character other than Tasslehoff is depicted exactly as Raunalyn's is describing them to be, including even those in 3.5 modules as NPCs. Frankly Tasslehoff is the worst written Kender character they've ever done, and it's not even close, though even if we assume he's the typical standard kender it is a frankly a gross misinterpretation to claim that Tas is a "spoiled brat". Hell, selflessness is arguably the key character trait of Tas.

Side note: I'm actually kind of annoyed that taunt is being treated as a mechanicalability rather than the pouches. I get that there is mechanical precedent in previous additions, but honestly I've never really personally felt like taunt is core enough to what being a kender is to warrant it being a racial. I mean heck, again Tas is again the only named Kender who could be argued as being described as possessing such an ability in any of the books that I'm aware of, most notable other Kender I can think of being Blister Nimblefingers, Nightshade Prickleypear, and Shroud from the old 3.5 module. All of them had pouches to at least an extent (less so for Nightshade), but I'd not argue any of them had a "taunt" except maybe Blister.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Only a bully really has that kind of skill in a general sense.

well that's just not true.

 

[Hussar]

Hang on. I seem to recall from the original novels that the dragon armies getting tainted by Kender and having their attacks get completely savaged because of the loss of discipline.

Or am I imagining that?

It has been a really long time.

I do think that taunt is a key kender trait but I think it’s a secondary one behind borrowing.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Hang on. I seem to recall from the original novels that the dragon armies getting tainted by Kender and having their attacks get completely savaged because of the loss of discipline.

Or am I imagining that?

It has been a really long time.

I do think that taunt is a key kender trait but I think it’s a secondary one behind borrowing.

I seem to recall something like that too. I certainly am not buying "Only Tasslehoff was good at taunting", and more to the point, previous iterations of Kender as a playable race had the trait and no-one objected back then.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I seem to recall something like that too. I certainly am not buying "Only Tasslehoff was good at taunting", and more to the point, previous iterations of Kender as a playable race had the trait and no-one objected back then.

People object to more things now. Some of it for good reason, but it's undeniable.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

People object to more things now. Some of it for good reason, but it's undeniable.

Perhaps more to the point, people did object back then. You see a lot more objections now because platforms are bigger and people boost eachother's signal more.

But I remember arguing about Kender, very much including their taunting, back on the wotc forums before 4e came out.

 

[Parmandur]

Perhaps more to the point, people did object back then. You see a lot more objections now because platforms are bigger and people boost eachother's signal more.

But I remember arguing about Kender, very much including their taunting, back on the wotc forums before 4e came out.

I will note how often people jere express shock when Crawford comes along and says that a given UA received great fefeedback, and is getting published with only minor balance tweaks, because the bubble was full of loud criticism. Not necessarily indicative of what people at large thought.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I will note how often people jere express shock when Crawford comes along and says that a given UA received great fefeedback, and is getting published with only minor balance tweaks, because the bubble was full of loud criticism. Not necessarily indicative of what people at large thought.

Sure, though I don't see the relevance to what I was saying?

I responded to the idea that no one objected to Kender having a mechanical taunting trait back in the day. Whether those objections were representative of any community outside of where I saw them is neither here nor there. People objected, the poster in question just either didn't see them or isn't remembering them.

 

[Parmandur]

Sure, though I don't see the relevance to what I was saying?

I responded to the idea that no one objected to Kender having a mechanical taunting trait back in the day. Whether those objections were representative of any community outside of where I saw them is neither here nor there. People objected, the poster in question just either didn't see them or isn't remembering them.

Oh, just that the online echo chamber is not now, nor was then, representative, and someone saying "nobody complained then" wasn't looking in the right places anymore than someone saying "but nobody liked that test."

Which still might not make sense, too much blood in my caffeine stream this morning...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Oh, just that the online echo chamber is not now, nor was then, representative, and someone saying "nobody complained then" wasn't looking in the right places anymore than someone saying "but nobody liked that test."

Which still might not make sense, too much blood in my caffeine stream this morning...

Ah, no it makes sense.