D&D General New Summary and Release Date for 'Dragons of Deceit'

There's a new Amazon Kindle page for Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's new Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Deceit with a release date of August 9, 2022.

There has been an older Amazon page for the book for a while, with a now-expired release date of July 2021. The existence of the new trilogy from the Dragonlance Chronicles authors was revealed in 2020 when they initiated a lawsuit against WotC for breach of contract.

The book description reads as follows (typos are on the actual Kindle page):

The first new Dragonlance novel from Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman in over a decade, and featuring fan-favorite characters from the iconic first two trilogies, Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends--books that brought a generation of readers into the fantasy fold.

Destina Rosethorn--as her name implies--believes herself to be very much a favored child of destiny. But when her father dis in the War of the Lance, her carefully-constructed world comes crashing down. Not only does she lost her beloved father, but the legacy he has left her: a wealthy fiance, and rule over the family lands and castle. With nothing left in the world to support her but wits and determination, she hatches a bold plan: to secure the Device of Time Journeying she read about in one of her father's books and prevent her father's death.

The last known holder of the Device was one of the Heroes of the Lance: the free-spirited kender, Tasselhoff Burrfoot. BUt when Destina arrives in Solace--home not only to Tas, but to fellow heroes Caramon and Tika Majere--she sets into motion a chain of events more deadly than she had ever anticipated: one that could change not only her personal history, but the fate of the entire world, allowing a previously-defeated evil to once again gain ascendancy.

Dragonlance - Dragonlance's Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Are Suing WotC for Breach of Contract

For fans of the Dragonlance D&D setting, there's some mixed news which has just hit a court in Washington State: it seems that there's a new Dragonlance trilogy of books which was (until recently) being written; but we may never see them. On 16th October 2020, a lawsuit was filed in the US...

www.enworld.org

 

[Umbran]

It would be so easy to do literally anything else.

Yes, but, to be honest... I'm okay with them doing away with much of the stuff that nominally comes after the War of the Lance. The Second Generation/Fifth Age stuff just... didn't work for me. It can be jettisoned without harming anything I care about.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes, but, to be honest... I'm okay with them doing away with much of the stuff that nominally comes after the War of the Lance. The Second Generation/Fifth Age stuff just... didn't work for me. It can be jettisoned without harming anything I care about.

I actually didn't care for most of the 5th age stuff either, but there's a principle involved here. I hate the idea of rewriting established history. Whether we like it or not, the past happened. The present and the future are our own.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Also, shoutout to everyone in this thread using the correct spelling of Tasslehoff Burrfoot, unlike the Amazon blurb. If it didn't feel so spot-on, I'd be suspicious of it being fake.

 

[Umbran]

I actually didn't care for most of the 5th age stuff either, but there's a principle involved here. I hate the idea of rewriting established history. Whether we like it or not, the past happened. The present and the future are our own.

Ah. Yeah, that's not a principle I care about with regards to fiction.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Ah. Yeah, that's not a principle I care about with regards to fiction.

I absolutely care about that if I care about the setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In the Harry Potter books it was called a Time-Turner. But we could make a whole list of magical time travel devices that have appeared in novels.

Which isn’t any better a name.

Too late. Dragonlance already did that--twice. "Dragons of Summer Flame" blew up the setting quite thoroughly, and built a whole new setting on top of the wreckage. And then "War of Souls" blew up that setting, and built a third setting that looked more like the original, except the two most prominent and well-known deities were gone because reasons, and most of the Heroes of the Lance were dead.

If I read this correctly, they are going to sweep away all of that and take Dragonlance back to the Chronicles/Legends era. Which is fine by me, although I don't really care all that much any more.

Rewriting the past is canonically part of Dragonlance. This very same Device of Time Journeying is the reason Krynn is not a wasteland devoid of life, where the only god is an insane ascended mortal named Raistlin Majere. (A third blowing-up of the world, I might add.)

They didn’t change the past in that story. They went back in time and lived through the past, and learned that changing the past wasn’t really possible on a large scale. Raistlin just became Fistanditilius or whatever. The world isn’t a wasteland because Raistlin saw what him becoming a god would accomplish (he still wouldn’t be or do what he actually wanted, and everything would essentially end) and he rejected that.

Yes, but, to be honest... I'm okay with them doing away with much of the stuff that nominally comes after the War of the Lance. The Second Generation/Fifth Age stuff just... didn't work for me. It can be jettisoned without harming anything I care about.

I’m very happy for you. What a joy it must be to not give a damn about what other people care about.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Same release date as R.A. Salvatore’s next Drizzt book? That would be a weird bit of counter programming.

Thanks, I didn't know they were ready for pre-orders on this book yet.

Glacier's Edge (The Way of the Drow, 2): Salvatore, R. A.: 9780063029828: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Ath-kethin]

People seem to forget the first time Dragonlance as a game tried to just reset and start over: the Taladas box set from 1989. Which was awesome, I might add, but didn't really resonate with people who just wanted Companions of the Lance stuff I guess.

Dragons of Summer Flame seemed to exist for the express purpose of pushing the SAGA system. Then that didn't sell, and the War Of Souls seemed to exist for them roses purpose of "fixing" DL so it could fit back in with the 3rd Edition rules.

A new trilogy very much seems like it will exist to rationalize whatever new changes are made to the setting and accommodating 5e's standards.

I know folks have said that Weis & Hickman came up with Summer Flame and the War of Souls out of whole cloth, but if that's true it's a hell of a coincidence that those stories just happened to rationalize and legitimize mechanical changes in the game and systems. I see this new trilogy as being no different in that regard.

 

[Rafael Martin]

It sounds like a Star Trek time travel episode.

 

[ko6ux]

So they are going with some variation of Jim Butcher's idea for a reboot?

"But I was going to change things where Tasslehoff hadn’t stolen Flint’s knife at the beginning, or Flint caught Tasslehoff trying to steal his knife because Tass didn’t make make his pickpocket roll. So a goblin was going to have wounded Tanis and they were going to have taken an extra fifteen minutes to bandage Tanis up before they rolled into town and that would’ve changed the entire scope of the Dragonlance War. I wanted to start with that little incident and go from there."

Some D&D/Dragonlance insight from Jim Butcher

Some D&D/Dragonlance insight from Jim Butcher

www.therpgsite.com

 

[Scribe]

So they are going with some variation of Jim Butcher's idea for a reboot?

"But I was going to change things where Tasslehoff hadn’t stolen Flint’s knife at the beginning, or Flint caught Tasslehoff trying to steal his knife because Tass didn’t make make his pickpocket roll. So a goblin was going to have wounded Tanis and they were going to have taken an extra fifteen minutes to bandage Tanis up before they rolled into town and that would’ve changed the entire scope of the Dragonlance War. I wanted to start with that little incident and go from there."

Some D&D/Dragonlance insight from Jim Butcher

Some D&D/Dragonlance insight from Jim Butcher

www.therpgsite.com

Woo, bullet dodged.

I would have been some kind of tilted if they had chosen that point to retcon things. Heck, that scene is still one of my favorites!

"Besides," he said, "that dagger was Flint's!"

Absolutely sets the tone.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Please no time travel.. It seems like every series that resorts to that has jumped the shark into hacksville.

And yes I'm aware that particular species has been jumped in this series already.

 

[Dausuul]

They didn’t change the past in that story. They went back in time and lived through the past, and learned that changing the past wasn’t really possible on a large scale. Raistlin just became Fistanditilius or whatever. The world isn’t a wasteland because Raistlin saw what him becoming a god would accomplish (he still wouldn’t be or do what he actually wanted, and everything would essentially end) and he rejected that.

You left out where Caramon and Tasslehoff went to wasteland-world, then traveled back in time from it and showed Raistlin what he was heading toward, and that was what made him change his mind. "Test of the Twins" revolves around an effort to change the past on a colossal scale--which succeeded.

 

[Parmandur]

In terms of the fiction, this is not very promising. Does tie in well to my theory that WotC is thinking of doing a Curse of Strahd sort of hardcover for the DL modules.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Honestly I have no clue if this will be good or not, but I'll wait for now till I know more.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

This seems strange that a young heroine, said to possess both wits and perseverance,, upon being removed from the cozy future promised by her late father, instead of, you know:

• get a job
• become an adventurer
• try to win back some of said heritage
• whatever

decides: ''...well the only way is CLEARLY to find a time-traveling artifact to bring my father back''

 

[Dausuul]

This seems strange that a young heroine, said to possess both wits and perseverance,, upon being removed from the cozy future promised by her late father, instead of, you know:

• get a job
• become an adventurer
• try to win back some of said heritage
• whatever

decides: ''...well the only way is CLEARLY to find a time-traveling artifact to bring my father back''

Wits and perseverance do not preclude emotional problems. Sometimes they just amplify the consequences.

meaningful glance at the aforementioned Raistlin Majere

 

[Stormonu]

I actually didn't care for most of the 5th age stuff either, but there's a principle involved here. I hate the idea of rewriting established history. Whether we like it or not, the past happened. The present and the future are our own.

Yeah, I skipped the Dragons of Summer Flame and Soul Wars books. Honestly, I'd pushed them so far out of my mind, I forgot they existed.

 

[Dire Bare]

Neither event you mentioned rewrote the past. Whatever happened, happened.

True, time-travel wasn't involved in the Chaos War and the War of Souls events . . . . but they had a drastic impact on the setting none-the-less, which some fans felt off-putting.

I'm not sure I see the distinction . . . . drastically change the setting with an RSE (Realm Shaking Event), or drastically change the setting with time-travel. It all still happened, from a certain point of view.

Time travel and alternate Krynns is on-brand at least, it's been a part of the storytelling almost since the beginning with the Legends trilogy. And Legends wasn't the end of time-travel on Krynn . . .

 

[Dire Bare]

Looks like they're gonna just reboot the whole thing, from that description.

I absolutely despise the decision, if that is the case, but I've long since resigned myself to this possibility. I won't bother buying thebook until I know whether this is the case or not, though.

Perhaps.

If they do a time-travel reboot a la J.J. Abrams Star Trek . . . . if they do a good job of it, I'm on board. It's all about the execution, not the concept itself.