Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen AMA

[Maxperson]

I understand what people are concerned about, it is just not something that concerns me. I don't really care to much about the lore from the novels. The game and its lore takes precedence to me.

It is lore from the game. 1e and 3e Krynn drew from the novels for the campaign lore and established the timeline for the gods return as being Goldmoon or possibly others around the same time as Goldmoon. It didn't happen months before, though.

 

[Scribe]

It is fascinating to me that people still care about the timeline of events, especially relative to Goldmoon. It doesn't seem relevant to the events of this adventure in any way, so why the concern?

Because a shared history, a shared world, is why Dragonlance is even a 'thing' in the global consciousness of the playerbase.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, once a setting, any setting, hits the table I consider everything canon tenuous at best. Even settings I really care about, like Middle Earth, are subject to change if it makes for a better game. And when you are talking about something like DL, which is a corporate owned shared world in the first place, demanding fidelity to lore is even less reasonable IMO.

This I agree with. Once the DM gets the setting, he can change it to suit his needs. No need to hold to the canon if he doesn't want to.

 

[Velderan]

A minor thing I noticed while playing around with the character creator in D&D Beyond is that they've added a few Krynnish languages. Solamnic, Ergot, Istarian, Kenderspeak, and Abanasinian are some that I've noticed. Small touch, but nice to see.

I'm not sure how you're intended to add the bonus 1st level feat if you don't take one of the backgrounds that awards a feat automatically on the D&D Beyond character creator. It seems like the only way to do it right now is to manually add the feat you want under the Features and Traits section of the character sheet. There's an option to manually add a feat at the bottom of that section. I did toggle on the Dragonlance content option under Sources when I first made the character so either I'm missing something or it's an oversight for now.

 

[overgeeked]

Spoiler

The PCs should be 2nd level when the first combat encounter of the adventure occurs. The first wave consists of three guards mounted on warhorses. The second wave consists of a half-ogre and four more guards on foot. There are also random battlefield effects, some of which can cause damage (like the volley of arrows), to represent the larger battle.

In the wilderness exploration section, when the PCs are 6th or 7th level, they can explore Bluemaw Cave. They'll fight seven gricks initially. Later, they'll come across a sivak draconian with five baaz draconians. If they get into a fight with the draconians, a grick alpha and two regular gricks join the fight, although they will attack the draconians as well as the PCs.

In the City of Lost Names, there's an occupied mansion. The PCs are expected to be 8th level when they explore it. There are four kapak draconians standing guard outside. Once per hour, a patrol of eight Dragon Army soldiers checks in. Inside, there are a total of four kapak draconians, two bozak draconians, a wasteland dragonnel, fourteen Dragon Army soldiers, a hobgoblin captain, and an aurak draconian.

The final battle is against Kansaldi Fire-Eyes (CR 11) and a Huge-sized young red dragon (CR 10). The PCs are level 10 by this point, but they'll have also just gone through all the encounters in the Flying Citadel and won't have had a chance to rest yet, so they'll hopefully be pretty beat up at this point.

Okay. So doing a bit of math...

Spoiler

4 2nd-level PCs.
3 guards, 1/8CR. 3 warhorses, 1/2CR.
Half-ogre, 1CR. 4 guards, 1/8CR.
Deadly encounter.

4 6th- or 7th level PCs.
7 gricks, 2CR.
Deadly encounter.

4 6th-level PCs.
Sivak, 4CR.
5 baaz, 1/2CR.
Grick alpha, 7CR.
2 grick, 2CR.
Hard without the gricks, deadly encounter with the gricks.

4 8th-level PCs.
4 kapak, 3CR.
2 bozak, 2CR.
Wasteland dragonnel, 3CR.
14 dragon army soldiers, 1CR.
Hob captain, 3CR.
Aurak, 6CR.
Deadly encounter.

That looks good to me. If deadly is the baseline for combats that's a good sign.

 

[Teemu]

@MonsterEnvy Are there any examples of good or neutral Draconian NPCs in the adventure?

If there are any I haven’t noticed. The book says that draconians are magical creatures that basically lack free will, being creations of Takhisis who as an evil god wants to rule over mortals.

“They aren’t creatures with their own goals and ambitions. Rather, they are magical manifestations of the Dragon Queen’s thirst for conquest, and they wreak her will with lethal efficacy.”

Very much leaning into the original monstrous vision for draconians rather than the later more nuanced additions.

 

[Demetrios1453]

If there are any I haven’t noticed. The book says that draconians are magical creatures that basically lack free will, being creations of Takhisis who as an evil god wants to rule over mortals.

“They aren’t creatures with their own goals and ambitions. Rather, they are magical manifestations of the Dragon Queen’s thirst for conquest, and they wreak her will with lethal efficacy.”

Very much leaning into the original monstrous vision for draconians rather than the later more nuanced additions.

The free-willed ones weren't around at this point anyway, although if a DM wants to launch that story early, I would have no issues with that...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think that's the thing when it comes to "continuity" - in any shared "universe", be it Dragonlance or Marvel Comics, or what have you: Fans generally want a new creation to NOT CONTRADICT IT. We don't need anyone to be slave to continuity; we don't need stories to constantly reference continuity; we just need them to not screw it up.

I think that it's seen as the very basics of respect (for the material and for the audience). If you, as a creator of material, contradict what's come before, you disrespect it, either because you can't be bothered to know the property on any meaningful level, or because you DO know, but you don't CARE.

Sometimes, continuity changes are made by property handlers with great care and consideration. How well that's received is usually based on quality of execution (though in this day and age, there's a click-desperate online factor that will hate it no matter how well done).

Personally, I tend to find that most continuity blunders could easily be avoided with a little imagination. It's not usually necessary to contradict a previous story to tell your current one. So far it looks like they're doing a good job of it here. Indicates that they know and care (and by extension respect) the previous material, but aren't slave to it. Which is the ideal combination.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The free-willed ones weren't around at this point anyway, although if a DM wants to launch that story early, I would have no issues with that...

Nor would I. I prefer the draconians that could eventually become the Teyr city-state. Soulless automaton draconians don't interest me, and aren't representative of the novels in any case.

I suspect WotC didn't want them to be PC-playable, and ok to kill without question, so they did a "gnoll job" on them. Not my preference, but easy to fix without messing anything up.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Spoiler

The PCs should be 2nd level when the first combat encounter of the adventure occurs. The first wave consists of three guards mounted on warhorses. The second wave consists of a half-ogre and four more guards on foot. There are also random battlefield effects, some of which can cause damage (like the volley of arrows), to represent the larger battle.

In the wilderness exploration section, when the PCs are 6th or 7th level, they can explore Bluemaw Cave. They'll fight seven gricks initially. Later, they'll come across a sivak draconian with five baaz draconians. If they get into a fight with the draconians, a grick alpha and two regular gricks join the fight, although they will attack the draconians as well as the PCs.

In the City of Lost Names, there's an occupied mansion. The PCs are expected to be 8th level when they explore it. There are four kapak draconians standing guard outside. Once per hour, a patrol of eight Dragon Army soldiers checks in. Inside, there are a total of four kapak draconians, two bozak draconians, a wasteland dragonnel, fourteen Dragon Army soldiers, a hobgoblin captain, and an aurak draconian.

The final battle is against Kansaldi Fire-Eyes (CR 11) and a Huge-sized young red dragon (CR 10). The PCs are level 10 by this point, but they'll have also just gone through all the encounters in the Flying Citadel and won't have had a chance to rest yet, so they'll hopefully be pretty beat up at this point.

Okay. So doing a bit of math...

Spoiler

4 2nd-level PCs.
3 guards, 1/8CR. 3 warhorses, 1/2CR.
Half-ogre, 1CR. 4 guards, 1/8CR.
Deadly encounter.

4 6th- or 7th level PCs.
7 gricks, 2CR.
Deadly encounter.

4 6th-level PCs.
Sivak, 4CR.
5 baaz, 1/2CR.
Grick alpha, 7CR.
2 grick, 2CR.
Hard without the gricks, deadly encounter with the gricks.

4 8th-level PCs.
4 kapak, 3CR.
2 bozak, 2CR.
Wasteland dragonnel, 3CR.
14 dragon army soldiers, 1CR.
Hob captain, 3CR.
Aurak, 6CR.
Deadly encounter.

That looks good to me. If deadly is the baseline for combats that's a good sign.

this looks somewhat promising (and like an encounter set I would build)