D&D General What Are Dragonlance's Weis & Hickman, and Actor Manganiello Cooking Up?

Actor and D&D superfan Joe Manganiello and Dragonlance co-author Tracy Hickman have both posted a cryptic image on their respective social medias showing themselves, along with Margaret Weis standing together in front of a large dragon statue at Wizards of the Coast's offices in Renton, Washington.

Hickman's image was accompanied by the words "Something is coming...", and in Manganiello's case "WE'RE BACK", to which Wizards of the Coast replied "Welcome back to the table!" A later photograph from Weis also included Laura Hickman and Dan Ayoub, who was named head of Dungeons & Dragons back in July of this year.

The posts have sparked speculation as to what they might mean, with guesses ranging from a revival of Manganiello's Dragonlance TV show project--which was no longer in development after he stated in February 2024 that "Dragonlance is not a property WotC are interested in developing further currently"--to a new Dragonlance-based D&D adventure.

Weis and Hickman co-wrote a new Dragonlance trilogy in recent years following a legal dust-up with Wizards of the Coast which was ultimately dismissed without prejudice, so it would seem that any bad blood from the dispute has been left in the past.

The question now remains--what are they all cooking up this time?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Kenders aren't kleptomaniacs in the sense we understand. The kleptomaniacs from the real life want to steal for the emotion of forbidden. The kenders don't understand so well the concept of private propierty. They are more compulsive collecters and that is part of the curse by the Gray Gem, maybe to molest the no-kenders.

If all the kenders share the same behavior then the joke loses the fun and it begins to become annoying. Let's say kenders aren't doing it alway, but everybody knows it happened more once, like the Spanish saying "I killed a cat and now I am called catkiller".

A little retcon of the kenders may be necessary to avoid the abuse of the stereotype.

Could be the tarmaks from Ithin’carthia (a subcontient) the Krynnian version of orcs?

Are krynnian half-ogres a goliath subrace?

* Any new about the producer company?

 

[Marc Radle]

Personally, I would find an all-white mostly male cast objectionable.

Well, there are three female characters in the main cast of characters, along with a number of very important secondary female characters

It is correct that there are no black characters in the main group though (Theros is black, but he is not one of the main group, although he is a very cool character who plays a pretty important part in the story!)

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

EDIT: Nevermind, please delete

 

[Scribe]

If the show is the Chronicles/Legends (please let it be!) and they unnecessarily retcon the cast, they will have earned the naughty word storm that will result.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, there are three female characters in the main cast of characters, along with a number of very important secondary female characters

It is correct that there are no black characters in the main group though (Theros is black, but he is not one of the main group, although he is a very cool character who plays a pretty important part in the story!)

Female - one a villain, one a late addition damsel in distress stereotype, and one presented as a double-PC with her male protector (with an allergy to pants).

Non-white? One pseudo native American who was illustrated with paler skin than me (a white guy) and Jossed early on.

I don’t think there was any malice, it just didn’t occur to the designers that D&D players might not be white males. And there was some attempt to rectify things with characters like Theros in later publications, but they didn’t get into the main group.

 

[mamba]

Personally, I would find an all-white mostly male cast objectionable.

worked fine for LotR, they should stick to the book here too imo

You can have Goldmoon and Riverwind as natives, blond hair or not, and if you want to, make the Majeres hispanic, but asian and black are basically out

 

[Scribe]

worked fine for LotR, they should stick to the book here too imo

Yeah, thank god LotR was done when it was done.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

but asian and black are basically out

Why? It’s pretty common for novelists not to reference the ethnicity of characters. It’s only Elmore’s cheesy art that is the problem. The society I live in has lots of black and Asian people (but no native Americans). Excluding those people would just be weird.

Besides, Tanis’s endless self pity would come across as less entitled if he wasn’t white.

As pregen NPCs it’s normal for players to change gender and ethnicity to whatever they like.

 

[mamba]

Why? It’s pretty common for novelists not to reference the ethnicity of characters. It’s only Elmore’s cheesy art that is the problem.

you answered your question, we know what these characters look like from plenty of paintings

The society I live has lots of of black and Asian people (but no native Americans). Excluding those people would just be weird.

societies all over the world have all kinds of mixes, why does it need to reflect your specific one? Should Wakanda or Mamoa’s Chief of War be the same mix too?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

you answered your question, we know what these characters look like from plenty of paintings

Aside from the ethnicity of the characters, the female images are male gaze cheesecake, and I’m told have insulting Native American cliches. It’s also sh*t. Any TV show should ditch the Elmore art and forge its own path. But we know there are people who will throw their toys out the pram if the characters are even slightly different to the art (but won’t care if they cast people who can’t act so long as the look like the drawings).

societies all over the world have all kinds of mixes, why does it need to reflect your specific one? Should

And why must Krynn’s “mix” be entirely white? That’s a really repulsive idea.