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?

 

[pukunui]

yeah, in one spot she is described as woodland brown, in all other places she is described as white (fair skin or even pale, depending on the reference). I'd go with the vast majority of cases over the one exception

"There is likewise a dispute over Laurana's skin tone. Dragons of Autumn Twilight describes Laurana's skin as woodland brown (Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Autumn Twilight p. 348) and there is a reference in Dragons of Winter Night to her being tanned (Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Winter Night p. 668) . However, every other description of Laurana describes her as being very pale or having very fair skin (Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, Autumn Twilight p. 433; Winter Night p. 655, 852, 880; Spring Dawning p. 982, 1046, 1069, 1234, 1260; Dragons of Dwarven Depths p. 61; Dragons of the Highlord Skies p. 262; Dragons of the Hourglass Mage p. 202,)."

Laurana Kanan

Lauralanthalasa Kanan (Laura-lantha-lasa KAN-nan) (July 7, 271 AC - 421 AC), commonly known as Laurana, was a princess of the Qualinesti Elves and a Hero of the Lance. One of the most beautiful women on all of Krynn, she was a brave fighter, a brilliant tactician, and an inspirational leader who...

dragonlance.fandom.com

Just revisiting this to set the record straight. Chronicles page references are as per the annotated version. I don’t have any of the other books mentioned.

p 433: "Tanis saw none of this inner turmoil. He thought [Laurana] looked unusually pale and exceptionally beautiful this morning."

p 655: "'Very well,' Laurana said, rising to her feet. Her face pale, she walked apart with the elven leader."
[She's cold, wet, tired, having just survived a shipwreck caused by a white dragon and has just seen her brother struck down by a Silvanesti elf.]

p 668: "Laurana sat in silence, not eating. Her face was pale beneath her tanned skin."
[I'm just up to this point in the story, which is what prompted me to revisit this. She's upset because her father doesn't want to let Derek take the dragon orb to Sancrist. Shortly after, when her father is about to call her a human whore, she goes “white to the lips” and then faints.]

p 852: "Her face was pale and grim, for the situation in Palanthas and in the Tower itself was dark and seemingly without hope."

p 880: "Her face, pale with weariness, was alight with excitement."

p 982: "Tas considered telling Laurana anyway, but then he thought of the elfmaid's face as it had appeared lately, wan and drawn from grief, worry, and lack of sleep ..."

p 1046: "Seeing her pale, drawn face, Flint ..."

p 1069: "... looking at Laurana's pale, rigid face ..."

p 1234: "And now she knows where she is, Tanis thought in misery, seeing Laurana's face drain of color ... Her face deathly pale, Laurana turned back ..."

p 1260: "Kit flicked a glance at the elfwoman, whose gaze was so fixed, whose skin was so pale she might have been a corpse."

Not a single one of those passages suggests to me that Laurana has pale white skin. They are all descriptions of emotion-induced pallor. She's pale because she's tired, stressed, worried, frightened, etc. It's a natural part of the fight-or-flight response, which appears to work for elves the same way it does for us Earthlings.

EDIT: Laurana clearly has a strong vasovagal response! (I have vasovagal syncope, so I recognize the signs. It became clear to me when I got to the part where she faints while arguing with her father and brother.)

 

[Marc Radle]

It's been awhile!

But wasn't there some detail that he

Spoiler: Later book spoiler, I think...

was using an illusion all along to cover up several important parts of himself?

Not that I remember, no …

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

A light off topic.

If Disney is the producer then a Dragonlance-Simpsons could be possible. Can you imagine it? the ultimate isekai parody! The setting could be rewritten adding new elements from other settings.