The Dragonlance campaign setting is coming to Dungeons & Dragons 5e in an unusual way, as it will initially be released as both an adventure book and a board game, which are compatible with each other, but don't have to be used together. The Dragonlance adventure book and board game combo are set to launch in 2022, and they will have the chance to give D&D players a brand new experience, as they lead the charge during the opening stages of the War of the Lance. The adventure book is called Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, while the board game is Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn.
Dragonlance is set in the world of Krynn, and the first novels and D&D modules released for the setting were set at the beginning of an event called the War of the Lance. The gods had once forsaken the world of Krynn, causing apocalyptic events to bring suffering to its people, and stripping clerics of the power to use divine magic to ease their pain. At the beginning of the War of the Lance, the good and neutral gods return to Krynn, but they are far behind Takhisis, the goddess of evil dragons, whose servants have formed the dragonarmies to take over the world in her name. It's up to a new generation of heroes to stop the dragonarmies and bring hope to Krynn once more.
The return of Dragonlance was announced during the first-ever D&D Direct online showcase. While previous classic campaign settings have returned in a single sourcebook: Dragonlance will return in a campaign book and a board game. Wizards of the Coast has revealed very few details regarding Shadow of the Dragon Queen or Warriors of Krynn, as even the initial trailer lacked any cover art for either product. Screen Rant recently took part in a press event after the D&D Direct, where D&D Executive Producer Ray Winniger discussed the new book and board game in more detail and he answered questions from the press about what to expect for the return to Krynn.
Dragonlance: Shadow Of The Dragon Queen Is The Adventure Book
Shadow of the Dragon Queen is referred to as an adventure book. If the recent D&D Dragonlance Unearthed Arcana material is to be believed, it will add the kender race, the Lunar Magic subclass for Sorcerers, and will give Feats and backgrounds tailored towards the Knights of Solamnia and the Mages of High Sorcery from the world of Krynn. It was revealed during the press event that the book was designed with introducing new players to the world of Krynn in mind. The Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign is set during the opening of the War of the Lance and its events run concurrently with that of the original novels and D&D modules. The campaign is set in a different part of the continent of Ansalon that fans might be familiar with, and it's somewhere that hasn't been covered in great detail in previous Dragonlance D&D content. A few familiar characters from the Dragonlance campaign setting will appear (D&D's Fizban the Fabulous is a safe bet) and players will visit a few familiar locations, but it's mostly new stuff. It was revealed that the villain of Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a major villain from the books, and it will likely be one of the five Dragon Highlords around at the time.
Shadow of the Dragon Queen will not be a reboot of the Dragonlance campaign setting, and while it's mostly an adventure book, it will still contain information about the world of Krynn as a whole. The group is free to ignore the content from Warriors of Krynn and there will be rules in place for the mass battles to be handled in a more abstract way. The idea of combining Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Warriors of Krynn together was to allow players to experience epic campaigns, on the scale of something like The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.
In terms of production, both Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Warriors of Krynn have been in the works for about two years, but people within Wizards of the Coast have wanted to bring back Dragonlance for a long time. The reason for this is that the series is still popular with fans around the world. Celebrity D&D fan Joe Manganiello has been especially vocal about his love for Dragonlance and his desire to see it turned into a live-action D&D movie. The Dragonlance novels will be kept separate from the new Dragonlance D&D books and it has been confirmed that series authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman were not involved with either Shadow of the Dragon Queen or Warriors of Krynn.
Dragonlance: Warriors Of Krynn Is The Board Game
There wasn't as much information revealed about Warriors of Krynn, but a few tidbits of information did make it out. Warriors of Krynn is a board game centered around mass battles in the world of Krynn. It's intended to be a co-op board game, in the popular European style of board games. The players can import their D&D characters into Warriors of Krynn, and use them as units in the mass battles. The intention is for both Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Warriors of Krynn to be used together so that when a big battle kicks off in the adventure book, players can act it out in the board game.
The Dragonlance heroes of D&D are tougher than normal, which will make them suitable for leading battles. As previously stated, Shadow of the Dragon Queen can be played without Warriors of Krynn, and those who wish to run Warriors of Krynn as a standalone board game can do so if they wish. It seems that the DM will still be needed to adjudicate encounters, as there will also be narrative elements that crop up in Warriors of Krynn. It's unclear how complicated Warriors of Krynn will be and what the contents of the board game will entail, but it has been confirmed that it will contain plastic minis. Warriors of Krynn was developed entirely in-house by the Dungeons & Dragons team, without assistance from Avalon Hill or Hasbro.
Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn will launch in late 2022.