Wizards of the Coast has said that two more classic settings are returning to Dungeons & Dragons soon. One of the strongest contenders for a return is Dragonlance, considering updates that have happened outside of the tabletop RPG.
Dragonlance was once one of the three most popular D&D settings, alongside the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk. It's set in the world of Kyrnn, in an era where the gods have long since abandoned the world. Dragonlance became famous for its novels, with Dragons of Autumn Twilight kicking the series off in 1984. The novels followed the events of the War of the Lance, with the gods returning to Krynn and evil dragons take to the skies once more. The titular Dragonlance is the name of a powerful weapon that can be used to slay evil dragons, with warriors wielding them while riding on the backs of the good dragons.
While Dragonlance was known for its novels, it also had its own D&D modules that ran alongside them, which allowed players to take on the roles of the characters from the books. There has never been a better time to revive this concept, due to the growing influence of D&D on the internet.
D&D's Next Campaign Should Focus On New Heroes Of The Lance
The first reason why it's likely that Dragonlance is coming back as a D&D setting is that the novels are also coming back. The original Dragonlance novels were written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They were caught up in legal issues with Wizards of the Coast regarding the books for several years, but it was revealed on Weis' Twitter page that a deal had been struck and that new Dragonlance books were on the way. The provisional names of the first two books are Dragons of Deceit and Dragons of Fate. The post claimed that the new books will follow the iconic characters from the original novels, except with a "strong new protagonist." This suggests that the new novels will be a reboot, acting as a retelling of the original trilogy of novels, except with new characters and story beats.
The fact that the Dragonlance novels are coming back suggests that the campaign setting could also return. Not only that, but the idea of releasing adventures based on the novels is also a strong notion. D&D had its best-ever year of sales in 2020 and a big part of that is due to the game's popularity online. A lot of players are using the published campaign settings in their online games, which means that there are lots of video series showing people playing through all of Curse of Strahd and Lost Mine of Phandelver. It's possible that Wizards of the Coast is envisioning a scenario where people are not just playing the same campaign, but the same characters as well. There could be an online trend of players having different takes on characters like Raistlin Majere, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Goldmoon, and Tanis Half-Elven.
The other attractive aspect of bringing back Dragonlance is that it's ripe for a live-action adaptation. The Forgotten Realms has lots of iconic characters, but the world is so vast that most of the characters are having separate adventures. A live-action Drizzt Do'Urden series would be amazing, but it would show a small portion of the familiar setting. The Dragonlance novels featured world-spanning adventures and epic conflicts between good and evil, on the same level as something like The Lord of the Rings. The scale of the Dragonlance novels is perfect for a live-action TV show or movie series. This could be why a reboot is in order, as it gives the original creators of the series a chance to update the source material for a modern audience. It's for all of these reasons that Dragonlance is a strong contender for being the next classic campaign setting to return to Dungeons & Dragons.
Source: Margaret Weis/Twitter