In October, Wizards of the Coast released content surrounding the release of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. I have been a fan of the Dragonlance setting since I was in my teens (read: a very long time). The prospect of an updated ruleset for my favorite campaign setting gave me the tingles. But, in my humble opinion, 2022 has been the worst year for content releases, across all media. Thus, I am extremely worried that WotC did to Dragonlance what Disney did to Marvel, for example. But, I digress. They released the module earlier in December, and it is available for purchase. I will use the DnD YouTube content to decide if I will drop my hard earned money on this module. “Everything You Need to Play Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen” is embedded below. I follow up with my thoughts, leading to my decision.
Notes
This is my “stream of consciousness” depiction of what went through my mind as I watched. Enjoy!
- The video title is “Everything You Need to Play Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.” We’ll see about that.
- Apparently the project lead’s name is F. Wesley Schneider. He said it; I didn’t.
- 0:30 – “…expect a massive campaign that’s going to embroil (the player) in one of the biggest conflicts in DnD history.” That’s a good note to open on! Excitement: rising!
- Could either of these gentlemen be any more milquetoast? Excitement: wet-blanketed.
- 1:05 – “Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a complete story that takes place on the eastern fringes of the land of Solamnia…a place…that hasn’t been explored.” That is an interesting point. Solamnia was largely unaddressed on the whole, at that point in the books. This was in spite of The High Clerist’s Tower being a key battle of the war. Still, I hope the setting doesn’t do anything to RetCon the rest of the body of the Intellectual Property (IP).
- Much of the middle of the video is exposition around the unique Dragonlance setting. The gods are absent and dragons are a myth or legend. If you know Dragonlance, you know all this already. But, as Biggie said, “If you don’t know, now you know!”
- 5:00 – “…aside from providing a campaign setting guide that will tell you what the gist is with the world of Krynn…you can play through these little introductory scenarios prior to the true start of the adventure.” If they execute on this well, this could be invaluable for introducing players to Dragonlance for the first time. DMs rejoice!
- 5:35 – “You should watch all these videos” he says with a knowing glance. Foreshadowing!
- 6:26 – “You are the people that encounter these draconians so you’re the ones who are taking it to other people ‘hey we saw these Dragon people!’ and folks are like ‘that doesn’t seem right.’” So, the party is a proxy for the Heroes of the Lance in Solamnia. Ok. Not exactly a unique proposition, but serviceable.
Impressions
This video did not help me in my journey to decide if I should buy Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Instead, it actually makes it necessary for me to watch additional content to make an informed decision towards that goal. I don’t like to be teased into giving content creators more clicks and engagement than they deserve. This un-dynamic duo doesn’t make me feel better about it.
The title of the video “Everything You Need to Play Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen” is incredibly misleading. The viewer will not get all the information they need to decide to play the campaign setting from this video. Rather, it is a reference to the campaign setting having everything the player would need to start playing, already built into it. Not only is that misleading, it’s not even a novel thought. All campaign setting modules should live up to that expectation. Put differently, if you sell a module that doesn’t contain everything you need to play in that campaign setting, you release a garbage module.
While the video was largely lip service to the world of Krynn and the Dragonlance setting, I did learn some interesting tidbits about the module. First, the setting is Solamnia, during the early stages of the War of the Lance. Second, the module contains mini-quests to introduce players to the setting on the whole. I find both of those things intriguing. I’m not sure if I find those two things compelling.
Final Thoughts
Since I didn’t get what I needed from this video alone, I sought out the full body of content on the new Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign setting. The Dungeons and Dragons YouTube channel has a playlist consisting of 11 videos on the subject.
I broke down and watched the remaining 10 videos from this playlist, consisting of over an hour and a half of additional content. For the most part, the additional content was more informative and compelling than the video above. What did I learn?
Apparently the campaign setting is intentionally difficult. To offset that additional difficulty, and to enhance the immersive gameplay, the campaign has two Dragonlance-specific backgrounds for players to choose. The backgrounds focus on the Knights of Solamnia and the Mages of High Sorcery. Each of the backgrounds gives the player an extra feat at first level and an additional free feat later. Even if you don’t choose one of those backgrounds, players still get a free feat at first level.
I also picked up on a cue that I had missed earlier. Instead of the title “Wizards of High Sorcery,” the 5th edition setting caused it to change to “Mages of High Sorcery.” This means warlocks and sorcerers can also exist in Krynn and partake in the special backgrounds. A specific game mechanic exists for players to take the test at the Tower of High Sorcery.
I learned so much about Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen that I have decided to buy it. Expect a deep-dive review to follow!
