D&D’s Dragonlance reboot takes its inspiration from Saving Private Ryan

Most games of Dungeons & Dragons feature a plucky band of adventurers trying to solve problems by themselves or with the help of a few key friends. Wizards of the Coast hopes to change that with the new release of Dragonlance – Shadow of the Dragon QueenThe inspiration for this is taken from movies about war like The Private Ryan Savings And 1917.

This hardcover, 244 page campaign covers the War of the Lance’s early days, starting with the 1980s Dragonlance setting. In this setting, the Dragon Queen Takhisis forces are fighting against the Knights of Solamnia.

“Dragonlance is really D&D’s setting for war, for massive conflicts, for these world-sweeping, world-changing battles,” D&D senior game designer Wes Schneider said during a Tuesday press conference. “The players are going to find themselves at the forefront of this battle in the defense of Solamnia against this evil wave of tyranny. It’s not just the fate of a town, it’s not just the fate of your pocket book. The fate of the entire world is really at stake in this.”

Image by Daarken/Wizards of the Coast

D&D principal art director Kate Irwin said she tried to bring that epic scale to life through the adventure’s art. The chapters are opened with two-page pages often inspired by World War I photos and World War II photographs. A picture of an adventurous party assembled around a captive dragon is meant as a reminder of soldiers with captured tanks. Another picture shows Solamnia’s knights racing to war.

“This is the beginning of the conflict,” Irwin said. “They are leaving their home, heading off to an uncertain future, but knowing that they have to do what they have to do.”

This book will also be available for sale Dragonlance: Warriors at KrynnRob Daviau, veteran wargame designer and founder of ‘The Cooperative Board Game’ (Risk LegacyStephen Baker (Battle Masters, HeroQuest). While both can be played separately, they’re meant to work in concert, with players turning to the board game to simulate large-scale battles. Both the future rounds will be affected by decisions and outcomes made during those fights. Warriors of KrynnAnd what happens in the story Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

The board game comes with a set of miniatures to represent the characters that can also be used on a standard D&D grid, including a towering knight of Solamnia modeled after Brienne of Tarth. Instead of a traditional wargame that focuses on the movement of units across the map, this board game is more focused on interacting with other players. Warriors of Krynn will maintain the D&D focus with players having different abilities based on their character class.

“You’re still playing your characters,” Schneider said. “You’re having your adventures in the fray or around the edges of battle, doing the things that are important to really turn the tide of battle.”

Principal enemies are the priest Takhisis Kansaldi Fire-Eyes who commands her troops from the back of the red dragon and Lord Soth the legendary death knight who rides a Death Dragon, an undead dragon. The game also brings back Draconians, humanoids born from the stolen eggs of (traditionally considered good guy) metallic dragons that have been corrupted by Takhsis’ (traditionally considered bad guy) chromatic dragons.

“It makes the metallic dragons stand down because the chromatics have kidnapped their babies, but it also means that the chromatics have this great army that they’re building and nobody is going to stop them, at least nobody who’s equal in power,” Irwin said.

Image by Kieran Yanner/Wizards of the Coast

Solamnia is at the center of all this adventure. Shadow of the Dragon Queen won’t contain a sweeping gazetteer of the world of Krynn, but it will include a poster map of the continent of Ansalon. Shadow of the Dragon QueenTo help players create their characters, we will provide information about the various groups, organizations, and races that can be found in Dragonlance.

You might see familiar faces but the emphasis will not be on those who were in the books by Tracy Hickman or Margaret Weiss. They are currently at work on a Dragonlance trilogy.

“This is a new story,” Schneider said. “We’re not beholden to the original Dragonlance adventures. We’re not beholden to the novels. All of the heroes we know and love are out there doing their thing, but it’s a big world and there’s a huge world-spanning war going on. Let’s tell these other stories. Let’s really put you and your characters at the center of these tales and see what roles they have in turning the tide of this larger conflict.”

Dragonlance – Shadow of the Dragon Queen will be released physically on Dec. 6, though on Nov. 22 you can unlock two weeks of early access through D&D Beyond by buying both the digital and the physical versions together. When purchased together, the book and digital companion will cost $59.94. The book, its digital companion, and the board game — Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn — will be available for $154.98 and include an exclusive Dungeon Master’s screen.