Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

Brand new Dragonlance campaign for D&D 5e

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen will take players on an adventure set during the War of the Lance. On Krynn, it is known as the 4th Dragon War and occurs during the period of time dealt with in the now legendary Dragonlance Chronicles books (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning) written by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. While the events of the campaign are set during the same period as Tanis and his companions, the events of the campaign handle events separate from Tanis and his companions, giving players and fans a new view of the War of the Lance.

Campaign Synopsis

More than any other setting, Dragonlance is a setting torn apart by war that make the skirmishes of places like the Forgotten Realms feel like tavern brawls! Dragonlance is a place where evil gods and their armies seek to take control of the entirety of Krynn, and non-more so than the Dragon Queen herself; Takhisis.

Following the cataclysm when the gods abandoned the people of Krynn and the land was torn asunder, the people of Krynn were left without clerics or the powers of the gods. They had turned from their gods and in turn, the gods had turned from them. 300 years later though and Takhisis began to amass her draconic armies, invoking clerics with her power and awakening the dormant chromatic dragons (those of evil alignment on Krynn) to take over the continent of Ansalon (the primary continent of the Dragonlance books) and eventually, the whole of Krynn.

It is as the dragon armies of Takhisis march upon the unprepared nation of Solamnia, the Shadow of the Dragon Queen starts its story with the city of Kalaman being the last bastion of Solamnia protecting it from being completely overthrown. But there is more than just the threat of war looming over the city, as Takhisis seeks a powerful, ancient weapon, that can be used to dominate Krynn for all of time and she has sent a powerful servant of incredible evil to recover this artefact.

Dragonlance Character Options

With Dragonlance being an entirely new setting, it also comes with it unique character options that can be used in the campaign (and others with settings like Spelljammer able to bridge the gap between settings now). Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen will give players a new race in the form of the optimistic kender, a new sorcerous subclass known as lunar sorcery and a pair of new backgrounds for knights of Solamnia and mages of high sorcery.

Kender Race

The kender are similar to halflings of other settings. They’re shorter than an average human, tend to have a cheerful demeanor and are reknowned for having sticky fingers! That’s not to say that they steal things (a kender would be highly offended if you claimed that they’d stolen something!), kender simply have a very loose interpretation of what constitutes someone’s property (basically, if it’s not nailed down in your house, it could be anyone’s). If a kender owns something for more than a week, it’s pretty much a family heirloom.

Player’s can expect the kender’s favoured weapon to turn up too; the hoopak stick. It’s a long stick that can be used for walking, hitting people, or even as a sling, making it a very versatile weapon.

Lunar Sorcery Subclass

The magic of Dragonlance is derived from 3 different gods each representing one of the 3 alignments; good, neutrality and evil. Solinari (good magic), Lunitari (Neutral magic) and Nuitari (evil magic) each supply magic to their adherents via the 3 moons of Krynn; the white, red and, practically invisible, black moons. The lunar sorceror is one that derives their magic from a moon so we expect some mystical, lunar based magic from this subclass.

Knights of Solamnia and Mages of High Sorcery

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen will also introduce 2 new backgrounds. Knights of Solamnia will adhere to the Solamnic code, an old and traditional order of knights that are, during the War of the Lance, mainly despised for their inability to prevent the cataclysm 300 years prior. The order is a shell of what it once was with very few to its number any more.

The mages of High Sorcery will belong to one of the orders of high sorcery (the white, red or black robed mages) who require strict learning and testing of those that wish to be a part of the order. While typically in the books, these orders were primarily for wizards, Shadow of the Dragon Queen has updated the orders to include all trained spellcasters which might typically include bards, wizards and warlocks but may also include spellcasters that receive their gifts inherently (such as sorcerors) if they are deemed to have the right potential.

Warriors of Krynn

As if the D&D gods weren’t already blessing us with enough Dragonlance goodness, We’ll also be getting a board game that can be used standalone or alongside the campaign called Warriors of Krynn. It will feature skirmishes that can be fought between the forces of good and evil. Games will be played through a mix of cards, figures, counters and books. The entire game can seamlessly shift between the D&D campaign to Warriors of Krynn and back again with miniatures that can even be used in your D&D campaigns. Warriors of Krynn will release alongside Shadow of the Dragon Queen on the 8th December 2022.

Shadow of the Dragon Queen Versions

As always, Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen comes as standard as a hardcover book. There’s also a very sinister looking alternative special edition cover. Warriors of Krynn can be bought standalone or as part of a bundle with the campaign book. On top of this, on 28th February, WOTC will release a Deluxe Edition bundle that will include an exclusive cover for the book, a DM screen, a digital copy of the campaign via D&D Beyond and the Deluxe Edition of the Warriors of Krynn board game.