Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

If you're a Dragonlance fan, and a Dungeons and Dragons 5E fan, you'll definitely want to take a look at the recent Unearthed Arcana article on the Wizard's site. This new article series on the site presents unofficial rules, or rules in development for the game. This recent article goes by the unassuming title of "Waterborne Adventures", but for the Dragonlance fan should be "Rise of the Minotaur" since the article presents, for the first time, rules for minotaur PCs. In addition to the minotaur race, it also includes a Mariner fighting style, along with some goodies for rogues and sorcerers. One of the things I enjoyed most about the article were the sidebars where the designers gave their behind the scenes commentary about what they were accomplishing, and how to apply the same principles to other race or monster modifications. Since its only a 5 page article, it's a quick read, and well worth the time, Dragonlance fan or not.

If you've been following along with the various game sessions and specifically the last Dragon Island session ( here ), then the start of this entry may seem a little jarring. Here's the real world story. In real life, one of the players, Eric (who played the kender thief Theo) was leaving town. He was starting law school out of state and would be leaving on a fixed date. I had planned for this adventure to be the capstone for the first campaign arc, and I was eager to wrap the adventure and the arc in the available time left. It seemed right that Eric, who had been a long time player (second only to Mike in seniority) should see the end of all the hard work they and their characters had put in to the game. Unfortunately, more real world events got in the way and I ended up not having the number of sessions that I thought I would. Still wanting to make this finale take place before Eric left for law school, I borrow the trope of the black-out time jump that would take the P...

It's been way too long since my last comic post (or any post for that matter). Luckily, this is a standalone issue so no previous storylines are referenced here. This issue contains two stories, one featuring a minotaur of the Imperial League, the other featuring a lowly hobgoblin questing to be the leader of his tribe. Sadly, while Myrella (the female wizard last seen in issue 16 ) appears on the cover, she does not actually appear in either story--already this issue is off to a bad start! The Path to Power The first story starts off with an arena combat where a minotaur, Cantavian, defeats another minotaur, Platius. Afterward, the Emperor talks with Cantavian and the leader of the Black Cloaks minotaur legion. Due to his win in the arena, Cantavian is grudgingly given support for creating a new unit similar to the Black Cloaks. Apparently this plan was originally the idea of Cantavian's cousin, who it turns out to be was General Axantheas (last seen in issue #25 ). W...

Eron's Keep It's been a while since my last comic review, so you might want to take a moment and read the synopsis for part one of this arc before continuing. This issue opens with a cleric, Bishop Trandemere, talking with his god, Hith about a silver dragon hatching ground, and the hope that they can get to the eggs before Erestem or Paladine. Meanwhile, Riva awakens in a cave, having a nightmare about the recent storm (see last issue ) and finds that everyone is safe and accounted for, including her dragon. Ktarrh tells Riva that he was summoned to this location, the silver dragon hatching ground, to convince his brethren to hide their eggs in more than one location for the safety of the silver dragon species. Riva then asks the same question I had been wondering, how they survived the shardstorm (again, last issue). Ktarrh mentions that they were brought here by Eron, someone Ktarrh wants her to meet. Elsewhere the rest of the crew works on repairing the ship while Griffin ...

The Gathering As the little narrator box let's us know in the first panel of the first page, the group is in hills near the glass seas. While everyone else sleeps, Riva's dragon, Ktarrah, keeps watch over the group. It seems Riva is having another nightmare (her last one was all the way back in issue 3 ), this one about Ktarrah being attacked by a bunch of different dragons. She wakes up and runs out of her tent to see the dragon screeching and flying away into the night. The next day the party books passage on Glass Sea boat (the Glass Sea looks like a frozen river, or one made of crystal and the boat is equiped with blades to ride on top). Just before they leave port, Skrum sees a minotaur crewmember and immediately draws a weapon thinking it's a member of League of Minotaurs. Before any fighting starts, Maraghiz tells everyone to stand down; that he senses no evil from the minotaur, and Mezamere the gnome calms down his minotaur friend. One that's sorted out the ship...

Death in the Burning Sea This issue starts off with each of the party members riding a different dragon, while Riva and Maraghiz lament about how they should have foreseen Erestem's influence on Skrum through the ring. They then arrive at a location near a lava flow where Skrum commands the dragons to drop off the party members off in a nearby valley. Once Skrum dismounts, all the dragons fly away. He tells everyone that he has brought them here to meet the goddess. Rising up from the pool, a gigantic lava-form of Erestem appears. She taunts Riva about their previous meeting (in issue #3 ). Meanwhile, Sulai casts an ice storm spell on Erestem. Skurm laughs at the elf mage's attempt, saying that "a little hail won't extinguish Erestem's flame!" What Skurm didn't realize was that Sulai's real intention of the spell was not to harm the goddess, but to use the mixture of flame and ice to create enough steam for the party to escape unseen. Under cover of th...

Ring of Evil This issue starts out with General Axantheas holding a meeting. Around the table are humanoids of different races and genders (including a traag draconian and a hobgoblin). Behind the general is a statue of Erestem (aka Takhisis). The mintour proclaims this small group to be the greatest champions of evil on Taladas, each representing one of the Erestem's five heads. There is infighting within the group, and Axantheas even kills one of the other "heads", believing him to be a spy for the rival nation of Thenol. Elsewhere, Riva starts the morning in prayer to Paladine. Afterward the rest of the party convince her that the best way to stop the general and Esterem, is to reveal their plot to the emperor of the League of Minotaurs. Later they unleash an attack on the emperor's entourage in an attempt to get a private audience with the leader. After fighting the emperor's minions, he steps out of his carriage in full battle gear. As he listens to the party...

Winging it! This issue starts off with Riva, Griffin, and Skrum arriving as prisoners in Kristophan, the capital city of the League of Minotaurs. On the outskirts of the city, Tyche, one of the minotaur soldiers loyal to the traitorous General Axantheas, kills a human soldier to frame the prisoners who Tyche intends to kill as "they were trying to escape". Riva reaches for the dead solders polearm and uses it to knock Tyche to the ground and allowing them to make a real escape. As they run down streets and through buildings, Skrum reveals that he still has the real dragonring, and what he had previously handed over to the soldiers was an old bracelet he had. Skrum uses the ring to summon a dragon. Unknown to Skrum, a red dragon appears attacking the chasing soldiers and allowing the three to escape. At first Riva hesitates, not wanting to ally herself with such an evil creature until league soldiers are right on her. As soon as the dragon takes flight, Riva forces Skrum to la...

For all their monstrous qualities, minotaurs, ogres, hobgoblins, and goblins all have established, recognized nations on Krynn. The minotaurs rule the two island nations of Kothas and Mithas (and on the content of Taladas, they lead the Imperial League). Ogres rule the warning nations of Kern and Bloten, while hobgoblins and goblins rule Throt and Sikk'et Hul, respectively.

Blood Tide This issue starts sometime after the end of the War of the Lance (as seen in issue 8 ). Riva Silvercrown (last seen in issue 4 ), now a knight of Solomnia, is riding a dragon and almost gets into an airborne fight with a dragonarmy officer. Both are quickly stopped when Highlord Kitiara arrives on the scene. It turns out Riva and Kit are part of separate delegations, each seeking to form an alliance with the minotaur nation. Later, minotaur delegates are talking with Tanis, Riva, and a mysterious black-robed person. Kit interrupts and begins to present reasons to ally with her dragonarmy. The war-minded minotaurs seem to agree more with her reasoning than that of Tanis. In an effort to turn the delegates toward their thinking, the robed figures, revealed to be an elven cleric of Paladine, offers the head minotaur a special offer; the chance to journey to the location where his brother died to pay a proper last respect. Since this is a big deal in minotaur society, the delega...

The minotaurs of Krynn are very much different from their counterparts in the Dungeons and Dragons rules in general. For starters, they are a true species that has male and female members and can give birth to offspring. In D&D terms, they are Medium sized creatures and playable as PCs at first level. One other difference, depending on the source, concerns their feet. The MM version of a minotaur is a cloven hoofed creature, but the minotaurs of Krynn as ofter portrayed as having human like feet, though some art work has shown they with hoofs.