As I write this, I struggle to properly put into words what I think and feel about the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition module of the famous Dragonlance setting and its adventure module: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. When I first started my literature blog, I made a promise that I wouldn’t be negative and only talk about things I disliked or hated and to only review and promote things I enjoyed, to share what I loved with others. However, Dragonlance means a lot to me personally. The world of Dragonlance was in large part responsible for the love I hold now for fantasy as a genre as well as tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons. I will be reviewing this adventure/world guide on two standards, for the first standard, I will be taking my experience with the setting out of the equation and reviewing the module purely on its merits as an adventure and lore-building guide. The second standard will be my personal opinion and what I think of the module in comparison to some of the prior adventure modules involving Dragonlance. Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let us dive in!
The book itself wastes no time introducing the reader to the world of Krynn, and I must say does a very good job of informing the reader of Krynn’s long and tragic history and gives a proper view into the different ages of Krynn and what the world was like before, and after the cataclysm (given only a cursory glance of the events that led up to the cataclysm) as well as cover the creatures and languages that can be found across Krynn. It also gives a history of the important events of the War of the Lance: The war in which the heroes of Krynn Caramon, Raistlin, Tanis, Flint, Sturm, Tas, Goldmoon, and Riverwind were famously thrust into in the Dragonlance Chronicles. Turns out there is a reason for this, as the adventure module itself is also set in the early periods of the War of the Lance. Going through said events however it doesn’t really reference the aforementioned characters in their coverage of the war (more on this later). The introduction of the gods of Krynn is good but misses some important pieces of lore, specifically with the description of Nuitari in which they state, “His power flows through the black moon that shares his name, which is visible only due to the stars it blocks in the sky.” (Shadow of the Dragon Queen, P.19). On the one hand this makes sense from a logistics standpoint, a physical object that projects no light would still block the light of illuminated objects behind it. However, this was not the established lore of Dragonlance, where it had been stated that Nuitari could only be seen by only his followers “He saw the stars, he saw the moons, he saw three moons, and his soul trembled, for the black moon visible only to those powerful mages of the Black Robes was now visible to him-like a dark circle cut out of blackness.” (Dragons of Spring Dawning, P. 249). It’s a minor error, but one crucial to the lore of Dragonlance that got overlooked.
The book then begins to cover the races and classes of Krynn which took far less time to look through and gave more of a cursory look at the backgrounds and races that are native to Krynn. This section was short and sweet and covered two new backgrounds (Knight of Solomnia, and Mage of High Sorcery), along with the good news that they did manage to incorporate classes that generally weren’t a part of the setting; especially at the time of the War of the Lance which has been a hotly debated subject in online discourse among fans of the Dragonlance setting prior to this book’s release. We also get the benefit of an additional subclass with the sorcerer. Which has been positively received among release, the lunar sorcerer; a sorcerer who receives their power from the moon. Interestingly enough, instead of basing it off of the 3 moons of Krynn, they actually used lunar phases instead, which enables players to use this subclass in other settings, which is always good, as well as giving the sorcerer a plethora of new spells and abilities as a result (for example, giving the sorcerer access to the sacred flame cantrip). Without spoiling too much, WoTC did the best they could to stay true to the lore of Dragonlance while adding new ways for players to adventure in the setting; the history of the world of Krynn was well covered up to the age of mortals and provided fun new backgrounds for players to explore.
The module then sets the scene for the beginning of the adventure: It informs the DM about the overarching plot, who the BBEG, is as well as how the players are tied to the world and each other. Here I will provide the only spoiler of the adventure; the players will be tied through the death of an old friend and the subsequent funeral they will be attending as well as offering preludes to the players’ characters for the benefit of their character background. These preludes include Broken Silence for classes connected to the divine, Eye in the Sky for members of the Tower of High Sorcery, and Scales of War for everyone else. The adventure starts off fairly slow as a result of the funeral and the surrounding village it is set in. Near the end of the chapter, a battle ensues that throws the players deeper into what is the beginning of the War of the Lance. At the end of this chapter, the players jump right to fourth level and the war begins. The adventure takes the players through the early days of the War of the Lance with some decisive battles and tough decisions throughout while the players work to fight back against the armies of Takhisis. In terms of pure mechanics and story, it is fairly interesting and teases famous characters of the Dragonlance setting that fans will love. Overall, just based on mechanics and what the module provides in terms of the history of the world and the adventure itself I would give it an 8.5/10.
My personal opinions
While the adventure starts off slow, it does have that classic Dragonlance feel that I fell in love with all those years ago. With new characters, new threats, and a chance to make a difference in the War of the Lance; I can see this being a fun module to explore with players in the future. With that being said it is not without criticism. The biggest criticism I have isn’t even the fault of the writers or the WoTC but the world of Krynn itself. Krynn has a rich tapestry of history and lore that makes it next to impossible at times to implement some of the changes that had been added to Dungeons and Dragons since Dragonlance was first introduced. There are some race and class options that just weren’t available due to either lore reasons (orcs, dragonborn, halflings and other races simply didn’t exist in this world) or the classes themselves didn’t exist mechanically when the world was developed. While developers did what they could to add the options that exist currently in 5e a lot of the decisions for how they were implemented were passed on to the DM as to how or if to add them to the game at all which I didn’t appreciate. WoTC should have been able to draw a line but didn’t want to and left it to the decision of DM’s who run the risk of looking like assholes if they are a fan of Krynn and want to respect the lore of the world they enjoy so much.
I also have a gripe about the fact that the setting is during the War of the Lance. There are so many other time periods and settings for the world of Krynn and while I understand the significance of the war and the heroes of the lance, I believe that the story should always be about the players and as mentioned, they feel overshadowed if you are familiar with the Dragonlance setting. I personally would’ve liked to see a module where the players look for the old gods in the age of mortals but that’s just me.
The other issue I take is how long this adventure takes before the players begin to participate in the war. You could easily cut out the first chapter and have the players begin at level 4 and not lose much in terms of storytelling (funny enough, the original Dragonlance module actually did start players at level four). The module also takes great pain to not mention the heroes of the lance but pays homage to characters mentioned in prior stories such as Lord Soth and Dalamar the Dark. This to me, feels like you are living in the shadow of the heroes and not actually making any real difference in the war, which for those who are familiar with the history of Dragonlance could really take the wind out of their sails as players. Overall, I give the adventure a 7/10 in my personal opinion. Could’ve been better and the critiques I have are just my personal gripes given the lore and how much Dragonlance means to me as a setting. In conclusion, it is a great module to introduce new players to the world of Dragonlance and a good adventure for those who are fans of the setting and looking to delve into the world of Krynn once more.