Dragonlance

''Dragonlance'' is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived ''Dragonlance'' while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job interview. Tracy Hickman met his future writing partner Margaret Weis at TSR, and they gathered a group of associates to play the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. The adventures during that game inspired a series of gaming modules, a series of novels, licensed products such as board games, and lead miniature figures.

In 1984, TSR published the first ''Dragonlance'' game module, ''Dragons of Despair'', and the first novel, ''Dragons of Autumn Twilight''. The novel began the ''Chronicles'' trilogy, a core element of the ''Dragonlance'' world. While the authoring team of Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis wrote the setting's central books, numerous other authors contributed novels, short stories and game supplements to the setting. Over 190 novels have used the ''Dragonlance'' setting; the ''Dragonlance'' campaign setting has also been used for multiple editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and for the SAGA System. Following Wizards of the Coast's acquisition of TSR in 1997, Wizards licensed ''Dragonlance'' to Margaret Weis's company Sovereign Press to produce game materials; this licensing agreement ran from 2001 to 2007. ''Dragonlance'' is scheduled to return in 2022 with a new adventure module and the start of a new novel trilogy.

The fictional ''Dragonlance'' world of Krynn contains numerous characters, an extensive timeline, and a detailed geography. The history of Krynn consists of five ages. The novels and related game products are primarily set in the fourth age, The Age of Despair. Since the publication of '' Dragonlance: Fifth Age'' in 1996, the fifth age, the Age of Mortals, has been used. The Heroes of the Lance, created by Weis and Hickman, are the popular protagonists of the ''Chronicles'' trilogy. Along with ''D&D'' world of the ''Forgotten Realms'', ''Dragonlance'' is one of the most popular shared worlds in fiction.

Publication history

Creation

Hickman developed his world creation technique by writing and self-publishing with his wife Laura the adventure modules ''Rahasia'' (1979) and ''Pharaoh'' (1980), and writing TSR's ''Ravenloft'' module (1983). He was unemployed in 1982, and TSR offered him a job based on his submission of several modules. That year, while driving from Utah to Wisconsin to start a job with TSR, Hickman and his wife created the ''Dragonlance'' universe concept. During the trip, Hickman and his wife discussed two ideas they had had for several years: an entire world used to support a storyline, and a world dominated by dragons.

Their ideas were well received by TSR, whose marketing department felt they had enough dungeons, but not enough dragons. Hickman suggested a series of twelve modules, each featuring a different dragon. TSR employee Harold Johnson suggested that Hickman should try to get additional support from other TSR staff members and, after a period of months, Hickman had the support of Jeff Grubb, Larry Elmore, Roger Moore, Doug Niles, Michael Williams, and others with whom they discussed ideas for the project. Meanwhile, Weis was editing and writing various ''Endless Quest'' books for TSR. The ''Dragonlance'' group decided that novels should accompany the game modules; TSR reluctantly agreed and hired a writer. Hickman became the design coordinator for ''Project Overlord'', the cover name for what would later be known as the Dragonlance saga.

TSR decided to create a franchise, including modules, board games, lead figures, and—for the first time—novels. Weis had been hired as an editor; with Hickman, she began working with the author hired to write the novels. They weren't satisfied with the author, and decided they should be the ones to write the books. They collaborated over a weekend, writing the prologue for the first five chapters of the first novel, ''Dragons of Autumn Twilight'', based on the module ''Dragons of Despair''. TSR liked their treatment and gave them the assignment, firing the author. After two years of development, TSR released the module ''Dragons of Despair'' in March 1984 and the novel ''Dragons of Autumn Twilight'' in November 1984. TSR had doubts about the finished novel's sales potential, and attempted to order thirty thousand copies, ultimately ordering the minimum print run of fifty thousand. The success of the novel prompted TSR to publish more copies to meet demand. The novel was written after the completion of the first ''Dragonlance'' game modules. Weis and Hickman felt this was constraining and made the novel feel too episodic, so they reversed the process for the next books and completed the novels before the related modules were written. ''Dragonlance'' eventually received ancillary products such as novels, calendars, computer games, and books of artwork.

Further development

In the mid to late 1980s, a rift developed between TSR and the authors. Weis and Hickman were feeling under-appreciated and, when TSR turned down their ''Darksword'' series of novels, they went to Bantam Books. Bantam made them an offer, which they accepted, and they stopped writing ''Dragonlance'' novels for TSR. They returned to write '' Dragons of Summer Flame'' for TSR in 1995, thinking it would be their final ''Dragonlance'' novel. At the time, ''Dragonlance'' gaming had been converted to the SAGA System, with limited success, and that, combined with TSR's general financial troubles, put the setting's future in doubt. Wizards of the Coast bought the troubled TSR in 1997, and Weis and Hickman then proposed the ''War of Souls'' trilogy, which was published in 2000–2002. All three novels made the ''New York Times'' bestseller list, and the setting was commercially revitalized. By 1998, the original ''Dragonlance'' trilogy had sold well over three million copies worldwide and spawned dozens of sequels. The central books of the ''Dragonlance'' series were written by the authoring team of Weis and Hickman; however, many other writers have made contributions, including Richard A. Knaak, Douglas Niles, Roger E. Moore, Don Perrin, Jean Rabe, Paul B. Thompson, Tonya C. Cook, Michael Williams, Nancy Varian Berberick, and Chris Pierson.

In 2001, Wizards of the Coast licensed Sovereign Press to publish further ''Dragonlance'' game materials. This began with the newly revised ''Dragonlance Campaign Setting'' in 2003, which used the new ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 3rd Edition rules. In April 2007, Wizards of the Coast had not renewed Sovereign's license, and ''Dragonlance'' RPG game supplements and accessories were only released through the end of the year.

In October 2020, Weis and Hickman filed suit against Wizards of the Coast for breaching a licensing deal with Weis and Hickman for a new ''Dragonlance'' novel trilogy. ''Boing Boing'' reported that "according to the lawsuit, Weis and Hickman agreed with Wizards of the Coast to produce the new novels in 2017, capping off the series and giving fans a final sendoff, but the company pulled the plug in August 2020". In December, Weis and Hickman filed to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice their lawsuit, and "the filing noted that Wizards of the Coast had not formally answered their lawsuit, nor had they filed for a summary judgement". Weis and Hickman's publishing agent affirmed a few weeks following this that a new trilogy of ''Dragonlance'' novels was in the works; the first of the new trilogy is scheduled to be released in August 2022.

In December 2022, the first Dragonlance adventure module, titled '' Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen'', for 5th Edition will be released. The module will be set during the War of the Lance; Wizards of the Coast has stated that the module will not require prior knowledge of the setting or the novels to play the module. An integrated board game, titled ''Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn'', will also be released; it was designed by Stephen Baker and Rob Daviau. ''Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn'' is a wargame that focuses on military battles during the War of the Lance. Both games can be played independently; however, the adventure module includes rules for using the board game to resolve the military battles that occur in the narrative.

Media

Campaign setting

TSR created ''Dragonlance'' as a campaign setting for the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'') roleplaying game in 1982, publishing the first of a series of modules, ''Dragons of Despair'', in March 1984. They published the first world-spanning sourcebook, ''Dragonlance Adventures'', in 1987. When ''AD&D'' was updated to the 2nd edition in 1989, the ''Dragonlance'' campaign setting was updated as well. However, in 1996, ''Dragonlance'' was converted to use the new SAGA System, which uses cards to determine the effects of actions, with the publication of the '' Dragonlance: Fifth Age'' roleplaying game.

When the 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' was released in 2000, ''Dragonlance'' was not initially updated for the new edition. In 2002, Margaret Weis's company Sovereign Press acquired the license to publish 3rd Edition ''Dragonlance'' material. The official update, ''Dragonlance Campaign Setting'', was published in 2003 for the 3.5 Edition. Wizards of the Coast turned over all responsibility for maintaining the ''Dragonlance'' setting to Sovereign Press until 2007. The campaign setting was not supported during the 4th Edition era (2008-2013) of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

In March 2022, Wizards released the PDF ''Heroes of Krynn'' which is part of the "Unearthed Arcana" public playtest series for the 5th Edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. ''Polygon'' commented that this "all but confirmed" the return of the Dragonlance setting. In April 2022, it was announced that the setting will be revisited in December 2022 with a new adventure module for the 5th Edition.

Novels

The main storyline of the original ''Dragonlance'' series has been written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, with multiple books written by other authors, covering years between and sometimes during the main events.
* The ''Chronicles'' trilogy relates the events since the meeting of the Companions until the end of the War of the Lance and the defeat of the Dragon armies of Ansalon.
* The ''Legends'' trilogy covers the Blue Lady's War, as well as the past adventures of Raistlin and Caramon Majere, culminating in Raistlin's attempt to achieve godhood. The books feature time travel, and focus on events in Istar before the Cataclysm, as well as the ensuing Dwarfgate Wars.
* ''The Second Generation'' is a single compilation book which picks the most important tales from the ''Tales'' series and details the children of the Companions, all of whom become players in the later story. This book is considered to be part of the main storyline, as it must be read to understand the events that happened between the War of the Lance and the Chaos War. This novel develops characters that would later be seen in the ''War of Souls'' trilogy.
* '' Dragons of Summer Flame'' covers the Chaos War, also known as the Second Cataclysm. The gods and mortals join forces to defeat Chaos in his attempt to destroy Krynn. The war ends with the withdrawal of Chaos and the gods of Krynn in a divine agreement to keep the world safe.
* '' Dragons in the Archives: The Best of Weis and Hickman Anthology'' is another compilation of short stories which were previously published in other anthologies. These stories take place at different points of time in the world of Krynn. This book provides backstory to some of the characters and situations presented in the ''War of Souls'' trilogy.
* ''The War of Souls'' trilogy begins as a strange storm courses through Krynn, heralding the War of Souls. The end of the war brings the return of the gods, Takhisis's death, and the departure of Paladine as head of the good gods in order to maintain the balance between Good and Evil.
* '' The Dark Disciple'' trilogy follows the death of Takhisis and the departure of Paladine, when the lesser gods strive to maintain dominance.
* The '' Lost Chronicles'' trilogy is a companion to the original ''Chronicles''. Each book of the trilogy fills in sections of the story previously left untold. It tells the story surrounding the recovery of the Hammer of Kharas, how the Companions retrieve the dragon orb from Ice Wall, how Kitiara Uth Matar and Lord Soth became allies, and how Raistlin Majere took the Black Robes in Neraka.

Video games

Eight video games are set in the Dragonlance world. They belong to six different genres and were released within five years, from 1988 to 1992.

''DL01 - Dragons of Despair'' and ''DL02 - Dragons of Flame'' (corresponding to the events in the first novel, ''Dragons of Autumn Twilight'') were adapted into the video games '' Heroes of the Lance'' and '' Dragons of Flame'', respectively. Instead of being role-playing video games, they are platform games using the Silver Box game engine. ''DL03 - Dragons of Hope'' and ''DL04 - Dragons of Desolation'' (corresponding to the events between the first and the second novel) were adapted into the video game ''Shadow Sorcerer''. Released in 1991, this early real-time strategy game is a direct sequel to the first two games and a prequel to ''War of the Lance'' (1989). ''DL11 - Dragons of Glory'' is a self-contained tabletop strategy game (corresponding to the events in the background of the third novel, ''Dragons of Spring Dawning'') that was adapted into the turn-based strategy game ''War of the Lance''.

'' DragonStrike'' is a 1990 combat flight simulation game whose plot begins halfway through the previous video game. The 1992 NES remake is a scrolling shooter that features an ending different from the one in the novels, but following and fixing a "bad ending" from ''DL14 - Dragons of Triumph''. Neither game is based directly on any tabletop module. The Gold Box trilogy (''Champions of Krynn'', '' Death Knights of Krynn'', and ''The Dark Queen of Krynn'') are the only role-playing video games based on Dragonlance. They tell an original story that begins shortly after the events in the 14 tabletop modules.

Apart from those, the MUSH game ''DragonLance'' is based on Krynn during the final stage of the War of the Lance.

Other

The series has inspired mention in music as well, including " Wishmaster", a song by Nightwish based partially on the master and apprentice relationship between Raistlin Majere and Dalamar. The Swedish metal band Lake of Tears also recorded a song called "Raistlin and the Rose" on their 1997 album ''Crimson Cosmos'', while the German group Blind Guardian

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