Ring Side Report- Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

Product– Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

System- DnD 5th Edition

Producer– Wizards of the Coast

Price– $36 here 

TL; DR– kind of fitting for what we have been seeing from WotC.  73%

Basics–  Time for the War of the Lance… again.  Learn the basics of the Dragonlance setting and play through the most famous adventure.

Mechanics or Crunch– This book adds a bit, but not much, in terms of game mechanics.  You get a bit of background on the setting’s most famous addition, the kender, and you also get rules for mass battles and sidekicks.  Overall, it’s not bad, but it’s not much.  For this world, I would expect more, especially given the crazy things that have happened with magic, moons, and divine magic.  What’s here is good, but there is not as much as I would hope.  4/5

Theme or Fluff– This is a let down.  There is a story that is decent, but it’s been done.  Why not modernize the setting or deal with the fallout of many of the books?  This just feels like a rehash of things or a reboot.  Couple that with the fact that the whole setting is given 20 pages of background and you get something that works, but it’s not a solid effort.  3/5

Execution-You can buy a decently made book.  But there is no PDF available, legally.  You can buy a computer version via DnD Beyond, but you must deal with DnD Beyond.  It’s got good layout and text, but those two things itself knock this down many pegs.  4/5

Summary– This book feels like many of the most recent setting books WotC is putting out.  There are a few pages of setting and then an adventure.  You have a GIANT world out there with lots of stuff and you get 20 pages.  I just feel this isn’t done well.  If you want to replay the war of the lance and you want 5e to do it, this will be your book.  If, like me, you wanted a solid introduction to the system and you wanted it to tie in to where the world is now, then this will not be your book.  73%

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