That would not be treating the work of DL "fans" fairly. Hell, one of the contributors to the work of the DragonLance Nexus team (Richard Knaak) is the author of several DL books published by WotC (and many World ofWarcraft novel, too, for that matter).
The dividing line between fans and a paid freelancer - let alone former TSR / WotC pro -- is pretty narrow. You mght want to revise your opnion to take that into account. Not all DMs Guild products are created equal.
I'm just curious how close to "official" this product is. I mean, I realize it is not endorsed by WotC, but does anyone on the writing team have a connection to the original world builders?
Also, beyond Shadow of the Dragon Queen, is WotC planning on releasing anything else for Dragonlance. If they do, the new WotC material could easily invalidate anything/everything in this "Companion."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
This happens on DMsGuild all the time. I also wouldn't simply dismiss everything on DMsGuild strictly as "fan press". WotC has at least two 5e books, the Minsc and Boo book (which stats some big bads like Mephistopheles) and that companion to Witchlight. I'm actually a little surprised they didn't put some sort of DMsGuild companion themselves.
Anycase, yes a lot of the folks who write for WotC also write on DMsGuild, and Paizo, and Kobold Press, (occasionally D&D Beyond even) etc. It comes down to knowing your authors and following them if you want more. Sometimes you'll even find cutting room floor stuff in those books. For example, M.T. Black had a section of a DMsGuild Candlekeep book (with Ed Greenwood in the credits) that was basically something he wrote for Descent into Avernus when he was on that book's writing team. Baker put a whole book out for Eberon 5e that's considered great work.
That said, having names on the book cover isn't necessarily a quality guarantee. There is a great community of reviewers actually on DMs Guild (there's also it's tiered "metal awards" sales recognition system, but frankly that system is easily manipulated by social media gaming, at least at the lower rungs), all over the internet, and there's even a forum for discussion of DMsGuild work here.
If you grab a book as soon as it comes out, that's a risk, but the same can be said for WotC material these days.
Shadow of the Dragon Queen certainly claims there's more to the story by the end of the book (and the war's still going on) so a sequel product is of course possible, but given the pending transition to OneD&D I don't know if we'd see one. Most adventures seem to serve as a jumping point for DMsGuild to fill in the gaps.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Question: Where did the picture on the cover of "Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything" originally come from?
Was that drawing made specifically for that online sourcebook or did it come from somewhere else?
Anyone know?
According to the preview, it's by Elena Zambelli and was apparently commissioned just for this product like a lot of DMs Guild covers. Their ArtStation portfolio has several other images they say are made specifically for that book.
Thanks for all of the information and opinions. I appreciate it. I am surprised to find a Trademark like Dragonlance being used out of cannon. I thought those days vanished with 3.5 and the open gaming license (though I still scratch my head at how Pathfinder legally managed to appropriate that version of the game).
I took a vacation from D&D after 3.5 died, before Pathfinder resurrected it, and 4th Ed. came out (the ONLY version of D&D I never played or bought). I have been playing 5th for two years, and am still learning new stuff like a newb. The experience is unusual for me, since I started my DM career before TSR had published the original Dungeon Master’s Guide and bought subsequent material as it was released.
Dragonlance was opened up as usable on DMsGuild concurrent with the release of Shadow of the Dragonqueen. Similar to how Ravenloft and Spelljammer opened up with the releases of Von Richtens and Spelljammer.
Please note: when you publish on DMsGuild, you are giving WotC full rights to whatever you wrote. This is why the Bloodhunter and Gunslinger haven't been republished in any Critical Role books.
Yup. I NEVER consider DMs Guild as anything serious or worth checking out. It's basically, just a bunch of fans making things up on their own.
With the fact that WotC has only made very basic information on Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Dragonlance available, and it looks like they cant be bothered doing anything else, who else can you turn to for material? At least these people have made an attempt to do something.
Ok. Publisher of Dragonlance Companion here to hopefully answer some questions and clear a few things up.
While we wish we could bring the text to D&D Beyond, currently WotC does not offer that option. Our hope is that will change in the future. In the mean time, we do have digital and hardcover editions of the book, including VTT tokens and a few maps. We even bundle the hardcover with the digital so if you go the hardcover route you don't have to pay extra for the digital edition. You'll also notice we try to keep our prices affordable. You're paying just 11 cents per page with the digital edition.
We consider the book to be third-party content, which D&D has a rich history of. During 2nd edition there were a number of third-party publishers who produced Ravenloft sourcebooks. During 3rd edition, Sovereign Press published Dragonlance content. We spent over six months working on Dragonlance Companion to make it the absolute best it could be.
While we don't have any previously published WotC writers amongst our 19 designers, the team is experienced in publishing from years of working on books in and outside of the TTRPG space. Our books are professionally produced so that they look and feel high quality. Some of our designers are DMs, including one with over 20 years experience of DMing multiple times per week.
We also received some very nice words from Margaret Weiss regarding the book:
I just saw on another site that this sourcebook has been released. Will it be coming to Beyond for either digital or digital/physical purchase?
That's a DMs Guild product, so no.
Yup. I NEVER consider DMs Guild as anything serious or worth checking out. It's basically, just a bunch of fans making things up on their own.
That would not be treating the work of DL "fans" fairly. Hell, one of the contributors to the work of the DragonLance Nexus team (Richard Knaak) is the author of several DL books published by WotC (and many World of Warcraft novel, too, for that matter).
The dividing line between fans and a paid freelancer - let alone former TSR / WotC pro -- is pretty narrow. You mght want to revise your opnion to take that into account. Not all DMs Guild products are created equal.
I'm just curious how close to "official" this product is. I mean, I realize it is not endorsed by WotC, but does anyone on the writing team have a connection to the original world builders?
Also, beyond Shadow of the Dragon Queen, is WotC planning on releasing anything else for Dragonlance. If they do, the new WotC material could easily invalidate anything/everything in this "Companion."
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
This happens on DMsGuild all the time. I also wouldn't simply dismiss everything on DMsGuild strictly as "fan press". WotC has at least two 5e books, the Minsc and Boo book (which stats some big bads like Mephistopheles) and that companion to Witchlight. I'm actually a little surprised they didn't put some sort of DMsGuild companion themselves.
Anycase, yes a lot of the folks who write for WotC also write on DMsGuild, and Paizo, and Kobold Press, (occasionally D&D Beyond even) etc. It comes down to knowing your authors and following them if you want more. Sometimes you'll even find cutting room floor stuff in those books. For example, M.T. Black had a section of a DMsGuild Candlekeep book (with Ed Greenwood in the credits) that was basically something he wrote for Descent into Avernus when he was on that book's writing team. Baker put a whole book out for Eberon 5e that's considered great work.
That said, having names on the book cover isn't necessarily a quality guarantee. There is a great community of reviewers actually on DMs Guild (there's also it's tiered "metal awards" sales recognition system, but frankly that system is easily manipulated by social media gaming, at least at the lower rungs), all over the internet, and there's even a forum for discussion of DMsGuild work here.
If you grab a book as soon as it comes out, that's a risk, but the same can be said for WotC material these days.
Shadow of the Dragon Queen certainly claims there's more to the story by the end of the book (and the war's still going on) so a sequel product is of course possible, but given the pending transition to OneD&D I don't know if we'd see one. Most adventures seem to serve as a jumping point for DMsGuild to fill in the gaps.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yeah, I get it.
Question: Where did the picture on the cover of "Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything" originally come from?
Was that drawing made specifically for that online sourcebook or did it come from somewhere else?
Anyone know?
According to the preview, it's by Elena Zambelli and was apparently commissioned just for this product like a lot of DMs Guild covers. Their ArtStation portfolio has several other images they say are made specifically for that book.
Thanks for all of the information and opinions. I appreciate it. I am surprised to find a Trademark like Dragonlance being used out of cannon. I thought those days vanished with 3.5 and the open gaming license (though I still scratch my head at how Pathfinder legally managed to appropriate that version of the game).
I took a vacation from D&D after 3.5 died, before Pathfinder resurrected it, and 4th Ed. came out (the ONLY version of D&D I never played or bought). I have been playing 5th for two years, and am still learning new stuff like a newb. The experience is unusual for me, since I started my DM career before TSR had published the original Dungeon Master’s Guide and bought subsequent material as it was released.
Dragonlance was opened up as usable on DMsGuild concurrent with the release of Shadow of the Dragonqueen. Similar to how Ravenloft and Spelljammer opened up with the releases of Von Richtens and Spelljammer.
Please note: when you publish on DMsGuild, you are giving WotC full rights to whatever you wrote. This is why the Bloodhunter and Gunslinger haven't been republished in any Critical Role books.
With the fact that WotC has only made very basic information on Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Dragonlance available, and it looks like they cant be bothered doing anything else, who else can you turn to for material? At least these people have made an attempt to do something.
Ok. Publisher of Dragonlance Companion here to hopefully answer some questions and clear a few things up.
While we wish we could bring the text to D&D Beyond, currently WotC does not offer that option. Our hope is that will change in the future. In the mean time, we do have digital and hardcover editions of the book, including VTT tokens and a few maps. We even bundle the hardcover with the digital so if you go the hardcover route you don't have to pay extra for the digital edition. You'll also notice we try to keep our prices affordable. You're paying just 11 cents per page with the digital edition.
We consider the book to be third-party content, which D&D has a rich history of. During 2nd edition there were a number of third-party publishers who produced Ravenloft sourcebooks. During 3rd edition, Sovereign Press published Dragonlance content. We spent over six months working on Dragonlance Companion to make it the absolute best it could be.
While we don't have any previously published WotC writers amongst our 19 designers, the team is experienced in publishing from years of working on books in and outside of the TTRPG space. Our books are professionally produced so that they look and feel high quality. Some of our designers are DMs, including one with over 20 years experience of DMing multiple times per week.
We also received some very nice words from Margaret Weiss regarding the book:
Link to learn more and purchase: https://dmsguild.com/product/416867?affiliate_id=183912
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Thanks for considering our book!
https://www.splinterverse.com
Hello! I am a new DM looking at purchasing this to help me run my Dragonlance campaign. How would do you think this resource would help with that?
Does the "Dragonlance Companion" have maps of major cities, like Palanthas?
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."