Old school Dungeons & Dragons players are no strangers to authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. In the 1980s, the fantasy writing duo created Dragonlance together, an entire fiction series and world-setting for D&D campaigns chock-full of mesmerizing lore and landscapes, unforgettable characters, and dragons terrifying enough to leave readers and gamers on the edge of their seats. Reuniting after 13 years, Weis and Hickman return to the world of Krynn with Dragons of Deceit, the first novel in the Dragonlance Destinies series.
Releasing Aug. 2nd from Random House, the series introduces a new heroine to the War of the Lance era. Destina Rosethorn is a child of destiny. When her father Gregory, a Knight of Solomnia, is killed fighting beside famous hero Sturm Brightblade, Destina believes she must travel back in time and prevent her father's death. First, she'll need two powerful artifacts, and the journey to acquire them takes her all across Krynn on an epic adventure that could very well alter the course of time forever.
The Dragonlance novels continue to stand out, even after 38 years, for a number of reasons. Primarily, they introduced a ragtag band of adventurers who all had their part to play during one of the darkest times Krynn had ever seen: The War of the Lance. Though Weis and Hickman have successfully explored the world with other characters and events over the years, they don't always land the same impact on readers as the initial series and characters that launched it. Simply mention the word Dragonlance in conversation with an old-school D&D gamer, and their responses vary from "Raistlin Majere was the perfect anti-hero" to "Tanis Half-Elven shaped the way I build characters for decades".
That in itself is one reason now is the perfect time to introduce a new Dragonlance character's fictional adventure and re-explore an old series of events from a new perspective. The resurgence of Dungeons & Dragons' popularity over the last five years has established a whole new generation of gamers eager to devour world settings, character influences, and events to shape their own campaigns and builds. It has also given those old-school gamers, some of whom have been carrying their games through the decades, an opportunity to get the party back together and answer the call to adventure once more in a classic location.
Dungeons & Dragons novels played a major role throughout the game's continually evolving history, but over time their popularity seemed to wane. Eventually, Wizards of the Coast stopped focusing so heavily on companion novels and turned their sights toward reworking the game itself. Now, as D&D 5e reawakens old worlds and campaign settings, like Dragonlance and Ravenloft, the hunger for deeper experiences within those worlds only continues to increase.
A heroine like Destina Rosethorn is the perfect opportunity to stir the slumbering dragons of Krynn, and the potential alteration of the world's timeline could expose a clean canvas for a multitude of new stories set in an unforgettable fantasy setting. Introduce Destina to fan-favorite characters, like Kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot, and events from the original series, and it becomes as appealing to old fans and readers as it is to new gamers searching for more experiences to immerse them in the high fantasy world settings they explore in their campaigns and adventures.
Weis and Hickman have had their fingers on the pulse of the industry for almost 40 years, so it's no coincidence that their fictional return to the Dragonlance world setting follows hot on the heels of WotC's exploration of Krynn. Last autumn saw the release of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, 5e's first true introduction to the world. Shortly thereafter, D&D 5e's Unearthed Arcana: Heroes of Krynn offered a host of new backgrounds, subclasses, feats, and the Kender race for players and DMs to integrate into their games. Having the option to take a solo adventure alongside Destina Rosethorn through the pages of Dragons of Deceit is an exciting glimpse of what's to come for Dragonlance and Krynn.
Dragonlance: Dragons of Deceit officially releases on Aug. 2, with hardcover, ebook, and audiobook editions available to preorder now. A review copy was provided by the publisher.