Wizards of the Coast has announced a whole bunch of Dungeons & Dragons news today, not least of which is a Dragonlance trailer narrated by The Expanse’s President of Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala (a.k.a. Shohreh Aghdashloo).
The Dragonlance trailer (shown above) teases an upcoming adventure book and battle game that are titled Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn respectively. At a press event, D&D’s Ray Winninger explained (via SYFY WIRE) that the battle game will “deliver an experience that would allow you to play a traditional roleplaying game but from time to time your characters can participate in epic battles you see in the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, for instance.” Both the battle game and adventure book are set to come out later this year.
On the Spelljammer front, D&D announced that the space-based campaign will have three new Spelljammer books coming out on August 16. According to SYFY WIRE, the first book is called the Astral Adventures Guide, which describes the various spaceships in this universe and also introduces six new playable races including Autognomes and the Giff, who are essentially space hippos.
SPACE HIPPOS.
The second book is called Boo’s Astral Menagerie, which is a bestiary, and the third book is Light of Xaryxis, a brand-new adventure comprised of 12 chapters.
And on the movie front, D&D Direct also announced that the upcoming D&D movie starring Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodriguez, Sophia Lillis, and Justice Smith will be called Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Check out the overly dramatic video they released announcing the news below.
https://twitter.com/DnDMovie/status/1517175961099259909
Dragonlance hits the nostalgia button and I’ve always wanted to try Spelljammer. I can’t wait to see what we get but, I’m not sure my wallet can take it. Here’s hoping my local library buys them. I should probably suggest a purchase once they come out. I’m still on the fence about the movie.
A DUNGEONS & DRAGONS movie with Chris Pine, eh? (Ah-ha! I was about to note that he’s not an actor one associates with pseudo-Medieval Fantasy, but it just occurred to me that INTO THE WOODS does give him some prior experience with the trappings of the genre, so I had better swallow that remark before somebody makes me eat my words). (-:
Concerning the film itself, I wonder if they’ll have the good sense to play with the line between the players and their characters? (Some strategic cutting between Our World and the Realm of the Imagination could lend an extra something to the story, for the purposes of comedy and tragedy*).
*Especially if there are cunning little allusions to the game in play before we get “The View from the Table” (like a tavern brawl starting after Our Hero makes a heartfelt effort to talk his way out of trouble – a please so moving that there’s a moment of silence that lets us hear some background characters roll dice in the background, apparently oblivious to the ‘Mexican Standoff’ underway in the foreground; “Ah nuts, I missed it!” -BRAWL ENSUES-).
P.S. For some reason I really hope to see Miss Sophia Lillis play a hobbit hallooing in this particular gaming session; I have absolutely no explanation for this, except perhaps those blue eyes and the chin-dimple make me think of Mr Elijah Wood.
Hopefully it will be as enjoyably silly as the “Wrath of the Dragon God” was. A classic of the so bad it’s good approach to genre movies it’s about the best that can ever be hoped for from a D&D property.
Several years ago, I obtained the complete Cloakmaster Cycle (a six volume series that takes place in the Spelljammer setting) on E-Bay for sixty bucks (about twice the total cover price) thanks to some tense last second bidding. If I’m being honest, they’re not that good. But always loved the premise along with the Ptolemetic astrophysics, so my gaming magpie instincts insisted I should get it.