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🛒Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is the latest campaign book for the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The adventure around the war-torn world of Krynn and the invading dragon armies was published in 2022.
My first contact with the world of Dragonlance was Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Feel free to read my Dragons of Autumn Twilight review. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the book’s writing style. Which is why I was skeptical about the Dragonlance setting.
In this experience report, you’ll learn whether my opinion changed through Shadow of the Dragon Queen and whether the book is worth the investment.
Warning: This review contains spoilers for players and Dungeon Masters!
Note: We received this module free of charge as a review copy. We haven’t signed any contract or similar that influences our opinion, but it’s still important for us to mention this.
This article contains affiliate links where we receive a portion of the purchase price. These are marked with a 🛒. So if you want to support us, feel free to use these links to buy books, dice, or similar items. Thanks 🙂
Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen: This is the Content
The campaign around the Dragon Queen and her dragon armies takes us to the world of Krynn on the continent of Ansalon. More specifically to Solamnia. This adventure leads the characters through 192 pages from level 1 to level 11.
There’s a new playable race in the book: The Kender, who are famous for their fearless courage and insatiable curiosity. These traits prompt many Kender to embark on adventurous journeys where they often assemble unique and curious collections of rare items.
Additionally, there are two new backgrounds for character creation: Dive into the world of magic as a member of the mysterious Mages of High Sorcery, an ancient and venerable organization, or experience the heroic life as a noble Knight of Solamnia, armed with courage and honor.
There are also some new feats designed for this adventure in the book.
Also exciting is a new mechanic meant to simulate the chaos of battle. Around the players’ encounters, there’s something called the melee. When a player enters the melee area, something happens on a dice table. Additionally, there are battlefield events that happen randomly when a character enters the battlefield or at initiative 0 each round. These include things like:
- A hail of arrows rains down on a random character’s position.
- Dragon ogres fly low over the battlefield in retreat.
- A draconic dragon rider falls from their mount, crashes from the sky and lands on the battlefield.
The Setting
Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen actually shines more with its setting than with the story itself. It offers lots of background information about the world of Dragonlance and can therefore also be used to run your own homebrew campaign in the world of Krynn. The setting is full of exciting places, characters and stories and provides a great backdrop for the battles of Krynn and adventures with many dragons! In my opinion, the setting and information about the world of Krynn is the strongest point of the entire book!
A Story in the Shadow of the Dragon Queen
The story that players experience shows how war comes to Solamnia. The terror-spreading “Red Dragon Army” invades the land of our characters. Initially, it’s about protecting the inhabitants of the village of Vogler from attacks by draconians. After that, players come to the great city of Kalaman, explore it, and then serve Kalaman in various skirmishes with the dragon army. In the later part of the campaign, players must recover a legendary dragonlance and use it in a final battle in a flying citadel against death knight Lord Soth and his death dragon as well as against the Red Dragon Army commander Kansaldi Fire-eye, the BBEG of the adventure.
Since the characters should be level 11 at the end of the campaign, this adventure counts as one of the longer campaigns in D&D 5e. Players can expect to frequently encounter the sinister draconians.
Dragonlance: In the Shadow of the Dragon Queen: These are the Strengths
Here I’ve collected the clearest strengths of the book:
- Great setting with lots of lore: The campaign offers an impressive and vibrant setting in the world of Dragonlance. The rich backstory and wealth of details enable Dungeon Masters to provide an authentic and immersive gaming experience. I almost think the book is worth it for this alone. With the info from the book, you can create a great campaign of your own set in the world of Krynn.
- Unique war scenario: The book brings an exciting and fresh war setting to the world of Dungeons and Dragons 5E. This new approach opens up a fresh experience for players and Dungeon Masters that hasn’t existed in 5th edition before. The whole thing feels somehow more important and on a larger scale than many other campaigns. Tabletop fans will have their fun here.
- Terrifying villains: The threat from the dragon army and Dragon Queen feels real and convincing, as players experience it directly. The villains are powerful and fearsome, giving players an intense feeling of challenge. The final boss fights are all the cooler for it.
- Finally Dragons in Dungeons and Dragons: With a large number of dragons in the campaign, players have the opportunity to participate in epic battles and encounters. In other campaigns, there are rarely encounters with dragons – here there are more, which is good for the game!
- The Dragonlance: The namesake dragonlance is an iconic artifact from the Dragonlance world. Players basically wait the whole time to hold such a relic in their hands. When it finally happened, the magical weapon fulfilled my players’ expectations and generated quite a lot of hype.
- True hero’s journey: The campaign repeatedly offers players the opportunity to feel like true heroes. Through the decisions and challenges they face, they have the chance to perform heroic deeds and save the world of Dragonlance. Through a simple good versus evil, this campaign feels heroic.
Dragonlance: In the Shadow of the Dragon Queen: These are the Weaknesses
Here I’ve collected the clearest weaknesses of the book:
- Low diversity in enemies: The campaign focuses heavily on fights against draconians, leading to limited variety in enemies. This can cause players to feel that challenges become monotonous and that variety in combat is lacking. Dungeon Masters should stay creative and create variations in their encounters.
- Generic fantasy campaign: While I love the simplicity of a classic fantasy world, the campaign could be perceived as too generic. The lack of more complex moral dilemmas and gray areas in the plot may disappoint some players seeking more depth and nuance in the story. For these players, there are better campaign books than Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
- A bit too long: The campaign drags on in my opinion, especially for groups that don’t play very regularly. The length of the campaign can lead to feeling like you’re not making progress, or players eventually losing interest in the plot. You might need to shorten the adventure a bit if you notice your own players aren’t fully engaged anymore.
- Railroad: The biggest weakness of the campaign in my opinion is that it’s a cool story, but leaves little room for player groups to deviate from the script. Many relevant events happen in cutscenes, so player actions affect the big picture less than in other campaigns. If players actually do deviate from the book’s predetermined path, the Dungeon Master is on their own, since the book only describes one scenario. There are much stronger modules that offer players more options.
Dragonlance: In the Shadow of the Dragon Queen: Our Verdict
In summary, “Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen” is a solid campaign book that’s particularly recommended for lovers of the Dragonlance universe and those who want a traditional fantasy setting with a focus on dragons and good versus evil warfare. Despite some criticisms, it offers a wealth of material and inspiration for a cool campaign. The decision of whether the book is worth the investment ultimately depends on the preferences of the gaming group and Dungeon Master, especially regarding the setting and campaign structure.
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