Missing Dragonlance in your D&D 5e games? Do you have fond memories of Dragonlance novels like The Legend of Huma, Kaz the Minotaur, The Minotaur Wars trilogy, the Ogre Titans trilogy, and the others by Richard A. Knaak? In this week’s RPG ADAPTATIONS, I look at Richard A. Knaak’s original fantasy series, Rex Draconis, the author’s love letter to Dragonlance, and its adaptation to Dungeons & Dragons 5e.
NOTE: I wrote an NPC for this project as well as several articles about their Kickstarter and the Rex Draconis series. Because I have some connection with the team (Richard A. Knaak, Phil Beckwith, and Micah Watt), I reached out to them to get their take on the adaptation.
What is Rex Draconis?
Let’s start with some Dragonlance foundation. From 1984 to 2011, Dragonlance was a major campaign setting for AD&D 1st Edition and 2nd as well as the SAGA system, and it was a notable part of 3rd and 3.5 Editions. However, starting with D&D 4th Edition and continuing through 5th Edition, Dragonlance has received limited support from Wizards of the Coast, mostly in the form of occasional articles. This year is the 35th anniversary of Dragonlance and an ideal time to shine the spotlight on the property; However , it does not appear to be in the cards.
When asked why he thought Dragonlance is not currently being utilized, Rex Draconis RPG designer Micah Watt said, “While WoTC has obviously given some consideration to setting releases other than Forgotten Realms, we feel Dragonlance is close to the bottom of the list in terms of profitability for them, and thus less likely to be considered.”
Micah continued, making this point about the setting, “The truth is that Dragonlance has a small but passionate following when compared to some of the other settings. It has the has the distinction of being a ‘middle-of-the-road’ setting, not generic enough to compete with the more generic Forgotten Realms, or “out there” enough to scratch that niche itch like Ravenloft, Dark Sun, or Planescape.”
During its heyday, Richard A. Knaak was one of the main Dragonlance novelists, producing “11 novels and even more shorter pieces” throughout the history of the setting. The Legend of Huma is one of the most widely-read Dragonlance novels and that book, along with its sequel, Kaz, The Minotaur, positioned Richard as the principle minotaur chronicler of Krynn. However, with that setting on hiatus as a novel series since 2010, Richard pursued other works such as Dragonrealm, Warcraft, and Black City Saint. Recently, he debuted a new series with the first novella entitled Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon from Hydra Publications. This series is Richard’s homage to the property he did so much work for.
Tiberos, the setting of the novels, is a land that includes human kingdoms defended by a knighthood divided into three orders that face a rival minotaur empire populated by honorable bull-people sailors. A world under three moons (really two and the remains of the third) with interfering gods, a single, god-like, but bumbling mage, druids, a race that’s short in stature with innocent kleptomaniac tendencies, tinker gnomes, a draconian-like race (though with the powers turned up to eleven), and more. In fact, the most notable item not taken from the Dragonlance menu are an abundance of dragons (though, between the name and some events in the first two books, they’re coming).
To some, that may sound a little too Dragonlance, but give it the benefit of the doubt. In the first book, the tributes to DL were evident in the structure of the world. However, Knaak is a clever writer and that was just window dressing to lure you in as, in the second book, the world starts revealing where it’s not the same (which I can’t share because spoilers).
When asked about Rex Draconis’ origins, author Richard A. Knaak shared these thoughts, “I certainly designed the setting to appeal to Dragonlance readers (myself being one) and thank them for their continuing love of it. I think Rex Draconis has its own merits.” Going further about how this setting speaks to gaming, Richard shared, “I think that a world fairly thoroughly mapped out offers a lot to RPGs. I tried to envision a variety of situations, races, and characters for Rex Draconis, just in the same way I did for my Dragonrealm saga. No world has one situation going on. There are always layers. That’s what makes Rex Draconis work for RPG. The depth I hope I’ve brought to it. It allows the adventure designers to draw from a variety of things – making the adventuress more exciting – and enables us to steer readers/players in a number of directions as we expand both the books and other offerings.”
Rex Draconis RPG designer Phil Beckwith expanded on the setting, “While Rex Draconis did indeed start as a love letter to Dragonlance in part, and still holds a lot of those themes, I feel that it has grown to be much more than that since its initial inception. With the new stories that Richard is releasing, this is a world expanding and thriving on its own now.”
What is Dungeons & Dragons?
This is known.
Instead of focusing on the known, I asked Micah for his thoughts comparing Rex Draconis to Forgotten Realms. “I think it’ll eventually have a cozier feel to it than the fairly disparate, disjointed Forgotten Realms. It’s a smaller place, where the issues of one region have an impact on others. I also think it offers a more intimate gaming experience. Players get to experience this changing world along with the novel characters (which will appear as campaign NPCs) and play a genuine role in it. Forgotten Realms has the dispassionate feeling that the characters don’t really have any lasting impact on the world. There will of course be story and mechanical differences, but I think Rex Draconis has a genuinely different feel to it.”
Why Take Rex Draconis to 5e?
The obvious answer is the gap that WotC left in their franchise as they’ve not supported Dragonlance in any meaningful way for nearing a decade.
Beyond that, Micah Watts went to the heart of that question, “We’re hoping to find that “sweet spot” in a gaming experience. The place in the Vin diagram where “nostalgia” “epic storytelling” “player engagement” and “meaningful choices with lasting consequences” meet, resulting in an all–around improved gaming experience for players.”
Richard A Knaak’s resume, and the world of Tiberos, make it clear that Rex Draconis is D&D-friendly enough to avoid heavy lifting when adapting its prose to 5e. The big-ticket changes are: halflings/kender are now kwillum (good natured but thieving halflings with porcupine hair that lets them stand up for themselves and a species-quest that feels like it’ll be integral to the metaplot); orcs are replaced with a gnoll-like species called wheyr; and minotaurs are common. Beyond those flavors, this setting has a familiarity that makes it like a new suit that fits perfectly right off the rack.
But, Weren’t All Early Dragonlance Adventures Railroading? Same Deal Here?
The early Dragonlance adventure modules recreated the adventures of the Chronicles trilogy, so you were compelled to follow the path of the novels. However, the Rex Draconis RPG does not go that route. “I think the experiment in playing the actual novel characters forced a story line that requires following the exact path taken in the books,” intimated Micah Watts. “While some players loved the thrill of playing their favorite heroes, it’s a fairly predictable outcome with known choices. [In Rex Draconis], we place the player characters alongside the action of the novels and the unfolding conflict. Consider theirs to be the “untold story”, where their actions have definitive impacts on the world, crossing paths with and contributing to the overall outcome of the novel events.”
Phil piggybacked on Micah’s words, “Recreating the stories as the TTRPG adventures was something we identified early in the piece as a path that we specifically didn’t want to follow. We wanted to flesh the world out and allow the players to experience new events and adventure in the Rex Draconis setting that wasn’t covered in Richard’s writings. This also allowed Micah and I some space to flex our creative muscles and tell a whole new and untold story.”
When asked what they meant specifically, Phil drilled deeper, “To achieve this we set the first adventure slightly earlier in the timeline to the events that happen in Under the Dragon Moon (the first novella from Richard). We were lucky in a way that Richard starts the novel line in the midst of battle, and there was still a story to be told of what happened before that and how Tiberos got to that point of the events.” Phil added, “The next couple of adventures in the RPG line will start to intersect the novel timeline, however there are more events happening in the northern regions during this time that the RPG is tackling, while crossing over some of the story from the novels.”
“From an RPG sense,” Phil continued, “especially during the 5e era of Forgotten Realms adventures, there are only slight call backs to previous adventures in terms of lore, for instance the ring of winter shows up in Chult after being a device in Storm Kings Thunder, but apart from little things like that the effects of the campaigns on the Realms in later adventures is almost non-existent. This is pretty much an opposite situation with Rex Draconis RPG content. The changes the world of Tiberos takes from the events of the campaigns will be lasting in future content – the lore sticks.”
How Do You Adapt an Evolving Property?
The novels and RPG are being created at the same time which brings up the question of how you create both without spoilers. When asked if that presents challenges, Micah confessed, “It does on some levels, but only with the information we have, which isn’t a great deal more than the readers. Richard is a master storyteller – he’s keeping us as much in the dark as he can. We get the reveals like the readers do – albeit a little sooner. It makes for a very exciting, dynamic adventure writing experience.”
Phil followed with, “As Micah said, it definitely can be a little challenging in that respect and we do need to dance around them a little, however I think as the RPG adventures continue they will start to gain their own mysteries and reveals – we will leave the big overarching mysteries from the novels for Richard to reveal.”
Richard’s relationship with Phil and Micah is a two-way street. When asked about his take on Phil and Wicah’s adaptation of Rex Draconis, Richard said, “They’ve done a terrific job, at the same time expanding the world in a manner that helps me with my stories.”
Have I Oversold Rex Draconis’ Dragonlance-ness?
The focus of this column is adapting properties. The thrill of covering the Rex Draconis RPG is that you can feel the cycle: D&D leads to Dragonlance, which leads to Richard A. Knaak’s Legend of Huma, Kaz the Minotaur, and other excellent minotaur D&D novels, which leads to Richard A. Knaak’s Rex Draconis, which leads to the Rex Draconis RPG for D&D 5e. It is the fullness of that evolution that provides material for this column. That said, Rex Draconis is not simply a Dragonlance homage, it is its own property standing alone without the crutch of a dragon’s lance or needing to “borrow” from others like a kender. If you’ve never read Dragonlance, Rex Draconis will feel fun and fresh. On the other hand, if you have a tattoo of the brother’s Majere on your back, this setting is unique enough to warrant picking up.
Should You Set Your Campaign in Dungeons & Rex Draconis?
Do you miss Dragonlance? Short of WoTC dropping an official setting or Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman doing a Dragonlance homage for 5e, this is as close to “official” as is likely to come down the pike. Richard A. Knaak’s pedigree combined with a world that leans into his strengths as a storyteller will feel familiar to fans of the property yet peppered with enough twists to make Rex Draconis a great 5e setting. A familiar land of adventure with new monsters, a new meta-plot, new godly relations, yet all just close enough that it feels like an incarnation of Krynn that you’ll want to build a minotaur to stampede through.
But don’t take my word for it, if your curiosity is piqued, try a sample here:
If you like what you see, check out the novels and RPG at these links:
- Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon (Book 1 available at Amazon and Audible)
- Rex Draconis: Lords of the Dragon Moon (Book 2 available at Amazon and Audible)
- Rex Draconis RPG for D&D 5e or Pathfinder 1e (Available in PDF form at DriveThruRPG)
# # #
I want to thank Richard, Phil, and Micah for participating in this article.
Richard A. Knaak is a New York Times bestselling author. For more details on his work, check out his page on Facebook, his website, and his Amazon author’s page.
Beyond Rex Draconis, Phil Beckwith is working on another 5e project that’s on Kickstarter: “Wranglers of Westhallow is a lightly humored, spaghetti Wild West themed adventure series designed for the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition (OGL) ruleset. It is jam-packed full of pop-culture references, parody, thematic and often hilarious situations, and super interesting and colorful characters that will stick with you for life.” Check out the Kickstarter here.
Micah Watt runs Pyromaniac Press, a publisher that produces “material for the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPG, and D&D 5th Edition, the newest version of the world’s greatest role playing game.” You can find more information on Facebook as well as DriveThruRPG and the DMsGuild.
Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program and Amazon Associates. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG.
Latest posts by Egg Embry (see all)
- New Gamemaster Month 2023 - January 20, 2023
