Action economy in Warriors of Krynn also feels inefficient. Players are all working towards the same objectives, some of which mean one player gets to hit the switch and complete the quest while the rest wander the map, farming equipment and trying to find ways to use the four actions per turn they’re given. Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn is a cooperative, campaign-based board game designed as a tie-in to the D&D campaign book Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Players of the tabletop RPG are encouraged to use Warriors of Krynn to stage large-scale battles during their adventure, with the board game’s campaign story loosely following the events of the RPG book. Set to take place at the very beginning of the War of the Lance, before many of the events of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Shadow of the Dragon Queen is a D&D campaign book that will see players becoming embroiled in a conflict between the people of Krynn and the nefarious Dragon people. Warriors of Krynn, meanwhile, is an upcoming board game that can be played separately from Shadow of the Dragon Queen, but largely serves as a platform for players to experience the various large-scale battles they’ll encounter during their journey through the D&D adventure book. The August Wizards Presents online event where Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Warriors of Krynn were last featured.

That dour mood jives well with the accompanying Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn. As a Euro-style co-op board game, a genre popularised by the likes of Gloomhaven, it allows players to take part in massive conflicts during the War of the Lance. Indeed, your party from Shadow of the Dragon Queen can be transferred over to Warriors of Krynn when you reach a specific battle, allowing your party to play out those fights in person (though doing so is optional). This sets the game apart from competitors such as Warhammer Warcry: Red Harvest and even the now-confirmed Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught. You’re still playing your characters,” Schneider said. “You’re having your adventures in the fray or around the edges of battle, doing the things that are important to really turn the tide of battle.”

Doesn’t always stick the landing operation

If you are a sorc your card says you get a CHA, CHA, DEX, WIS card (I cannot remember exactly) Then it makes no difference how your character is built, that is what you get. While avid board gamers might get really excited about the concept, in practice I found the process of moving between TTRPG and board game to be extremely cumbersome. That’s because the documentation that comes with Warriors of Krynn is a bit of a mess. Warriors of Krynn includes 12 board game scenarios across three difficulty levels. Scenarios divide your team between completing objectives and influencing mass battles, and both of these take place on a variety of unique battle and adventure tiles that can be combined in various ways. Your playable heroes are represented by DnD miniatures, while wooden tokens and plastic markers stand in for various DnD monsters, as well as ally and enemy units.

The upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow of the Dragon Queen adventure book and Warriors of Krynn board game are the very first of their kind. Based on the world of the beloved Dragonlance Chronicles books, whilst there have certainly been Dungeons & Dragons books and board games that are shared themes and stories in the past – such as the Ghosts of Saltmarsh or Dungeon of the Mad Mage D&D board games– Shadow of the Dragon Queen and Warriors of Krynn are the first to be tied so closely together. Think of Warriors of Krynn, therefore, as a novel way to depict what would otherwise be a narrative event in an RPGA standard copy of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen printed in the United States on the left, a deluxe copy printed in China on the right. Photo:Charlie Hall/Polygon