D&D: Dragonlance Lawsuit Against WotC Dismissed – Is Krynn In The Cards?
Two months later and the Dragonlance lawsuit has been “dismissed without prejudice.” Here’s what that means for WotC, Dragonlance, and beyond.
The lawsuit between Dragonlance creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and Wizards of the Coast has come to a close with a “dismissal without prejudice.” Dismissed without prejudice means that the complaint could be raised again if Weis and Hickman so choose, though it seems unlikely, given Weis’ announcement about the dismissal earlier:
I know some of you have seen that our lawsuit against WoTC was dismissed. I can't say anything yet, but watch for exciting news in the weeks to come! And thank you so much for your support!
— Margaret Weis (@WeisMargaret) December 19, 2020
“Watch for exciting news,” is a markedly different tone than the the original lawsuit, filed in Seattle’s District Court, which outlined how Weis and Hickman approached WotC back in 2017 with a proposal for a new trilogy of Dragonlance that, as the lawsuit alleges, Wizards of the Coast canceled without warning and in “stunning and brazen bad faith.”
But we’ll get back to that in a moment, for now, let’s take a look at the dismissal:
Note that it’s the plaintiffs bringing notice of voluntary dismissal, and that Wizards of the Coast never filed a response, nor were there any proceedings or discovery. All of which seems to indicate an out-of-court agreement has been reached between the two parties.
This is especially exciting given that WotC has three different settings on their docket in the next few years. And with Dragonlance’s creators working on novels again (at least up to the point when the lawsuit began), it seems like some sort of return to Krynn is in the cards. This could possibly be connected to a mention by Joe Manganiello that he has stats for Draconians–a tidbit dropped during Wired’s “D&D Support” stunt.
But that could just be owing to the fact that Manganiello famously loves both the world of Krynn and home brewing his own stats/monsters. Still, it seems that Dragonlance is in the air right now.
What do you think this means for Krynn? Will we be seeing a new book soon? Let us know in the comments!
