Like most players, Dragonlance co-creator Margaret Weis has been left absolutely shocked after discovering that Wizards of the Coast did not attempt to placate ‘modern audiences’ by updating the appearances of the series’ characters for the newly-released Dungeons & Dragons player handbook.
This shocking lack of virtue signaling from WotC was first discovered by players courtesy of the publisher’s ongoing previews of the soon-to-be-released text.
Therein, opposite the very first chapter of the book sits an illustration, as described by the publisher themselves, of “the siblings Caramon Majere, Raistlin Majere, and Kitara uth Matar provok[ing] the rage of a wyvern”.
And surprisingly, all three of them – each of whom could have been disingenuously written off by any given activist as ‘generic white people’ – appeared just as they did when Weis and her Dragonlance co-creator Tracy Hickman initially conceived them in the 1980s (albeit with Raistlin’s skin sporting its eventual-gold coloring rather than its original, pre-magic corrupted white one).
Upon making this discovery, one fan took to his personal Twitter account to share his bewilderment.
“Color me shocked that Dragonlance characters somehow squeaked by unscathed in the new PHB artwork,” wrote @KevinLamb74. “Three physically fit, white, heterosexual heroes looking badass against a genuine threat? Someone at WOTC is definitely getting fired for letting that slip through, lol.”
It would be in response to this post that Weis would share her own surprise, eventually replying with the simple declaration, “I am astonished!”
Unsurprisingly, Weis’ comment soon caught the ire of an activist D&D player, who took it upon himself to chastise her, “Do you really want to endorse an anti-diversity and inclusivity message?”.
Not having any of it, the author in turn shot down her critic, “I wasn’t endorsing anything. Just glad to see Raistlin and Caramon.”
Further commenting on WotC current direction for D&D, Weis would also respond to the backlash to the ‘gay dwarven bakery‘ depicted in the Player’s Handbook.
Sharing a more ‘thematically exciting’ take on the concept of dwarf craftsmen, the author would separately post, “Lots of interest in dwarves and forges and diversity, I just thought I’d post Keith Parkinson’s depiction of Flint Fireforge and Theros Ironfeld.”
In turn presented with the aforementioned ‘bakery’ artwork from @AmazingGamePro, itself overlaid with an image of a laughing Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons, and asked “You mean, it doesn’t just look like this…”, Weis would respond with nothing more than a grinning-smile emoji.
Further, upon her sharing of Parkinson’s artwork, Weis was again met by another angry critic, this one taking issue with her claim of “Diversity? Back then? The one black guy in all of Dragonlance?”
“Let’s see,” the author fired back. “Elves had brown skin or green skin. Riverwind and Goldmoon were Native American. Takhisis had five heads. So, yeah, diverse.”
At current, the 2024 Dungeons & Dragons player handbook is currently set to hit shelves on September 17th.