A surprising lawsuit involving the seminal writers of the Dragonlance novels and the parent company of Dungeons & Dragons has seemingly ended. Last week, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the primary authors behind the popular Dragonlance novels, filed to voluntarily dismiss their lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast. Weis and Hickman filed the lawsuit in US District Court earlier this year, alleging that Wizards of the Coast breached a licensing contract to write a trilogy of new Dragonlance books by informing the pair’s publisher that they were no longer moving forward with the books without explanation. The duo, who claimed that a Dragonlance novel was already completed and that substantial work had begun on a second book, sought up to $10 million in damages in the initial lawsuit.
The filing noted that Wizards of the Coast had not formally answered their lawsuit, nor had they filed for a summary judgement. As Weis and Hickman filed for a dismissal without prejudice, the duo could hypothetically re-file their lawsuit at a later date.
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Weis commented on the dismissal on Twitter, noting that fans should look for “exciting news” in the coming weeks.
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
The lawsuit is the second bit of major Dragonlance news to drop this week, following Joe Manganiello mentioning that he has Fifth Edition statblocks for draconians, a key Dragonlance monster. Between Weis and Manganiello’s comments, it certainly seems like some sort of new Dragonlance content on the way. Wizards of the Coast previously noted that they were actively developing three classic campaign settings for re-use using Fifth Edition rules.
The Dragonlance books were incredibly popular in the 1980s, and were Dungeons & Dragons‘ first real attempt at a multimedia game world. The popularity of the novels helped push sales of game modules and rulebooks, and led to a multi-pronged publishing model that continues to some extent today. Although Dragonlance is considered high fantasy, the setting did introduce several new concepts, such as the aforementioned draconians and kenders, a race of short-humanoids that deviated from halflings or gnomes.
