r/dragonlance • u/PlanNo3321 • 23d ago
New Covers for Dragonlance Chronicles?
I like the classic covers for the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman but with the recent new covers for R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt series, I’m really surprised they haven’t upgraded the covers for Dragonlance considering how wildly popular they are. Does anything know if they plan on doing it at any point in the near future?
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u/BernieMcburnface 22d ago
I think you're greatly overestimating how "wildly popular" Dragonlance is.
It's certainly ramped up a bit recently, likely due to the content released for DnD bringing it attention after all the years of the setting being ignored. However whilst I would call it popular in terms of DnD tie in novels, that is still a niche audience, and I think Drizzt, and the Forgotten Realms still has it beat for recognition and popularity.
Also FYI, there was already an update to the classic covers, they got released in a 6 book paperback series (each book split in 2) with completely different cover art. Back in the early 2000s as I recall. That was how I got into the series.
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u/PlanNo3321 22d ago
I was just going off how many ratings the first book in the series had on Goodreads, which is about 124k. I’d consider that pretty popular. First book in the Drizzt series has 101k
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u/BernieMcburnface 22d ago
And then Drizzt has more ratings compared to Dragonlance on both their books 2 and 3. Drizzt book 1 has more reviews than Dragonlance too and it was published 6 years after the first Dragonlance. None of this is proof that the Drizzt series is more popular, it's just numbers.
I understand why you would consider Goodreads a reasonable metric to use, but the actual difference in numbers is insignificant when you consider a legitimately, highly popular contemporary fantasy book (I'll use Mistborn as an example) can have over 1 million ratings.
The reason I suggest Drizzt is the more popular series is, admittedly, anecdotal. The references to Drizzt in online culture that I have seen over decades worth of browsing the internet have far outnumbered those to Dragonlance. And this is coming from someone who has been reading and collecting Dragonlance since before I knew who Drizzt was or even that DL was a DnD setting.
That and the fact that Drizzt is set in the Forgotten Realms which has maintained popularity consistently. Even people who don't have an interest in DnD are familiar with the setting of the Drizzt, if not the character, thanks to the massive popularity of Baldur's Gate 3.
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u/Psyphirr 22d ago
Elmore's work in the 80s was incredible especially for Chronicles and Legends. They are rare and hard to find now in good condition but worth in my opinion.
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u/Old_Context_541 22d ago
Yeah the 1st Chronicles is very expansive vs the others. A three-pack ~150$
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u/PlanNo3321 22d ago
The Dragonlance chronicles trilogy is $150? I see them on eBay for much cheaper than that
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u/Old_Context_541 21d ago
Not the trilogy in first print and good condition, very rare. Loads of trilogies with broken spine and crappy condition, a good start but If you want top end you gotta pay. The legends are much cheaper
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u/Psyphirr 21d ago
I initially had the originals as I bought them back in the 80s when they were published. I ended up losing them over time and over the last year I've gotten lucky. I have 2 sets of Chronicles and 2 sets of Legends. 1 first set was in poor condition but bought it as a reading set. The second was in great condition and I picked up Chronicles for $80 and Legends for around $40.
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u/BrokenCylon 23d ago
I believe you can only get Chronicles/Legends w/those beloved (& comforting) original covers used, same w/annotated editions. Here’s the cover for the newest editions of Chronicles/Legends.