Dragonlance TV Series Stalled, Pathfinder Summons Magical Girls, Baldur's Gate 3 Gets More Romantic - TTRPG News 2/9/2024

Another week has gone by, and another batch of tabletop RPG news has hit our social feeds. The attention-grabbing headline this time is a certain Dungeons & Dragons-playing celebrity and his thoughts on Wizards of the Coast. Also something about a Dragonlance live-action series. Also, Pathfinder details new books and Baldur's Gate 3 is adding more kisses. 

Dragonlance TV Series Supposedly Dead Due To Poor Module Sales 

A sad update for fans of Dragonlance: Joe Manganiello claims that his live-action adaptation of the beloved D&D setting is at a roadblock. In an interview with Comicbook.com, Manganiello says that issues at Hasbro have killed interest in the project. The company recently sold its eOne studio, seemingly backing off from plans to buff up D&D’s media presence after the 2023 movie’s lukewarm box office and streaming channel challenges. In addition, the Shadow of the Dragon Queen hardcover adventure and accompanying board game failed to meet sales targets. 

For his part, Manganiello believes he had a quality script on his hands. He got the blessing of Dragonlance novel authors Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. He also says that several executives outside of Hasbro praised the pilot script, calling it the “one of the best fantasy scripts he’s ever read” and the best fantasy pilot since Game of Thrones. Manganiello even tried to buy the Dragonlance rights to proceed without Hasbro but hasn’t seen progress.

Joe Manganiello Praises Mike Mearls And Bemoans Recent D&D Releases

It doesn’t stop there, however. Later in the same interview (split into a different article), Manganiello goes on a sort of rant about the current state of D&D 5E. He praises Baldur's Gate 3 as something more akin to the vision of Mike Mearls. There’s further praise for Mearls, going on to talk about his polling of fans and how smart he was to “ask a really concentrated fanbase about what to do next,” because “you're going to get good answers because these are people who have been there since the jump and say what is wrong.”

Mearls was eventually phased out of WotC, largely due to a controversy surrounding an alleged sexual abuser who he may have defended. Manganiello’s defense continues with "And then the Twitter mob rises up with the pitchforks and the torches and it was right in that kind of weird spot when all of that was at its height and everyone was listening to the mob in that way." He goes on to imply that Mearls was forced out by others who wished to steal his spotlight with sports metaphors. After the star quarterback was ousted, he says, D&D just isn’t the same.    

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Pathfinder Shows Off A Lot Of Tian Xia For Lunar New Year

Paizo recently held a livestream event to detail more of the incoming Tian Xia World Guide and Tian Xia Character Guide. The World Guide will go over 26 regions of the Asian-inspired continent of Tian Xia. Four were shown on stream; they paint a picture of revolution, warring factions, magical upheaval, and a fresh start. For the Character Guide, six ancestries will appear. Spiritual influence is heavy here, be it through birth or the cultivation of power over a long time. Finally, the stream hinted at more modern Asian fantasy tropes. In particular, the starlit sentinel archetype is inspired by magical girls. 

Baldur's Gate 3 Adds More Kissing For Valentine's Day

Larian Studios is still hard at work delivering updates to Joe Manganiello-approved Baldur's Gate 3. The upcoming Patch 6 is going to be another big one according to the studio. In the announcement tweet, Larian shows off a new kiss animation featuring Astarion and Halsin. This teases “improvements to locking lips.” New idle animations for camp are also in the mix. And in a more dire twist, Honour Mode will sport new Legendary Actions for enemies. As if it needed to be harder! 

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That brings this week’s news to an end! Great for Halsin kissers, not so great for Dragonlance fans. But hey, if you’re an old school D&D player who shakes your fist at the WotC of today, maybe give Pathfinder a try?