What's the name of the Krynn NPC who ended up in Ravenloft, likely as a villain?

[Endarire]

Greetings!

I recall there being a canon NPC (or more than one) that was from the Dragonlance world of Krynn who ended up in Ravenloft and likely became a villain. He may have been a death knight or blackguard or similar.

Thankee!

[Saintheart]

Lord Soth, knight of the Black Rose.

[Shade Kerrin]

That'd be Soth, as said above. His presence in Ravenloft was a bit of a controversy, since permission was not apparently given at the time

[Quertus]

That'd be Soth, as said above. His presence in Ravenloft was a bit of a controversy, since permission was not apparently given at the time

I thought Ravenloft kinda stole wherever it wanted - how does "permission" figure in?

[Eldan]

The rights to a lot of Dragonlance remained with the authors of the novel series, the Hickmans. That includes named characters from the books. So, TSR probably wasn't allowed to put them into other settings.

Sheesh: I looked it up, it's more complicated than I thought. They kept most of the rights, but Wizards got the rights to publish the campaign setting, except they handed Dragonlance to a third party, but the authors of the novels also published campaign setting materials for other game systems than D&D.

And there's currently an ongoing legal battle between the Hickmans and Wizards over some contract for more novels that Wizards unilaterally cancelled.

[Particle_Man]

Didn’t Lotd Soth also take Kitiara with him? Maybe not all the way to Ravenloft though.

[Elves]

And there's currently an ongoing legal battle between the Hickmans and Wizards over some contract for more novels that Wizards unilaterally cancelled.

After they had already completed a lot of it too, IIRC. One of those cases where the publisher tries to avoid breach of contract by putting it on indefinite hold rather than ever officially canceling it.

[tomandtish]

Didn’t Lotd Soth also take Kitiara with him? Maybe not all the way to Ravenloft though.

Not exactly. Kitara's shade was there harassing him, much the way Strahd always encountered his love, but couldn't keep her.


The rights to a lot of Dragonlance remained with the authors of the novel series, the Hickmans. That includes named characters from the books. So, TSR probably wasn't allowed to put them into other settings.

Sheesh: I looked it up, it's more complicated than I thought. They kept most of the rights, but Wizards got the rights to publish the campaign setting, except they handed Dragonlance to a third party, but the authors of the novels also published campaign setting materials for other game systems than D&D.

And there's currently an ongoing legal battle between the Hickmans and Wizards over some contract for more novels that Wizards unilaterally cancelled.

Actually, you're incorrect about the rights. Like any property of this nature TSR (and later Wizards) had rights to the character. Hickman and Weis had gotten rights of first refusal by then, but all that meant was that when it was decided Soth was going to Ravenloft, they could write the story, they could contribute, or they could not participate. Because of the battles they were having at the time, they said they wouldn't write it.

Hickman even acknowledges on his website (https://trhickman.com/qa-owns-dragonlance/) that Wizards owns the rights (all of them) to Dragonlance.


Same reason why Salvatore keeps doing Drizz't novels. because all he has is right of first refusal. He's admitted in the past that there were times he wanted to stop, but he didn't want anyone else writing the characters.

This is pretty much true for any character written in a shared universe (Star Wars, Battletech, Forgotten Realms, etc.). The writers are performing work for hire and do not own rights to their characters. There may be a few exceptions, but those are almost always well-established writers, and for later characters.