Dragonlance is an immense series of fantasy novels, with over 190 novels printed, and is accompanied by a supplemental campaign setting in the Dungeons & Dragons style. The first Dragonlance novel was published in 1984. It was originally created by Laura and Tracy Hickman while driving in their car on the way to TSR, Inc. for a job application. At TSR, Tracy met his future writing partner Margaret Weis, and they gathered a group of associates to play the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The adventures during that game became a series of gaming modules that spawned Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first novel in the Chronicles Trilogy, a core element of Dragonlance.
The majority of the novels take place in the various regions of Ansalon, a small continent, though some have taken place on the lesser known continent of Taladas northeast of Ansalon. The continent to the northwest of Ansalon, Adlatum, has yet to be used in novels. It has however been mentioned in three gaming products.

The series was originally published by TSR, Inc. during the early-to-mid-1980s as a supplement to their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game products. It is currently published by Wizards of the Coast (WotC), which purchased TSR in 1997. In 2001, Wizards of the Coast licensed Sovereign Press to publish further Dragonlance game materials. This began with the newly revised Dragonlance Campaign Setting in 2003, which used the new Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. On April 23, 2007, Weis announced that no renewal with Wizards of the Coast was reached and that Dragonlance RPG game supplements and accessories would only be released through the end of the year when the license reverts back to Wizards of the Coast.

The world of Dragonlance was the first fictional world to be professionally produced as a role-playing game world with product tie-ins (novels, role-playing modules, figurines, etc.) during its release. Before Dragonlance, fictional role-playing worlds evolved from the amateur creations of the games' players (the most notable example being the Greyhawk campaign setting), or from previously existing fictional settings (I.C.E's MERP) or campaign settings based in the real world. The success of the Dragonlance series encouraged role-playing game producers to invent and market additional fictional game worlds, such as the Ravenloft game world.

The central books of the Dragonlance series were written by the authoring team of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, however, many other writers have made contributions, including Richard A. Knaak, Douglas Niles, Roger E. Moore, Don Perrin, Jean Rabe, Paul B. Thompson, Tonya C. Cook, Michael Williams, Nancy Varian Berberick and Chris Pierson.

For most of Dragonlance's history, the "main storyline" referred to the books that were set in the world's "present" and moved events forward.

The series has inspired different works outside literature including "Wishmaster," a song by Nightwish based partially on the relationship between Raistlin and Dalamar as a master and apprentice. The Swedish metal band Lake of Tears also recorded a song called "Raistlin and the Rose" in their 1997 album "Crimson Cosmos," while the German group Blind Guardian wrote "The Soulforged," another song inspired by Raistlin's story, which appeared in the band's 2002 album "A Night At the Opera."

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