DL1-16. Did anyone play the entire series?

dead · Sep 1, 2004

I'm just curious if anyone played the entire, original series of Dragonlance modules of 1E -- DL1-16?

And, if you did, did you use the Heroes of the Lance or did you use your own unique PCs?

I think it would be facinating to run some unique PCs through this series. See how they fare compared to the Heroes.

Khayman · Sep 1, 2004

Yep, played the lot of 'em, and we used new PCs. In fact, most of us had not even read the DL books before beginning the campaign. There was some youthful confusion as we ended up bringing in characters from other settings --- those miserable drow and so forth. Eventually we retrofitted ourselves into the backstory of the campaign world.

We had a core group of 4 PCs which I believe was a bit smaller than the recommended number. Despite this, at lower levels we had a punishing mortality rate, and only 2 of the original PCs made it all the way through. The two survivors were higher in level than the others. By then end of the campaign we were a bit heavy on the magic items, partly because the characters were few and/or dying off, and partly because the modules as written are a tad generous.

In true 1st Ed fashion, my cleric ended up paying our pyromaniac wizard/cleric to polymorph her into a silver dragon. Made a sort of sense story wise, but it made for some disgustingly easy combats. We actually had Soth on the run... ah, to be a powergamer again.

I enjoyed DL, but it strikes me that its re-playability is limited. Maybe we could pick up the story again, maybe not.

Dr Simon · Sep 1, 2004

Just to be nit-picky, the original DL series only ran DL1 to DL14 (and of those, DL5 wasa sourcebook and DL11 was a wargame). DL15 and 16 were adventure anthologies set at various times and places in Krynn.

That out the way

, I ran it as a 1st Ed. game using the pre-gen characters but we got to DL 12 (Dragons of Faith) before real life meant that everyone went their seperate ways to university, and never finished it.

I've re-run it as a PBeM with original characters (also using RuneQuest rather than AD&D) and it worked really well, although being PBeM I got about as far as DL2 (although this time I also didn't follow the modules as written but allowed a more organic approach).

I'm currently trying once again with a new set of players in a face-to-face game, and it's going well despite the wierd diversity of characters (one human white robe sorcerer, one minotaur and two gnomes (one surgeon-apothecary and an automotoneer). They're still on their way to Xak Tsaroth at the moment (which has been transplanted to the Solamnia-Lemish border to accomdate play. It's such an iconic part of the DL saga that I had to squeeze it in!)

diaglo · Sep 1, 2004

Dr Simon said:
Just to be nit-picky, the original DL series only ran DL1 to DL14 (and of those, DL5 wasa sourcebook and DL11 was a wargame). DL15 and 16 were adventure anthologies set at various times and places in Krynn.

That out the way , I ran it as a 1st Ed. game

Ditto. but the Players made 1edADnD characters for it.

Henry · Sep 1, 2004

Never played them, but I kept robbing them for ideas along the way. It may well be that the DL series was the first time the concept of innovative encounter areas was ever put into a module (sunken cities, dwarven citadels, a fortress in the shape of a dragon, etc.) a la Tolkien's Moria, but I can't say that for certain.

Scratch that: Gary put a spider-shaped temple in D3, so that's not totally right, either.

Steel_Wind · Sep 1, 2004

While it's up to every group to decide for themselves, I think the entertainment value for your players - if they are experienced players - will definitely be higher if they create their own characters. Fill out the party with one or two DL classic NPCs if required.

Note: creating their "own characters" does not mean, in this context, that they get to create their own backgrounds. Pre-existing relationships with NPCs and others in the the DL world impacts the story and you can work most of that in by not-so-heavy-handed rigging of the behind the scenes plot to make it flow, while still giving the PCs an illusion of control.

If your players are at all familiar with the story or novels, my advice is to change DL1 and parts of DL2 around greatly. There is just too much room for metagaming there. By doing so, you keep the adventures fresh and the element of surprise is preserved.

After that, the modules themselves are much less well known (in the sense the novels did not spoil them) and you should be good-to-go with the usual DM modifications we all do to commercial products we run.

The subject of running a classic DL campaign is a common one on the www.DragonLanceforums.com boards or our own forums at www.dladventures.com. Drop by either and pick up some in depth advice.

Sov Press just released the 320 page War of the Lance hardcover sourcebook at Gencon (out in stores Oct. 1) so there are about to be a whole lot of WotL DragonLance campaigns being started up in the next few months.

Steel_Wind · Sep 1, 2004

Henry said:
Never played them, but I kept robbing them for ideas along the way. It may well be that the DL series was the first time the concept of innovative encounter areas was ever put into a module (sunken cities, dwarven citadels, a fortress in the shape of a dragon, etc.) a la Tolkien's Moria, but I can't say that for certain.

Scratch that: Gary put a spider-shaped temple in D3, so that's not totally right, either.

I think the "first" for the DL series was in its use of the "Event" linked to time passing in the module vs. the concept of an "Encounter" or something happening which was tied only to the players entering an area.

An "Event" happening, regardless of location simply to move the meta-plot of the story along was DL's main contribution to RPG adventure design.

Cam Banks · Sep 1, 2004

Steel_Wind said:
I think the "first" for the DL series was in its use of the "Event" linked to time passing in the module vs. the concept of an "Encounter" or something happening which was tied only to the players entering an area.

My memory usually fails me on this, but that may have started with Tracy's earlier works (Ravenloft & the Desert of Desolation series) which were the real proving ground for advancement in TSR's adventure modules. They're the reason I picked up Dragonlance in the first place, since they are quite literally my earliest experience of D&D (outside of the Basic Set with Bargle and Aleena the cleric).

Cheers,
Cam

Steel_Wind · Sep 1, 2004

Cam Banks said:
My memory usually fails me on this, but that may have started with Tracy's earlier works (Ravenloft & the Desert of Desolation series) which were the real proving ground for advancement in TSR's adventure modules. They're the reason I picked up Dragonlance in the first place, since they are quite literally my earliest experience of D&D (outside of the Basic Set with Bargle and Aleena the cleric).

Cheers,
Cam

Desert of Desolation came after DL, in 1987 I think. I6 Ravenloft was released in 1983. Not sure if they bought that from him before he was hired at TSR or afterwards - but the whole thing took place within the castle, so the Event structure in terms of meta-plot really didn't have the same impact as it did with DL.

It's been a while since I've looked at I6, so I'll take it on faith that Ravenloft used the same event/ encounter structure that Tracy came to use in most of his designs.

Steel_Wind · Sep 1, 2004

Dr Simon said:
I'm currently trying once again with a new set of players in a face-to-face game... They're still on their way to Xak Tsaroth at the moment (which has been transplanted to the Solamnia-Lemish border to accomdate play. It's such an iconic part of the DL saga that I had to squeeze it in!)

While I have not transplanted Xak Tsaroth to that area, I have created some similar "hook" adventure locales near there.

It is remarakable, but the Solamnic/Lemish border appears as the obvious path as the main "natural adventuring area" for beginning WotL campaigns.

I've been working on a sizeable module for dual WotL era/AoM era play set in the Last Tower on the Throt/Nightlund border (Just a hop skip and a jump from Lemish). Some of the 2d and 3d artists at DLA have been helping me out on the maps and illustrations, so it's turning out quite a bit tastier then you might expect for a "fan" creation. It should see the light of day in .pdf form at some point this year.