Oddly enough, around the time of the "1.5 edition" hard covers (the Dragonlance Adventures book, survival guides, Greyhawk hc, et cetera) we had a group of overpowered adventurers from Krynn head into Temple of Elemental Evil in Greyhawk, we then returned to Krynn and got more involved in the after-war stuff.
DL was a favorite of mine, but there were too many changes. When we tried to get into it after the 3e material (which was generally of high quality), the novels just shaped the world into something unrecognizable to me. (Solamnia vs ogre army while a knight looks to "invent" gunpowder with 3 gnomes of horrendous names... some white robe sorcerer, blah I say!)
Also, Key of Destiny had it's faults (missing a section on "how the hell do you get disparate player types to this remote corner of Ansalon" for instance...), it was generally the release schedule that messed up the game. A lesson I then had to relearn when Age of Worms went oddball on me after I started it in good faith.
I am a Dragonlance fan (Ansalon, Taladas, Krynnspace, kender, gnomes, the whole kit and kabottle. I can even tell you the Secret of the Dragonlance, as known by Tasslehoff ... but then again, it *is* a secret, so ... well, Tas will tell you soon enough!)
Obviously, the Dragonlance Campaign changed drastically, heavily due to the books. And there were conceptions in 3E that were incompatible with Dragonlance (ala: yes, kender can be wizards in 3E. Ok ... your kender gets to 3rd level and must now take the Test ... if your DM is faithful to the Test, and you are faithful to the kender concept, your kender *cannot* survive the Test. Then again, how did your kender survive *to* 3rd level in the first place? Wizardry and kender do not mix.)
What to do?
Keep with the 1st and 2nd edition concepts (I liked the 6th level Mindspin spell ...)
Keep with the concepts as laid out in Dragonlance Tales (War of the Lance) and Dragonlance Legends (Test of the Twins.)
If you use 3E rules, adapt them. A Knight of Solamnia is a Knight of Solamnia, regardless of edition. A minotaur is a minotaur. The dwarves of Zkahar have their strange disease that plagues them, but they can be wizards (I think ... an extreme exception amongst dwarfs ... remember, everyone, that in 1E and 2E dwarves could not be wizards! Dragonlance dwarves, highly developed in their culture and history, follow this rule.)
A snobbish Silvanesti elf is going to be snobbish, regardless of edition.
A friendly Qualinesti elf, will be friendly (probably, one of the more youthful elves, since the older Qualinesti are rather unfriendly for elves.)
The Shoikan Grove will remain the Shoikan Grove, regardless of edition. I don't care if your character *IS* a Frenzied Berserker, and cannot die while Frenzied, and has a cleric with a million Heal spells. He *still* isn't getting through Shoikan Grove. (You think the Tomb of Horrors was hard, folks? Try breaking into a Tower of High Sorcery, like the one at Palanthus.)
And no version of the game, allows you to waltz into the Great Library and start burning the books. Try it, and you have Astinus of Palanthus to deal with. Or, rather, he will deal with you. Either himself or through a proxy (did you know that Lord Soth protected the Great Library, once?!) Or Bertrem will knight you anew with his mace, if you touch those books. Don't try it.
Dragons?
They shapeshift into human form. See that elderly guy behind the counter. That could be a 0 level shopkeeper (low level Commoner in 3E) or a dragon. That is for him to know and you to find out, if you decide to pillage the shop.
Because dragons are the true rulers in Dragonlance, and it is best to acknowledge this fact sooner and not later.
Also, DO NOT try to plunder the High Clerist's Tower, REGARDLESS of edition.
It is said to be a treasure cake-walk. You just walk in, take the treasure, and leave.
We had a 10 character party TPKed in there. That 1,000 foot high tower is every bit as bad as the Temple of Elemental Evil.
Death knights are just that. Leave Lord Soth alone to his curse. Or, pay the price for not doing so.
You may think that you're a Big Game Hunter of Death Knights. Which is why Lord Soth has a whole row of heads (nicely preserved) adorning his wall, of Big Game Death Knight Hunters.
And finally, Knights of Solamnia that are *true* Knights of Solamnia, are and will always be paladins. Real paladins. Not this fake stuff I often see, but the real thing. Expect a proper Knight of Solamnia to behave as a courteous, kindly, altruistic paladin.