dragon lance setting

[Shard O'Glase]

just picked up the dragon lance setting and I'm of a mixed view on it. On one side there is a lot of crunch here, I think maybe too much even. And heck the setting info is fairly good at bringing you up to date so overall I'm happy.

But specific implementaiton wise, well the mystic I'm not sure I like too much casts like a sorcerer but uses the divinve spell list gets one domain, and still gets the d8, mid bab, 2 good saves but only medium armor. I'm goign to wait and see, but this guy looks like a powerhouse, the divine spell list is fairly solid in that it has a few good spells for each level eaisly on par with the wizard selection and a bunch of busts, at least IMO. You can now easily focus on the cool ones and cast them like mad while being ok in a fight.

Second nit pick the gre robes or Knights of the thorn, flavor text I'm cool with, but mid bab, full spellcasting progression and reduction in arcane failure is really good. The loss of one level to a fighter class hurts but I'm not sure if it hurts enough.

Tower of high sorcerery, um well flavor good I guess, but dang they suck. If they were thrown into a ordinary campaign setting you'd have to be on crack to take them over just staying wizard. Forced specialization with narowed school choices and opposition school(especially with the IMO suckier 3.5 specializaiotn) and the focused specializaiton where you gain +1 caster level +1 to saves vs your school and loose one more opposition school(especially for black where its got to be a loss of abjuration, transmutaiton, and illusion for either necro or enchantment) Sure they get some little perks a long the way but if your that painfully specialized its better to play a freakin sorcerer and not suck as bad.

 

[Desdichado]

I've heard surprisingly little about the setting on these boards since it's been released. Thanks for the mini-review. I've never been a huge DL fan, but I'm thinking about picking the book up for the mechanics.

 

[JeffB]

I'm in the same boat...mixed feelings. I picked it up a few days ago and have read nearly the entire thing.

I'm not a big DL fan, but I don't hate it either. I love the original trilogy of novels, liked the SAGA boxed set, hated the original railroad modules, had the Tales of the Lance box,but have never gamed in the setting proper. I was looking forward to the book though as I'm always up for a good campaign setting.

After reading through it I found myself asking "now what the hell am I supposed to do ?". Most campaign setting books I've bought, like the FRCS, Midnight, the LGG and even non-setting products like AU have set the 'ol creative juices flowing. I hardly got that feeling at all from this book. There's alot of advice on how DL differs from a "normal" D&D campaign, but I though most of it was very vague, and such a "high level" overview that it's not very user friendly for someone who is not too familiar w/ DL.

That's my real beef with the book, it seems to be written w/ an existing DL fan in mind, and it's too high level, delving mostly in theories and perceptions instead of nuts and bolts of what the DL world is like from an inhabitants view.The FRCS on the other hand , was brilliant at both giving the high level overview and the nuts and bolts of how your PC would see Faerun through his/her eyes and also was full of hooks, plot ideas and concrete info for the DM on how to run a FR game.

The geography section is very poorly laid out..there is no full size map, the regions are broke up over several pages, and the regions being discussed are out of order with the map section on a particular page from what I can tell. Good info, but it's pain when you are reading about X, and the Map for X is ten pages further into the chapter.Instead Map Y is on the same page as the description for X. ?

Big fonts, BIG margins. Hardly the bargain the FRCS is. Artwork, while obviously subjective is IMO not so hot overall, much of it downright poor, with a few really good pieces. Certainly not on par historically w/ DL products (Jeff Easely's few pieces in the DLCS are awful as has been most of his 3E era art... the man seems to have "lost it").

The crunch is pretty good for the most part. Some balance issues I'm sure, but I'm not one to pay much attention that stuff...I work it out as neccessary in-game.

The book IS a really good primer on the DragonLance Saga history overview & has some cool crunch rules/spells/ stuff, but overall the book is not terribly well suited for the DM who is not very familiar w/ the setting. Because of that, for me it's definitely not worth the premium price. I haven't given up hope..I'll check out the AoM book from SP to see if it will address my needs, but so far, I'm not too happy w/ the DL "Rebirth"

That's my 2 cents...or steel pieces

 

[talinthas]

I adore this book, but i'm a dragonlance junkie. perhaps i should have been more vocal here, but most of my discussion has been on the mailing lists and message boards.

Basically, the DLCS is a misnomer. It's not a campaign setting. The main book is basically the complete history and gazetteer of krynn. Its the ultimate reference guide, and the book that grognards like me have waited years to see.

Basically, its the baseline reference, the setting bible. But it's unplayable as a campaign. For that, you need the excellent Age of Mortals hardback. Basically, the DLCS sets the story, and the Age of Mortals tells you what the hell to do with it. I wish to god that they had been one book, but that book would have been 500 pages long, and fans would have complained to high heavan that the book is too fifth age, or other crap. Thus, DL is screwed into needing three campaign settings to the one for others. The baseline DLCS, and the campaigns in Age of Mortals and the upcoming War of the Lance.


As for the borders and the lack of a giant poster map, please ask WotC what their motivation was, as Sov Press is just as clueless when it comes to that. The company is in a precarious position because everything they do has to go through wotc's editing and approval, so when wierd editing decisions get made, we the consumers get stuck.

I am of dual minds with this book. On the one hand, i'm a diehard long time dragonlance fan and this book is a dream come true. On the other, i can see how it makes a bad primer for introductions to the setting. Of course, it's also assumed that people have read Dragonlance Chronicals before coming to this book, but still.

In all though, i know that my campaign is better because of these books =)

 

[Desdichado]

I don't know if DL is old enough to have it's fans qualified as grognards!

 

[talinthas]

I don't know if DL is old enough to have it's fans qualified as grognards!

hehe. In DL fandom, folks like me are called dinos =)
I've been a fan for over half my life, or around 13 years.

 

[Desdichado]

You need to talk to diaglo -- he's a true grognard.

 

[talinthas]

diaglo started gaming before i was born. i can't possibly match that =)

 

[Femerus the Gnecro]

Speaking of maps...

Has anyone taken the map segments from the book and pieced them together digitally? It's like they just forgot to make a big fold out map, and instead cut it up and put it in random places.

I mean, I've got boatloads of old product maps.. but I can always more, right?

-F

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

I have it :-(

Well,

I picked it up over the labor day weekend. I don't like it. I'm an old timer DL fan, I still remember the year Dragons of Autumn Twilight came out. It is a remarkably slim book at its price. I, for one, would have liked to see a more complete book without shelling out another $40 for Age of Mortals to get the information that should have been put into the Campaign Setting book.

The DLCS is mostly fluff. On the quote unquote crunchy stuff it leaves alot to be desired. For example, the Irda. Probably my all time favorite pc race. It is now a castrated version of the gnome instead of the magic using powerhouses that they are. To become a Knight of the Rose, which is the highest rank in the Solamnic Knighthood, you have to have a total of 4 classes to reach that lofty pinnacle. There is no section on magic items unique to Krynn, and the biggest kick in the gut was making Wyrmslayer and Wyrmsbane longswords. LONGSWORDS! In the novels and 1st edition they were two-handed swords.

And as much as Dragonlance purists say there are no orcs on Krynn and any published material before now that references them are non-canon and heretical. Yet, for those who own the campaign setting, look in the section for Silvanesti, on the page with the minotaur standing in front of the Gates of Silvanost, just look about an inch to the right of the minotaurs snout and tell me what you see.

The biggest thing is Wizards of High Sorcery. Even over on Wizards DL boards the fanboy admit that Raistlin doesn't fit within the framework of the new rules. Excuses are made as to his specialness and he doesn't abide by rules. Well, it just seems like poor game design to me.

I guess I'll just use my old conversion rules I did a couple of years ago.

My only decision right now is when I'll find the time to take the book back to where I got it.

Anyway,

Son of Thunder