Dragonlance What do you want from a Dragonlance 5e?

[Hussar]

DL would be a major disappointing announcement to me.
I’ve read the novels and enjoyed the narrative but really don’t understand the appeal as a setting.
Besides some NPCs, organizations, and a few IMHO minor changes to races, it seems the story could be set fairly easily in the FR.
Barovia, Ravnica, and Eberron all have significant thematic and mechanical differences.
I’d love to hear what the appeal is.

Well, for me, it’s the only setting in Dungeons and Dragons that ACTUALLY uses dragons. Sure ebberon has dragons and dark sun has the dragon, but Dragonlance uses dragons all the time.

And they’re not just big lizards sitting on a pile of gold. They work together. They work with other races. They have cultures and history.

No other setting puts dragons front and center.

In Dragonlance, you’re not dealing with demonic cultists. You’re not dealing with Far Realms baddies. No Drow. No extra planar baddies to speak of.

No it’s Dragons. All the time.

Which definitely sets it apart from any other setting. You’d think in a game called DND we’d see more dragon themed stuff.

 

[plisnithus8]

Well, for me, it’s the only setting in Dungeons and Dragons that ACTUALLY uses dragons. Sure ebberon has dragons and dark sun has the dragon, but Dragonlance uses dragons all the time.

And they’re not just big lizards sitting on a pile of gold. They work together. They work with other races. They have cultures and history.

No other setting puts dragons front and center.

In Dragonlance, you’re not dealing with demonic cultists. You’re not dealing with Far Realms baddies. No Drow. No extra planar baddies to speak of.

No it’s Dragons. All the time.

Which definitely sets it apart from any other setting. You’d think in a game called DND we’d see more dragon themed stuff.

That does shed some light on the appeal. But the first 5e books were about centered on dragons, and you almost immediately face one and build toward the most powerful dragon (who is basically the same as the one in DL. As you mentioned, you could have dragons in almost any campaign if you wanted them. I personally don’t need a new setting just for that.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Dragonlance uses dragons all the time. No other setting puts dragons front and center. ... You’d think in a game called DND we’d see more dragon themed stuff.

Should there be a Dungeonland, that's all dungeon, too?



I think yer onta sumthin'

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Should there be a Dungeonland, that's all dungeon, too?



I think yer onta sumthin'

It should include a PC race called Dungeonborn.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It should include a PC race called Dungeonborn.

I mean the name is bad, but a world that is a never ending mega dungeon with no surface world would benefit from better playable Kobold stats, since they’re basically little dungeon critter people.

And no humans or halflings.

 

[Undrave]

It should include a PC race called Dungeonborn.

I've been saying we need a Dungeonborn for years!

If we had Racial Templates it would be one, to represent a kid abandonned in a dungeon as a baby! They'd learn all about traps and how to hide stuff (as if it was a secret room or alcove in a dungeon!) and maybe with greyish-skin. Maybe with a symbiotic moss or mold?

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, for me, it’s the only setting in Dungeons and Dragons that ACTUALLY uses dragons. Sure ebberon has dragons and dark sun has the dragon, but Dragonlance uses dragons all the time.

And they’re not just big lizards sitting on a pile of gold. They work together. They work with other races. They have cultures and history.

No other setting puts dragons front and center.

In Dragonlance, you’re not dealing with demonic cultists. You’re not dealing with Far Realms baddies. No Drow. No extra planar baddies to speak of.

No it’s Dragons. All the time.

Which definitely sets it apart from any other setting. You’d think in a game called DND we’d see more dragon themed stuff.

That's a fantastic point. Same arguement they used back in the day with DL development.

With the general power creep on Dragons you don't really find them much in modern adventures. They used to be in the old B series such as ,B4, B5, X1 etc.

I'm building up towards a Dragon war in my game and they've been interacting with them since level 4 or 5.

 

[Coroc]

The problem being that steel is as cheap as dirt, comparatively. Unless the medieval armorsmiths of Dragonlance are using more steel (and I mean much, much more steel) than WWII nations ever used, this explanation is just silly.

The steel coins are double silly, first if it is the raw material you do want iron instead. You do not want finished steel cut into tiny bits. Second, it would make every weapon or armor or tool crafted from steel pretty valuable.

Imagine this:
Lately at the construction site: "Oh the thieves stole all the tools, maybe we can catch them and get them back?" "Ah no they surely have melted them already and made false steel coins out of them."

Sounds pretty silly, yes?

 

[Hussar]

That does shed some light on the appeal. But the first 5e books were about centered on dragons, and you almost immediately face one and build toward the most powerful dragon (who is basically the same as the one in DL. As you mentioned, you could have dragons in almost any campaign if you wanted them. I personally don’t need a new setting just for that.

Oh, sure, you certainly could.

But no one, by and large, has. Forgotten Realms is awash with demon cults and whatnot. Yup, there are dragons, but, they tend not to be the focus of the setting. Greyhawk barely has dragons. So on and so forth. Most of the settings seem to lean very hard on extra-planar baddies- demons, devils, Gith, aberrations from the Far realms. That sort of thing. You've got Undead land with Ravenloft. So, to me, the biggest draw of Dragonlance is that it is Dragon Land. Dragons are all over the place. And draconic critters as well with draconians which are pretty darn cool baddies.

Could you add dragons to another setting? Sure. But, they, by and large, haven't. And never as the front piece of the setting the way Dragonlance did.

That's a fantastic point. Same arguement they used back in the day with DL development.

With the general power creep on Dragons you don't really find them much in modern adventures. They used to be in the old B series such as ,B4, B5, X1 etc.

I'm building up towards a Dragon war in my game and they've been interacting with them since level 4 or 5.

I think you're thinking of the wrong adventures. X1 is Isle of Dread and doesn't have a dragon on it, AFAIR. B4 is The Lost City and I know for a fact that there are no dragons in that module. Actually, thinking about the older modules, it's very, very rare you found any dragons in any of them. GDQ had a dragon or two floating around, but, not many. A1-4 had no dragons that I recall. S1-4 didn't have any dragons. Did the Temple of Elemental Evil modules have dragons in them back in the day? There was that really nasty blue one in the 3e remake that hangs out in the moat house. TPK city.

But, in any case, there just aren't that many dragons in modules. That baby white dragon in, ah bugger, that intro module for 3e. Whispering Cairn, from the Age of Worms had a nasty Black dragon as I recall. But, thinking back, dragons very rarely feature in modules.

 

[Zardnaar]

Oh, sure, you certainly could.

But no one, by and large, has. Forgotten Realms is awash with demon cults and whatnot. Yup, there are dragons, but, they tend not to be the focus of the setting. Greyhawk barely has dragons. So on and so forth. Most of the settings seem to lean very hard on extra-planar baddies- demons, devils, Gith, aberrations from the Far realms. That sort of thing. You've got Undead land with Ravenloft. So, to me, the biggest draw of Dragonlance is that it is Dragon Land. Dragons are all over the place. And draconic critters as well with draconians which are pretty darn cool baddies.

Could you add dragons to another setting? Sure. But, they, by and large, haven't. And never as the front piece of the setting the way Dragonlance did.



I think you're thinking of the wrong adventures. X1 is Isle of Dread and doesn't have a dragon on it, AFAIR. B4 is The Lost City and I know for a fact that there are no dragons in that module. Actually, thinking about the older modules, it's very, very rare you found any dragons in any of them. GDQ had a dragon or two floating around, but, not many. A1-4 had no dragons that I recall. S1-4 didn't have any dragons. Did the Temple of Elemental Evil modules have dragons in them back in the day? There was that really nasty blue one in the 3e remake that hangs out in the moat house. TPK city.

But, in any case, there just aren't that many dragons in modules. That baby white dragon in, ah bugger, that intro module for 3e. Whispering Cairn, from the Age of Worms had a nasty Black dragon as I recall. But, thinking back, dragons very rarely feature in modules.

Have a closer look B4 has a Dragon blue iirc near Xargons lair while X1 has a Green dragon. Area 20 iirc.