Dragonlance Dragonlance Adventure & Prelude Details Revealed

Over on DND Beyond Amy Dallen and Eugenio Vargas discuss the beginning of Shadow of ther Dragon Queen and provide some advice on running it.

Running a Session Zero for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

When starting a new adventure, it's a good idea to get on the same page as your party. Here's how to run a session zero for the upcoming Dragonlance adv...

www.dndbeyond.com

This epic war story begins with an invitation to a friend's funeral and three optional prelude encounters that guide you into the world of Krynn. Amy Dallen is joined by Eugenio Vargas to share some details about how these opening preludes work and some advice on using them in your own D&D games.

There is also information on the three short 'prelude' adventures which introduce players to the world of Krynn:

• Eye in the Sky -- ideal for sorcerers, warlocks, wizards, or others seeking to become members of the Mages of High Sorcery.
• Broken Silence -- ideal for clerics, druids, paladins, and other characters with god-given powers.
• Scales of War -- ideal for any character and reveals the mysterious draconians.

The article discusses Session Zero for the campaign and outlines what to expect in a Dragonlance game -- war, death, refugees, and so on.

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[pemerton]

if you want to have the focus be on a balance between two different metaphysical concepts, Law and Chaos are way better. And there are tons of examples in support of this (the Blood War, Mistborn, etc). Those actually make sense in needing "balance" and it isn't morally reprehensible to want a balance between those two extremes.

Why not? What if one of them is a threat to wellbeing?

 

[Remathilis]

I hate storylines that profess "Good and Evil must come to a balance, it's healthy for the world". I dislike the fact that Star Wars uses this, I think Dragonlance shouldn't have it, and don't enjoy this trope in the slightest.
...
People that think that "the force must be balanced" are bad and wrong in the context of the world.

The Force is not Light and Dark equal. That's not Lucas 's intent. The Force is balanced when it's in the Light. The Dark is sickness, that Light is health; you're not in balance when you're half-sick.

So yes, the Force must be balanced is a misunderstanding of what the term means. That's the fans and subsequent creators perpetuating the misunderstanding, Lucas was clear in what it meant.

The Lady of Pain is Lawful Evil, not Lawful Neutral, regardless of what the books say. She murders people just for worshipping her.

You know why, right?

Aoskar was a deity of gateways who was so influential that he could challenge any god in power. His worship had spread so deep into Sigil even the Lady of Psin's servants began worshipping him. Fearing that Aoskar would be able to break one of the three cardinal rules of Sigil due to his power and influence (no deities in Sigil, which would open the city to being a warzone for all different deities trying to claim it) LoP had him destroyed by destroying his followers (in Planescape, belief is power and deities die if no one worships them.)

Now, the reverse is also true! Enough people believe in you, you can ascend to the divine. And the Lady doesn't want that either, since she would then be in violation of the"no deities" rule. So she murders anyone who professes to worship her so as to nip any cults in the bud and avoid gaining that sort of power. Her first priority is to keeping Sigil safe from divine powers who would try to claim it. If she becomes a power, she can no longer defend it against powers. Much of her cruel tactics are ultimately in service of defending Sigil from conquest. I don't see that as evil, nor good. It is what is needed to keep Sigil safe from beings with that kind of power.

 

[EthanSental]

So 2 weeks before physical release is tomorrow correct for that bundle they offered on dndbeyond?

It is, found the countdown clock on the site, at 14 hours right now.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So 2 weeks before physical release is tomorrow correct for that bundle they offered on dndbeyond?

It is, found the countdown clock on the site, at 14 hours right now.

That's weird, as D&D Beyond usually releases at midnight EST, which is only 4 hours from now. But this launch is different since it's earlier for those with the bundle. I'll still check it in a few hours any way just in case there was some miscommunication on the timing...

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah we can find out. Either it comes out in 4 or 14, not too big of a difference.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Yeah we can find out. Either it comes out in 4 or 14, not too big of a difference.

I mean, I'm far enough west that a midnight EST release means I can start looking through it for a couple of hours before going to sleep. One 10 hours later isn't so convenient with work and all...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Why not? What if one of them is a threat to wellbeing?

Evil is a threat to wellbeing. Good is not. A "healthy balance" between good and evil cannot be achieved by having equal amounts of good and evil in the world. It happens by the Good killing the Bad.

Law and Chaos are different because extreme amounts of either option are unhealthy. Extreme chaos leads to everything being destroyed. Extreme law leads to nothing ever changing. That's why "Law and Chaos must be balanced" is better than "Evil and Good must be balanced". Law and Chaos being balanced is actually a good thing. Good and Evil being balanced just lets terrible things happen.

The Force is not Light and Dark equal. That's not Lucas 's intent. The Force is balanced when it's in the Light. The Dark is sickness, that Light is health; you're not in balance when you're half-sick.

So yes, the Force must be balanced is a misunderstanding of what the term means. That's the fans and subsequent creators perpetuating the misunderstanding, Lucas was clear in what it meant.

If it wasn't his intent, he had a pretty peculiar way of fulfilling Anakin's prophecy of "balancing the force" if he didn't intend for "balancing the force" to mean what happens (Anakin killing the Jedi until there was an equal amount of Jedi and Sith).

Anakin balanced the force by making there be only two Sith (Sidious and Vader) and only two Jedi (Yoda and Obi-Wan). That was him fulfilling the prophecy of the Prequel Trilogy.

You know why, right?

Aoskar was a deity of gateways who was so influential that he could challenge any god in power. His worship had spread so deep into Sigil even the Lady of Psin's servants began worshipping him. Fearing that Aoskar would be able to break one of the three cardinal rules of Sigil due to his power and influence (no deities in Sigil, which would open the city to being a warzone for all different deities trying to claim it) LoP had him destroyed by destroying his followers (in Planescape, belief is power and deities die if no one worships them.)

Now, the reverse is also true! Enough people believe in you, you can ascend to the divine. And the Lady doesn't want that either, since she would then be in violation of the"no deities" rule. So she murders anyone who professes to worship her so as to nip any cults in the bud and avoid gaining that sort of power. Her first priority is to keeping Sigil safe from divine powers who would try to claim it. If she becomes a power, she can no longer defend it against powers. Much of her cruel tactics are ultimately in service of defending Sigil from conquest. I don't see that as evil, nor good. It is what is needed to keep Sigil safe from beings with that kind of power.

Cool motive. Still murder. And murder is evil, in case I had to make that clear.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

If it wasn't his intent, he had a pretty peculiar way of fulfilling Anakin's prophecy of "balancing the force" if he didn't intend for "balancing the force" to mean what happens (Anakin killing the Jedi until there was an equal amount of Jedi and Sith).

Anakin balanced the force by making there be only two Sith (Sidious and Vader) and only two Jedi (Yoda and Obi-Wan). That was him fulfilling the prophecy of the Prequel Trilogy.

Anakin balanced the Force when he killed Palpatine and then died himself.

 

[EthanSental]

10am eastern release. I’ll be at work but try and remember to hit refresh on the app.

 

[Remathilis]

If it wasn't his intent, he had a pretty peculiar way of fulfilling Anakin's prophecy of "balancing the force" if he didn't intend for "balancing the force" to mean what happens (Anakin killing the Jedi until there was an equal amount of Jedi and Sith).

Anakin balanced the force by making there be only two Sith (Sidious and Vader) and only two Jedi (Yoda and Obi-Wan). That was him fulfilling the prophecy of the Prequel Trilogy. .

"Amazing.. Every word in that sentence is wrong." -Luke.

It was never Anakin's intent to leave equal Jedi and Sith. Anakin was supposed to destroy the Sith. He FAILED when he joined the Dark Side. Second, there were far more than just two on each side. At the very least, you had Luke and Leia, but if the EU is factored, there were other Jedi in hiding and Inquisitors hunting them.

Anakin fullfils his prophecy at the end of Return of the Jedi, as he always did. He destroys Sidious and himself dies, ending the Sith line. He did it to save his son who still saw good in him. In the end, Anakin rejected Vader and sacrificed himself to fulfill his destiny.

Until Jar Jar Abrams undid all that when Palpatine somehow returns and Rey becomes the chosen one. But it's hardly Lucas's fault. He ended his story at Episode 6.