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.

​

 

[Micah Sweet]

citation needed

I push a general morality... I can't imagine "don't kill random living thigns for no reason" is 'modern'

the "kill things take there stuff" I always thought was a joke

Most folks, and most published adventures in my experience, do not behave at the table the way you've said you and your players do. Who's the outlier here? Who knows?

 

[Velderan]

it seems like that sometimes when I hear about murder hobos and people who just kill cause... but murder is NOT what happens when you kill in self defense or defense of other... I would say in my own experience that is how 80-90% of deaths occure in game, but on here and on some other sites people are all like "I came across these things in the dungeon so of course I killed them"

Those exp points aren't going to earn themselves.

That actually is one of the reasons I like milestone for some campaigns. Back in the 2E days, we were winding down a session and were about to rest but my character was like 50 exp short of leveling so of course we had to go find something in the woods to kill so I could get my level. I don't particularly have an issue with the "kill stuff, take their things" type of game but it feels kinda dumb sometimes to go out of your way to find something to kill for exp.

 

[Scribe]

I mean, they are the only race/demographics in the Multiverse that has a HIGH leaning/capacity for Murder Hoboing. So, theres validity in that flex.

I feel judged...

 

[Maxperson]

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.

Extreme good is also unhealthy, since it results in people who are willing to murder 10,000 innocents in order to save 10 million. The ends justify the means to achieve the greater good. All of the extremes are bad.

 

[Vaalingrade]

again... defense of other isnt murder

To be fair, they're probably not there to defend anyone. They're there to get loots and XP and defending someone is just a side benny.

 

[Remathilis]

again... defense of other isnt murder

Going back to the Lady of Pain then...

Sigil is a major planar hub that has that distinction due its neutral ground status. If deities could enter, Sigil would be a war zone and people would die. If the LoP gained enough followers, she would ascend to divinity and be unable to protect Sigil. So she kills open worshippers to dissuade others from worshipping her and thus protects the citizens of Sigil from being destroyed in a war or conquer Sigil.

Not much different than killing a cult of demon worshippers to stop a demon lord from being summoned and destroying a kingdom.

So if we agree neither scenario is evil or murder, we can move on.

 

[Velderan]

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.

In the case of Dragonlance, good vs. evil as it relates to balance works perfectly. The pendulum swinging too far towards good, as it did prior to the Cataclysm, ends up with an authoritative figure of good attempting to take away one of the 3 gifts mortals were given at creation in free will in order to prevent evil thoughts and deeds. Pretty safe to say if the balance swung too far towards evil a similar threat to free will would exist so a balance is needed. This obviously allows some evil deeds to happen and encourages good to be there to fight it.

 

[Maxperson]

"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.

If the EU is factored in, there are lots and lots of Sith still out there as a bunch of the Lost Tribe survived.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Most folks, and most published adventures in my experience, do not behave at the table the way you've said you and your players do. Who's the outlier here? Who knows?

please tell me the adventure that has been published (and yearish and company) that doesn't have the targets of teh PC be very straight forward threats to life and limb. I will freely admit I am wrong if you can show some (best if by WotC in 5e)

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Those exp points aren't going to earn themselves.

That actually is one of the reasons I like milestone for some campaigns. Back in the 2E days, we were winding down a session and were about to rest but my character was like 50 exp short of leveling so of course we had to go find something in the woods to kill so I could get my level. I don't particularly have an issue with the "kill stuff, take their things" type of game but it feels kinda dumb sometimes to go out of your way to find something to kill for exp.

back in my teen years we would make joke about going to kill rats to level, but I have never seen it IRL... this is so intresting.