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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[Scribe]

Theme and the type of game I want to play at the moment.

Perhaps help your players to understand that alignment is not a straight jacket, and maybe print out the Monster Manual clause for them before the next game?

Like you realize I'm sure you are complaining in the prior post, about a response behavior you reinforced in prior games?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Perhaps help your players to understand that alignment is not a straight jacket, and maybe print out the Monster Manual clause for them before the next game?

Like you realize I'm sure you are complaining in the prior post, about a response behavior you reinforced in prior games?

I don't even use alignment anymore. My players are aware that unless a monster attacks on sight, it can probably be reasoned with (and even then, they've talked down attacking monsters before). However, old habits die hard, and their gut reaction when they saw a black dragon in the Shadow Marches was to kill it.

 

[Faolyn]

Not at all, does it being there prevent you from running it how you like?

Little bit, because there's an expectation by all the players that it's CE.

It's easier for players to go into the game not making assumptions about everything's alignment, and for the DM to decide that this particular dragon is evil, than it is to have to remind players that NotAllDragons.

Why do you have red dragon's be evil on all your other worlds? Nobody is forcing you to reinforce that expectation?

Because that's the default; thus, it's what's expected.

 

[Scribe]

I don't even use alignment anymore. My players are aware that unless a monster attacks on sight, it can probably be reasoned with (and even then, they've talked down attacking monsters before). However, old habits die hard, and their gut reaction when they saw a black dragon in the Shadow Marches was to kill it.

That's fine, their choice, based on either past assumptions, past experience via your or other DM's games, or...just a desire to kill a dragon.

I fail to see any issue here at all.

It's easier for players to go into the game not making assumptions about everything's alignment, and for the DM to decide that this particular dragon is evil, than it is to have to remind players that NotAllDragons.

Because that's the default; thus, it's what's expected.

That is completely up to the DM and Players though. As it should be. Sure you can have expectation, but you can then subvert that expectation, lean into it, use those expectations to ones advantage or anything in between.

Granted, I do not expect either of you to give any quarter on this, and as you both know, I'll never agree with the desire to remove Alignment from the game, but there is no flaw here, no problem.

The DM can set expectations, you have your Session 0 I assume to do just that.

Yet, I have to be denied what I want, or go through and update everything, and then provide "this is X, that is Y, this is Z, that is A" in MY Session 0.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Little bit, because there's an expectation by all the players that it's CE.

It's easier for players to go into the game not making assumptions about everything's alignment, and for the DM to decide that this particular dragon is evil, than it is to have to remind players that NotAllDragons.


Because that's the default; thus, it's what's expected.

Unfortunately, unless you replace your players with new ones after they put out a monster book without alignment, they're likely going to expect black dragons to be evil.

 

[Scribe]

Unfortunately, unless you replace your players with new ones after they put out a monster book without alignment, they're likely going to expect black dragons to be evil.

Or, if thats not the type of game you want to play, set expectation appropriately at the Session 0 or, maybe you know, DM the game in a way that they do not default to certain expectations?

That said, yes, what 60+ years of literature, tv, cartoons, comics, whatever, have without a doubt set a cultural expectation in NA, that Black Dragons, are evil.

But, I'm just crazy I guess. 1959...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

That's fine, their choice, based on either past assumptions, past experience via your or other DM's games, or...just a desire to kill a dragon.

I fail to see any issue here at all.

The problem was that it was a plot hook. I was going to get the Chamber involved in the campaign pretty early on. They killed the plot hook.

That's one reason why I dislike monsters and races in setting-agnostic books having listed alignments. It sets players up with the expectation that this is how things are across worlds. Which just isn't true a lot of the time, especially with Eberron. It's hard to clear your brain of biases imparted by the core rulebooks, even when you know that Eberron is different and should be played differently.

 

[darjr]

Are there no mustaches?!

This one though, I can't tell, but if not they get an honorary mustache.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't even use alignment anymore. My players are aware that unless a monster attacks on sight, it can probably be reasoned with (and even then, they've talked down attacking monsters before). However, old habits die hard, and their gut reaction when they saw a black dragon in the Shadow Marches was to kill it.

I don't see a problem with that. Part of giving players freedom of choice means they can accidently kill the wrong thing.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I don't see a problem with that. Part of giving players freedom of choice means they can accidently kill the wrong thing.

It wasn't a huge problem. I later found another way to add the plot device back in. But the biases about dragons because the Monster Manual says chromatic dragons are evil definitely made me do more work for that Eberron campaign than I would have if it hadn't said that.