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]

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 claim that Law and Chaos being balanced is a good thing is (obviously) controversial. Which is to say that in the context of the fiction of D&D, it's not obvious that classic Dwarves and paladins are wrong, nor that classic Elves and rangers are wrong.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The claim that Law and Chaos being balanced is a good thing is (obviously) controversial. Which is to say that in the context of the fiction of D&D, it's not obvious that classic Dwarves and paladins are wrong, nor that classic Elves and rangers are wrong.I'

I'm talking about extreme Law and Chaos. Not just swearing oaths and stuff. Them in their more primordial, "pure" forms; Chaos as entropy and Law as stagnancy.

Extreme law and extreme chaos are both unhealthy for life.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm talking about extreme Law and Chaos. Not just swearing oaths and stuff. Them in their more primordial, "pure" forms; Chaos as entropy and Law as stagnancy.

Extreme law and extreme chaos are both unhealthy for life.

So in your opinion the only acceptable alignment is Neutral Good?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Won’t somebody think of the dragons?

It’s a game. Games have antagonists. No real dragon was or is harmed in the making or playing of D&D.

Besides, unless im mistaken the MM says “a typical whatever is this alignment”. So not all Red Dragons.

Do you accept that a thimble exists in Monopoly or do you question its validity on the game board?

It’s just a game. Not a psych test about morality.

As I mentioned in another thread, some of guys make D&D way more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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.

Did you tell your players in session 0 that the assumptions of the Monster Manual may not apply in an Eberron campaign? the a

 

[GMforPowergamers]

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.

i find talking things out works (I know I am a broken record) just tell them "Hey I like this new book that says things are born to an alignment, as such you don't know by there skin or scale color or ear shape you have to judge them by actions"

 

[GMforPowergamers]

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...

I think the modern idea of Dragons most likely is more animalistic and not good or evil... and that isn't a dragon it is a wicked witch polymorphed into a dragon...

 

[Scribe]

I think the modern idea of Dragons most likely is more animalistic and not good or evil... and that isn't a dragon it is a wicked witch polymorphed into a dragon...

I'm not sure I can agree, regarding animalistic.

These are D&D Dragons. They have been highly intelligent for as long as I can remember. Shape shifting, is simply part of their tool kit?

Dragons are not simple beasts, at least in my games.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Are there no mustaches?!

There is a mustache joke I found. A foe asks when reinforcements from the Knights will be coming, saying they will bring their weapons and mustache wax.

 

[pemerton]

I'm talking about extreme Law and Chaos. Not just swearing oaths and stuff. Them in their more primordial, "pure" forms; Chaos as entropy and Law as stagnancy.

Extreme law and extreme chaos are both unhealthy for life.

This is obviously controversial. Here's one reason why:

So in your opinion the only acceptable alignment is Neutral Good?

Another reason is that "law" doesn't, or at least need not, entail stasis. Similarly, freedom and individuality need not entail entropy.

More generally, the question of whether humans flourish under conditions of order, or of individuality; and whether the proper unit of analysis for flourishing is the society or the individual (and how those two are connected), does not have a non-controversial answer.