Dragonlance Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen shows up in the wild!

[Demetrios1453]

So one thing that I'm noticing as I read further into the adventure is that, while it says that Warriors of Krynn is entirely optional, I feel like you'd end up missing out on a good chunk of the "war experience" by not using it. Basically, the adventure doesn't provide any substitute for the board game. If you don't use it, there just aren't any mass battles -- or at least, they all happen entirely off-screen and have little-to-no effect on the rest of the adventure.

Eh, I'll disagree on that. Each of the board game scenarios is replaced in the adventure with set battle scenes where the PCs are in the middle of a big battle, but are sort of confined to their little bit of it, where they fight some significant NPCs and some other foes. If they go outside of that zone, they enter "The Fray", which is the area the rest of the battle takes place, and where they will take random damage from the fighting going on there (which of course will tend to cause the PCs focus on their own area and not wander off). It's not quite the same, but it's a decent substitute if you don't have the board game, and some of them have interested me enough that, even though I've ordered the board game, I might very well have my group do some of them as well. They're also done in a typically modular fashion that they could be re-used for homebrew and other campaigns that might see the PCs in the midst of a big battle.

 

[darjr]

I have a group where he'd slaughter them.

I also have a group where I'm going to throw in a Death Dragon.... or two.

 

[pukunui]

Eh, I'll disagree on that. Each of the board game scenarios is replaced in the adventure with set battle scenes where the PCs are in the middle of a big battle, but are sort of confined to their little bit of it, where they fight some significant NPCs and some other foes. If they go outside of that zone, they enter "The Fray", which is the area the rest of the battle takes place, and where they will take random damage from the fighting going on there (which of course will tend to cause the PCs focus on their own area and not wander off). It's not quite the same, but it's a decent substitute if you don't have the board game, and some of them have interested me enough that, even though I've ordered the board game, I might very well have my group do some of them as well. They're also done in a typically modular fashion that they could be re-used for homebrew and other campaigns that might see the PCs in the midst of a big battle.

This is not entirely correct. Looking through the adventure again, I can see that some of the board game scenarios have a substitute (e.g. Scenario 1 and the Invasion of Vogler, as well as Scenario 4 and the Flight to Steel Springs), but there are also scenarios that don't have a corresponding section in the adventure (e.g. Scenarios 2 and 3, which are meant to be run during the open-ended "Missions for Kalaman" section) as well as encounters in the adventure that don't have a corresponding board game scenario (e.g. the Battle of High Hill, which is the first to utilize the Fray mechanic).

 

[overgeeked]

(e.g. the Battle of High Hill, which is the first to utilize the Fray mechanic).

Oh. The fray mechanic. What's that?

 

[pukunui]

Oh. The fray mechanic. What's that?

The zone at the edge of the map that represents the larger forces fighting. PCs who enter that zone take damage from the abstracted combat taking place there.

 

[overgeeked]

The zone at the edge of the map that represents the larger forces fighting. PCs who enter that zone take damage from the abstracted combat taking place there.

Oh. Thanks. That's...meh. It sounded more interesting and involved. Like an actual abstracted mass combat thing.

 

[pukunui]

Oh. Thanks. That's...meh. It sounded more interesting and involved. Like an actual abstracted mass combat thing.

There's a little bit more to it than that, but yeah ...

Here's an example:

Spoiler: The Battle of High Hill

"At the edge of each mapped battlefield encounter and beyond is a region called the Fray. The Fray is an interpretation of the dangers of combat, from clashing combatants to deadly spells. It is also the source of additional threats. Each battlefield encounter explains the Fray’s effects and presents additional dangers that might occur at the end of each round of combat. A battlefield encounter ends when noted in the text."

In the case of the Battle of High Hill: "The 15-foot-wide area marked by the design at the edge of the map represents dozens of clashing combatants. This area and the battlefield beyond the map are difficult terrain. A creature that enters the Fray for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (2d6) slashing damage from opportunistic foes. The Fray can’t be damaged and remains until the battle ends."

In addition to that: "During this encounter, roll on the High Hill Battlefield Events table each round at initiative count 0. Also consider rolling on the table if a character enters the Fray or otherwise tries to leave the battlefield."

The events table includes four options:

 

[Corporate Dog]

View attachment 267444

I'm weird in that I prefer not to pull the maps out of my books.

Good thing I won't need to. Crusty Old School Gamer Collection to the rescue!!!!

 

[Corporate Dog]

It's almost as if the original authors and designers were just using tropes to tell a particular kind of genre story and weren't over concerned with realism or even verisimilitude.


Many of us have very fond memories of Dragonlance because of when it came out [or when we discovered it. And it was very popular. But neither of those facts should be confused with the idea that it actually good in a literary sense. It wasn't. It's a pastiche of Tolkien through a D&D and Mormon lens and relies heavily on cliche. I loved it but we shouldn't ask too much of it.

I'm rereading the Chronicles now. And I can see why 13-year-old me was totally into it.

47-year-old me, on the other hand, finds myself cringing at a lot of the prose. Despite this, it's doing a great job of whetting my appetite for SotDQ.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I'm rereading the Chronicles now. And I can see why 13-year-old me was totally into it.

47-year-old me, on the other hand, finds myself cringing at a lot of the prose. Despite this, it's doing a great job of whetting my appetite for SotDQ.

Yeah. Been there, tried to do that. I couldn't. I chalked it up to poor writing (And Dragons of Autumn Twilight is poorly written). I had recalled that the later novels got much better though. And while I suppose that they do improve... it's still not good enough for 50-something-me.

Fast Forward: I recalibrated and decide to try to listen instead to the new Dragons of Deceit, on the theory that surely by now, it will be better written.

Nope. It's a tough slog.

The YA aesthetic to the narrative doesn't work for me. I'm too old for this now I think. Oh well.