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.

​

 

[Teemu]

The new adventure does kind of give a reason why the gods of good accepted or tolerated the Cataclysm. Apparently the good gods in Dragonlance are not focused on defeating and destroying evil. Instead their main goal is to preserve the free will of mortals. The evil gods want to rule over mortality, while the neutral gods aren’t heavily invested in mortal affairs (to the same extent).

Looking at it from this POV, you could argue that the gods of good didn’t violate their moral core. They gave warnings to instrumental mortal beings who ultimately ignored the gods’ warnings. Thus, the mortals retained their free will to do as they pleased, even though they knew that the end result could be catastrophic. It’s a bit like being a DM and giving the players safe or risky options!

 

[Faolyn]

The new adventure does kind of give a reason why the gods of good accepted or tolerated the Cataclysm. Apparently the good gods in Dragonlance are not focused on defeating and destroying evil. Instead their main goal is to preserve the free will of mortals. The evil gods want to rule over mortality, while the neutral gods aren’t heavily invested in mortal affairs (to the same extent).

Looking at it from this POV, you could argue that the gods of good didn’t violate their moral core. They gave warnings to instrumental mortal beings who ultimately ignored the gods’ warnings. Thus, the mortals retained their free will to do as they pleased, even though they knew that the end result could be catastrophic. It’s a bit like being a DM and giving the players safe or risky options!

Adventurers aren't innocent bystanders, many of whom were killed or otherwise harmed by the Cataclysm.

The Krynn gods gave extremely vague warnings not to instrumental mortal beings but randomly around the world. There was no explanation as to what those warnings were. In the biblical Moses story, Moses basically said "if you don't let my people go, then God'll send a disaster," then a disaster was sent. On Krynn... there was nothing. Bleeding trees in one place that had nothing to do with the kingpriest. Crazed animals in another place that had nothing to do with the kingpriest. Terrible fog in a third place that had nothing to do with the kingpriest. Logically, considering communication, the kingpriest wouldn't even be aware of most of these warnings.

On a personal note, I'd say that "preserving the free will of mortals" is Neutral, not Good.

 

[Scribe]

To move by this, I think the cause of the Cataclysm can be retconned and reworked so it is somewhat more palatable without too much work.

I'm actually quite surprised they didnt change it. I bet if people keep it up, they will drop a fat errata on it.

The new adventure does kind of give a reason why the gods of good accepted or tolerated the Cataclysm. Apparently the good gods in Dragonlance are not focused on defeating and destroying evil. Instead their main goal is to preserve the free will of mortals. The evil gods want to rule over mortality, while the neutral gods aren’t heavily invested in mortal affairs (to the same extent).

Looking at it from this POV, you could argue that the gods of good didn’t violate their moral core. They gave warnings to instrumental mortal beings who ultimately ignored the gods’ warnings. Thus, the mortals retained their free will to do as they pleased, even though they knew that the end result could be catastrophic. It’s a bit like being a DM and giving the players safe or risky options!

This has many of the same points I was taught as a child, so still I'm surprised they kept this, but its perfectly in line with the setting's history.

 

[Scribe]

On a personal note, I'd say that "preserving the free will of mortals" is Neutral, not Good.

... thats an interesting take.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Was that how they finally dealt with it? Was it really so hard to just not explain the cataclysm or to have just had Team Evil go offsides and do it independantly?

 

[Eubani]

My main problem with the DL Gods is with Paladine. He seemed to be solely focused on maintaining balance and free will, not promoting and doing good. While Takhisis was focused on doing and championing evil, meanwhile Paladine was more actively being and promoting Neutrality than even the neutral gods were. With Takhisis being actively evil an actively good Paladine would of still resulted in balance. As for Paladine poor warnings to mortals, could that of been caused by Paladines obsession with balance causing a self limitation in the way he tried to warn?

 

[pemerton]

I do wonder if any OTHER creator gets a pass based on their religion? Taking the flood story as just a story (not a holy scripture) makes that author look bad too.

As I keep pointing out in these threads, the Flood is central to JRRT's work - the Downfall of Numenor. Aragorn's claim to rightful kingship is based entirely on being a direct descendant of the leader of the righteous survivors of that cataclysm.

 

[Scribe]

As for Paladine poor warnings to mortals, could that of been caused by Paladines obsession with balance causing a self limitation in the way he tried to warn?

Certainly part of it, but I'd look into 'free will' within the context that has been on discussion here.

 

[pemerton]

I'm actually quite surprised they didnt change it. I bet if people keep it up, they will drop a fat errata on it.

Is there anyone other than a few posters on ENworld and similar sites who equates a tale of divine retribution against mortal hubris to a tale about genocide?

I haven't been following the reviews, but I'd expect the more common response to be similar to what @Velderan described upthread: people make sense of the motif and adapt their expectations of the setting accordingly.

 

[Eubani]

#Paladineisaneutralgod