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]

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

I only look at this site for news and discussion on the hobby, but nothing can surprise me these days.

 

[Eubani]

With the themes that DL has at it's core something pertinent that DL pushes that is poignant to the discussion is that evil is inherently self destructive and good left unchecked becomes evil.

 

[pemerton]

With the themes that DL has at it's core something pertinent that DL pushes that is poignant to the discussion is that evil is inherently self destructive and good left unchecked becomes evil.

I would qualify your last clause: the mortal pursuit of good, left unchecked, will tend to become evil.

There's an interesting contrast here with LotR, which rests on the similar but not identical idea that the mortal pursuit of good risks becoming evil because it invites hubris to take the place of faith in providence.

Maybe this tells us something about the different theological visions of the authors?

As far as I can tell, Eru Ilúvatar is not statted out to be Lawful Good for a system that has rules about what that entails and what happens if you act against that alignment.

<snip>

This thread is on Dragonlance, not LotR.

Eru Iluvatar is God, as portrayed by JRRT in his imagined mythology. He doesn't need to be statted out for the reader to know that he is a being unlimited in power, knowledge and goodness.

And talking about LotR is entirely on point for a discussion of the incorporation of these sorts of tropes and elements into fantasy works, given that it's the most famous and most sophisticated example of doing so.

 

[Eubani]

One could say that Paladine had only 2 other choices. Turn the Knights of Solamnia against the Istar or allow Takhisis to do so. Both unpalatable.

 

[Scribe]

One could say that Paladine had only 2 other choices. Turn the Knights of Solamnia against the Istar or allow Takhisis to do so. Both unpalatable.

I believe the Knights had lost sight on what was good, and righteous as well.

Letting Takhisis rule, isnt a better option if the goal is to allow free will.

 

[pemerton]

One could say that Paladine had only 2 other choices. Turn the Knights of Solamnia against the Istar or allow Takhisis to do so. Both unpalatable.

I believe the Knights had lost sight on what was good, and righteous as well.

Letting Takhisis rule, isnt a better option if the goal is to allow free will.

The Knights are another illustration of the notion that the mortal pursuit of good, left unchecked, will tend to become evil. They had not fallen as far as the Kingpriest, but they had fallen.

Unlike the Kingpriest, they were redeemable. As Sturm showed.

 

[Scribe]

As Sturm showed.

Even Sturm had a bit of an arc going on. I need to dig those books out.

 

[Eubani]

Another thing to consider is that D&D throughout all it's settings throws around cataclysmic events all too often and often as a first resort.

 

[Eubani]

The Knights are another illustration of the notion that the mortal pursuit of good, left unchecked, will tend to become evil. They had not fallen as far as the Kingpriest, but they had fallen.

Unlike the Kingpriest, they were redeemable. As Sturm showed.

I think the Solamnic Knights were an example of Law out of control. So codified and rigid in what they could do and how to do it, their ability to do good... or anything was hindered.

 

[pemerton]

Even Sturm had a bit of an arc going on. I need to dig those books out.

I haven't read them since the late 80s (ie not long after they came out). I suspect that, as literature, they hold up better in my memory than they would if I went back to them!

But my recollection is that Sturm does have an arc, from pride to redemption. He's the Knights in miniature.

To tie this back a bit to the discussion about alignment: a key focus of DL (as also in JRRT) is the relationship between human intention or striving to do good, and what actually results from that. This has always been something of a point of ambiguity in the D&D alignment system: does (say) LG on a PC sheet mean that's what I am or that's what I aspire to? DL focuses on the latter, and argues that mortals can't do it on their own. Hence why, without absurdity, it can present the Kingpriest as someone who aims at good (and in that sense is a "good man") but achieves evil.

I had to vote in our state election on Saturday, and our local polling place is a church hall. While waiting in line I was reading a plaque, in memory of a former vicar of the church, which has the epitaph "By their fruits ye shall know them." In DL, the fruits by which someone shall be known isn't dependent just on what they intend, nor what opportunities they get, but by the degree to which they recognise the need to submit to the divine - a type of humility before providence - if good is to truly be achieved.

And as per my previous posts, I think it's quite possible to observe this aspect of DL, recognise it as a core element of the work, even to enjoy it as a core element of the work, without believing it to be a true proposition about the real world.