Dragonlance [Let's Read] Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

[Demetrios1453]

I ran the 1st-level section of the adventure yesterday, and it went off pretty smoothly. I ran it pretty much unchanged, other than throwing in a goblin encounter in the temple section to up the stakes a bit. A father and son had been ambushed by goblins nearby, and the father had killed or driven them off, but was badly wounded. They took shelter in the temple, and when the party arrived, they were immediately confronted with how to save the father, at which point the cleric received his godly vision - from Kiri-Jolith, so i was even able to use the art from the adventure - and healed the man. They then tracked the goblins to their lair and defeated them, recovering a box the goblins had taken from the temple which contained a few minor rewards (the gods had placed the box in the temple for them). This let a couple of characters, like the ranger (tracking) and the rogue (unlocking the box) a couple of moments to shine.

But the wizard test and the draconian encounter were played straight, and both went well. The wizard figured out to cast detect magic immediately, while the draconians scared the Abyss out of them when the cleric started to turn to stone from the baaz death throes!

 

[pukunui]

The DL Classic campaign is still the best form to consume the War of the Lance - you just need to approach it (re)visiting that with great care.

Which version would you recommend? The original 1e DL1-16 series, the three-volume 2e revision, the 15th anniversary revision, or the three-volume 3.5e version?

 

[Steel_Wind]

Which version would you recommend? The original 1e DL1-16 series, the three-volume 2e revision, the 15th anniversary revision, or the three-volume 3.5e version?

Interesting question. I have never really closely compared and slugged lines with the individual modules (which I still have in print) with the 3 volume combined Classics. There may be some changes other than in terms of layout, but if so -- they are relatively modest and small.

I never trusted the 15th Anniv Revision. That's the one I would look at last. The SAGA stuff was poor.

I have the 3.5 versions in print as well as PDF and there are added maps and material there, especially in DL1 with Haven (Haven has a map!) and that's the version I would want on hand when making changes. I thought that the resolution of the PDFs were not great with the 3.5 versions and I found that to be frustrating at times. While I have the print version -- I really don't look much or work with print these days. I've gone all VTT and have for years, so electronic is always what I actually use these days. I don't like the PDF versions of these particular products all that much though. The resolution and black and white maps in the PDF are annoying.

The 3.5 War of the Lance hardcover from MWP is also very helpful, too. I think both SotDQ DMs as well as anybody who wants to run the classic campaign - or homebrew something else in that era will find that invaluable. It's on DriveThru I believe.

I think a combo of the 3.5 Dragons of Autumn/Winter/Spring and the original DL1-16 or 3 volume Classic consolidation would be great. If you had to choose only one, then 3.5 compilations are the ones to have I guess (but I'd want more than that, tbh).

It isn't mentioned in the review of SotDQ, but DL16 - World of Krynn provides many detailed maps and a 40 page adventure by Michael Gray (a game designer in the heavyweight class) in Dargaard Keep itself; that's longer than most of the prior adventures in the Classic DL1-14 campaign. Moving the campaign to Nightlund and towards Dargaard is the natural place to ultimately move on to after Kalaman and integrate into 5e's SotDQ if you were to try to continue with the campaign after 11th level. The NPC Leedara should provide all the hooks any DM needs to do that should they choose to go that route. That could follow a continuation/combination with the assault on the High Clerist's Tower in DL8 (still my favorite TSR map of all time; TSR put MONEY into that one!). That would benefit greatly from integration with Warriors of Krynn.

There are also some great community creations, revisions and additions to all of this. Squidmaster616's Aesthetic's Guides to the War of the Lance are probably the most complete and are very helpful. They provide detailed additions, deletions and advice on how to change the modules to deal with many of the issues I noted above in my prior post.

 

[Libertad]

Today WotC put out a digital version of the poster map with locations added. It's very high resolution so won't directly post here, but here it is!

 

[mamba]

Which version would you recommend? The original 1e DL1-16 series, the three-volume 2e revision, the 15th anniversary revision, or the three-volume 3.5e version?

Depends on what you want. Do you want the original as it was, then the three 2e books, as that is essentially a reprint and cheaper than the 1e series.

If you want an expanded and improved take on it, I’d go with the 3.5 version.

The 15th anniversary I’d skip.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Depends on what you want. Do you want the original as it was, then the three 2e books, as that is essentially a reprint and cheaper than the 1e series.

If you want an expanded and improved take on it, I’d go with the 3.5 version.

The 15th anniversary I’d skip.

I would wait till tomorrow, 5e versions might be released then.

 

[pukunui]

I would wait till tomorrow, 5e versions might be released then.

As part of the DDB advent calendar? I doubt it but that would certainly be a nice surprise!

 

[overgeeked]

As it would take months for a character, or even news, from the southern part of Southern Ergoth to get all the way to northeastern Solamnia, the best anyone could know of what is happening would be from mid 351 at the latest (when the Silvanesti are just arriving and the Qualinesti aren't even contemplating relocating yet - the latter are still explicitly in their homeland as per their description in the book), and that's only if a DM puts the adventure at the very end of the year.

Looking at the maps and using one day = 24 miles of travel, it would take 12-13 days to cross Ergoth from tip to tip. However long to cross the 20-some mile ocean separating Ergoth from Solamnia, say 1-2 days. Then it's 21 days going cross country at 24-miles per day from Caergoth to Kalaman...and there are also roads, trails, and favorable rivers connecting those two locations. So it would take much, much less than 21 days to cross the distance. All told, considerably less than "months".

 

[Steel_Wind]

As part of the DDB advent calendar? I doubt it but that would certainly be a nice surprise!

No, I think he meant on DM's Guild. There have already been many community re-workings of the Classic campaign. Some of those, the aforementioned Aesthetic's Guides to the War of the Lance are now on DM's Guild. Another updated version of the Classic Campaign is promised for DM's Guild by DragonLance Nexus in the Spring of 2023.

To be candid, this material has been out and about in the community for many years already, and the recently updated 4 Aesthetic's Guides to Ansalon During the War of the Lance are very detailed, totalling 323 pages in conversions, additions to and otherwise updating the Classic Campaign to 5e. So if you are looking for that material? It's available now in the 4 Aesthetic's Guides to the War of the Lance on DM's Guild. (Autum/Winter/Spring and Quest guide).

 

[fjw70]

I plan to combine SotDQ with some of the classic adventures. Aftor completing SotDQ I plan to have the PCs head to Sanction to play out DL9 and then finish up with DL 13 and 14 to help win the war.