The Dragonlance setting has a long history, and as it’s the time of year for retrospection it seemed a good time to take a look at it.
By Larry Elmore. Uploaded to Wikipedia by User: Peregrine Fisher
With the release of Shadow of the Dragon Queen, the popular Dragonlance setting gets a new 5e makeover. It is a setting that has endured since the earliest days of D&D, perhaps by offering all the most popular elements of the game in one gorgeously cohesive setting. Dragons, check, Knightly orders, check, Orders of magicians with specialist magical powers, check, continent spanning wars and epic campaigns, double check.
Of all of the support material, the novels deserve a special mention (not only because Margaret Weis is lovely!). Their popularity, as they hit the best seller lists, opened up the whole realm of gaming fiction. It certainly spurred TSR to move heavily into novels, with more Dragonlance and later Forgotten Realms novels. Plenty of other companies (notably Catalyst with Shadowrun and Games Workshop) saw the merits of novels linked to their worlds and have developed a vast library since then. But Dragonlance was the first to break the mainstream and created what might almost be considered a new genre.
But for all these tie ins and bonus features, the modules themselves were also a break from what was expected. For a start, the length of the campaign was epic, taking characters from 1st to 15th level. Also, not every module was an adventure. The 5th module (Dragons of Mystery) was actually a sourcebook. It was timed a little oddly as you’d already played 4 modules by the time it came out. But it gave the backstory of the pregenerated characters in great detail as well as detailing the world of Krynn and its gods. It was essential reading, and if you weren’t playing the official characters, it tempted you to do so.
The 11th module (Dragons of Glory) was also very different as it provided a self contained wargame instead of an adventure. By this point in the campaign the War of the Lance is in full swing and your characters could get involved in the major battles with this module. It was a brave but flawed attempt, and caused a little controversy, but nothing to diminish the excitement of seeing what the final 4 modules would bring.
The most interesting part of the setting was perhaps the most overlooked, and that was the attention to detail. The modules themselves gave out snippets that usually would never even be considered in any other module. For instance, the song Goldmoon sings at the start of the first adventure is detailed in full, with the music score in case the player in question played an instrument themselves. Whole supplements such as ‘Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home’ offered no gaming detail, rules or adventures, but did offer menus, recipes, songs and the like from Krynn. While they had their detractors at the time, I would offer it is this attention to the everyday details of the setting outside the adventures that really made it come alive for its players.
The original modules themselves are still available in pdf form and on second hand sites. Two collections of them were made. The Dragonlance Classic compilations updated the modules for 2e, with 4 modules in each of the three volumes (omitting the ‘odd ones’ DL5 and DL11). There were also two boxed reprints of all the modules in an unplayable and barely readable tiny format (4x3 inches) which came out in 2000 as a celebration of Dragonlance.
But then along came Second Edition, and with it a string of updated material for all your old favourites. Forgotten Realms quickly became the default setting for D&D but Dragonlance was not forgotten. Several sourcebook/adventure modules appeared, as well as two trilogy module sets. Again, they were good, but it felt as if Dragonlance was waiting for a new epic battle. It was hard to beat the feeling of the original modules, taking characters right from their beginning to very high level, watching each of them become heroes and save the world.
Two large boxed sets tried to recapture the old magic, but also caused controversy themselves. “Time of the Dragon” detailed the continent of Taladas on the other side of Krynn to Ansalon. It was a great setting but may as well have been a completely different one given its disconnection from Ansalon. “Tales of the Lance” (for 2e) was both a crowd pleaser and a cause of consternation as it collated much of the material and had to make a few changes to put everything together. These either pleased or annoyed the fans in equal measure.
In the next column we’ll pick up the continuing saga in the lates 90s.
By Larry Elmore. Uploaded to Wikipedia by User: Peregrine Fisher
With the release of Shadow of the Dragon Queen, the popular Dragonlance setting gets a new 5e makeover. It is a setting that has endured since the earliest days of D&D, perhaps by offering all the most popular elements of the game in one gorgeously cohesive setting. Dragons, check, Knightly orders, check, Orders of magicians with specialist magical powers, check, continent spanning wars and epic campaigns, double check.
Modular Beginnings
Dragonlance first appeared in 1984 as a string of no less than 14 adventure modules. They were an amazing gamble by (as then) TSR who certainly appeared to bet everything on the popularity of this new setting. While we’d had serial modules before with Against the Giants or the Slavers series there had never been anything on this scale before. In addition to planning almost all their main releases around Dragonlance they also produced calendars, art books, and a series of novels that mirrored the story of the module campaign. For a time all of TSR’s attention became Dragonlance and it must have been an amazing time to be in the middle of it.Of all of the support material, the novels deserve a special mention (not only because Margaret Weis is lovely!). Their popularity, as they hit the best seller lists, opened up the whole realm of gaming fiction. It certainly spurred TSR to move heavily into novels, with more Dragonlance and later Forgotten Realms novels. Plenty of other companies (notably Catalyst with Shadowrun and Games Workshop) saw the merits of novels linked to their worlds and have developed a vast library since then. But Dragonlance was the first to break the mainstream and created what might almost be considered a new genre.
But for all these tie ins and bonus features, the modules themselves were also a break from what was expected. For a start, the length of the campaign was epic, taking characters from 1st to 15th level. Also, not every module was an adventure. The 5th module (Dragons of Mystery) was actually a sourcebook. It was timed a little oddly as you’d already played 4 modules by the time it came out. But it gave the backstory of the pregenerated characters in great detail as well as detailing the world of Krynn and its gods. It was essential reading, and if you weren’t playing the official characters, it tempted you to do so.
The 11th module (Dragons of Glory) was also very different as it provided a self contained wargame instead of an adventure. By this point in the campaign the War of the Lance is in full swing and your characters could get involved in the major battles with this module. It was a brave but flawed attempt, and caused a little controversy, but nothing to diminish the excitement of seeing what the final 4 modules would bring.
The most interesting part of the setting was perhaps the most overlooked, and that was the attention to detail. The modules themselves gave out snippets that usually would never even be considered in any other module. For instance, the song Goldmoon sings at the start of the first adventure is detailed in full, with the music score in case the player in question played an instrument themselves. Whole supplements such as ‘Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home’ offered no gaming detail, rules or adventures, but did offer menus, recipes, songs and the like from Krynn. While they had their detractors at the time, I would offer it is this attention to the everyday details of the setting outside the adventures that really made it come alive for its players.
The original modules themselves are still available in pdf form and on second hand sites. Two collections of them were made. The Dragonlance Classic compilations updated the modules for 2e, with 4 modules in each of the three volumes (omitting the ‘odd ones’ DL5 and DL11). There were also two boxed reprints of all the modules in an unplayable and barely readable tiny format (4x3 inches) which came out in 2000 as a celebration of Dragonlance.
After the Campaign
With the War of the Lance over, TSR moved to other things, but never quite forgot Dragonlance. Two more modules came out, each with a collection of short adventures set afterwards. A hardcover book ‘Dragonlance Adventures’ was also released as a full setting sourcebook. While it did the job it was more sourcebook than rulebook. These new adventures were good but often felt like playing in Middle Earth after the War of the Ring. Everything felt peaceful and settled, the work of heroes was done, so what do they do now? The War of the Lance was epic, and it was going to be hard to match that.But then along came Second Edition, and with it a string of updated material for all your old favourites. Forgotten Realms quickly became the default setting for D&D but Dragonlance was not forgotten. Several sourcebook/adventure modules appeared, as well as two trilogy module sets. Again, they were good, but it felt as if Dragonlance was waiting for a new epic battle. It was hard to beat the feeling of the original modules, taking characters right from their beginning to very high level, watching each of them become heroes and save the world.
Two large boxed sets tried to recapture the old magic, but also caused controversy themselves. “Time of the Dragon” detailed the continent of Taladas on the other side of Krynn to Ansalon. It was a great setting but may as well have been a completely different one given its disconnection from Ansalon. “Tales of the Lance” (for 2e) was both a crowd pleaser and a cause of consternation as it collated much of the material and had to make a few changes to put everything together. These either pleased or annoyed the fans in equal measure.
In the next column we’ll pick up the continuing saga in the lates 90s.
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