Dragonalnce Campaign Setting

[talinthas]

*slaps forehead*
Dude, if you want SAGA, play SAGA. Did it ever occur to you to consider just how hard it is to implement true freeform magic in 3e? The only place i've seen it even remotely tried is in the wheel of time rpg, and even then it was highly impractical.

Perhaps enough time has passed in game that sorcerors have set ways of casting now. After all, the only real difference is the source of their power and the extent of their influence (with things like the inability for sorcs to affect living beings with things like charm).

Converting DL to 3e has a pretty solid set of problems. Sure, you could bring the fourth age over straight, but that is boring. The best thing about the war of souls is that teh world has changed sufficiently enough that we can adapt to a modified form of D&D and SAGA, and have a whole new rules compliant world to play in.

For the most part, people who play the new setting are looking to revive their war of the lance campaigns or looking to start a new game post wos. Want fifth age pre wos? SAGA is the way to go.

And besides, the best part of the fifth age wasnt the magic, but the politics and pressures. Oh, and all the vibrant setting detail that was in the boxes. If nothing else, it fleshed out the world for all ages, not just the fifth.

 

[LordAO]

*slaps forehead*
Dude, if you want SAGA, play SAGA. Did it ever occur to you to consider just how hard it is to implement true freeform magic in 3e? The only place i've seen it even remotely tried is in the wheel of time rpg, and even then it was highly impractical. of D&D and SAGA, and have a whole new rules compliant world to play in.

Yes it has occured to me how hard it is - I have done it. If I can do it, they should be able to. And no, I don't want Saga, just the free form magic (or at least something closer to it than the 3.5 Sorcerer). So please, don't be condescending.

And don't even get me started on the Wheel of Time...

 

[talinthas]

you've converted SAGA magic to 3e? i'd like to see it. My campaign will be entering the fifth age really soon, and if you've done as you say, then i want to use those rules.

Perhaps you should submit them to the nexus or dragonlance.com

 

[PA]

Living Dragonlance?

I vaguely remember talks about a "living campaign" of sorts for Dragonlance. Any news?

 

[talinthas]

there was a living saga for a year or so. didnt go anywhere, but had some nice scenarios.

 

[PA]

there was a living saga for a year or so. didnt go anywhere, but had some nice scenarios.

Crap. I thought it was something coming with DL d20.

 

[Cam Banks]

Hmm.

So let me try and summarize what the two main arguments here are.

1. "I won't buy the book because freeform magic wasn't implemented."

2. "I won't buy the book because I prefer the setting to have remained the same for 20 years."

I think that's it. The first argument is valid, but freeform magic is not a particularly stable kind of rules target in D&D. The game itself is so structurally modular that you will run into problems with balance and consistency. The sorcerer casts spells on the fly, and this is perfectly in synch with the novels, if not the way the SAGA system worked.

The second argument more or less speaks for itself, I think. Fans of older material will get all they're looking for next year, according to Sovereign Press, while for the time being the core rulebook addresses all the rules necessary for playing in any time period and I've got some module conversion notes for the DL series in the works, updating them for 3.5 and the DLCS, which I'll try and post to www.dragonlance.com after August.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[AmerginLiath]

And, all else fails, players can research new spells, or just work with their DMs to create new ones...

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I'm a bit fuzzy when it comes to DL.

Can someone post a brief timeline highlighting the difference between the ages? What changed with magic? Gods?

 

[jonesy]

I'm a bit fuzzy when it comes to DL.

Can someone post a brief timeline highlighting the difference between the ages? What changed with magic? Gods?

The Age of Starbirth
-early years of the world, Krynn is populated, ogres are the major race

The Age of Dreams
-fall of the ogre empire, rise of nations, the war of Huma, dragons leave the world

The Age of Might
-the rise and fall of the empire of Istar, the first cataclysm

The Age of Despair
-first half: people believe that gods have left, no clerical magic, dragons are just rumors
-second half: clerical magic and dragons return, War of the Lance, War of the Blue Lady, Chaos War, the second cataclysm

The Age of Mortals
-first half: gods are gone, no divine magic
-second half (current timeline): gods are back, four types of magic