Dragonlance 4e in 2010?

[Ares]

Can we only post in this thread if we are for DL 4e? If so I guess I won't post.

Too late.

 

[carmachu]

Heh, I always thought 4e would be a good fit for Dragonlance...

Draconians (Dragonborn)? Check.
Three mechanically distinct fey races (elves)? Check.
Wizards with staves? Check.
Kender (halflings)? Check.
Civilized Minotaurs? Check.
The Abyss as something more than the CE plane? Check!

All that Dragonlance would really need to do is explain away tieflings (not hard) and the PHB is good out the door!

As a bonus: DL would bring Wizard of High Sorcery Paragon Paths, Knight of Solomnia Paragon, Handler Paragon Path, and a bunch of cool stuff.

While I'd have gone either Ravenloft (which appears to be worming itself into the core) or Planescape (ditto, see MotP), Dragonlance works.

Bring on Dark Sun 2011!

Or completely ruin knights of solomnia, and High Sorceror and such.God no, tieflings do NOT belong in DL. At all. The races and such are well defined, even as Minotaurs and Ogres have docieties. Tieflings dont belong.Dragonborn are.....iffy. Draconians are already well defined, unless dragon born are just draconians in disguise. There arent any good ones after all.Thats what some of us mean by butchered. Among other things.Your trying to shoehorn in 4e items that just dont belong.

 

[Irda Ranger]

(1) Will there be Kender?

Yes; in 4E we call them "Halflings." (+5 save vs. fear?) Any changes would be purely cosmetic and RP-based, which is better enforced by table rules.

(2) Will there be Tinker Gnomes?

Yes, but in 4E Gnomes are Monsters ("Raaawr!"), so you can kill them and take their stuff. That's not so bad.

(3) Will there be Gully Dwarves?

Were there ever? I mean, as a seriously offered PC race? I think the answer to that question must be "No".

 

[Irda Ranger]

Both cities are not really points of light ... All not so dangerous as to make it a PoL setting. Rather those are points of darkness in a sea of grey.

That's a bogus distinction. There isn't only one kind of PoL, with all others are incapable of being a 4E setting. For one, PoL captures a wide range of possibilities (of which Krynn certainly is one), and for two, PoL is merely the default setting, not the only kind of setting you can use 4E rules in.

Krynn is PoL "enough" for anyone who doesn't have fixed preconceptions of "only one 'amount' of safety qualifies", and even if it were peaceful fields of happy daisies from Ergoth to Icewall you could still use 4E rules.

And the existence of one or two "monster" nations does not make all of Krynn free of darkness any more than Wulgar makes Icewind Dale a land full to the brim of peaceful & friendly barbarians.

 

[Scribble]

Were there ever? I mean, as a seriously offered PC race? I think the answer to that question must be "No".

I think they were offered in the 2e boxed set if I remember correctly. I never picked up the 3e stuff, so I don't know what was there.

 

[Obryn]

Yes; in 4E we call them "Halflings." (+5 save vs. fear?) Any changes would be purely cosmetic and RP-based, which is better enforced by table rules.

I agree that D&D halflings have been somewhat kenderized, but thankfully the ridiculous kleptomania was removed. And really, it's the stealing stuff shtick and resultant spotlight-hogging that caused them to be banned from many a table, not their fearlessness.

Yes, but in 4E Gnomes are Monsters ("Raaawr!"), so you can kill them and take their stuff. That's not so bad.

Kill tinker gnomes and take their Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions? How's this an improvement?

Were there ever? I mean, as a seriously offered PC race? I think the answer to that question must be "No".

Well, I remember them clearly in the Dragonlance Adventures hardcover...

I think what I'm saying is, "Any race which was provided in a novel for comic relief probably makes a bad PC race at my table."

I am not saying it will be a bad setting - it may be a perfectly good setting that i just don't happen to enjoy. (This is an option that ENWorld seems to forget all too often.)

-O

 

[Nahat Anoj]

If I were in charge of this project, I would do a complete reboot of the setting, similar to how Marvel's Ultimate line reboots the continuity of Marvel's traditional comics. I would try to capture the essense of the setting (immense and epic threats, the clash of vast armies and titanic personalities, soaring romances and bitter betrayals, honor and duty, etc.) and just rewrite everything going with that. I would reset things to about where they were at the beginning of first DL book.

In terms of scope and tone, my DL would have strong resonances with the various Gundam animes. The Gundam series all are set in a backdrop of a huge war, neither side has a monopoly on good or evil, and the focus is on the characters as they struggle to understand their places in the world and with each other. That is DL to me.

Many setting elements would change, some greatly, some slightly. Kender would basically be 4e halflings (I'd lose the racial kleptomania). Indeed, I feel that "kender" should have been the official name for 4e halflings. The draconians would be reconcepted into the dragonborn, who return to the world with the dragons. Some would fight on the side of evil while others would turn to good. Paladine and Takhisis would be called Bahamut and Tiamat, respectively. There's probably a lot more out there.

I'm not familiar with DL outside of the Preludes and the Chronicles, but I would try to bring in all the cool elements from the extended continuity inside. I like DL minotaurs and the irda. There's probably more that I would like as well.

Unfortunately, this will never happen, because it would invalidate the novels completely.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I want a book like the Eartdawn "Prelude to War" for Dragonlance: describing major events in a complicated conflict which is - from beginning to end - linked to the player characters, their background and culture. A book where the future isn´t set, where Dragonarmies are on the move, where major events are decided by the players. I want a "this is where it begins" description, followed by a "this is how you make the game work" section, followed by awesome encounter packages that happen while the PCs are on fire. On a flying citadel. Attacked by dragons.

I don´t want a book full of "and this is Solamnia, dontchernow, we wear plate here." This = boooring.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I'd say the ham-handed half-ass way FR was thrown through stupid and pointless vaguely apocalyptic changes for no cohoerent reason makes them the PERFECT candidates for Dragonlance, and I honestly say that without any sarcasm. And I find that both hilarious and depressing at the same time.

 

[teitan]

I sure hope they do a better job than they did with the 3E DLCS- that was the most uninspiring campaign setting book Ive ever owned.

I don't know about that. The text was excellently written but the book certainly had some major flaws from substandard and inconsistent artwork to the poor geographical section and the lack of a single scale map. I wrote a review of it.