Dragonlance 4e in 2010?

[Cam Banks]

And it was a very nice adventure, too. However, most of the fellows that did Dl3e came from the old DL3e website, so compared to "classic" 'lance, it becomes just like the Magius language or like Noble Draconians: expanded universe aka, largely apocryphal, or to put it in the TVtropes.org way, the Inmates Running the Asylum.

Right. It's terrible when folks who've been fans of the setting since the beginning get together with many of the setting's creators and authors and, with oversight from the owners of the setting's IP, develop the setting further and with consistency. That never turns out well.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Cam Banks]

My problem is not the War of Souls, which I think set Krynn up to be a fun, playable setting. It's the books that followed. The Solamnia trilogy looks like it was set somewhere else and they just changed the names to make it Dragonlance. The other books also just kept rewriting basic krynn concepts at will. Instead of moving forward with the sweeping changes of the War of Souls, they introduced more sweeping changes.

There was, believe it or not, a ten-year-plan for the setting developed at the time of War of Souls and for the most part carried out by the authors of the later trilogies such Richard Knaak, Paul Thompson & Tonya Cook, Doug Niles, and Margaret herself. Clearly some of those particular story elements have generated mixed responses (many people don't like the developments in Solamnia, while others are overjoyed at the outcome of Elven Exiles) but overall I think it's come together more or less at this stage.

The real problem with advancing any setting is that you'll get people who wish it would never advance at all, and those who don't think it advanced in the way they would have liked it to. Change is guaranteed to foster frustration and even alienation in some fans, even if it satisfies a pressing need for others.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Cam Banks]

(I say both, but I'm a former DL heretic and current apostate )

Are you still a heretic or apostate if you're the one labeling yourself those terms? I don't think anybody else has ever referred to you as either.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Nahat Anoj]

FR is doing well due to bieng the only real supplement out for DD 4e and the Living Campaign.

Perhaps so. All I can say on my end is that the changes made in the switch to 4e have made for a more compelling setting, one that I'm actually interested in adventuring in. It feels much more like the 2e FR box, which is how I cut my teeth on the setting.

 

[Vocenoctum]

There was, believe it or not, a ten-year-plan for the setting developed at the time of War of Souls and for the most part carried out by the authors of the later trilogies such Richard Knaak, Paul Thompson & Tonya Cook, Doug Niles, and Margaret herself. Clearly some of those particular story elements have generated mixed responses (many people don't like the developments in Solamnia, while others are overjoyed at the outcome of Elven Exiles) but overall I think it's come together more or less at this stage.

The real problem with advancing any setting is that you'll get people who wish it would never advance at all, and those who don't think it advanced in the way they would have liked it to. Change is guaranteed to foster frustration and even alienation in some fans, even if it satisfies a pressing need for others.

Cheers,
Cam

The Solamnia trilogy starts with a Solamnia unlike anything in Krynn published to that point. It then follows a threat that is also antithetical to the way Krynn worked at that point. It then introduces Gun Powder, through a long, drawn out and goofy setup, and I just can't see gun powder being unknown to gnomes by that point.

The Wizards Conclave thing, again, just kind of tosses random elements at the board that look totally alien to the way Krynn had been at that point.

Now, this may all be a grand plan, it may be popular with some folks, and it could just be me, but they drove me from Dragonlance after I had returned.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Are you still a heretic or apostate if you're the one labeling yourself those terms? I don't think anybody else has ever referred to you as either.

Cheers,
Cam

Being cut from the paperback is probably a sign of heresy As for apostasy . . . I have only the most passing interest in Dragonlance, have not bought a DL book in several years, haven't read one since Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (and found it disappointing), and only glanced at Dragons of the Highlord Skies to see what they did with Soth. If not an apostate, I'm almost certainly an ex-fan.

Speaking of which, if they do reboot Ravenloft, I would love to see Soth and Sithicus removed from the setting. Too much baggage, and Sithicus is just dull without the Black Rose.

 

[Cam Banks]

Too much baggage, and Sithicus is just dull without the Black Rose.

Kind of defeats the purpose, yes. Although I have come around to the idea that Soth went to Ravenloft, if only because Jim Lowder presents such a convincing and sound argument.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[ferratus]

There is a lot of goofy stuff that showed up in the later books. I mean, let's see how many people who have been away from the setting say WTF? to these plot elements:

1) Takhisis and Paladine died
2) Mina replaced both Paladine & Takhisis as goddess of good and evil simultaneously
3) Shinare replaced Paladine as one of the patrons of the Knights of Solamnia. Shinare is the neutral goddess of trade.
4) The head of the white robes made a magical roofie for the leader of the Knights of Solamnia to get the girl he wanted.
5) Krynn was stolen and put in a new galaxy, where the gods couldn't find it.
6) After the discovery of gunpowder, people had working battlefield guns within a couple years.

I think saying that people being upset with the way dragonlance has been handled over the years isn't because of a fear of change. I think people just generally felt that the changes were bad writing and bad setting development.

 

[Cam Banks]

I think saying that people being upset with the way dragonlance has been handled over the years isn't because of a fear of change. I think people just generally felt that the changes were bad writing and bad setting development.

I didn't say they were AFRAID of change. I said they either didn't want it to change, or didn't like what happened when it did. It's very common in shared world properties; just look at Star Wars.

Luckily, just like with Star Wars, you can dial back the clock to any time you like with Dragonlance and have about as much fun as is humanly possible. I know this to be objectively true.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Knightfall]

There is a lot of goofy stuff that showed up in the later books. I mean, let's see how many people who have been away from the setting say WTF? to these plot elements:

1) Takhisis and Paladine died
2) Mina replaced both Paladine & Takhisis as goddess of good and evil simultaneously
3) Shinare replaced Paladine as one of the patrons of the Knights of Solamnia. Shinare is the neutral goddess of trade.
4) The head of the white robes made a magical roofie for the leader of the Knights of Solamnia to get the girl he wanted.
5) Krynn was stolen and put in a new galaxy, where the gods couldn't find it.
6) After the discovery of gunpowder, people had working battlefield guns within a couple years.

I think saying that people being upset with the way dragonlance has been handled over the years isn't because of a fear of change. I think people just generally felt that the changes were bad writing and bad setting development.

Holy crap!

That's definitely NOT the Dragonlance I remember.