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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4469645" data-attributes="member: 58197">Hmm... well, I don't know that it really has cool hooks, per se.  It's one of the oldest D&D settings, dating all the way back to 1st Edition, and settings back then tended to be relatively generic - as I recall, it wasn't until 2E that we started getting exotic settings like Dark Sun, Planescape, and Spelljammer.I guess I'd say that the defining trait of the Dragonlance setting, as compared to Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk, is that Dragonlance has an overarching narrative which is mostly lacking in the other two.  Some of the specific features of Dragonlance are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A clearly delineated, Manichean clash of Big Good versus Big Evil.  Instead of an assortment of loosely affiliated deities, the Dragonlance gods are divided into three pantheons - good, evil, and neutral - with established leaders and nobody unaccounted for*.  The conflict between Paladine, the chief god of good, and Takhisis, the chief goddess of evil, drives much of the story.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A philosophical commitment to a balance between good and evil.  The good and neutral gods have an alliance, wherein they both try to maintain the balance.  The evil gods have no interest in balance and are constantly trying to tip the scales in favor of evil.  The way this generally plays out is that good and evil are roughly balanced; evil launches a campaign to become ascendant; good intervenes to put a stop to it and restore the status quo.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragons are not solitary monsters; they are agents of the gods and take an active part in the aforementioned good-versus-evil clash.  Powerful leaders on both sides ride on dragon mounts, and big armies often have dragon air support.  The gods themselves have a dragon theme going on.  Paladine is also called the Platinum Dragon and looks a lot like Bahamut; Takhisis is the Five-Headed Dragon and is a dead ringer for Tiamat**.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A tendency for world-spanning organizations to dominate the action.  Beyond the first few levels, all wizards must take a Test and join one of the three orders of wizardry (the White Robes, Red Robes, or Black Robes, again corresponding to good, neutral, and evil).  Instead of traditional paladins, Dragonlance has the Knights of Solamnia, a powerful order dedicated to the service of the good gods and bound by an ancient code of laws.  The forces of evil are largely controlled by the Dragon Highlords.  And so on.</li> </ul>The upshot of all this is that Dragonlance lends itself to epic fantasy in the Tolkien style, while Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk are much more swords-and-sorcery.  This is somewhat limiting from a DM perspective, because you're locked into the overarching narrative - you can't introduce a new Big Evil without explaining what the heck happened to Takhisis.  On the other hand, if you're okay with following that narrative, the whole setting supports it.Also, Dragonlance was responsible for perpetrating both kender and tinker gnomes.[SIZE=-1][SIZE=-2]* Raistlin Majere doesn't count.[/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=-1][SIZE=-2]** In fact, when 2E launched its ill-fated effort to consolidate all its campaign worlds into a single multiverse, they declared that Paladine was Bahamut and Takhisis was Tiamat, just going by different names for the benefit of their followers on Krynn (the world of Dragonlance).[/SIZE][/SIZE]</blockquote>

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