Dragonlance Dragonlance Adventure & Prelude Details Revealed

Over on DND Beyond Amy Dallen and Eugenio Vargas discuss the beginning of Shadow of ther Dragon Queen and provide some advice on running it.

Running a Session Zero for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

When starting a new adventure, it's a good idea to get on the same page as your party. Here's how to run a session zero for the upcoming Dragonlance adv...

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This epic war story begins with an invitation to a friend's funeral and three optional prelude encounters that guide you into the world of Krynn. Amy Dallen is joined by Eugenio Vargas to share some details about how these opening preludes work and some advice on using them in your own D&D games.

There is also information on the three short 'prelude' adventures which introduce players to the world of Krynn:

• Eye in the Sky -- ideal for sorcerers, warlocks, wizards, or others seeking to become members of the Mages of High Sorcery.
• Broken Silence -- ideal for clerics, druids, paladins, and other characters with god-given powers.
• Scales of War -- ideal for any character and reveals the mysterious draconians.

The article discusses Session Zero for the campaign and outlines what to expect in a Dragonlance game -- war, death, refugees, and so on.

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[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So first there aren't enough cities, then when I mention a bunch they're not interesting enough to you?

I didn't say that it didn't have cities/settlements present. They just don't focus on them enough for them to be interesting. The Lord of the Rings is about traveling around the wilderness to save the world from a Dark Lord and their evil army, but it also has Minas Tirith and other wondrous cities/settlements that feel important and thematic. I don't remember any of the locations in Dragonlance having the same feeling.

I know you probably haven't read it, but I read Eragon around the same time as I read the War of the Lance books. I remember the locations from that series way more vividly than I do any of the settlements in Dragonlance.

What kind of game do you actually want to play?

D&D. You know, go on adventures/quests, bring back loot, sell them, and sometimes go on save the world-type adventures. The players typically need a home base. Cities are great at filling that role. But they should be interesting/memorable.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I didn't say that it didn't have cities/settlements present. They just don't focus on them enough for them to be interesting. The Lord of the Rings is about traveling around the wilderness to save the world from a Dark Lord and their evil army, but it also has Minas Tirith and other wondrous cities/settlements that feel important and thematic. I don't remember any of the locations in Dragonlance having the same feeling.

I know you probably haven't read it, but I read Eragon around the same time as I read the War of the Lance books. I remember the locations from that series way more vividly than I do any of the settlements in Dragonlance.

D&D. You know, go on adventures/quests, bring back loot, sell them, and sometimes go on save the world-type adventures. The players typically need a home base. Cities are great at filling that role. But they should be interesting/memorable.

Tarsis and Palanthas were the only two big cities they visit during the first trilogy, and both are pretty memorable (Tarsis with the sea having moved away from it, leaving it high and dry; and Palanthus with the library and its cursed Tower of High Sorcery). Palanthas plays an even bigger and more memorable role in the second trilogy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I didn't say that it didn't have cities/settlements present. They just don't focus on them enough for them to be interesting. The Lord of the Rings is about traveling around the wilderness to save the world from a Dark Lord and their evil army, but it also has Minas Tirith and other wondrous cities/settlements that feel important and thematic. I don't remember any of the locations in Dragonlance having the same feeling.

I know you probably haven't read it, but I read Eragon around the same time as I read the War of the Lance books. I remember the locations from that series way more vividly than I do any of the settlements in Dragonlance.

D&D. You know, go on adventures/quests, bring back loot, sell them, and sometimes go on save the world-type adventures. The players typically need a home base. Cities are great at filling that role. But they should be interesting/memorable.

I always thought Palanthus was interesting, and they've clearly put a lot of work into Kalaman in the new book.

 

[Remathilis]

For me, that's the inverse way of thinking about the organisations. Of course in the fiction they might exercise some sort of constraint on the character. But at the table they're the vehicle whereby the player engages the setting and situation.

For me what you're describing here seems like the opposite of a DL campaign!

I think the issue is how much the organization affects my character.

I can be a fighter in Dragonlance and not be a Knight of Solomnia. IIRC, there were quite a few fighters in the Heroes that weren't. If I want to interact with the knights, I can choose that option. If I don't, no penalty is given to me. I choose to be a knight or not.

I have a much harder time being a wizard in Dragonlance and not being affected by the Mages of High Sorcery. I'm either a member or a renegade. I can tell the Mages to bugger off, but the fact they will hound me to stop using magic or join means they are never not part of my story.

Interestingly, the inverse is true of rogues. There are no large criminal organizations afaik. There is the Thief Guild, but they seem a rather recent addition to the lore. I guess they just assumed all thievery would be handled by a kender. (No pun intended).

I got no problems with large organizations influencing a setting. Be it Ravnica Guilds, Planescape factions or Strixhaven schools. I just want the option to interact with them or not, and I'd prefer there be options for all classes if they choose.

 

[Velderan]

I think the issue is how much the organization affects my character.

I can be a fighter in Dragonlance and not be a Knight of Solomnia. IIRC, there were quite a few fighters in the Heroes that weren't. If I want to interact with the knights, I can choose that option. If I don't, no penalty is given to me. I choose to be a knight or not.

I have a much harder time being a wizard in Dragonlance and not being affected by the Mages of High Sorcery. I'm either a member or a renegade. I can tell the Mages to bugger off, but the fact they will hound me to stop using magic or join means they are never not part of my story.

Interestingly, the inverse is true of rogues. There are no large criminal organizations afaik. There is the Thief Guild, but they seem a rather recent addition to the lore. I guess they just assumed all thievery would be handled by a kender. (No pun intended).

I got no problems with large organizations influencing a setting. Be it Ravnica Guilds, Planescape factions or Strixhaven schools. I just want the option to interact with them or not, and I'd prefer there be options for all classes if they choose.

That's fair. I think that's why I've mentioned the Conclave doesn't have to murder or force you to join in previous posts. They could just keep tabs on you if you're not being harmful. I know in some small way that still makes them part of your story though, so I can definitely see how DL might be a tough sell for you.

Similar to Explorer's Guide to Wildemount in format. That seems kind of interesting. What town/city in the gazetteer did you think was the best?

I based a campaign around Solanthus in Southern Solamnia back in the 2e days. It was a decent sized city so it served nicely as an adventure hub and it was close to Lemish which was a human nation that had allied with the Dragonarmies to allow them to attack Solamnia in exchange for largely being left alone. There were also the nearby ruins of Kayolin, which was an abandoned dwarf kingdom so plenty of excuses to go into ruins for relics (I ended up placing a dragonlance there, so the heroes got to discover that and use it). Overall just a pretty good location to allow some intrigue and not tell the same story as the books, which is a huge reason I'm a fan of SotDQ. It feels a lot like the campaign I ran years ago, minus Lord Soth.

Based on what you've said, I think you might like the 2e material if that was the system you were playing (which from what I've gathered is not). It also blurs the Cataclysm lore quite a bit, including providing a theory the Kingpriest himself brought down the mountain using magic he didn't understand. My hope is WotC puts out something similar at some point if SotDQ does well. The novels were good for teenage me to read, but 43 year old me likes ambiguity in my gaming material to provide options. It helps keep players guessing where the campaign is going.