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...

www.dndbeyond.com

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.

​

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

that's the thing, some people like it that way and some are asking for the reimagined setting to just bake more in

I am amongst the latter.

 

[Vaalingrade]

the trick is I refuse to believe (or support) that cosmic good NEEDS to work with cosmic evil

the way YOU describe it sounds more like law vs chaos

That'd be because originally, D&D stole the concept from books that used Law vs Chaos and did a terrible job of filing the serial numbers of... or making any real effort to change the flavor to actually reflect good or evil.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Its never good enough for folks to have what they want, they have to remove what some of us are looking forward to.

The things you want are bad in my opinion so I don't want anything to go your way, even though I hold nothing against you beyond our differing taste.

The minor side details being changed are for the overall good of the setting in my opinion, and are much better then keeping it the same.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The things you want are bad in my opinion so I don't want anything to go your way even though I hold nothing against you beyond our differing taste.

i can also say "I'm happy for you" as I am upset for me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The things you want are bad in my opinion so I don't want anything to go your way even though I hold nothing against you beyond our differing taste.

The minor side details being changed are for the overall good of the setting in my opinion, and are much better then keeping it the same.

Well, at least you're honest.

 

[Remathilis]

Wait 'til you find out the main currency of the setting is steel pieces! [emoji14]

DL bask in epicness and huge drama...but its far from tightly written piece of world building. The setting is tinted with the authors' vision of the world where the Gods are worshipped because they are Gods and that's that. Same with their idea of ''Balance''. Or the Mage Orders. Or the Kenders. They work because the authors said so; that's canon, even if it makes no real sense.

I really feel that's a big factor in Dragonlance. It's a setting where the designers really force their vision on the players and that's reflected heavily in the way they designed the PC options. It feels like they want you to be a knight of Solomnia, a Wizard of High Sorcery, a member of the Order of the Stars, a, uh .. handler (Krynn doesn't seem to have an important thief/criminal group, instead assuming the role of rogue will be done by a curious kender who isn't /really/ stealing).

I think that's why there is so much blowback to the idea of loosening up PC options: Dragonlance is intentionally designed to have only a few tightly defined viable archetypes. Anything else, the setting either shrugs its shoulders (bards, rangers) or just removes (druids, paladins). And in some cases, actively punishes you for playing outside the box (renegade wizards, heathen priests).

 

[Velderan]

looks awesome, makes me really excited to see if that is a subclass a feat or just a bonus for joining

If what was in the UA holds up, it will be a feat. 99% likely the only new subclass is the lunar sorcerer.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If what was in the UA holds up, it will be a feat. 99% likely the only new subclass is the lunar sorcerer.

i know most likely the only subclass will be moon sorcerer, but I wonder if it's a feat or if there is another trick... either way it looks cool

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

i know most likely the only subclass will be moon sorcerer, but I wonder if it's a feat or if there is another trick... either way it looks cool

In both Krynn UAs there was a feat tree for the Mages of High Sorcery - an "Initiate of High Sorcery" entry feat that branches to one of three "Adept of the X Robes" feats associated with the three moon/robe colors.

I would imagine that these almost certainly made it to the final book in some form or another.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Here a thing I can say I never liked that "manicheism" in Dragonlance or another fiction work. There is not a cosmic balance between good and evil. That is false. The true harmony is when everybody obeys the Natural Law. The evil actions are the cause of the break of the true natural harmony. How could you explain "sorry, your family were eaten alive by a horde of ghouls for a zombie apocalypse in the name of the cosmic balance because the halflings who live in the valley of the little pony are too good and happy".

Now I wonder if Krynn has got three moons, then... how will be the sea tide? It may be important for the people who live in the coast.

* Do we a seepstake about when the videogame based in Dragonlance?