Dragonlance Campaign Setting: Missed Opportunity?

[mmadsen]

I don't think the above statement's two sentences are related in any way.

I think one can be a "hardcore" DL fan and still enjoy (and maybe even prefer) the Chronicles. Maybe.

Well, once you delete the preceding definitions of "casual" and "hardcore", it does become more ambiguous. To reiterate:

[T]here appear to be two basic kinds of Dragonlance fans: casual, nostalgic fans, who read the Chronicles years ago, and hardcore fans who've read many of the multiple series, know the various ages and continents of Krynn, etc.

I'm using "casual" as a shorthand for "has read the Chronicles, maybe Legends, and maybe a few other Dragonlance novels," and "hardcore" as a shorthand for "completist, has read many Dragonlance series, has kept up with developments in the Dragonlance world". (Presumably, all "hardcore" fans enjoyed the Chronicles; they just didn't stop there.)

By producing a book about all of Dragonlance, did they produce a book that does not appeal to many Chronicles fans?

 

[Klaus]

Johnsemlak,

The Orders of High Sorcery, the Knights of Solamnia and the Knights of Neraka are detailed as groups of three Prestige Classes each. With minor changes, they can be ported to almost any campaign. The Wizards of High Sorcery could serve really well in a setting where magic is restricted to reclusive mages in their dark towers (like Conan and Lankhmar).

The rules for aerial combat are great, and the addition of altitude bands really help adjudicate 3D combat (even those where the PCs are on foot and the creatures are circling above).

There are new monsters, of course, that can be ported over to any game (like the minotaur with LA 0).

 

[talinthas]

the thing is, they didnt do that. the DLCS and AoM mainly hit the 'current' timeline of dragonlance. and honestly, the setting detail isnt to the level that i or other hardcores desire. I'm not quite sure what they filled the pages with, but it seems mainly to be a compendium of dragonlance specific crunch. That's not to say that i didnt buy the book (got it before official release even), but that i read through the whole thing and ran out of pages before i felt it should have actually started.

If you arent a dragonlance player, then there are a bunch of cool races (the irda, the draconians, the sea elves) to take, probably the best spontanious caster class out till UA comes, and really great rules about combat on dragonback. Not to mention a host of fun monsters and a good set of spells.

The Age of Mortals is more what i was looking for, in terms of a fleshed out campaign setting, and if you want to run any dragonlance campaign, it's imo more important than the DLCS.

 

[Wolffenjugend]

IMO, Dragonlance isn't aiming for non-DL players. Sure, they would like to net in some casual players and keep the lifers hooked, but DL is pretty much a niche setting.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the current DL setting. I don't slavishly preach the Chronicles either, but the War of Chaos/Souls just didn't do it for me. Someone posted once before that DL is nothing but a series of interconnected wars (which is true, to a certain extent). There isn't enough time to consolidate; things just roll into the next war (which gets tedious and boring after a while).

My solution? I run a custom DL campaign set just after the War of the Lance ends. So far, it's been great and I've been getting enthusiastic responses from my players. This has probably been the best campaign we've ever played (and definitely the most epic).

In conclusion, DL is definitely what you make of it. If you're looking for a pre-packaged, little DM-preparation world, DL is NOT it. But if you're looking for an epic setting that places an emphasis on P heroics and epic tales, then DL could be what you're looking for.

 

[Valiantheart]

Valiantheart, you sound like a disaffected, former-hardcore fan. (Perhaps that puts you in in the casual-fan category?) Would you have preferred a Chronicles-specific Dragonlance book? One that ignores the "new series of books [that] aren't any good"?

Yes. That is a pretty accurate statement of where I am currently at with the "world", "setting", whatever.

I would have preferred a book that focused on that time period but completely understand why that couldnt be done. Oh well too late now to spark my interest.

 

[Arnwyn]

By producing a book about all of Dragonlance, did they produce a book that does not appeal to many Chronicles fans?

Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, that could certainly be the case.

(However, it's my opinion that a product should be made for the hardcore fans, as they are the main supporters. On the business side of things, though, it's another story. Of course, the business side of things is what often entirely destroys a brand...)

 

[Desdichado]

Call me the casual fan who read the Chronicles (and nothing else) and just wasn't interested in the main book.

I don't know if it's well done or not; at this point I'm looking for stuff that's a little bit different, and DL isn't it. I'm really excited, on the other hand, to pick up the Conan book soon, and the Iron Kingdoms books, and the Eberron book.

 

[Davelozzi]

I fit pretty well into your definition of the casual DL fan, but in addition to Chronicles/Legends, I've picked up a handful of the RPG supplements over the years. I did pick up the DLCS, which was probably the first DL title I checked out in six or seven years. I've never read anything from Summer Flames on, and don't really know anything about the War of Souls, other than the very brief summary in the DLCS.

Nonetheless, I think that they made the right decision focusing on the current age. Over the years, many people have argued that what they don't like about DL is that it's hard to escape the shadow of the Heroes of the Lance and the events portrayed in Chronicles. For me at least, setting the campaign in the later time period makes it more of a clean break, and opens up the world a bit more for running a campaign that focuses on the heroes. Not that you couldn't do that with a game set during the War of the Lance, but it would be harder in my opinion.

Despite all that, I still would be pretty unlikely to run a Dragonlance campaign. I agree with Joshua that there's just so much out there now that if I'm going to run a published setting, it's going to be something new and different. If I was going to run a game that is more or less standard fantasy, I would rather use my homebrew, or failing that, either FR, GH, or something else before I'd turn to DL.

 

[Guilberwood]

A few days ago, I asked here in the boards why did Dragonlance campaigns generally didn't work out, and a lot of people said that it is because the pcs get outshined by the heros of the lance.

I guess that by making a book that dosen't only focus in the Chronicals, the authors are giving you the oportunity to play at different eras of the world, so no one can complain about being the "support hero".

In fact, the book has a small seccion about how to play in the different ages, including the war of the lance, the age of mortals, etc...

This way, if you want to play during the war of the lance, fine, but you also have the background to play at other periods too.

A Campaign setting can't be too specific, it has to cover the overall posibilities, focused material if for sourcebooks, like the one they released about the age of mortals, and acording to Talinthas (your DL SAGE) they will release about the war of the lance.

 

[Ranger REG]

A few days ago, I asked here in the boards why did Dragonlance campaigns generally didn't work out, and a lot of people said that it is because the pcs get outshined by the heros of the lance.

That's a ... for lack of a better word ... superficial whine, IMNSHO. We have other campaigns that have "legendary heroes" that would far outshine the most average adventurers playing in the world. MERP have Aragorn/Elessar, Gil-Galad, Legolas, etc. FR have Drizzt, Elminster, Alias, Arilyn, etc. Even DL have heroes that are not as great as those in the Chronicles or Legends (although I cannot believe that a fat, pathetic drunkard Caramon being legendary, even when he was hopping through time to rescue his mage brother, which was a futile attempt): Kaz, Kang, etc.

You just got to find your own niche in the fantasy world, even if it's Krynn.