Dragonlance Campaign Setting: Missed Opportunity?

[mmadsen]

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.

Those other campaign settings receive the exact same complaint (of heroes in the shadow of greater heroes in a greater conflict) -- but let's not go down that road right now.

Should the Dragonlance Campaign Setting have emphasized the Chronicles?

 

[talinthas]

no.
absolutly not.
god, no.

If it had gone down that path for a fifth time (original modules, DL classics, Tales of the Lance, DL15th anniversary) then the setting would be derided as a one horse wonder who rode that poor mount to death and raised it via foul necromantic means. AKA the way most folks talk about it already. DL needs to prove itself as a sustainable campaign setting, not just a place for people to relive the novels. Would FR have succeeded as well as it has if the only place you could campaign in was in Drizz't's footsteps? Hell, the first FR novels took place in Maztica of all places!

Chronicals is the foundation of dragonlance, for sure. But i'd much rather live in the house built upon that foundation, as opposed to an empty lot.

 

[Aristotle]

I consider myself a casual fan. Chronicles was very much my introduction to fantasy literature as well as D&D, but I did not read much beyond that (The trilogy about the twins and the book about the minotaur was about it). I've *never* played in the campaign setting specifically (although my first DM ran games in a generic setting inspires almost solely by DL).

I saw the book for 60% off and figured I'd pick it up. I don't buy campaign setting stuff much, but at that price I thought I'd take a look. And I really like it... I don't know anything about the various ages, the later generations of heroes, etc.. But the setting seems well put together at first pass, and captures enough of the old elements that made DL "different" in my eyes back then to make it interesting to me now.

Will I run it? I dunno. But it makes my short list.

 

[rounser]

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.

In the case of the original modules/Dragonlance Classics modules, I thought it was because there's so much railroading involved that you can almost hear the shunting of the engine and the rumble of carriages. (Given the world-spanning scope of the adventures, that's not too surprising mind you.)

 

[mmadsen]

In the case of the original modules/Dragonlance Classics modules, I thought it was because there's so much railroading involved that you can almost hear the shunting of the engine and the rumble of carriages.

Please, let's not turn this into a Dragonlance-bashing session. Let me try to form a slightly more constructive question: Could the original modules be reasonably modified to reduce/eliminate the railroading without losing their good qualities in the process?

 

[rounser]

Please, let's not turn this into a Dragonlance-bashing session.

Sorry if it came across that way, because I'm a casual fan of the setting (as defined earlier in the thread) and it wasn't intended as such; just a statement of fact of what the modules are, not a bashing of the setting.

That series of modules is like that not because of anything to do with Dragonlance, but simply because (IMO) any series of modules with that much scope (world-spanning campaign shenanigans) is almost inevitably going to have to be a railroadathon. There are just too many possibilities to cover.

 

[Guilberwood]

I bought the setting at the 60% sale too, and I liked it.

Since DL is my favorite setting one can say I am a big fan, though I haven't read most of the novels(only chronicals and legends).

I have my own complains about DL too, but enjoyed what they've done in the Campaing setting .

They didn't railroad you to play during the war of the lance, in fact, they started to clear the path to make DL a real campaing setting, not the background for fantasy novels

 

[Wolffenjugend]

Should the DLCS have focussed on the Chronicles? Hmmm, that's sort of a tough one.

On the one hand, you could argue that the DLCS should focus on DL's strength - which is the Chronicles (the most popular D&D books ever).

However, I can understand the need to keep the setting "current" and not allow it to stagnate. Probably, no DL setting in post-Chronicles Krynn will ever be as popular as the original, but that shouldn't stop them from trying...

 

[Banshee16]

The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is currently on sale at Amazon for 60% off, and I realized that I'm still not interested -- even though I have fond memories of the original Chronicles. This got me thinking; there 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.

Did they miss their chance at rekindling interest in Dragonlance by catering to the "hardcore" fans? Should they have put out a Chronicles-specific book first?

I disagree....

I think it's just a situation of not being able to please all of the people all of the time.

I'm an old hard core Dragonlance fan.....it was my first gaming world, and I both played and ran games there for years. Eventually I moved on, but would visit once in a while with new games or short adventures, etc.

The old Dragonlance game forced me to leave because it was boring. It was Raistlin and Tanis and Goldmoon. Again, and again, and again. The world was static. It never changed, and as a result, I lost interest.

Though I *loved* Chronicles I've had my fill. There's only so many times you can play through the same stuff over and over again. I really disliked 5th Age SAGA, but the new 5th Age D20 stuff isn't bad....at least the world is changing.

The only thing that I ask is that the changes be somewhat smaller for a while. No more blowing up the world every 20 years.

Overall, I found the DLCS and AoM books to be useful. They repeat some things a bit too much in the books, but there's lots of good stuff. Even if I don't play Dragonlance again, likely I'll have my Planescape characters visit it. And there are things like the Knights of Takhisis which have had a presence in my Planescape game, so at last I have rules for them. And I'll likely have an Irda planewalker or two..

Banshee

 

[mmadsen]

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).

Well that certainly sounds interesting. Has anyone here used the aerial combat rules?