Dragonlance Campaign Setting: Missed Opportunity?

[Ranger REG]

Should the Dragonlance Campaign Setting have emphasized the Chronicles?

Well...

I think the events that took place in the Chronicles should be part of the world's history, in summarized format (i.e., a footnote). You can always refer to the Chronicles Trilogy if players need more details.

If anything, I'd avoid adding character stats of the iconic heroes (i.e., Company of the Lance) in the main setting book. I know I may get flamed for that previous statement, but a smart DM should decide if those heroes be part of the NPC list that the PC heroes will encounter. Plus, players may want to look at the character they want to emulate by following the stats for their PC.

Personally, I'd like to know the state of the world after the War of the Lance, which is where I left off.

 

[Klaus]

I will use them in Heart of the Nightfang Spire, when the PCs meet the BBEG with the fly spell in the end.

In a nutshell, there are 6 "altitude bands":
0 = on the ground
1 = flying so close to the ground, you can hit (and be attacked by) melee weapons
2 = thrown, missile and breath weapons, plus spells
3 = missile, line breath weapons and spells
4 = long-range spells
5 = too far to reach (a speck on the horizon)

To calculate the distance between two flying foes, measure how far apart they are horizontally (as if they were both on the ground) then add some extra feet per difference in altitude band.

And aerial combat enforces the use of "facing" (since you must fly in a certain direction).

It reads well, and I am eager to try it!

 

[Desdichado]

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?

It wasn't bashing; it was a reasonable response to a specific question. I think that is a significant reason the setting has driven people away, and as it turns out, it's an externality in many ways. It's not related to the setting itself. I think there's a lesson in there somewhere...

 

[Henry]

I think rounser had a valid complaint, at its heart; I loved the modules, but solely as a resource for some fantastic maps (Xak Tsaroth being my all-time favorite) and visual imagery. The problem to me was that if you deviate, then you deviate from the novels, because the novels came first, so to speak; In other instances (remember Pool of Radience computer game and module?) it was slightly less scripted and there were no central heroes that dominated in every form of media that was tied to the franchise.

Sure you had Alias and Dragonbait for the Azure Bonds, but that's more of going backwards into railroad characterization, than forwards into "set the scene and let the Players build the heroes."

DL modules, same as all modules, would need to set up visually grabbing scenes and encounters, and let the players and DM figure out the outcome.

For example, remember the bumbling around of the heroes in Xak Tsaroth and the huge encounter with the dragon at the end? THat thing was predestined; but what if you've got a sneaky party that sneaks in and never even sees the Dragon, or robs it blind without it knowing? You need to plan for it. The Disks of Mishakal were key to the rest of the chronicles, but the PC's might have never even found them.

 

[DragonLancer]

For example, remember the bumbling around of the heroes in Xak Tsaroth and the huge encounter with the dragon at the end? THat thing was predestined; but what if you've got a sneaky party that sneaks in and never even sees the Dragon, or robs it blind without it knowing? You need to plan for it. The Disks of Mishakal were key to the rest of the chronicles, but the PC's might have never even found them.

But a decent DM plans for that. If they are sneaky and manage to get it from under the nose of the dragon, let them. If they don't find or don't recover the Disks of Mishakal then whats the problem? The gods don't return for a while longer and things get darker and nastier for the world.

 

[mmadsen]

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

Certainly you can't please all the people all the time, but would the Dragonlance Campaign setting have pleased more people if it had been more focused on the Chronicles?

I have to think that all the hardcore fans would have bought it -- and quite a few casual fans would have bought it too.

The old Dragonlance game forced me to leave because it was boring. It was Raistlin and Tanis and Goldmoon. Again, and again, and again.

I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. I don't own a shelf full of Dragonlance products. I'm a casual fan, if that.

Also, I don't think I'd even try to stay true to the novels; I'd run the setting as a what-if scenario: what if these guys replaced the Heroes of the Lance. Of course, that assumes the original modules could be turned into something more flexible. (I never played the originals, so I don't know firsthand how bad the railroading was.)

 

[DragonLancer]

I'm a fan of DL, and have been ever since I read the Chronicles way back in the day.

I don't understand the hostility that the setting draws in. The heroes of the lance were just a single band of heroes that the books followed. There were others who did deeds just as important, but it seems people don't think of that. Yes, the novels did just stick with the same people over and over again, which was the reason I stopped buying the novels.

Then SAGA came out (which is when I stopped buying DL) and the whole thing went to hell. Far too much change, far too quickly, and it it spoilt the setting. It wasn't DL anymore. The period following the Blue Lady's War was perfect for TSR to leave the setting alone. Release sourcebooks and adventures, but don't screw around with a destructive metaplot like they did.

I've come back into the fold now that SovStone are releasing materials but I have been forced to make more than a few changes to how Krynn will play out between the War of the Lance and where it currently stands.

Look beyond kender, gully dwarves, gnomes and the same old characters. Look at the vibrant, and epric potential the setting has.

 

[Voadam]

Hell, the first FR novels took place in Maztica of all places!

Moonshaes was the first set of novels when there was nothing but the Campaign setting boxed set and some modules. The Moonshae isles were then among the first area expansions for FR (I forget if they did Waterdeep first).

The Maztica novels came years later during the second edition of D&D and FR.

 

[talinthas]

eh, technicalities =) i'm not an FR sage by any means.

suffice to say, the first two series of FR novels took place in far parts of the world from each other, and thus allowed for a lot of room to adventure in between.

let's put it this way- you hear of drizz't clones, but never of people who think that FR should have stuck with the icewind dale trilogy only when they made their campaign setting.

Chronicals has been done so many times that i know the geneology of the termites in caramon's house. Dragonlance needs to become a fleshed out, playable setting. Then again, i think that the setting also needs a hard reset, starting over from scratch.

 

[mmadsen]

I think rounser had a valid complaint, at its heart...

For the record, I don't dispute his point; I just thought it could trigger a defensive reaction (and thus a flame war).

I loved the modules, but solely as a resource for some fantastic maps [...] and visual imagery. The problem to me was that if you deviate, then you deviate from the novels...

Is it a problem to deviate from the novels?

DL modules, same as all modules, would need to set up visually grabbing scenes and encounters, and let the players and DM figure out the outcome.

Sounds reasonable -- but a well-written module should help the DM with probable outcomes; it shouldn't assume the party stays on the rails -- which is a point I'd make in response to Dragonlancer as well:

But a decent DM plans for that. If they are sneaky and manage to get it from under the nose of the dragon, let them. If they don't find or don't recover the Disks of Mishakal then whats the problem? The gods don't return for a while longer and things get darker and nastier for the world.