Dragonlance Dragonlance cataclysm and a bit about Paladine

[GMforPowergamers]

It is impossible to talk about Dragonlance in the way you and others want to without bringing this stuff in.

That can't be true... if it is it is ANOTHER reason to fix it. There should not be additional reading of non gaming books needed to understand the campaign world. No one should be forced to read or discuss religion of the real world just to understand the concepts of the game.

I am not engaging anymore in this crazy 'you need to understand this religion' talk. If you (and I don't mean Micha Sweet I mean a general you) can not make a coherent argument without reaching for a religiose book that has nothing to do with the game that says MORE about the issue then anything I can.

 

[billd91]

That can't be true... if it is it is ANOTHER reason to fix it. There should not be additional reading of non gaming books needed to understand the campaign world. No one should be forced to read or discuss religion of the real world just to understand the concepts of the game.

Well, that's cultural literacy for you. Sometimes it helps and is worthwhile to understand allusions and how things are sometimes written in parallel with elements from the culture around us. It's part of the richness of culture.

 

[billd91]

The deities of Krynn are "alien intelligences"? No. They've never been written that way. Deities in the real world have never been "written" that way either. The gods of the Real World are supernatural in nature, but very, very human in outlook and behavior. As are the gods of D&D.

Well, yeah, sort of. Except for the fact that they're immortal and have immense cosmic power. That's gonna have an effect. Why else would the gods of real world mythology behave the way they do with far more confidence, arrogance, and hubris even than real world people?

 

[AnotherGuy]

Hal and Kyle and John etc didn’t somehow negate Allen being a (the) Green Lantern.

Btw Guy Gardner is the best GL.

Best attitude maybe, but Hal won the fisticuffs fight in front of their peers back in the 90's

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well, yeah, sort of. Except for the fact that they're immortal and have immense cosmic power. That's gonna have an effect. Why else would the gods of real world mythology behave the way they do with far more confidence, arrogance, and hubris even than real world people?

~Looks aside at real world people~

Um...

 

[AnotherGuy]

My point is that just because the gods of Krynn have "xG" in their descriptions doesn't make them infallible. Rather than argue about whether they dropped a mountain of fire on Istar, we can discuss why they did and maybe learn something interesting, entertaining and even useful (in play) about the gods.

This is what I find most appealing in these settings - like the Wall of the Faithless and many other things which I wont mention so as not to derail the thread. These imperfections allow for greater story-telling. I personally find the challenge interesting of trying to make sense of these grey areas. I do not want clean settings, I want the warts, give me that which horrifies the modern man. I will find a way to make it work.

EDIT: I did like the addition of the gods attempting a series of things (rather than just Lord Soth) to try avoid the Cataclysm. I just had a thought, you know what would be great for a DL campaign - the time leading up to the Cataclysm. You could play it like Call of Cthulu i.e. trying to stop the inevitable or you could be more adventurous and take it in the complete opposite direction.

 

[Demetrios1453]

You know, maybe we need a dedicated Dragonlance philosophy debate thread? Especially with the book having its general release next week, I'd rather not see every thread concerning it getting cluttered up with the same, repetitive conversation....

 

[Hussar]

You know, maybe we need a dedicated Dragonlance philosophy debate thread? Especially with the book having its general release next week, I'd rather not see every thread concerning it getting cluttered up with the same, repetitive conversation....

Well, hey, it almost took two pages to get going, so, there's some improvement at least.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Well, that's cultural literacy for you. Sometimes it helps and is worthwhile to understand allusions and how things are sometimes written in parallel with elements from the culture around us. It's part of the richness of culture.

and that's great for a novel or TV show... it falls apart for a game . Italso means that the modern cultural around us that says you cant blow up a city or country to stop a bad leader comes into play.
or is your argument to cherry pick WHAT culture matters?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

You know, maybe we need a dedicated Dragonlance philosophy debate thread? Especially with the book having its general release next week, I'd rather not see every thread concerning it getting cluttered up with the same, repetitive conversation....

That would be nice.