Dragonlance Covers (Warning - Big Images)

[Stormprince]

[William Shatner voice]
Damn you Sovereign Press, damn you I say!
You are going to make me buy all of those books aren't you!
Oh the humanity!
[/William Shatner voice]

Now here's an idea for you. Instead of giving foldout maps with
the books you could sell a plastic map case containing giant
poster quality foldout maps of all the different times of Ansalon,
Taladas, maps of the major cities etc. That would be far better
than a new Atlas, and it would be a must buy for any Dragonlance
fan, whether just a fan of the novels or an avid gamer.

Stay tuned

Christopher

 

[DragonLancer]

Now here's an idea for you. Instead of giving foldout maps with
the books you could sell a plastic map case containing giant
poster quality foldout maps of all the different times of Ansalon,
Taladas, maps of the major cities etc. That would be far better
than a new Atlas, and it would be a must buy for any Dragonlance
fan, whether just a fan of the novels or an avid gamer.

Now that is a great idea!
I'd buy two of each, one of the game and one for the wall.

 

[Stormprince]

To Stormprince:

You convinced me a bit; now let's see if the books will hold up to it! But 8-9 books a year is a lot ; let's not turn this into another maniacal possession plague.

It's strange that DL and D&D always go together; the one is an in-depth RPG while the other is a rules fest (or nightmare).
Did you ever consider doing DL as a stand-alone RPG, d20 or not? Like Wheel of Time? Why? Oh... probably because WOTC had the license and you were forced to make it for D&D. But then WoT is also published by WOTC and it IS stand-alone.

One of the reasons we have such an ambitious product schedule is because we're partially making up for lost time...additionally, we can't "assume" that everyone that buys the books necessarily knows anything about it...our schedule is really no more ambitious than most other companies...for example, how many Arcana Unearthed products are being released within the first few months after it comes out? (And yes, I will be buying a copy of AU.)

Dragonlance was done as a stand-alone RPG...the SAGA system. While some people did like it, it alienated many others, which is one of the reasons that people stopped playing Dragonlance for quite awhile (unless they homebrewed it, using older published materials). Dragonlance is Dungeons & Dragons. It was designed that way originally and it should stay that way (particularly after already witnessing what occured with the SAGA system).

Dragonlance, unlike Wheel of Time, is an intellectual property owned by Wizards of the Coast, just as the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Planescape, Dark Sun, Greyhawk, etc. Yeah, d20 can be very rules heavy...but that's why we introduce things such as "story and roleplaying awards" in the DLCS, because role-playing is a major part of Dragonlance--story & characters are the most important part of the game!

Christopher

 

[Shadowlord]

Dragonlance was done as a stand-alone RPG...the SAGA system.

The SAGA system was a card based game with no dice. That's why it alienated so far from a "normal" RPG and thus the "normal" audience that plays RPGs with dice and not cards. Making DL a "normal" RPG (with dice) again would have brought the audience back together, evenas a stand-alone (d20) RPG.

That said, I believe DL would have been even better when built up from the ground, independent of the D&D corebooks. It seems that everything that's published using d20 is made "for" the system instead of vice versa; the system, only being a cold medium, should adapt to the setting. Since RPGs aren't games you can simply "win", games with no clear ending, the system shouldn't inhibit restrictions upon a solid story.
After all, it's the GM that decides all and there's no sane reason to set rules in stone. Every sane RP-er will admit this, and I'm sure you understand me here.

...but that's why we introduce things such as "story and roleplaying awards" in the DLCS, because role-playing is a major part of Dragonlance--story & characters are the most important part of the game!

Is this only true for DL ? That are the prime elements of every RPG. Only D&D got itself into a collectors hobby and a more complicated and more expensive library than a wargame with hundreds of painted miniatures. Or maybe it has always been like that. The insane complexity of previous editions made me opt for other RPGs.

PS: I'm reclusive in buying the corebooks again. Will I miss a lot if I use the old ones or even none? How much do you need the PHB/DMG/MM for DL ? Many RPGs come in only one or two corebooks but D&D remains obstinate.

 

[DragonLancer]

PS: I'm reclusive in buying the corebooks again. Will I miss a lot if I use the old ones or even none? How much do you need the PHB/DMG/MM for DL ? Many RPGs come in only one or two corebooks but D&D remains obstinate.

I'm the same. I shall be sticking with 3rd edition (none of this 3.5 nonsense) for my DL games. I'm guessing that nothing much will change since 3rd & 3.5 are pretty much interchangable.

 

[D-Man]

Will we be getting any PrC's for Clerics in either the DLCS or Age of Mortals book?

You mentioned writing an article on Sea Elves who use magic. Where would this article be published?

Thanks for all the info! Hey who would be responsible for getting a Dragonlance computer game developed along the lines of a Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment? The technology has come so far since the old Dark Queen of Krynn days, and I think it would be a great shot in the arm for the setting.

 

[Triumph]

There are stats for Sirines in the Monster Manual two. However, we may go into more detail on them in one of our later products...just keep an eye out

That's cool, because apparently my copy of the MM2 neglected to include the section about how they TURN INTO BEARS....

 

[Stormprince]

There was never any doubt about Dragonlance being D&D...after all, that is how it was originally designed. Almost every aspect of it, from the "restrictions" and the "Curse of the Magi" placed upon wizards and the Orders of High Sorcery, as well as dwarves and kender being unable to use wizardly magic, were born from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. To change that now would be changing for change's sake...and when we decided that we wanted to do Dragonlance for 3rd Edition, we wanted to bring together the two "fan" groups found in gamers: the original AD&D players and the SAGA players. Because of our license, we are effectively a Dungeons & Dragons product...yeah, it's got the d20 system logo on it, but it's pure Dungeons & Dragons...only we get to tweak the base system (with help from the WotC design staff for the DLCS) to make sure that things remain "Dragonlance."

That said, don't think that we're at all terrified of "Alternate" rules and the like...our Sovereign Stone magic system's proof positive of that. Love it or hate it, it was one of the first "non-slot" based magic systems for d20 out there. If an existing rule does not "fit," we are not going to shoehorn Dragonlance into fitting it!

Worse case scenario...don't forget that the SRD is being updated immediately. Between the SRD and the 3.0 rule books, you should have plenty to play with... *chuckles*

Dragonlance has always been a story-world; indeed, many believe that it's so story driven that it makes for a poor RPG...personally, I beg to differ. That's what we are trying to show, and hopefully, that's what people will take away with them...the rules-loving fans are going to love some of the stuff we've come up with, such as the hard rules for judging aerial combat between dragons. For the role-playing intensive fans, we've introduced guidelines for awarding story-based and role-playing-based experience awards...

I can go on all night, trust me... *laughs* But, to sum things up, Dragonlance is D&D, but it's D&D done differently

Christopher

 

[Stormprince]

Will we be getting any PrC's for Clerics in either the DLCS or Age of Mortals book?

You mentioned writing an article on Sea Elves who use magic. Where would this article be published?

Thanks for all the info! Hey who would be responsible for getting a Dragonlance computer game developed along the lines of a Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment? The technology has come so far since the old Dark Queen of Krynn days, and I think it would be a great shot in the arm for the setting.

In a way, yes, there will be: there are the two branches of the two knighthoods that focus upon "clerical" aspects: the Knights of the Skull (the Dark Knights) and the Knights of the Sword (Solamnic Knights). Don't worry, though, they'll be getting plenty of attention soon enough!

*hrms* Probably end up in Games Unplugged or Campaign Magazines, I'd have to check and see.

As for computer games, WotC owns the license, so any possible computer games would be entirely up to them...if the game line and novels do well enough, then I'm sure they'll see that there's enough interest to do so!

Christopher

 

[Stormprince]

That's cool, because apparently my copy of the MM2 neglected to include the section about how they TURN INTO BEARS....

I believe that's covered under their Polymorph Self ability

Christopher