Dragonlance Covers (Warning - Big Images)

Stormprince said:
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.


?? How can a solid story ruin an RPG ? To my knowledge, RPGs have always been about character develoment and epic story & world building.

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...

Then DL will become the only true big fantasy RPG.

PS: You seem to be bringing out a lot of DL books. In years past DL was famous for its many adventures and little rule/world supplements. I still believe that adventures are the best way to promote a setting, to bring a good game and to show how it must be done correctly; therefore the most important of expansions.
 
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Shadowlord said:

?? How can a solid story ruin an RPG ? To my knowledge, RPGs have always been about character develoment and epic story & world building.

My feelings exactly, but there are many (especially here on EN World it seems) who find the game more about hack n' slash than roleplaying a character and playing through an epic storyline.

Part of my love for Dragonlance has always been the storytelling aspect over dungeons/Hack n' Slash.
 

QUOTE]Originally posted by Shadowlord
?? How can a solid story ruin an RPG ? To my knowledge, RPGs have always been about character develoment and epic story & world building.

Then DL will become the only true big fantasy RPG.

PS: You seem to be bringing out a lot of DL books. In years past DL was famous for its many adventures and little rule/world supplements. I still believe that adventures are the best way to promote a setting, to bring a good game and to show how it must be done correctly; therefore the most important of expansions.
[/QUOTE]

Many RPGs are, but some tend to promote more hack 'n' slash than roleplaying...how many people do you know that twink out their characters to the Nth degree, playing the min-max game? How many players do you know would play a wizard with a low Constitution score and turn it into a roleplaying twist instead of griping about how few hit points he has?

"Dragonlance be the only true big fantasy RPG"? I'm not quite sure where this came from...as much as I would like for it to, I doubt that Dragonlance gaming will be able to catch up with the popularity of the FR now a days, but we are going to try...we believe it's a great setting, and that's what we're trying to show everyone else...but, Dragonlance is not for everyone. It never has been. Even those that like the role-playing aspect may not like the world at all (gods know that I'm sick of hearing how many people dislike DL because of kender, gully dwarves, and gnomes...).

Because of the lack of solid D&D-based gaming information based on Dragonlance for many years, we need to do the suppliments that we are doing in order to bring all the "gaming" aspects up-to-date. That said, we definitely understand the need for adventure modules...which is why we put together a trilogy of adventures that are being released in the first year. I know how important they are, which is why the entire storyline of the three adventures were brainstormed over with Margaret Weis, Don Perrin, Jamie Chambers, and myself long before we even started working on them! Right now, I'm about half-way through writing the adventure and I'm having a blast. I'm taking everything that I've learned as a gamer, as a player and DM, and as a writer whose had the last year to spend every day learning more and more about the D&D/d20 system, to attempt to weave a massive adventure that will enable players to feel that they have an effect upon the world at large, while not feeling "overshadowed" because "it's been done in the novels and we have to follow that course exactly." So, keep an eye out for Key of Destiny, Spectre of Sorrow, and Price of Courage, the Dragonlance Campaign Adventures.

Christopher
 

(gods know that I'm sick of hearing how many people dislike DL because of kender, gully dwarves, and gnomes...).

I quite agree. With DL gnomes are finally a fleshout race and not just magic-using dwarves. Kender and Gully Dwarves again add colour and variety to the world.
 

DragonLancer said:


I quite agree. With DL gnomes are finally a fleshout race and not just magic-using dwarves. Kender and Gully Dwarves again add colour and variety to the world.

I agree completely :)

One of the things that many people forget is that Dragonlance is a fairly grim and gritty setting: Tanis is born of rape, the unborn embryoes of good dragons perverted into draconians, betrayal, lost love, choices...death.

Without a few things, such as the irrepressible kender, things would get almost too dark. They're a breath of refreshing change, the force of exhuberance and innocence, that can keep some from toppling completely over the edge...for awhile, anyways. Remember Raistlin's reaction to Bupu, the Gully Dwarf? ;) A redeemable quality about someone who has few such qualities. Without the gully dwarf character, Raistlin might've toppled even faster...and it's something that comes back to him decades later, during his "Quest."

Christopher
 

Why wasnt there any playtest? I would have sold kidneys to be able to glimpse 3e DL =)

(and before you ask, yes i did sign up and playtest Anvil of time. Between me and David Cavaney, we rewrote the module to fit the rules better, and to help tracy out)

But yes, i am starting to trust that you guys might know what you are doing here =)

Oh, and will cool DL beasts like the Phaetons from Wanderlust show up? or things like the tylor? How about Crusty Pudding Plants? Crystalline gnomes from lunitari? Ariakas's five colored sword? stats for verminaard's brother? What about my favorite dragonlance character ever, the Brown Dragon Verden Leafglow?

RIP Dan Parkinson.


Oh, and what about the towers? Will we use the excellent ideas from the dwarven nations books? What about the moon chart? DLA is obviously different from everything that came after. The mailing list has had a huge discussion on it.
 

talinthas said:
Why wasnt there any playtest? I would have sold kidneys to be able to glimpse 3e DL =)

(and before you ask, yes i did sign up and playtest Anvil of time. Between me and David Cavaney, we rewrote the module to fit the rules better, and to help tracy out)

But yes, i am starting to trust that you guys might know what you are doing here =)

Oh, and will cool DL beasts like the Phaetons from Wanderlust show up? or things like the tylor? How about Crusty Pudding Plants? Crystalline gnomes from lunitari? Ariakas's five colored sword? stats for verminaard's brother? What about my favorite dragonlance character ever, the Brown Dragon Verden Leafglow?

RIP Dan Parkinson.


Oh, and what about the towers? Will we use the excellent ideas from the dwarven nations books? What about the moon chart? DLA is obviously different from everything that came after. The mailing list has had a huge discussion on it.

Oh, trust me, there was a considerable amount of playtesting, both in house and at WotC, but because of the short turn around time that we had, we had to keep the playtesting fairly close to the chest so that we had immediate turn around on the information.

And both Jamie Chambers and our mutual friend, Sean Everette (the editor of Campaign and Games Unplugged Magazine) also playtested the Anvil of Time ;)

All sorts of things are going to be making an appearance...the Phaethon will actually be making their first appearance in a long time in my first adventure, Key of Destiny! :D Our Bestiary will be chocked full of tons of creatures, both "real" and "kender tales." ;)

There's some awesome stuff going into the Towers of High Sorcery book, and there's an incredible moon tracking chart in the DLCS! The best one I've ever seen :)

Christopher
 

yes, but what about the key issue for us anal folk?
Is lunitari on the inner ring or the middle ring?
Will the night of the eye still be Soli, Luni, Nui?
 

talinthas said:
yes, but what about the key issue for us anal folk?
Is lunitari on the inner ring or the middle ring?
Will the night of the eye still be Soli, Luni, Nui?

Yep :) The chart's pretty cool, with information on properly keeping track of time.

Christopher
 


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