Dragonlance, do you like it?

[DragonLancer]

Do with it as you will. Don't like the post WOS stuff, send the setting spirallying off into your own direction. Mine newer books and supps for ideas and charas to incorporate...

Exactlly. I don't like the Chaos War onwards so instead of that event I used the Githyanki Invasion plot from Dragon mag to move my Krynn in a different direction. Somethings remained the same, most have changed.

Its not just DL, I'd expect DM's to do that with any setting.

 

[Razuur]

I enjoyed the first to novel trilogies, but I didn't care for any of the later books that I read. (So, I stopped reading anything DL after a while.)

I've considered running a DL game but never have--except for running DL1 once. My current group has expressed active disinterest.

Honestly, Chronicles were what i read right as I was getting into D&D in the early/mid eighties.

They were the inspiring exciting fiction for a kid n middle school who had trouble reading LOTR.

Now later in life, rereading chronicles was less satisfactory - especially with the gaps of time missing that my brain remembered being there... (Ironically, Now LOTR is more satisfying to read.

I have yearned for a directors cut revised edition for a while now.

If I had one complaint about DL, it is that the supplements are released far to slowly for me. I would love to see the setting release material at the rate midnight does. One product a month, big or small.

Razuur

 

[Belen]

I'd be curious to hear more from those who mine Dragonlance for ideas to use in their own games, to see what's taken and what's not.

I love Dragonlance, but hate playing in it. It is one of those setting so linked to the novels that you cannot get past them. Also, there are not enough differing regions of the world. It always feels too homogenous.

However, I love to steal from the setting. I have yanked the Towers of High Sorcery and the orders for my homebrew. I intend to yank the Knights of Solamnia and the Knights of Neraka as prestige organizations. I did yank the noble class, but it required some work to be fun and playable.

Tha main problem with DL is that its core story does not stand out. It does not seem to offer any unique gaming experience and the presets are too difficult to overcome for a DM to change things to fit his idea.

Also, while there are some awesome items like the Towers or Knights, there are enough of them to attract a crowd.

Finally, there has never been enough written about the various nations. One thing that could make a real difference with DL would be to make the various countries more unique, add in some political intrigue, create some campaign hooks, have tensions and rivalries....

DL is just too epic. We need more of the small stuff to make it feel like real people can live there.

 

[Cam Banks]

Finally, there has never been enough written about the various nations. One thing that could make a real difference with DL would be to make the various countries more unique, add in some political intrigue, create some campaign hooks, have tensions and rivalries....

DL is just too epic. We need more of the small stuff to make it feel like real people can live there.

Have you read any of the recent sourcebooks? When we put War of the Lance together we had exactly these things in mind. The geography section in that book is something like 90 pages, and there's an extensive treatment of the War itself as a backdrop, along with many other things which should help to make it a richer and less vanilla-seeming setting. We do pay attention to things like this, you know.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Belen]

That's unfortunately part of the problem. When creating further materials for gameplay in Dragonlance, we're hit with two contradictory yet perfectly understandable issues: that people remember the War of the Lance as it was played out in Chronicles and think the setting is too limited and only the Companions matter; and people who see anything new, revised, added, or changed and express frustration or complain that it isn't the same as it was in the War of the Lance as it was played out in Chronicles.

The other problem is that you guys do not release material fast enough. It takes forever to get new DL books. I would consider books like Towers of High Sorcery and Holy Order of Stars as far more critical than "Age of Mortals" of "War of the Lance." The lack of new material makes it very hard to consider DL as a good campaign to run. We only see one major book release a year. Heck, Holy Order of Stars was announced at least 2 years ago.

DL is just not viable unless the publishing schedule picks up. If you have to wait years for releases, then why play?

Also, one of the other posters mentioned that they would like to see a book on Taladas. Someone chimed in and said that it would be years before any such book would be released. Instead, we get an update of the adventures from War of the Lance? How does that further the world? It is rehashed material that goes backward in the timeline, not forward.

Stuff like this makes DL seem more like a nostalgia setting rather than something you'd want to play in right now.

 

[Cam Banks]

Also, one of the other posters mentioned that they would like to see a book on Taladas. Someone chimed in and said that it would be years before any such book would be released. Instead, we get an update of the adventures from War of the Lance? How does that further the world? It is rehashed material that goes backward in the timeline, not forward.

Stuff like this makes DL seem more like a nostalgia setting rather than something you'd want to play in right now.

I can see that perspective. One major difference between the Realms (which has its own very popular novel line) and Dragonlance is that the original DL trilogy is still a consistent best-seller. Most people new to the setting start with it, so it was decided that the War of the Lance made a logical choice for that market (which is huge). Not covering that era would mean alienating a lot of the fans who have been clamoring for an update, which doesn't make much sense.

As for Taladas, it's currently the setting for a new series of books by popular author Chris Pierson. There's no point releasing an update of 2nd edition AD&D's Time of the Dragon until Chris is done with that trilogy.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Belen]

Have you read any of the recent sourcebooks? When we put War of the Lance together we had exactly these things in mind. The geography section in that book is something like 90 pages, and there's an extensive treatment of the War itself as a backdrop, along with many other things which should help to make it a richer and less vanilla-seeming setting. We do pay attention to things like this, you know.

Cheers,
Cam

That's great, although I would prefer this to be done with the modern age. I own War of the Lance, but have yet to crack it open.

 

[Belen]

I can see that perspective. One major difference between the Realms (which has its own very popular novel line) and Dragonlance is that the original DL trilogy is still a consistent best-seller. Most people new to the setting start with it, so it was decided that the War of the Lance made a logical choice for that market (which is huge). Not covering that era would mean alienating a lot of the fans who have been clamoring for an update, which doesn't make much sense.

As for Taladas, it's currently the setting for a new series of books by popular author Chris Pierson. There's no point releasing an update of 2nd edition AD&D's Time of the Dragon until Chris is done with that trilogy.

Cheers,
Cam

I can see why you would want to release this given that context; however, you still do not address the glacial publishing schedule. We simplely have to wait too long for new DL material.

Releasing War of the Lance stuff is great in the context you provided, however, when that is one of 2-3 release per year, it really hurts people who may want to move forward with the setting.

 

[Cam Banks]

I can see why you would want to release this given that context; however, you still do not address the glacial publishing schedule. We simplely have to wait too long for new DL material.

I can't address that, sorry - I'm just a freelancer! But I do know that this is a recognized complaint of many small publishers. With any luck things should be moving along at a much better pace after this summer.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Voadam]

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