Dragonlance Dragonlance or Mystara?

[CleverNickName]

I never played the Dragonlance setting in D&D, but I'm quite familiar with it. I was (and still am) a fan of the fantasy novels, and I've read the whole series more than once. I don't know why the thought of playing D&D in Krynn never appealed to me. Then again, I can say the same about Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," Lloyd Alexander's "Chronicles of Prydain," Terry Brooks's "Shannara," and Garth Nix's "Abhorsen." And I could go on.

And the thought of reading any of the Forgotten Realms novels never really appealed to me either. I guess I'm not all that interested in the novelization of a D&D campaign setting, either.

Wandering off topic, I wonder why Dragonlance was the one that got to be branded as an "official TS&R product" and widely distributed, and not any of the other fantasy novels of the time. It's such a robust genre of fiction, and as wonderful as Weiss & Hickmann are, they aren't the only game in town (so to speak).

 

[see]

Wandering off topic, I wonder why Dragonlance was the one that got to be branded as an "official TS&R product" and widely distributed, and not any of the other fantasy novels of the time. It's such a robust genre of fiction, and as wonderful as Weiss & Hickmann are, they aren't the only game in town (so to speak).

Because it was D&D product first, novels afterward. Dragonlance was the novelization of the game line, not gamification of the novels.

It's like asking, "Why did the 1976 novel ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster get made into a major movie when there were so many other science fiction novels of the time?" Star Wars wasn't adapted from the book, the book was adapted from the movie, even though the book got released first.

 

[CleverNickName]

Because it was D&D product first, novels afterward. Dragonlance was the novelization of the game line, not gamification of the novels.

It's like asking, "Why did the 1976 novel ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster get made into a major movie when there were so many other science fiction novels of the time?" Star Wars wasn't adapted from the book, the book was adapted from the movie, even though the book got released first.

Ah, I didn't know that.

Maybe I should give the Realms novels a go, then.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Because it was D&D product first, novels afterward. Dragonlance was the novelization of the game line, not gamification of the novels.

My understanding, based on reading the Annotated Dragonlance Chronicals, the annotations from the authors mentioned that the novels and modules were being developed in coordination with each other, with the modules being written before the novels about half way through. The novels were tracking just behind the early modules in the pipeline up to a point, then the novel writing overtook the game designers.

Jeff Grubb’s annotation right before chapter 9 in Dragons of Winter Night says:
“The Stone Dragon represents an important milestone in the development of Dragonlance, though not one most fans know. Since the game modules and the novels were written concurrently, Tracy and Margaret would often be writing to catch up and fit with already created game material and background, and had to tap dance mightily to make what works in terms of a game adventure be exciting in terms of a novel. At the Stone Dragon, Margaret and Tracy caught up. I was the designer of module DL7, Dragons of Light, and that was the point where Margaret and Trac’s writing for the novels caught up to game material. Before that, the novels had to take into account material that was already “in the pipeline.” After the Stone Dragon, the games followed and designers had to double-check against the book material.”

 

[GreyLord]

Dragonlance deserves a new story that comes full circle with where the setting started, and where it's been since then. Even the warts.

Move forward even further, restore things like Solace (may have already happened?), portray the gods that remain in the world as weak and distant, the War of The Lance as a part of history that informs where the world is, but doesn't define any ongoing story any more than the Cataclysm defined the first story.

Include ways for the characters to, if they want, carry on the Legacy of a past character, and introduce a whole capter on running a game that is informed by past campaigns, how to run legacy characters, etc. I mean, if I'm playing a mage, I kinda want the option, if my DM is down with it, to find or inherit the Staff of Magius, or be a pupil of the pupil of Dalamar or even Palin Majere, or be a scion of the family of one of the Heroes. Probably an alternate way of using the basic framework of the Divine Boons or whatever they're called in Theros.

But all that aside, you start the story, you make the date of the campaign world in the setting book, a day where some intrepid heroes meet to talk about the rumors of an army marching across the continent, and what can be done about it. Takhisis is back, but where is her counterpart? Or, flip that, and the army is the Divine Crusade of New Ishtar. Or whatever. Get a fantasy author to help you, for crying out loud, and come up with a new threat that calls back to old lore without rehashing it.

But once again, the world needs Heroes, and those heroes need to rediscover, or reforge, the Dragonlances!

They actually tried that already.

In Dragons of Summer Flame, at the end, the divine leaves Krynn. The entire pantheon leaves Krynn, with the idea that it is left in the hand of men and mortals to write their future.

It was to leave it in a way as you sort of describe...

And then TSR got the brilliant idea to introduce SAGA...


Years later, they wrote Krynn back into how it was after the Wotl in order to try to salvage what was left...did a good enough job to have a relatively successful 3.5 DL RPG run.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

They actually tried that already.

In Dragons of Summer Flame, at the end, the divine leaves Krynn. The entire pantheon leaves Krynn, with the idea that it is left in the hand of men and mortals to write their future.

It was to leave it in a way as you sort of describe...

And then TSR got the brilliant idea to introduce SAGA...


Years later, they wrote Krynn back into how it was after the Wotl in order to try to salvage what was left...did a good enough job to have a relatively successful 3.5 DL RPG run.

Right. At this point the setting has a cycle.

So, they should do another circuit, bring this one round to a state of affairs that feels like chapter one of the first novel, and try real hard to never move the setting forward in time again and instead just let it be what it is. If secondary books are justified, make them deep dives or else looks at things only touched on in the main setting book.

Do that, include rules for mass combat and leadership (expansion on the patron rules, honestly), maybe a Captain class if they’re feeling froggy, but certainly new player options alongside new ways to play the game, and it’s a solid book with broad appeal.

 

[overgeeked]

A second, invisible moon with samurai cat people living on it. An ancient crashed spaceship. A buried nuclear reactor. An ancient Blackmoor device exploded, tilting the world. The Hollow World. The spell of preserving. Kalaktatla, the Amber Serpent...aka Ka the Preserver...an Immortal T-Rex who preserves ancient civilizations by moving them to the hollow world, including faux Romans and faux Aztecs. Flying continents. Flying cities. Crashed flying cities. Flying ships. Flying gnomes. A city of Immortals on the moon. Vast galactic empires. Time travel. Aliens. Genetic manipulation. Alternate dimensions. Thar. All the unique races and monsters. Immortals. Slowly dying magic. Shadow elves. The denial of the Hin. Bargle. Threshold. The Isle of Dread. The modules. I could almost swoon just thinking about it all.

Dragonlance has a big war with dragons, right?