Dragonlance

[JoeGKushner]

I like Dragonlance in some aspects. It has it's own feel for certain. However, the new books are a little on the pricy side. Nothing completely outrageous but 160 full color pages for $34.95 is at my spending limit because there are all sorts of books I can buy, usually larger, for that price, although the art and full-color issue comes back to haunt me.

 

[Dr Simon]

I'm currently running a Dragonlance campaign (loosely a re-telling of the War of the Lance but without the pre-gen characters, lots of bits changed around, more political messing about (it gets a bit like the Wheel of Time in places only hopefully not as ponderous) and various oddball bits added (the players are yet to encounter the tragic-yet-deranged gnomish mad scientist Doctor Ulbersill and his cyborg monkeys....).

I like the idea of the original campaign, although some of the modules DL1-14 could either be too rail-roading for my liking ("obscure death" rules - gah!) or oddly illogical if you look to closely.

Oddly enough, I really didn't like novels (of which I have read a grand total of 4 - the original trilogy and part of the Twins trilogy that came next). I thought that they were pretty flat, I'm afraid.

 

[Henry]

...I stopped reading them when I was 13 on account of the fact they were too much like Archie comics.

You, sir, scare me with your freakishly accurate anaology.

========================

I used to love the DL series in my teens - it was in truth my first intro to Tolkienesque fantasy, and Raistlin fascinated me as a kid - maybe it was the whole "I'm an intellectual outsider compared to my peers" phase that lots of teens go through. It was only after later being introduced to Tolkien that I saw the similarities in plot and substance to Dragonlance. But the world was put together well, it sold the premises of 1st edition, and it captivated millions.

In truth, I see LOTS of similarities to the purposes of Dragonlance and Eberron. Each one was built, moreso than any setting before it, to highlight the rules features of its current edition. Where Greyhawk was more of a vehicle for Original D&D, Dragonlance was a vehicle for 1E, and Eberron is similarly a vehicle for 3E revised (3.5).

 

[Tumbler]

Where have you guys found the war of the lance sourcebook? Amazon doesn't have it and neither does my FLGS.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I've seen it at Games Plus, along with the book on magic, Age of Mortals, Key of Desitny, etc...

 

[DragonLancer]

I'm the odd one out I think, in that I am not all that keen on Taladas. I find it primitive, and backwards, and not really all that interesting. Its only the Minotaur League that appeals to me there in any way.

Ansalon holds much more interest to me, perhapos because thats where everything is set and its more detailed. Taladas has some nice ideas but thats about as far as it goes for me.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I've read many of the books, and while I liked the original trilogy it simply doesn't match up to other fantasy series. (Namely Chris Claremont's Shadow War trilogy, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Lord of the Rings, or even to RA Salvatore's eariler Dark Elf books.) I completely lost interest in DL after Dragons of Summer Flame. I just couldn't stomach ANOTHER world-changing event in a world that's had so many of them that it should have been totally destroyed long ago!

As forthe game products, the new 3E products are much better than what came before. However, the DLCS doesn't have a clean enough feel when compared to other campaign settings. The DLCS and the Bestiary of Krynn are both pretty books, but the formatting is less than desirable (leading to less word density per page than other CS's of the same price), and the handle on the D20 is tenuous in spots, but not nearly as bad as other D20 products. All in all, I'm happy with them for what I wanted out of them (new races and monsters primarily), but I wasn't moved to attempt running a DL game with those books. Due to my distaste with how the setting was progressing when I quit reading the books, I would end up changing so much of the setting that it wouldn't really be DL anymore.

Overall, the new stuff is alright, but there are better settings out there, IMO. If you really want DL, then it will easily fit the bill. I'm just not than big of a fan anymore.

Kane

 

[kigmatzomat]

Taladas is the red-headed stepchild of Krynn. I forget the details, but the Cataclysm caused a massive volcanic surge, covering an entire nation-sized region with obsidian (the Glass Sea). There's also a number of magma zones with a few region-specific lava beasties.

The kender were so traumatized they became little magic-hating ninjas. They forsake the noisy hoopak and went to the stealthy hoopaui, a stone-slinging crossbow. They make traps, move like ghosts, and try to destroy powerful magic items whenever possible.

The religion was weird in that they didn't use the normal names for the gods and had a significantly different take on the gods' relationships. Then there was the Minotaur League, a lawful society that you could almost enjoy; except for the enslaving of lesser races.

All in all, it was a nifty place.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

You, sir, scare me with your freakishly accurate anaology.

Thanks! But, to quote the worst line in Lord of the Rings, I am no man . . . (or sir, I guess)

R from Three Haligonians

 

[Ranger REG]

Taladas is the red-headed stepchild of Krynn.

I love redheads.