Okay so you hate Dragonlance, how can the current designers improve it?

[Ranger REG]

Well, in order to make it appeal to me:

• lose gully dwarves
• lose tinker gnomes
• lose kender
• better define irda so they aren't just ueber-elves

Really, that's about it.

You lose those and all you have is ... Greyhawk 2.0.

 

[Gez]

Makes me think I'm more likely to buy Greyhawk, be it 1.0 or 2.0, than Dragonlance...

 

[Steel_Wind]

Well, I don't agree that DragonLance is defined by any of those three things - the setting is quite distinct without it (KoS, Knight of Takhisis/Neraka, ToHS)...

I'm guessing the soul of the DL setting lies in Solamnia or Wayreth, not in Mount Nevermind.

Gnomes and Gully dwarves - even for those GMs that use them, are rarely PC races and serve only as foils and comedic moments in any campaign from time to time.

But there might be one other teensy weensy factor in DL's favour:

DragonLance is actively supported with regular product releases. Seven DL gaming releases on the slate for this year alone.

Total # of new Greyhawk publicaitions in your FLGS this 2005?

That would be zero.

'Nuff said.

 

[jeff37923]

So you want to get more people to buy the Sovereign Press Dragonlance d20 setting books....

A few suggestions-
A) Have a race war in which the objective of the modules in the campaign is to exterminate every Kender, Gully Dwarf, and Tinker Gnome in the game. This will work as incentive for all of those who hate those races, to buy your new books. It will also be unique in that it will be one of the first deliberately genocidal campaigns ever made. (No, I'm not being an ass here, there is a lot of dislike for the above mentioned races - an extermination campaign would get those haters on your side, or at least their money in your pocket).
B) Declare a discount on all the already created Dragonlance material, this will get any current product moving and get it into circulation where more of a player/customer base can be built. If there is any product, I don't know, I don't see a lot of it in game stores.
C) Destroy Krynn as we know it. Advance history about 10,000 years and rewrite the entire setting as something similar to WotC's Urban Arcana for the d20 Modern system with appendixes for conversion to both d20 Past and d20 Future. The struggle for Krynn will still be ungoing, but will be fought in new eras.

These are all pretty radical suggestions, but then again, that's the point of this thread.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm guessing the soul of the DL setting lies in Solamnia or Wayreth, not in Mount Nevermind.

That is like saying the soul of Middle-Earth lies in Gondor, but the heart is in Hobbiton.

So's Mount Nevermind.

 

[talinthas]

hmm. 4 pages of thread and not a thing i can really say. I love DL, so this isnt the place for me anyway. Really, this setting is definately one you have to want to like to really enjoy. For me, i like the metaplot, the religious overtones, the overt good vs evil, and the various strictly defined magics. but no one would ever mistake my campaign for a 'canonical' DL game. not with the Steampunk tinker gnomes working under the Ogre titans, or all the time travelling shadow dragons and glass sailors and crap.

It's very very possible to run a game that is "dragonlance' without having to be the official by the book 'dragonlance'.

 

[woodelf]

Tinker gnomes are alright, but they have a problem that Kender have as well. Every single Kender or Tinker Gnome acts exactly like every other one.

Is this really any more true than for elves, dwarves, etc., in most D&D settings? Or, for that matter, non-humans in most fantasy and scifi?

 

[woodelf]

DragonLance is actively supported with regular product releases. Seven DL gaming releases on the slate for this year alone.

Total # of new Greyhawk publicaitions in your FLGS this 2005?

That would be zero.

'Nuff said.

Not necessarily. Once i've got enough to bring the setting to life, my biggest complaint about game lines (and that goes for setting lines, too), is releasess coming out faster than i can keep up. So, on this criteria alone, Greyhawk is preferable to me.

 

[woodelf]

Taladas has always retained a pretty high level of respect among everyone I've talked to who knew about it. The thread is about how to improve the line, and Taladas is part of the setting. Many of us would be very eager to be able to visit it in 3E..

Banshee

That would not be accurate. When Taladas was released, it bombed. Sales were not good at all.

Over time, it gained some admiration and respect and popularity grew for Taladas.

Also, by being significantly different from Ansalon, it probably doesn't appeal to hardcore DL fans as much, just as it might appeal more to people who atherwise aren't fans of DL. When the Taladas box came out, i didn't even give it a look, because it was DL. Now, years later, i'm trying to find a copy, because of everything i heard about it after the fact.

On a similar note, while DL generally leaves me cold, i'd probably snap up a Taladas supplement, even if it was D20 System.

So, i guess there is one thing the current producers of DL could do to sway me: skip Ansalon and give me some Taladas. And put all the info in the RPG book, not in novels--i'm not willing to be 2nd class to the novel-readers, and i'm not gonna read a whole bunch of novels to glean a setting.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Admittedly, there have been a number of "Tas clones" out there. Howver, over the years, there have been the introduction of the Marak kender of Taladas, the afflicted kender (great for those who love D&D halflings), and there have been new character concepts such as the kender nightstalker.

Blister Nimblefingers (from the Dragons of a New Age trilogy) is an afflicted kender, and Nightshade Pricklypear (from Amber and Ashes) are two great examples of kender who aren't "Tas clones".

Plus, there's half-kender like Scrounger from Brothers in Arms.

Kender have come a long way, and I think you will see more differentiation still.

As far as tinker gnomes go, I'll concede that point to a degree, as many of them do act alike. There are mad gnomes, but not enough examples of them. Unfortunately, I have not read the book Conundrum, so I can't tell you either way on that one.