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

[Steel_Wind]

I think, at this point, I would seriously consider re-imagining the entire setting

They just did this. It was called the War of Souls. Seeing it was the third great coflict, I can do without a fourth anytime soon.

Perhaps Tiamat is keeping Krynn a secret from the other Demon Lords and perhaps the PCs will be forced to try and play them against her. A lot of the adventures would happen in the Outer Planes too - cutting off supply lines... in the Abyss, "smuggling" in good dragons from the Upper Planes, via the Lower Planes and into Krynn... that sort of thing. Definitely something a little on the edgier side.

I think you are showing your prejudices and preferences here.

DragonLance is not a plane hopping setting. In fact, heading off to the Abysss is verbotten in stock Krynn mythology. If you are a Planescape fan - DL is simply not designed for you.

And I might add; it's very much a case of vice versa. Speaking from experience - if you are a DL fan, Planescape is generally the setting you hate the most.

There is little point trying to make DL more like Planescape; and even less trying to make Plansecape more like DL. I think the two settings are at the extreme and are rather polar opposites as far as WotC/TSR settings go.

 

[Sarellion]

I liked the novels and the computer games. I stopped reading after the books about the chaos war.

They should have stopped with their major wars after the war of the lance. Even if the war of souls changed a lot around, this shouldn´t have been necessary in the first place.

 

[A'koss]

They just did this. It was called the War of Souls. Seeing it was the third great coflict, I can do without a fourth anytime soon.

When I said re-imagined, I really did mean ditching the previous history...

I think you are showing your prejudices and preferences here.

Well, then forgive me for asking, but... what was the point of this thread again? Hmm, I pretty sure it had something to do with how one might suggest ways to improve the setting to be more popular in general. If I'm mistaken, please let me know...

DragonLance is not a plane hopping setting. In fact, heading off to the Abysss is verbotten in stock Krynn mythology. If you are a Planescape fan - DL is simply not designed for you.

And I might add; it's very much a case of vice versa. Speaking from experience - if you are a DL fan, Planescape is generally the setting you hate the most.

Wow, is that a fact... Well, you see, I got a feeling that this thread wasn't created soley to cater to the few hardcore DL fans left in D&D, but perhaps to come up with was to broaden it's appeal. I readily admit, this is only my humble opinion - take it for what it's worth. I've run campaigns in both (and both *together* mind you) and while I'm not big on the later DL stuff, the early works I still quite like.

There is little point trying to make DL more like Planescape; and even less trying to make Plansecape more like DL. I think the two settings are at the extreme and are rather polar opposites as far as WotC/TSR settings go.

I dunno, dragons, demons, exotic locales, good vs evil... doesn't sound like oil and water to me. *shrug*

Cheers!

 

[Elric]

As has already been mentioned, the 5th age novels by Jean Rabe were some of the worst novels written for the series (certainly by far the worst Dragonlance novels that I’ve ever read). The War of Souls helped this but by continuing to follow some of Rabe’s plot (instead of disregarding it entirely) I felt that Weiss and Hickman were limited in what they could do with the series.

Really, though, the power of the novels is the problem. I didn’t like playing in Star Wars either. For me, attempts to turn Star Wars into novels or an RPG were just doomed by the fact that I viewed the series as the movies and not books or a setting to roleplay in.

I do recall having played with the dragonlance campaign rules in 2e but the setting was mostly absent- I think that a few of my friends all thought that playing the characters would be great but recognized that the developed setting had been built by the novels. So we used the Knights, the draconians, some of the magic items and so on without appropriating the plotline of the world.

An alternate plotline (the events of Chronicles never took place) would be interesting but it still runs into the problem of playing in the War of the Lance. A less explored time period like from The Legend of Huma might be an even better place to run an alternate history.

 

[Turjan]

For me, there's nothing that can be done to redeem the setting in my eyes. Dragonlance is the novels. They are completely overshadowing the setting. As funny as it may sound, I never had this feeling in the FR. In the end, I don't need Dragonlance as a standard fantasy setting, as I've got FR and my homebrew.

One minor point is that I already have someone in my group who likes to play obnoxious gnomes. I'm pretty sure he would be overjoyed to play an even more obnoxious kender...

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I think a lot of the hate-on for DL comes from people who can't get past the (erroneous) belief that DL is all about railroading. C'mon folks, the classic modules were like 20 years ago. A lot has changed since then.

I was woefully turned off by the Saga era and the 5th Age stuff. Same with all the current timeline crap (IMO). That's why I run a post-WotL era campaign and it's great.

Like someone else said, having read the novels makes a HUGE difference to the game. It adds a whole different level of depth to campaigns, especially once you really get to know the world. And there are a lot of really good new novels being published (I don't like the current timeline ones, but there are a lot that take place in earlier eras of play). DL is, IMHO, the most richly developed campaign world out there (in terms of fluff, rather than crunch).

As for plane-hopping, that's not DL. Sorry, it's just a fact. Some of the core DL books even state that. So stick to Planescape if that's what floats yer boat. One of the things that makes DL great is its uniqueness. Sure you can add in extraplanar creatures out the ying-yang, but before you know it you're playing DL in name only and the true "style" of the world becomes lost. And then it becomes just another FR or GH.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Am I the only one who read the novels and didn't like them?

 

[pogre]

I don't think it's worthwhile to try. What the fans of it seem to love is by and large what I can't stand.

There are plenty of settings out there. No need to break what is obviously working for some folks in order to please folks who probably aren't going to respond to the effort.

Exactly - another man's junk and all that...

What I would change about DL would alienate its outstanding fan base - why do that?

 

[Ranger REG]

Am I the only one who read the novels and didn't like them?

As a gamer or as a purely fantasy fiction reader?

I've yet to see the new incarnation of Dragonlance. I loved the old version, even when they released a 2e adaptation in a boxed set. I was then put off by this card-based SAGA System (now I know how 1e gamers feel about 2e and quit). I ignore everything from the Fifth Age, both game and novel series.

I'm hoping that the Sovereign Press's Dragonlance will bring me back to the golden days, now that they have already released a hefty War of the Lance sourcebook. If you don't like the current direction and timeline, go back and change it.

 

[Crothian]

Am I the only one who read the novels and didn't like them?

They were hit and miss for me. Some where pretty good others were not even good for gaming fiction!!