Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Announced, Release Date Scheduled for June 2026

[Paul Farquhar]

Nonsense. This is the publication order for the first six Dragonlance products:

March 1984 - DL1: Dragons of Despair
May 1984 - 1985 AD&D Dragonlance Calendar 1985
June 1984 - DL2: Dragons of Flame
August 1984 - DL3: Dragons of Hope
October 1984 - DL4: Dragons of Desolation
November 1984 - DL5: Dragons of Mystery
November 1984 - Dragonlance Chronicles 1: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Err yeah? The fist setting book - Dragonlance Adventures, was published in 1987, so 3 years later.

 

[Echohawk]

Err yeah? The fist setting book - Dragonlance Adventures, was published in 1987, so 3 years later.

DL5: Dragons of Mystery is the first setting book. That one is not an adventure.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ghost Tower of Inverness

I looked at this one recently, and I don’t think it stands up very well. Mostly because it’s best ideas have become cliche in the years since.

I also find it’s lack of Scotland disturbing.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

DL5: Dragons of Mystery is the first setting book. That one is not an adventure.

It has some lore and maps, but it doesn’t have much in the way of player options (you are supposed to be playing the pregens) and is still very much core rules. It’s not what we would call a setting book in the modern sense - it’s contents would be included in an adventure book. But the main thing is, DL5 was not a book.

Dragonlance Adventures was the first proper setting book, presenting alternative classes and the like.

 

[Echohawk]

It has some lore and maps, but it doesn’t have much in the way of player options and is still very much core rules. It’s not what we would call a setting book in the modern sense - it’s contents would be included in an adventure book.

Dragonlance Adventures was the first book to present alternative classes and the like.

That's true, Dragonlance Adventures was the first place the setting-specific sub-classes were presented as anything other than pre-gens. I guess the presentation style for setting in the 80s was quite different -- lead with a bunch of adventures and novels, and put out a setting book/box after a couple of years. Starting with a boxed set or major setting book has only been a thing since 2nd Edition.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's true, Dragonlance Adventures was the first place the setting-specific sub-classes were presented as anything other than pre-gens. I guess the presentation style for setting in the 80s was quite different -- lead with a bunch of adventures and novels, and put out a setting book/box after a couple of years. Starting with a boxed set or major setting book has only been a thing since 2nd Edition.

what is remarkable about Dragonlance Adventures was just how modern it was, both in terms of content and single volume hardback format. Boxed set was the standard format for settings both before and for a significant time after.

 

[mamba]

Err yeah? The fist setting book - Dragonlance Adventures, was published in 1987, so 3 years later.

the first setting book was DL5

 

[Paul Farquhar]

the first setting book was DL5

Not a book.

 

[mamba]

Not a book.

call it what you want, it had the same page count as an adventure and was about the setting

 

[Paul Farquhar]

call it what you want, it had the same page count as an adventure and was about the setting

Which works out as one chapter of a modern book.

And it did not include any player options, crunch or deviations from core rules.