I think you may be on to something here. It seems that for FR and GH, the world was created first and plots were then created and scatter throughout that world. For DL, it seemed that the campaign storyline was the main thing and made first and then the world was created to accomodate the storyline.
What's so special about Dragonlance?
- Thread starter nightwyrm
- Start date
I think you may be on to something here. It seems that for FR and GH, the world was created first and plots were then created and scatter throughout that world. For DL, it seemed that the campaign storyline was the main thing and made first and then the world was created to accomodate the storyline.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Well, it was the default vehicle for the fantasy version of SAGA and I really liked that system (even if all of the wrinkles didin't get smoothed out until WotC took some corrective action). More to the point, however, this makes Dragonlance the only official D&D setting to date that has been published for use with a role-playing system other than D&D. That's pretty special.
Cam Banks
Adventurer
Not only was Dragonlance the reason I ended up working professionally as a game designer and writer, it was the first world to really get me hooked on the notion of continuity (and, at times, lack of same), characterization, and conflict. Until Tracy and the gang came up with what's arguably D&D's first true adventure path (as opposed to a few linked scenarios a la GDQ and Slave Lords) with its own rich setting, D&D for me was a sort of vague and generic anywhen. I wasn't a fan of Tolkien, didn't read Vance, hadn't heard of Moorcock or Leiber, but Dragonlance woke me up to that and everything since.
I'm proud to have worked for the past six years and change on Dragonlance, and to have contributed to the truly enormous body of work that makes it up. I know it's got its detractors, but that's the nature of genre fiction and gaming. The fans, the creators, and the hundreds and thousands of Dragonlance game-fiends in its 25 years of life are all the reason I need to remain entranced and inspired by Krynn.
Cheers,
Cam
I'm proud to have worked for the past six years and change on Dragonlance, and to have contributed to the truly enormous body of work that makes it up. I know it's got its detractors, but that's the nature of genre fiction and gaming. The fans, the creators, and the hundreds and thousands of Dragonlance game-fiends in its 25 years of life are all the reason I need to remain entranced and inspired by Krynn.
Cheers,
Cam
mach1.9pants
Hero
Yeah War of the Twins was the first non fighting-fantasy or Tolkien fantasy novel I read, I started playing DnD BECMI because of it. Inspiring, and I bet you can guess the name of my Magic User
The bolded bit though, I remember a big WTF moment when I was reading (the 3E? IIRC) rulebook time-line that had Huma, a knight of Solamnia, running around hundreds of years before the nation of Solamnia was formed
Chris Knapp
First Post
True. But Unearthed Arcana was already out (or was put out the same time) and that was the trend for a bit. But, DLA at least put a cap at 18th level (though most people I knew promptly ignored it in their quest to become a Raistlin clone/killer.)
The bolded bit though, I remember a big WTF moment when I was reading (the 3E? IIRC) rulebook time-line that had Huma, a knight of Solamnia, running around hundreds of years before the nation of Solamnia was formed
No, that was in the 1E version, and one of many many errors in the book. I believe there was an article correcting it in Dragon.
The first couple modules came out before I found the first novel, and they were the biggest, most beautiful thing I had ever seen in D&D up to that time (I think I was 14).
I kinda hated the novels, but IIRC they actually got ahead of the final modules, story-wise, so I read them anyway as a preview of the adventures.
The best thing about Dragonlance is the original adventures. These contain some of the coolest adventure locales ever created. The 3-D mapping that was such a revelation in I6 Ravenloft was exceeded by the maps of the sunken city of Xak Tsaroth, that glorious floating tomb pictured above, and the Tower of High Clerist. Oh, and there's a cursed elven realm caught in a nightmare dream-state, and the players get to infiltrate an evil port city where rivers of lava flow through the city from the surrounding volcanoes.
The thing is, I'm not sure what the appeal of the setting is apart from being the background for the specific adventures in DL1-16.
I've been trying to run a non-railroady reworking of the original adventures for years now. The only problem is, all my potential players have read the novels - except my wife, and the daughter of my best friend. Unfortunately, I think the books ruin the idea of running these otherwise great (if railroady-as-written) adventures.
I kinda hated the novels, but IIRC they actually got ahead of the final modules, story-wise, so I read them anyway as a preview of the adventures.
The best thing about Dragonlance is the original adventures. These contain some of the coolest adventure locales ever created. The 3-D mapping that was such a revelation in I6 Ravenloft was exceeded by the maps of the sunken city of Xak Tsaroth, that glorious floating tomb pictured above, and the Tower of High Clerist. Oh, and there's a cursed elven realm caught in a nightmare dream-state, and the players get to infiltrate an evil port city where rivers of lava flow through the city from the surrounding volcanoes.
The thing is, I'm not sure what the appeal of the setting is apart from being the background for the specific adventures in DL1-16.
I've been trying to run a non-railroady reworking of the original adventures for years now. The only problem is, all my potential players have read the novels - except my wife, and the daughter of my best friend. Unfortunately, I think the books ruin the idea of running these otherwise great (if railroady-as-written) adventures.
Frostmarrow
First Post
This: Or this!
This:
And this:
Rarely have story, rules and art worked together as well. While the novels did a lot to bring the setting to life, the illustrated calendars really set the bar for fantasy art very high.
I agree. For me, the art has huge appeal. Not only for Dragonlance but for D&D in general. This has never been surpassed in later editions of the game.
Keefe the Thief
Hero
A) Never had a campaign setting be more in tune with its art (arguably Dark Sun comes close, but then you have the Baxa pieces...).
B) Never had a campaign setting had better maps. Seriously, i look at those maps again. They SING adventure.
C) Never had a campaign setting created better signature heroes. They might have been cliché, but every character was interesting and had depth.
D) Most importantly: Finally, a D&D Campaign allowed itself to show emotion. No longer were the PCs treated like uncaring mercenary-types. Song and story, loss and tragedy were interwoven (often cheesily, but what did you expect for the first try?) into the adventures.
Heck, one of the modules asked the DM to sing the Canticle of the Dragon to the players!
E) Elmores pr0n: making us look at the legs and not at the dragons since the 1980s.
B) Never had a campaign setting had better maps. Seriously, i look at those maps again. They SING adventure.
C) Never had a campaign setting created better signature heroes. They might have been cliché, but every character was interesting and had depth.
D) Most importantly: Finally, a D&D Campaign allowed itself to show emotion. No longer were the PCs treated like uncaring mercenary-types. Song and story, loss and tragedy were interwoven (often cheesily, but what did you expect for the first try?) into the adventures.
Heck, one of the modules asked the DM to sing the Canticle of the Dragon to the players!
E) Elmores pr0n: making us look at the legs and not at the dragons since the 1980s.
I liked Dragonlance's take on alignment and the cosmology of good v. evil v. neutrality and how too much of anything was a bad idea. I mean, the first Cataclysm was caused because there was too much Good in the world al la Istar and the Kingpriest. The characters of Dragonlance were bound more by common cause than moral alignment, and again, no where was this shown better than in the character of Raistlin Majere. You felt sorry for him, empathized with him, even (in a guilty way) liked him, but never for moment did you fool yourself into thinking that he was not evil. All the Companions were very flawed people, and usually got into the most trouble when they tried to deny that fact. It's just that Raistlin was the most well done and prominent example.
In short, Dragonlance as both setting and story actually deemphasized the importance of alignment, and I liked this very much being the moral bankrupt person I am
In short, Dragonlance as both setting and story actually deemphasized the importance of alignment, and I liked this very much being the moral bankrupt person I am
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