Will d20 kill Dragonlance ?

[Gez]

Re: Re: Will d20 kill Dragonlance ?

Who could forget kenders and gully dwarves and gnomish inventors?

Just for that, it deserves to die.


Eh, just joking, of course. Keep these tomatoes in their basket.

 

[Ranger REG]

Sovereign Press, who are the main design team for Wizards' Dragonlance Campaign Sourcebook project, promises that the main book will offer material to play in any setting, including my beloved 4th Age.

In addition, Sovereign Press, will publish a companion book under their label to detail the 5th Age. If you're a fan of the 5th Age (the Age of Mortals), then this book may be for you. If not, skip it. I will.

For more information on Dragonlance support products:

http://www.dragonlance.com/d20

 

[Shadowlord]

I agree that the setting, story, and players should have a much bigger impact on the game than the actual rules, yet so many people nowadays seem to be mostly interested in rules. Are three decades of RP-ing thrown out of the window just like that to make place for primitive dungeon hacking again??

If you look in the current books, there's more talking about prestige classes, feats, and magic items than about character & world development... There are even rules for gods! Who needs those??
The best d20 book I own is the FRCS and it's the one with minimal rules focus.

That said, since "story is more important than rules" to put it bluntly, why didn't you like the SAGA system? Mind you, I never played that game.


PS: Yes it will be possible to play in different eras and they're all explained in the DLCS (as is Taladas) and there will be a sourcebook for every era, starting with the Age of Mortals (in aug 03)

PPS: I never played in Ravenloft.

 

[Ranger REG]

I agree that the setting, story, and players should have a much bigger impact on the game than the actual rules, yet so many people nowadays seem to be mostly interested in rules. Are three decades of RP-ing thrown out of the window just like that to make place for primitive dungeon hacking again??

Rules are merely tools. Again it's up to your GM to provide the story.

If you look in the current books, there's more talking about prestige classes, feats, and magic items than about character & world development... There are even rules for gods! Who needs those??
The best d20 book I own is the FRCS and it's the one with minimal rules focus.

That's because the bulk of the rules are already in D&D core rulebooks.

You can ignore Magic of Faerun, because the bulk of the magic is in D&D (although one could miss out on the magic more specifically tailored to the FR campaign).

That said, since "story is more important than rules" to put it bluntly, why didn't you like the SAGA system? Mind you, I never played that game.

I just never like card-based game, just as much as I don't like diceless-based games. I just prefer dice-based games. It's more comfortable to me.

But I have been in as much poorly-run game as well as those well-run game when the story is emphasized. And I'm sure it would be the same for other nondice-based systems.

 

[Victim]

My problem with SAGA isn't that it uses cards. It's the massive disconnect between the DnD system and SAGA. If you convert your 10th level DL AD&D fighter to SAGA, he's probably toasted many a tough monster like an ogre or dragon (well, maybe not many dragons). But aftering converting, the character can only dream of marking an ogre in melee; he'd need to play a trump, then turn at least one additional trump to hit. Meanwhile, the ogre pretty much auto hits and does lots of damage.

 

[The Serge]

Re: Re: Will d20 kill Dragonlance ?

When Dragonlance went from AD&D to SAGA card-based system, I totally left DL behind, just as much as the gamers of the first edition AD&D left when second edition was introduced. I wanted nothing to do with it.

3e brought back a lot of the first edition gamers back, and soon it will bring me back to Dragonlance when it returns to its original root, as a dice-based system.

Wow. That's precisely what I did and how I feel.

When TSR didn't offer a 2ed version of DL, I dropped it. While I can't say anything ill about the saga rules, I just didn't feel as if DL was D&D anymore with the new rules system in place (I freely admit that this was probably pretty silly on my part...).

Now that DL's being brought back into the fold, I'm eager to get back into its gaming aspect (left the novels after the second trilogy).

As for worrying about rules and how they could break the drama and storytelling elements... I don't think this is a concern. Clarified rules are essential in any game and I think d20 has a handle on that more than virtually any other system I've played. I think d20 will make DL more accesible to others rather than drive "hardcore" fans away (unless they want to be driven away, which tends to be the case with a lot of "hardcore" fans).

 

[Mangrum]

Re: Re: Re: Will d20 kill Dragonlance ?

Ditto. I ran post War of the Lance game for the two years before SAGA and 5th age came out (thus shutting down almost all AD&D support for the setting) and completely destroyed any interest I had in running it. Homebrews ever since.

AD&D support for Dragonlance had ended years before SAGA and 5th Age rolled around.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Yeah, although I started my DL campaign kind of late - in 1993 when the "Player's guide to the Dragonlance Campaign" came out, and I and got most of my supplements cheap from the used section of my FLGS. A couple other adventures were released that year, and we played quite happily for a couple years, until one of my player brought the new 5th Age box over one night in 1995 (6?) We tried it, disliked it immensely, and decided to ignore it. When Dragons of Summer Flame came out, I hoped it would convince me to give it another chance, but it didn't. Eventually, we just sort of let the campaign die...

 

[Ranger REG]

Re: Re: Re: Will d20 kill Dragonlance ?

Wow. That's precisely what I did and how I feel.

When TSR didn't offer a 2ed version of DL, I dropped it. While I can't say anything ill about the saga rules, I just didn't feel as if DL was D&D anymore with the new rules system in place (I freely admit that this was probably pretty silly on my part...).

Actually, they did offered a new DL setting for 2nd edition AD&D in the form of Tales of the Lance boxed set. I should know, I have it.

But after that and Time of the Dragon boxed set (detailing the other continent, Taladas), they used DL IP a vehicle to promote the new SAGA card-based system. That's when I felt an abandonment for AD&D/Dragonlance.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Since d20 is only a cold rules system, and DL focuses on the story and not strict rules, I wonder how these two will combine together?

Depends on how strictly to the Core Rules they write it. I'm a firm believer that the rules should support the story/setting, rather than forcing the setting to fit the rules, so I've never had any qualms about changing what I didn't like or produced an effect contrary to my target flavor. In theory, DL could be written very different from the default (and with Sovereign Stone as an example, it probably will be).

Let's not forget what made DL so great; that's its story, not its rules!

Eek!

Actually, I didn't play DL because of the story. But that's me.