I wasn't exactly very impressed with the quality of the products up to that point (typos, layout, missing information, repititive information, endless delays etc etc) so I pretty much gave up on the Soverign Press DL products.
Without going into any depth on my opinions, the DLCS was adequate, the rest were decidedly poor.
Recently I noticed the War of the Lance setting book, and couldn't help picking it up. I was extremely pleased with the book, absolutely fantastic. Perhaps one of the best RPG supplements I've ever purchased.
That's provided something of an incentive to check out the state of DL at the moment.
How well did Towers of high Sorcery, Holy Order of The Stars turn out?
Weaknesses/Strengths in the product?
I would expect the answers to be biased to some extent as everyone posting here, myself included is obviously a fan of DragonLance most of us presumably from 2e if not before.
Another question, was the Wizard of High Sorcery prestige class ever fixed/revised in any product?
After the DLCS release it was revealed that generalists were allowed to acquire the PC but it was never fully laid out.
How well did Towers of high Sorcery, Holy Order of The Stars turn out?
Weaknesses/Strengths in the product?
I'm a bit biased, of course, but I think they're superb. WotL, ToHS, and HOotS are probably the three best DL gaming products out there.
Another question, was the Wizard of High Sorcery prestige class ever fixed/revised in any product?
After the DLCS release it was revealed that generalists were allowed to acquire the PC but it was never fully laid out.
Yep, in Towers of High Sorcery. It's so much better now.
Glad you're liking the WotL book, and I hope you check out the recent releases. I think they're getting better and better.
DLCS - It was good in that it was the only thing out for a while in a market that was thirsting for updated Krynn material. WoHS classes were flawed and the KoS classes though flavorful, seem under-powered when combined/multiclassed which is how you need to acquire at least KotR and KotS. Fourth best book in my opinion.
AoM - I didn't purchase it, because it covered an area that our group does not use. I did memorize the Mariner class as I use that for my Minotaur, but I wasn't going to purchase a book for 2 pages. Worst book from my perspective.
Beastiary - This book was widely praised for content and art and it looked like it had some good stuff in it, but it also had too many Chaos/5th age creatures for me to purchase it. Second worst book from my perspective.
WoTL - Great book. This to me is the "Premiere" 3e DL book. It had the same shortcomings as the 2e TotL box in that the content of regional info was a bit weaker than I was hoping (even though it does include more region and site info than TotL). I would have liked to see better maps and information on what the cultural history of the regions was (ie is it similar to real life historical cultures such as Celtic, Roman, Norse, Middle Age European, Arab, Polynesian, etc...) I know that Abanasinia seems loosely native american and Khur seems loosely arabian, but large sections are still vague at this point, including most of Solamnia and Ergoth. This tome also had the challenge of addressing divine classes during the Age of Despair. I am not altogether happy with the resolution of this, but I do not have any suggestions as to what might be better, so it is good enough for now and I am willing to give credit for the attempt. Our campaigns haven't taken place during the Age of Despair so far, so this isn't the most important to our games. Classes listed are useful and flavorful. Deity info is good. History of the era is established. City/Site and NPC info is good. If you had to get one book for Krynn, I would say it should be this one.
WoHS - A good book, as it gives more info than we have seen before. To some extent this suffers from the same problem as DLCS, in that the community was thirsting for any info on the subject. They did fix the most glaring problem with the WoHS classes, but the fix still seems like a patch. Otherwise, it has good info on the history of High Sorcery in general and how magic is viewed by races/regions. Prestige classes, spells, and magic items are flavorful and enhance the campaign setting. The run downs of the Towers is OK in that it provides a good deal of info, but it doesn't emerse the towers into their times, geography, or cultures (to provide cultural history again). It also does not give simple sample floor plans for the towers or details on many wizards of historical significance (with the exception of some specific instances). It would have been nice to have some of the highlight personalities of each towers history at least listed with what they may have done/been known for. Third best book in my opinion.
HOotS - Very good book. I know that everyone doesn't necessarily care about Clerics, Druids, etc... but I would say this is the second best book. I was really only interested in one of the Deities to start, and I am not sure that I will actually get use out of the other Deity specific info directly, but this book provides great information on what the attitudes, goals, and activities of the various churches are. This helps flesh out the campaign. Prestige classes are good, (especially when they reward players with interesting uses of suboptimal metamagic, flesh out divine patronage via a diversity of champion roles, and cover semi divine classes with sidebars.) Again, it would have been nice to see some specific individuals within each church throughout that churches history. Aspects are good, but I would have liked to see this book address (if even shortly) how various folks have thought they would be able to defeat the gods themselves. This is part of the history of the world so there is canonical precedent. People could ignore this easily if it wasn't their bag. Some of the small things are really cool, useful, and flavorful (such as summoned creatures list for the gods). Overall a very good book.
Having said all of that, delays of product release seem to be even worse now. I am OK with this if it makes a superior product.
Layouts could be better in some of the books, but I suspect this hasn't changed all that much. I do not find too much fault in small typos. I think ToHS or HOotS had a significant set of typos regarding Kender, but I can't reference this now.
I think ToHS or HOotS had a significant set of typos regarding Kender, but I can't reference this now.
Holy Orders had a strange formatting bug where a certain pair of letters ("af"? I can't recall exactly) was replaced by a non-alphanumeric character on one page.
Holy Orders had a strange formatting bug where a certain pair of letters ("af"? I can't recall exactly) was replaced by a non-alphanumeric character on one page.
That would be the page on afflicted kender.
