As most of us know, the Forgotten Realms is one of the most heavily detailed campaign worlds out there ... and yet they make a scientific snaffoo (sp?) by placing its moon too close to the planet.
It doesn't make sense for Krynn to be as small as the earth's moon? Sure. Nor does it make sense that Krynn wasn't bathed in a 1,000 year shroud of dust and ash after being struck by meteors.
But, neither does it make sense that 400 foot long giant lizards can spit flame or acid or lightning or chlorine gas ... or fly! Nor does it make sense that some old man can mumble some mumbo jumbo and have flame spit from his fingers or cause rain to fall. It also doesn't make sense that 3,000 years after people on Krynn discovered how to forge steel they have yet to progress beyond medieval technology (after all, they made the crossbow, why not firearms too?).
You have to admit, it's hard to argue science when we're talking about a world with dragons, elves, magic, and people permanently stuck in the middle ages. :D
The same occurs with focused and ambient magic. If the Appendix had just said: "Look, there are four types of magic, two of them focused (Cleric, Wizard) and two of them ambient (Mystic, Sorcerer), now go play some D&D" I'd throw the book out the window.
The schematic over how magic is captured by the gods and returned to Krynn thereby creating two types of magical energy introduces plausibility. Magic doesn't exist, but if it did, this is probably how it would work.
So, if the designers had said: "Krynn is very small but that's because... " I'd be satisfied. But they didn't so it's like (hang on for some Cartoon Network reference
), "you're walking through the forest. And walking, and walking, and walking, and walking. THEN A BIG RED DRAGON APPEARS AND BREATHES A FIREBALL ON YOU!""Hey, it's magic!" doesn't cut it for me. "The dragon was scrying on you as you walked, teleported to the vicinity, cast invisibility on himself before attacking the players" is more like it.
Originally posted by SweetMeats
The best excuse I've heard about the size of Krynn has been that its metal rich and that makes the planet's mass greater than it would have been explaining why a smaller world has an usual earth-like gravity.
That's neat.....where did that come from, Id really like to see it....It sounds very, very cool.
Originally posted by iltharanos
All this talk about Krynn's size and tidal effects of its moons and the Cataclysm reminded me of another topic on another board. In the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Toril's moon is described as 10,000 miles from Toril.
As most of us know, the Forgotten Realms is one of the most heavily detailed campaign worlds out there ... and yet they make a scientific snaffoo (sp?) by placing its moon too close to the planet.
It doesn't make sense for Krynn to be as small as the earth's moon? Sure. Nor does it make sense that Krynn wasn't bathed in a 1,000 year shroud of dust and ash after being struck by meteors.
But, neither does it make sense that 400 foot long giant lizards can spit flame or acid or lightning or chlorine gas ... or fly! Nor does it make sense that some old man can mumble some mumbo jumbo and have flame spit from his fingers or cause rain to fall. It also doesn't make sense that 3,000 years after people on Krynn discovered how to forge steel they have yet to progress beyond medieval technology (after all, they made the crossbow, why not firearms too?).
You have to admit, it's hard to argue science when we're talking about a world with dragons, elves, magic, and people permanently stuck in the middle ages. :D
1,000 year shroud of dust? That's a bit exaggerated. Heck, the meteor which struck at Chixculub (the one in Mexico) and caused the K-T barrier, very possibly wiping out the dinosaurs, was massive....and it didn't cause a 1,000 year shroud of dust. More like 6 months - 1 year, IIRC.
Banshee
But so is the whole hubbub about Krynn and its size problems. If anything, I'm relieved that all we've got to worry about is that Krynn is too small of a planet. At least Krynn is a sphere (roughly) and doesn't flagrantly violate any established laws of science (again, barring all the associated issues with Krynn's small size, like gravity and tidal effects of its moons, etc.).
Back in 2nd edition when Spelljammer came out, you had solar systems in big impenetrable spheres (Crystal Spheres) floating in a sea of glowing gases (the Phlogiston) and you had planets that were cubes, toroidal donuts, or completely made out of water but still shaped like a sphere or pyramids. You also had the Spelljammer explanation of gravity, where a human being could survive for days in outer space because his body had enough mass to accumulate an air envelope around him ... and space in Krynn's solar system was actually deemed cooler than normal (at 50 degrees Fahrenheit).
For those of you who liked Spelljammer, I'm sorry. But it just made D&D so damn corny. Then it came out with Krynn's solar system, and it made Krynn corny. I actually prefer the Dragonstar campaign's viewpoint on space, as it jives with everything known today about space.
So yes, let us all praise that there are no specific references made to Spelljammer's psychotic laws of the universe in the Dragonlance campaign (at least I hope not -- Don't have the DLCS yet).
While i'm happy in my spelljammer campaign, i dont want to see it bleed into dragonlance anymore =)
Originally posted by talinthas
none at all =)
While i'm happy in my spelljammer campaign, i dont want to see it bleed into dragonlance anymore =)
Whew, that's a relief. :D