So my main question is: Is anyone still playing by the old rules, and what I would now call the classic age of dragon lance? If so What module or campaign? I'd just like to know if there's anyone else out there.
Originally posted by JediLlama
Did anyone like him in the first place?
I was kidding...check out the avatars in this thread and you'll see why. ;)
Cheers,
A Tanis Lookalike
Originally posted by Kai Lord
But the real question is, does anyone still like Tanis?
Why? Is there some revealing evidence I should hate him?
Originally posted by Ranger REG
Why? Is there some revealing evidence I should hate him?
He's literally the red-headed stepchild of Solostaran? ;)
He wears feathers?
For now I'm quite content using the infomation from the DLCS to play in said era.
I've no intention of going back to the old 2.0 rules....
As a side note- I've always liked Tanis. Maybe not my favourite character, but definitely up there.
Originally posted by talinthas
In my 13 years of fandom, i've never actually played through the WotL. I can't bring myself to, since its already been done so often. I much prefer playing through the chaos war, and the post wos era.
I've never played in the WotL proper, although I've played in the years following. Also played in the Chaos War, War of Souls, and the Cataclysm.
With WotL coming out next year, I'm actually a bit excited about giving that era a shot again.
Everyone knows the story. The trick is to change things around so that its new and surprising - while keeping things close enough to the original so that it does not lose its flavor.
And that is a pretty tall order - but VERY doable.
Most importantly - the kind of pathological dedication to the novels that so many DL fans have has to be thrown OUT THE WINDOW.
If you are stuck playing Marg Weis' and Tracy Hickman's version of events and characters, you will be in for nothing but disappointment.
Sturm need not die; Raistlin need not turn to the Black; Flint does not die *fer sure* and Tanis and Laurana may not be meant to be.
Nothing is fated - all is possible.
You need to put the pretty paperbacks *down* and remember the roots of DragonLance lie in a series of modules where the players control the outcomes - not a series of 120+ novels where someone else determines what the characters, do, think and say.
But the novels also only deal with the exploits of a small group of characters and there is much more going on than just what they are doing. The Dragonarmies must have been held back by other things, other parties and that's where many of the other stories come into play. There are five Dragonarmies and (to my knowledge) we only really hear about the Red and the Blue. Now I understand the Heroes of the Lance were just that -Heroes but there just had to more than the Heroes holding back the Dragonarmies. Personally I believe that's a whole lot of scope.
Then there are other ideas, what if during the War of the Lance other gods caught on to Tahkisis idea and thought of doing something similar. In all the destruction and the chaos perhaps Sargonnas allies more closely with his consort and they agree to split Krynn. Or perhaps the secretive Morgion uses the War and devastation to sew his own seeds to rule the world. THese are all things that may have happened but we never heard of them because the novels fixated on the Heroes of the Lance.
Just a thought (or rant) or two
Arandur
I think that probably stems from the fact that I couldnt imagine changing the war. The original chronicles and the actions of the Heroes are almost sacrosanct in my mind.
They exist to be admired but cannot be touched or altered.
Beyond that anything s far game to be altered as needed though
The WotL has a lot of life in it and we have so many other angles to work with now that were not present back in 1984.
Back then we had a novel or two, a couple of shortstories in Dragon and almost ZERO detail on the world. We didn't even have a basic overview of Kyrnn until DL5 - and by that time - you were committed more or less to the basic campaign - indeed - the DM had no idea how it was going to turn out any more than the players did.
Now - there are so any more ways to rework the story.
I cannot stress enough that treating the novels as sacrosanct or as canon is a BIG mistake to making the DL world work as a rich campaign world for players and DMs alike.
One of the reasons I think DL has failed miserably in the past as a generic game world (and lets remember that DL has been a dead world for many years until recently and it NEVER was a successful game world other than in the classic campaign) is because there is too much predestiny. As all these novels get layered on top of one another - it does not work all that well.
The past 19 years is a case study on how NOT to make a successful generic D&D game world. Don't get me wrong - as a successful series of novels - its been a shining example; but as a game world - it failed.
The more novels get written, the more you advance the campaign ahead in time to escape the predestiny. It gets silly.
The DragonLance novels started as a marketing gimmick to sell a module series where the players determined the outcome. Somewhere along the line, it became so successful that the novelization turned into LotR in terms of the impact and canon of the "official story".
Just put the novels away - set them aside and so much becomes possible.
Originally posted by talinthas
In my 13 years of fandom, i've never actually played through the WotL. I can't bring myself to, since its already been done so often. I much prefer playing through the chaos war, and the post wos era.
Actually, the best time to play in the 4th Age is after the War. But before the Companion of the Lance started having children who later grow up.
But if anything, I'd rather not go past the event that was told in the Dragon of Summer Flame.
I'm especially looking forward to starting with War of the Lance. The fact is, -I- haven't done it to death and, more importantly, only one other person in my group has read -some- of the novels, while the others know relatively little about the setting. So it's all new, which I think is fantastic. In a way, because of that, I plan to stick with the novels as 'the way things happened', because there frankly needs to be a Control, or whatever. In any case, it won't matter much, because the two groups should cross paths often, if at all. They'll just be another group of heroes.
And I certainly don't think that adherence to the novels has any bearing on failure or success of the line in this case. Not, especially, in it's an -option-. Still, the setting has always left plenty of space for stuff to happen around, adjacent to, and even beyond the traditional, known heroes.
I think my only complaint is that everything had to happen in the 'now' of the storyline. There were 300 years between the Cataclysm and the War of the Lance. I kinda wish there had been a century or two between the War of Souls and other 'next generation' stuff. But that's alright. No biggie. It just means the humans have more to do.
Short-lived buggers.14 years have passed since that first Dragonlance novel, I've sold my countless RPG books, bought on with 3.5E, and love the system 10-fold over 2nd Edition, I see an opening and am about to dive through it as I finally introduce my gaming group to the world I love.
Will I run War of the Lance? We'll see, I plan on catching up on some reading (War of Souls) etc before then and making a choice. But as far as 2nd Edition goes... let it die.
3.5e looks to completely re-motivate me to complete the arc, and perhaps start anew. Likely in Flotsam immediately during and after the war...
Originally posted by JediLlama
Did anyone like him in the first place? I would have traded him for Sturm in a heartbeat....
Says one who has Tanis as an avatar...
If you are stuck playing Marg Weis' and Tracy Hickman's version of events and characters, you will be in for nothing but disappointment.
This is totaly true, as a DM that's been running the WOTL era for 8 years now, give your player's options, and let them determine the outcome. To limit yourself to the events of the book is not fun at all. Sturm survived, paladins were the proof the gods came back, it was the PC's that discovered the origin of draconians, ect. I've just used the modules as resources. Also create multiple PC groups in different regions of the continents. Play up the politics of the areas.
Since I started my campaign a few years before the WOTL, the PC's have come to appreciate clerics and what roles they can play in the world besides medics. Funny how they seem to want to roleplay out situations more often, instead of fighting there way out. Which makes it so much more fun, in my opinion. Now that were post WOTL (pre Legends books). The politics of the world come into play, and the PC's get to catch there breath and decide what their role in the world is now that the gods are back.
I've never read anything beyond Dragons of Summer Flame and not entirely sure I will do anything with the 5th age as it is in the DLCS. Saving the world every few years, as books seem to go, can get old. I think I'm working towards the PC's carving out their little nich in the world and discovering the wonders of the past, and defending what's their's to defend, and let them persue there goals. For example one of the mages wants to reclaim one of the destroyed towers of high sorcery as his own. There's an whole quest right there.
Forgive my rambling, but I just want to show what I've done in the 4th age. I'm not trying to get high on my horse and preach but just give some possiblities of 4th age campaign settings. I've just noticed how alot of people are down on the 4th age. I just wanted to show that the world is what you make it. I wouldn't follow the books or module verbatim, you will limit yourself in what can be done. And above all have fun doing it.
Valharic
"Give an Arab a sword and he makes a knife"
The Thirteenth Warrior