What are your favorite things about the realm?
And last and probably least:
Where are you in the timeline?
My group is currently gaming in the FR. I cannot convince them as of yet to switch. I was hoping you all could help me.
Thanks
I guess what I like least is the lack of psionics. I guess they don't really fit too well, but I am a psionics geek.
No, seriously, i love the rich history, the relatively low-power, character-oriented focus the setting has, and the diverse and honestly different races in it than other DnD products. Forgotten Realms is just an extension of the core setting, when you just sit down and look at it. Dragonlance is something else, something different and, IMHO, much better. It's more dramatic, and you really get a feel and a love for the setting. To me, you almost live the settign instead of play it. Heck, the only game (setting) i've felt more immersed in is Shadowrun (don't start me on how serious i take that setting).
What do I like about it?
For starters, the races...I have never been very fond of halflings, but their equivalent in Dragonlance, kender, are much more interesting and fun. Also, gnomes aren't silly little illusionists, they are silly little engineers, architects, cartographers, etc. with virtually unattainable Life Quests. The entire idea behind Draconians is also a big plus in my opinion. Minotaurs are not mindless brutes, but a legitimate race with it's own culture. The irda, while enigmatic, are pretty cool too.
Next, the organizations...the wizards of high sorcery, knights of solamnia/neraka, and the legion of steel. 'nuff said.
The gods...there isn't an overabundance of gods, but enough to choose a suitable patron for any character. The gods also each have a personality of their own, and aren't simply some higher being that grants spells. They war with each other, struggle for power, and have alliances just like everyone else.
Mystics...I don't know why the idea for this class is just now being introduced. With the sorcerer in 3e I thought that they should have come up with something comparable for clerics.
Lastly...the overall setting. The storylines are epic, but the characters aren't. Wizards are not overly common, and something to be feared regardless of level. Dragons don't sit in caves waiting to be slain, they are active participants in the world, with their own allegiances and motivations. When characters die, they are dead (ok, there have been a few resurrections in DL, but the point is that it isn't that common). Most importantly, it is a world with a history. There is a past, with legendary heroes and villains, ancient ruins, and a continent which has been plagued by war time and time again. There is a creation myth, which varies depending on racial perspective. This adds so much to the flavor of the world and sense of reality.
And all of this is only the tip of the iceberg...
As for what time I'm in...I'm currently not playing due to a lack of fellow players in my area...but if I were, I'd probably be playing right after the War of Souls. There is too much opportunity, things to be explored, and situations which have yet to develop to not choose this time....
Possible SPOILERS for post War of Souls...
.
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Will the elves regain their homelands, or will they find a new home? Will the minotaurs be able to hold the ground which they have gained on the mainland? What is to become of the Wizards of High Sorcery, and how will they get along with sorcerers? Which gods are going to take over Paladine and Takhisis's positions? What's to become of the remaining dragon overlords, and could anymore alien dragons appear? And that is only the continent of Ansalon...if you want, there is still an entire world that has yet to be discovered, and the possibilities are limitless.
It seems every other setting is trying to scream "LOOK AT ME I'M UNIQUE!"
Well you know what, so is everybody else. It feels more epic and fantasy. When people think D&D the think Relms, when people think Fantasy they tend to envsion something more akin to Dragonlance.
In Realms or Greyhawlk you play as a group of adventerers who go around and tend twards mercnary thuggery.
Dragonlance almost forces you to not play as random group X, but as the heros of your story. Each of the classes has some sort of built in roleplaying requirement, wether it be a quest, or long term dedication.
Want white knights charging up hills to slay fell oppents and rescue fair maddens; Dragonlance has it.
Want mystrious wizards who follow ocult and arcane tradtion; Dragonlance got's it.
Want grizzled warriors with only the safety of their homes and loved ones in mind; yep Dragonlance.
Want small, neurotic, kleptomnaiac, and very unlikely heros; you bet Dragonlance has it.
Want a land where the "magic" is taken out of magic, and every other person you meet is a misunderstood, pathetic, dual magic scimitar wielding dark elf, with a magic cat; go away before you get your FR cooties on me:D
Originally posted by badmojo
Why do you like the Dragonlance setting?
Dragonarmies.
Kender.
0 ECL minotaurs.
Draconians.
Dragon Overlords.
Mystics.
Plus everything everyone else has said.
What are your favorite things about the realm?
See above.
And last and probably least:
Where are you in the timeline?
Six months and twenty-two days after the end of the War of Souls.
Why do they dislike dragonlance so much? History of poor product is certainly the biggest one. The lack of interest by designers of the setting in providing any information about the setting outside of novel heroes in a good solid central book is another. The biggest reason they dislike the setting however, is due to the fact that the only storyline that seems to revolve around dragonlance is that Takhisis tries to take over the world, or the world blows up destroying everything.
So dragonlance has a lot of old chains dragging it down, and the hardest thing to do is to convince people to take that first look. I got a few friends to skim the DLCS, but they took a look at the rules and the type of content offered and were not impressed (nor particularly was I). I won't go into exactly why, because I've already gone over it in other threads and I'll be called all sorts of nasty names.
Now myself, I first got started in Dragonlance because I knew it had been abandoned. So I thought, ah! Here is a setting that hasn't been developed outside of the Heroes of the Lance. The pantheon was well known to the readers of Chronicles (most D&D nerds) as were many place names. That's the advantage over a vanilla homebrew world that was just generic D&D fantasy.
So how did that lukewarm beginning turn into the terrible addiction it was today? Well, it wasn't the minotaurs, or the knights, or the conclave, or the dragon overlords or the three moons or many other things that people will point out. Most D&D worlds have a have knights, big dragons, wizardly orders and a unique night sky.
No, what attracted me to dragonlance and what keeps me here is that it is a deep still pond. The Knights of Solamnia are special because I can see the nobility and determination in their ice blue eyes while chanting "Est Solarus oth Mithas". The wizards of high sorcery are special because they give the ambience of the wonder and mystery magic more than other wizardly order I've ever seen.
That is the differerence between Dragonlance and the other vanilla D&D worlds. Dragonlance has never done anything revolutionary or unexpected (at least, not without disaster) but it pulses with life and potential under the surface. The nations are not carbon-copies of earth, they spring forth from their own history. The NPC's are not copies of historical earth or fictionary figures, but in Krynn you seem compelled to imagine the people growing up and growing old there.
This is why I find dragonlance so special.
beyond that, i love teh map =)
Moustache-loving knights...
Gnome tinkers...
Isolated elves...
"doorknob" kenders (as Flint is wont to say
)...A god disguised as a senile wizard...
Five-headed dragon...
and a host of other reasons...
Okay, this is more of Fourth-Age stuff, bit it's the age I like most in the setting.
It feels more real than other D&D worlds. Characters and events are more believeable. Also, I'm not too big a fan of dungeons and DL isn't a game world designed with those in mind (Unlike FR and GH).
What are your favorite things about the realm?
Its uniqueness really. DL is not your regular D&D setting.
Where are you in the timeline?
Currently, my camapign has moved into what would be the Summer of Chaos, but I'm changing it to something else (which I can't mention because at least one of my players lurks on these boards).
Originally posted by William Coburn
Want a land where the "magic" is taken out of magic, and every other person you meet is a misunderstood, pathetic, dual magic scimitar wielding dark elf, with a magic cat; go away before you get your FR cooties on me:D
The one thing I cannot stand about FR is that blasted dark elf. The rest of the drow are pretty interesting but he really rubs me the wrong way for some reason.
In my FR I stole the gnome right from DL, drow elves are evil elves not whiny little prats, and it is set in the middle of 1000 Orcs.
My favorite character is a CE Drow elf male who left the underdark because the Matriarc(sp) was stupid to him. So his in the above world but just as evil as his underground counter-parts. Also he has a very deep hate for the afore mentioned dark elf.
It just doesn't seem to gel well together. It's a setting that's been designed so that everyone can do everything. A lot of people on here, and doubtless the other 'Other Worlds' boards complain about the Drizzt problem, but this is more due to the types of people who are attracted to FR playing clones of an indestructible superhero with a very limited scope for development (He's been in maybe 20 stories, but never had a relationship with Cattiebrie? It's the same background story throughout, and the long descriptions of the 'whirling blades of death' that is the problem with Drizzt - he's not a character, he's a munchkin. With stories). So a lot of people go to FR to munchkin out.
Drizzt is not the integral problem with FR. the integral problem is that it is an unrealistic world for actual role-play. I can't count the number of Dragon articles and threads on RP boards that says 'ROLE-play, not ROLL-play', and so if you want to have lots of fights with lots of different monsters, go to FR. There's nothing wrong with that.
Dragonlance is different because with the books, it describes real people, and the heroes don't always win, sometimes they die. OK, so sometimes that doesn't stop them (Riverwind, Goldmoon, Palin, and of course, Raistlin), but you get the feeling that with heroes with flaws, and all these organisations, also with flaws... it's more real, and because of this, easier to play in, to role-play in, because real life has flawed things in it. While DL is just as likely to be desecrated by munchkins coming in and posting a quick thread about 'Hey, my 63rd level White-Robed Head of the Conclave of High Sorcery just killed Raistlin while he slept!!!', it still is, nonetheless, a great world.
That said, I hate my players always trying to create variant non-evil Drow characters. It's been done, and Drizzt is an oddity amoung his fellow people.
But alas, I open Dragonlance.... no Underdark! *does a dance of joy* The Underdark was cool. Till it got way overused.
Back to the subject at hand if you will.
A friend of mine wanted to play a drow bard in a DL campaign I was running. I thought it would be cool to see what happened. So I let him. He was all prepared with tales of good drow, and how he good better the community. He was at a total loss of words when he found out that he was one of a rare breed (I had drow being rare in the campaign, rather than non-existent. Made by the graygem-hey it's an easy excuse) and that nobody really cared what he was except for one hella alot of kender.
You know, you can never tell when a boat full of adventurers will get caught in a storm and wind up in DL.
Originally posted by badmojo
Mainly I was going to take all the things you liked and slowly incorporate them into me FR. When the PCs would comment I would that it was from DL. If they got interested I would set up a campaign.
You know, you can never tell when a boat full of adventurers will get caught in a storm and wind up in DL.
But the Forgotten Realms has already incorporated Dragonlance characteristics ...
1) 3rd edition halflings: Replace the word halfling with kender in their personality and physical appearance description in the Player's Handbook and they're virtually identical to kender. Even the photos of halflings show them with topknots!
2) Gnomes in the Forgotten Realms. They tinker, they live on an isolated island famed for technological inventions, and they worship a deity whose portfolio includes inventions. Umm, hello? If I didn't know better I'd say we were talking about tinker gnomes. What happened to those earthy little bald-headed animal-loving gnomes that so thoroughly populated Faerun?
Oops, didn't mean for it to get all rant-like. Ahh well.
I think that is what it was called. Featured in Second Generation in the story Wanna Bet? Correct me if I am wrong.
Also I am tinkering (love gnomes!) with the idea of dropping the barriers between the DL and FR realms. I mean one day you wake up and where an endless ocean once was is now a lake.