I am very heavily contemplating the purchasing of the new Dragonlance campaign setting books. I have a few questions and would like some recommendations before doing so.
Where can I find a pretty thorough chronology of Dragonlance/ Krynn? I'd like to be able to have it as a hard copy reference, but don't necessarily want to drop a lot of $$$.
Secondly, should I buy both the Campaign Setting and the Age of Mortals? What is the Age of Mortals?
Lastly, what time period is the Campaign set in? Are there rules to play in any of the time periods? (istar, war of the lance, etc.)
I love the Dragonlance universe, but I am only marginally familiar with it.
I own the Annotated Chronicles, The Best of Tales novels 1 and 2, Tales v. 6: War of the Lance, and a very small, hardback 2nd edition Dragonlance campaign setting.
Thank You, and Happy Holidays.
Dustin
The Poet of Tone
However like almost everything you must be prepared for many inconsistencies.
In fact this is one of the biggest things that we debate about on these boards.
So far, and someone correct me if I am wrong, but the general consensis is that the chronology as presented in the DLCS is the one you should use, as it is the most recent according of Krynn's history.
Think of it like this. Before Columbus (might be wrong era) discovered america everyone thought the world was flat. After everyone changed their views when it was proved to be a sphere.
DL is kinda like this. You use the most recent writings and hope they don't change too much with the next incarnation.
Now as you are the DM, you can use whatever chronolgy you wish. You could even completely change the history of krynn if you want.
Originally posted by darthsylver
Think of it like this. Before Columbus (might be wrong era) discovered america everyone thought the world was flat. After everyone changed their views when it was proved to be a sphere.
The world was thought to be a sphere among the educated since antiquity and was not disputed by learned men in christian times. Certainly none of the monarchs Christopher Columbus approached for funding. Heck, the entire basis for astrology and astronomy in ancient times depended on a geo-centric universe, with the world as a sphere. It is known as the Ptolemic model, which basically veiwed the orbits of various heavenly bodies like the rings of an onion. It was an extremely sophisticated body of theory, and it was a miracle of modern science that it fell apart when it did. Galilleo after all did not have the smoking gun with his telescope, it was just one of many things that helped to support the simpler and neater astrophysics of Copernicus.
The reason the monarchs were so hesitant was not because they thought the world was flat. It was because the cost was exhorbitant to take three state of the art ships, and send them out across the open ocean where they probably won't come back. Think of it in terms of our own governments deciding to build a rocketship to explore space outside our solar system.
Yes, I really hated that 5th Age story where the clerics of Paladine and Takhisis argued over the shape of the world, standing in the way of the humble scholars who wanted to bring light and truth to mankind.
It is also yet another reason I hate importing historical events and npc's into fantasy fiction. It usually comes out wrong or distorted, and tainted with the author's own ideological rhetoric.Originally posted by TonePoet77
Where can I find a pretty thorough chronology of Dragonlance/ Krynn? I'd like to be able to have it as a hard copy reference, but don't necessarily want to drop a lot of $$$.
DLCS and the Age of Mortals. Both have it, as you've been told. Sometimes you can find timelines online, too, but that's chancy
Secondly, should I buy both the Campaign Setting and the Age of Mortals? What is the Age of Mortals?
DLCS - Yes. Age of Mortals - Depends upon your preference. It's an era-specific companion, specifically detailing the 'current era' of Dragonlance. But since you can play Dragonlance in any place on the timeline, many people don't want to play in the current continuom (however that word's spelled). In my opinion, it's worth the buy, if you can afford to shell out the cash.
Lastly, what time period is the Campaign set in? Are there rules to play in any of the time periods? (istar, war of the lance, etc.)
The 'current era', as alluded to earlier, is the Fifth Age, after the War of Souls. There's a series for the War of Souls you can read if you like, but the DLCS pretty much sets you up to speed with what's going on at that time, anyway. There are some scant rules to play in the War of the Lance setting, and it's pretty easy to adjust things to play in earlier settings altogether. Just need to know what you want to do and tweak from there. I'm sure if you wanted to, many people on the boards would be happy to help you convert
If you want to catch up on the Dragonlance universe, as I do agree it's great, there's a horde of novels for you to read. Some folks here have links to good places to see how all the novels fit together. Hopefully they'll post.
I know for a long, long time I was 'marginally familiar' with the setting, myself. About 6 motnhs back, I started delving deeper, and I haven't come up for air since. Heh. Couldn't be happier. It's a gorgeous setting, albeit it has its flaws. The best thing to do is just get familiar with it, and decide what 'your dragonlance' looks like. That'll help you solve some inconsistencies when they crop up ;)Best of luck.
I was merely trying to point out that history (reality), or what we believe to be history (reality), has sometimes changed with the current era and way of thinking and that DL is no different.