1. I'm (unfortunately) not going to attend GenCon and am thinking about pre-ordering War of the Lance from Margaret Weis' website, the question is: how much "extra" does Margaretweis.com add to the retail price of any items ordered therefrom? I nosed around the website a bit but could not find this specific bit of info.
2. Assuming I do order from Margaret's website (let's say today August 12th), exactly when would I receive my shiny new War of the Lance book?
On to more generic roleplaying-type questions:
1. It seems almost self-explanatory that the WotL book will detail those years of the 4th Age in which the War took place (348 AC to 353 AC), but what about the few years before the War? To clarify, will the accessory only cover just the War of the Lance years of the 4th Age, or will it be more akin to a sourcebook for the 4th Age, starting from year 1 AC up to and including the War of the Lance?
2. On Margaret's website's description of the WotL book, it states that the races of Ansalon will receive an update. What exactly does this mean? New racial traits? Optional racial traits? New subraces ... e.g. Lucanesti?
Originally posted by iltharanos
1. It seems almost self-explanatory that the WotL book will detail those years of the 4th Age in which the War took place (348 AC to 353 AC), but what about the few years before the War? To clarify, will the accessory only cover just the War of the Lance years of the 4th Age, or will it be more akin to a sourcebook for the 4th Age, starting from year 1 AC up to and including the War of the Lance?
In addendum, what will be the last year that it covers? Does it go as far as the Blue Ladys war or will that be part of the (hinted at) Legends sourcebook?
...Lucanesti?
Wouldn't the Lucanesti all be extinct after the Cataclysm (assuming they are even canon)?
Originally posted by iltharanos
1. I'm (unfortunately) not going to attend GenCon and am thinking about pre-ordering War of the Lance from Margaret Weis' website, the question is: how much "extra" does Margaretweis.com add to the retail price of any items ordered therefrom? I nosed around the website a bit but could not find this specific bit of info.
We sell each item at regular list cost, and shipping is calculated based on the total cost of your order. I fully admit that our shipping and handling costs are higher than most sites, but we have to account for the extra work and travel necessary to get Margaret's signature on every book we sell. (She doesn't live here at the office!) You can always do a "test" order to see what the shipping and handling costs are, then cancel before you submit the final order.
2. Assuming I do order from Margaret's website (let's say today August 12th), exactly when would I receive my shiny new War of the Lance book?
We can't make any guarantees about when the order will ship. The GenCon attendees get first crack at the book. We ordered enough where we hope to bring some home, but there is a chance that all of our advance copies will sell out at the show. That said, we usually get copies of the book before the stores, so you can still get your book a bit early by ordering through the site.
1. It seems almost self-explanatory that the WotL book will detail those years of the 4th Age in which the War took place (348 AC to 353 AC), but what about the few years before the War? To clarify, will the accessory only cover just the War of the Lance years of the 4th Age, or will it be more akin to a sourcebook for the 4th Age, starting from year 1 AC up to and including the War of the Lance?
This book covers the entire Age of Despair up until and the period immediately following the War of the Lance. (The included adventure--by Tracy Hickman!--takes place approximately one year after the war.) The focus is on the time period of the War, but it has more than enough information to run an Age of Despair set in the dark years just after the Cataclysm.
2. On Margaret's website's description of the WotL book, it states that the races of Ansalon will receive an update. What exactly does this mean? New racial traits? Optional racial traits? New subraces ... e.g. Lucanesti?
If you own Age of Mortals, you might have a good idea of the kind of information we include about the races. It expands on the description of each race and describes their situation during the era of play we're covering. We do have a few race-specific feats and prestige classes. Our web preview (coming soon, hopefully this coming Wednesday) will show the Minotaur Marauder!
The big racial updates will have to wait until next year's Races of Ansalon.
Jamie Chambers
Sovereign Press, Inc.
If you order 2 items does it cost 20 bucks (10 per) to ship them or is it less?
Originally posted by lorac75
I see that Towers of High Socery is at the bottom of page (didn't see it before. It threw me b/c it wasn't with the other DL stuff. Also, if you buy them together the shipping is $15.
Hmm. Excellent. I usually avoid purchasing D&D books online, but I may have to make an exception for DL. Damn my lack of patience.
Anyways......I cant wait for this...(and all the other DL releases) This is just an awesome year for D&D....and shaping up to be an even better year for it next year.....especially where DL is concerned. Keep em coming SP!
Anyone here planning on running an War of the Lance era campaign?
I don't even have the book yet and I already feel this urge to run a campaign set during the War ... I think i'm familiar enough with the storyline to actually start my PCs off in a non-standard fashion (e.g. running the campaign where the PCs are not stand-ins for the Companions and do not follow the series of events in the novel). Interestingly, even if I did go the more standard route, the plot twists in the War would still come as a surprise to most of my players. Out of the six players in my group only 2 have read either the Chronicles or Legends. One has read both trilogies while the other has only read the Legends trilogy.
I can just send the continuity mess up the river and concentrate on D&D gaming and designing geographical stuff. There is a great deal of freedom to do so too, given that the 5th Age geographic material is rather hazy and half the continent was wiped out completely.
If I decide to go beyond the WotL period, I can even design a fanonical account of Krynn-2, aka "What Might Have Been"
Reboot!
Originally posted by ferratus
I can just send the continuity mess up the river and concentrate on D&D gaming and designing geographical stuff. There is a great deal of freedom to do so too, given that the 5th Age geographic material is rather hazy and half the continent was wiped out completely.
If geography-lovers out there aren't pleased by War of the Lance I don't know what else I can do. The chapter takes up nearly one-third of the book, complete with detailed descriptions and regional maps! You'll see web previews of the book starting next week, and GenCon attendees will be able to tell you all about it!
Jamie Chambers
Sovereign Press, Inc.
Originally posted by jechambers
If geography-lovers out there aren't pleased by War of the Lance I don't know what else I can do.
Seconded!
This is going to be the definitive Age of Despair/War of the Lance era sourcebook. Together with the DLCS and the core rulebooks you should be able to pick up the original modules and run the entire thing from start to finish. Of course, the best use of the book is to create your own campaign within the timeline of the War and make use of events and characters the heroes didn't meet or have as much of an impact on, in areas of Ansalon that were looked over. It really is going to be an essential book for those who have even a passing interest in the 4th Age of Krynn.
Cheers,
Cam
Originally posted by Cam Banks
Seconded!
It really is going to be an essential book for those who have even a passing interest in the 4th Age of Krynn.
Cheers,
Cam
I'll Third this. :D
It's not only essential for the 4th Age I think it's also an invaluable resource for the 5th Age as well. It'll really help give the broadest overall view of Ansalon ever put into one book. I'm very excited about it!
I also know that the designers in charge of the line deeply love it. That is why I also hope that they leave their mark on the setting. After all, it will not be through the alternate rules and prestige classes that you will do so.
Twenty years from now, when D&D is in its 4th or even 5th edition, people will not ask about the prestige classes. They'll ask about the characters, the organizations, the dungeons, and the geography.
So if I know what the government of Solamnia is and how it works, the borders of that nation, how many people live there, and who the proper authorities are, I'll give it a good review. If not...
I really want to give it a good review though. I want to be pleased.
Twenty years from now, when D&D is in its 4th or even 5th edition, people will not ask about the prestige classes. They'll ask about the characters, the organizations, the dungeons, and the geography.
I agree with that to a point, but I do think that the PrCs and such will also leave quite the memorable mark.....I mean come on....some of the more interesting Saga roles have shown up as PrCs already....and caused quite a stir if I am not mistaken.....such as the SAM.
So, one character is a theology student who’s studying to become a seeker priest (and man do I hope War of the Lance has some info on those guys, I’m going nuts coming up with it myself), who’ll probably become the first new cleric of Kiri-Jolith. He’ll be aided, on and off, by an avatar of his god (can anyone see where I get my inspiration?), in the form of a kinder child. See, Kiri-Jolith isn’t about to just go out and smite evil himself, he wants to teach his new servant about honour and courage, and he doesn’t want to do it by showing him how its done. Instead he’s going to test the cleric by pestering him (and the disgraced Solamnic knight) with questions and imitating them whenever they live up to his ideals. Being a hyperactive child will also help me to slip in hints of things to come without the players taking it seriously before its actually happening. One example being the black dragon that I plan for them to help redeem, (essentially the Khisanth story from the Black Wing, only this time with a happy ending).
I’m sticking firmly to the timeline of the war, so my heroes are mostly going to be at the opposite end of the continent from the Heroes of the Lance. Among other things, they’ll be spending a lot of time fighting in the Icewall, both against Fael-Thas and against his replacement Highlord after Laurana goes and take off his head.
Near the end of the war, the heroes will be attempting to prevent Chemos from putting a huge army of undead at the Queens disposal. This storyline will then tie in with my “Legends” equivalent where the main antagonist is an ancient death knight, a former High Clerist who now serves Chemos, known as the Nightblade.
Poor Goldmoon and Elistan, both offed in my campaign.