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Post by spiral on Jul 18, 2008 9:28:43 GMT -5
Hi all,
I am considering running a DragonLance game around the table-top with some friends here at home. I've never run DragonLance before, and haven't read any of the novels, so I am currently cruising the "Tales of the Lance" and "DragonLance Adventures" sourcebooks.
Does anybody have any advice for DM'ing in the setting. Also, useful recommendations I can make use of in the time I have available to prepare, such as, "If you read only one DL novel, read this one.."?
Also, I'm not sure I'm into all the Orders of the <insert colour here> Robes, and the many types of Templar. No harm in letting people play them I guess, I'm just worried we might miss out on something more fun and original if people plump for these different orders. Imagine, if you banned all these orders and templar types, you would get kender, mad gnomes, minotaurs, and lots of other fun stuff being used instead. Thoughts?
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Post by TheUdjat on Jul 18, 2008 9:41:43 GMT -5
Man, I love Dragonlance. Probably for no good reason.
Okay, first couple of questions regarding DL (before I can offer help):
1. What Age are you running the game in? There's 4th Age (The classic War of the Lance era), early 5th Age (Age of Mortals, where Wizards and Clerics are replaced by Sorcerers and Mystics and other crazy stuff happens), and later 5th Age (Where Clerics and Wizards returns, gods come back, etc.). This will determine what books are important to read.
2. What system are you using? 2nd Edition, 3.x, or the weird SAGA cards?
Regarding the Orders, they're really pretty essential to the flavor of Dragonlance. But if you're using Sorcerers, they're not actually part of the Orders, and so they're free to be whatever. But generally speaking, if you're a wizard in Dragonlance you're either part of the Black/Red/White Robers, or you're a Renegade.
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Post by K Man on Jul 18, 2008 10:30:04 GMT -5
The biggest thing (for me) to remember about Dragonlance is that it's always epic and that the gods regularly interfere with mortals--assuming you're in the age where the gods haven't abandoned Krynn. It is a setting of high fantasy, high magic, vast wars and rich traditions. Try to keep that in mind at all times when playing. There is a backstory behind everything and always some mischevious force at work (or prophecy being fulfilled).
There is so much to describe for the setting; the various orders (not just mage orders, but knightly orders, military orders etc); the various continents and their inhabitants, the new monsters and races found only on Krynn etc etc. I could ramble on for days about Dragonlance and why I like it, but if I had to truncate in response to your questions, I would say the following;
The Orders correspond to basically alignment and three moons that rise in the sky. The Black-Robed are evil and worship the dark moon, the crimson are neutral and worship the blood moon, the White are generally good and worship the ivory moon (I forget their names). When one moon is waxing, the other orders are waning which also has an effect on the power of the mages that follow that order. Like Udjat says, there are grey-robed mages that are considered renegades and often hunted by the orders.
The orders themselves are like secret societies. They plan events around the lunar schedule and often make power plays when their particular moon is in full effect. The Black mages might try to overrun a city on a night when their black moon is full for instance.
Overall, there is a lot of reliance on lunar schedules, stars in the sky and prophecy in the setting. Seems like everything is always destined to happen for one reason or another.
As for one book to read, I will recommend a few that are unfortunately series;
- Probably the oldest and most well-known series of books for Dragonlance is the Chronicles Trilogy, collectively the Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawn. This series follows a group of fated warrior as they fight for the world in a prophetic battle. It was written in 1984-85 and was the foundation for most of Dragonlance setting. This was followed up by the Legends Trilogy; the Time / War / Test of the Twins books which follows two or more of the characters; a set of twins. One of the twins is a mage who ends up trying to become a god. Good series.
- If you want to focus on the (human) order of the Knights of Solomnia, there is a good series; Lord of the Rose, The Crown and Sword, and The Measure and the Truth which detail the Knights' creation, values and structure. A prelude to the series is Vinas Solamnus, a book about the man who created the Knights of Solomnia. Very good read if they are going to be central to your campaign.
- If Minotaurs are you kick, like they are mine, you can read the Minotaur Wars series; Night of Blood, Tide of Blood and Empire of Blood. They detail the minotaur empire in a time of strife and really focus on how minotaurs are in Krynn; honor-bound, militaristic, sea-faring creatures. This also kind of covers what happened to the Ogres and how they used to be a larger version of the Elves; graceful, intelligent and magically inclined.
- My personal favorite out of all Dragonlance novels is The Legend of Huma. It's a single novel about a human knight who befriends a minotaur named Kaz. Huma also befriends a woman who is actually a silver dragon in disguise and the two go on to discover the legendary Dragonlance and use it in a war against Takhisis--the dark dragon. It's a very good book and I've read it twice now. It was followed up with Kaz the Minotaur, that follows Kaz after his epic war with Huma.
Anyway, that should get you started. There is a stupid long list of novels, most written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
If you need to know more, let us know.
EDIT: On a side note, some of the most legendary characters are born from Dragonlance. Lord Soth for instance, was a knight of Solomnia who gave up stopping a cataclysm because his wife was cheating on him. He didn't save the world and instead went back to smack the ho.
The whole setting is epic, I guess would be the message of my post.
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Post by TheZebraShakes™ on Jul 18, 2008 10:45:03 GMT -5
Can I be Sturm?
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Post by TheUdjat on Jul 18, 2008 10:47:49 GMT -5
Hmm. Maybe I should run a DL game on here...
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Post by spiral on Jul 18, 2008 11:25:14 GMT -5
Lots of useful info there. I do not know what age to set things in yet, but I do know it will be 2nd Ed. I can't help but feel overwhelmed. The setting must be amazing once you have soaked up a lot of the background and some of the novels.. I wonder if I am up to DM'ing it before that point though.
I will definitely check out the lone novel about Kaz, and continue reading my sourcebooks. Also, the lunar influence is interesting, that's appealing, I like that...will read some more on it this weekend.
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Post by Deekin on Jul 18, 2008 13:41:08 GMT -5
I second K man's reading list, but would add two more novels
The Doom Brigade, and Draconian Measures. They really flesh out the evil races of the setting, especially the Draconians.
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Post by spiral on Jul 18, 2008 14:47:05 GMT -5
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Post by Rojito on Jul 18, 2008 16:10:09 GMT -5
Udjat you Want to tun a DL game on here (uses the force). Alright man, i own all the cronicles, all the Lost cronicles (cept the last one that hasn't been released yet), The Twin Trilogy, two of the War of the Souls, Brothers in arms, Second Generation, Dragons of Summer Flame, and hell i like the writing style of Tracy and Margarate so much i own the Death Gate Cycle as well, all what, nine books? You really want to run a campaign  Spiral if you need anyhelp with the series just let me know i have read every book i own of it multiple times, and am still looking to purchase more of the series. |
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Post by VemuKhaham on Jul 18, 2008 19:41:37 GMT -5
DragonLance has always intrigued me, just because of its name, but I've never even done anything further than like the name and hope that someday I have the easy opportunity to learn more of it. Yes, I know, I'm lazy.  |
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Post by spiral on Jul 19, 2008 9:36:46 GMT -5
Same here Vemu, but the more I read the more I am looking forward to spending some time in this setting. The history is amazing!
Udjat, why not run a DL short? It could be done, and I sure would learn a lot from playing in it! =)
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Post by spiral on Jul 19, 2008 17:36:15 GMT -5
I am sat at my desk in the study with a lamp on and a couple of Dragon Lance books open. I've picked up a new folder for my work, and I'm starting to write this new campaign. It's been, years, since I sat with a desk full of maps and did some real pencil and paper DM work.
Much fun! =)
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Post by TheUdjat on Jul 19, 2008 17:44:16 GMT -5
Dragonlance is definitely a setting for that. Tons of work, lots of old history to sort through, etc. I love the setting, but I haven't read all of it (and don't intend to).
If you're doing 2nd Ed, I suggest you play in the War of the Lance (or near there) era. The rules for 2nd Ed don't support the 5th Age stuff, so it's probably best to keep away from there. Chronologically, the Chronicles and Legends series are excellent material, but you might as well stay away from Dragons of Summer Flame, which completely changes the setting.
If I ran DL here, it'd be with the published 3.x rules, some of which I still need to gather (no biggie there, though). Not sure if I could limit myself to a Short, as I suck at that, but I do have a number of intriguing ideas for alternative long-term games where players can come and go...
Maybe I'll throw up a thread to discuss some of those ideas soon.
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Post by VemuKhaham on Jul 19, 2008 18:44:52 GMT -5
Ow, people thinking about and starting new games all over the place and me having to resist joining all of them... you all are evil! |
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