Also, Perkins did not, in fact, say that there's only one story worth telling in DL. He said that other stories tend to pale in comparison to the "Oh hey, the whole fate of the world in the balance" story, and baldly recognized that what he was saying was nothing more than personal opinion. That's what "feel free to disagree" means, folks.
Stop overreacting.
More sex and gender equality and racial equality shouldn't even be an argument--it should simply be an assumption for any RPG that wants to stay relevant in the 21st century.
This problem of a single great story isn't singular to Dragonlance. One member of our local group became obsessed with Drizzt, and wanted to try to relieve those adventures. I forgive the Drizzt fandom, but not wanting to make the entire party follow adventures that he already knows. I then had a random portal open up in front of them and dropped them in Solamnia. During the Battle of the High Clerist Tower and had them suddenly roaming Krynn instead of Faerun. I thought it quite funny when they decided to escort a group of 'halflings' through bandit-infested lands and one of them managed to find the most curious cloak that one of the PCs was wearing. Honestly, I'm not sure how he managed it, but the silly human must have dropped it! Good thing that kind halfling/kender found it for him!
I wish I could find my post somewhere on these forums about how I think the DL setting should be done in a new edition.
Basically, events move forward, a new War is brewing, new Dragon Highlords have risen, serving their dark goddess like before, Paladine walks the world somewhere, but who knows where, and...start campaign here. Basically, set it up in a full circle sort of thing, rather than retcons or the like, and the sort of "main story" of the setting, should you choose to use it, is to fight the forces of evil, restore Paladine to his rightful place, and in general set things right. The PCs are like the heroes of the lance, right in those first few pages of the Chronicles.
More sex and gender equality and racial equality shouldn't even be an argument--it should simply be an assumption for any RPG that wants to stay relevant in the 21st century.
I wish I could find my post somewhere on these forums about how I think the DL setting should be done in a new edition.
Basically, events move forward, a new War is brewing, new Dragon Highlords have risen, serving their dark goddess like before, Paladine walks the world somewhere, but who knows where, and...start campaign here. Basically, set it up in a full circle sort of thing, rather than retcons or the like, and the sort of "main story" of the setting, should you choose to use it, is to fight the forces of evil, restore Paladine to his rightful place, and in general set things right. The PCs are like the heroes of the lance, right in those first few pages of the Chronicles.
Perfectly logical for an entire Dragonlance campaign, just start anew. Depending on your time lapse from other Krynnish events, you could even reference some of the other Dragonlance novels out there: Solamnia is once again a great empire, for example (Rise of Solamnia series, first one is within 5 years of the War of Souls.)
Sure. The coming war could even have rumours of involvement of that other continent, where the Minotaurs live, but not make it clear which side they're on, or if they are coming as opportunists, or whathaveyou. The Knights could be recently weakened by some event, but still a real power. Some could wonder if, with Palidine having given up godhood, the Solamnians can stay the course and live up to their history, while others have faith, etc.
Seems like an awesome place to play some Dragonlance DnD.
More sex and gender equality and racial equality shouldn't even be an argument--it should simply be an assumption for any RPG that wants to stay relevant in the 21st century.
If you don't mind, I'm probably going to loot this idea right about...
Sidenote: It would actually be reasonably easy to bring some of the other 4e races into this campaign. Dragonborn are draconians (cheap, but still workable, maybe evolved to get their breath weapon), tieflings could be from the other continent, with their own empire (focused to evil, the oppisite of Solamnia.1) Change the halfling racial power to something kender-ish (the flavor text could be "I think you dropped it!")
Still need to figure out the Warforged (MASTER RACE!) and where they would fit. Maybe the Wizards of High Sorcery have been tinkering with constructs, branch of artificers among the moon-worshippers.
...NOW!
1) The whole "The world must be balanced!" thing kicking in. Good starts to gain power in Ansalon, evil gets power on the other one. What is that continent even named anyhow? Not sure there is anything about it beyond references...
Someone get Weiss and Hickman in a room with Mearls and throw all this stuff at them!
More sex and gender equality and racial equality shouldn't even be an argument--it should simply be an assumption for any RPG that wants to stay relevant in the 21st century.
I do not play D&D, never had a group to get it going, I have tried the online version but I do not know as much about D&D. I do however own over 50 dragonlance novels, and I feel I can say I'm experienced there. To say their is only one Epic story is not true. I personally find the Chronicles to be ok compared to several other trilogies I've read, and that is the one that gets amazing reviews and is always talked about. Point is if the books have anything to do with how the D&D setting goes then it should never ever be said that their is only one or two stories in Dragonlance worth telling. I can think of 3 off the top of my head that would make incredible movies, so how could that not be a good D&D setting? The way I understand it, you would have even more freedom in the world of Krynn.
However if you are playing in the 5th age... good luck.. no magic means boring reading so while I loved a lot of the new characters, I have stopped reading most of them. Perhaps magic has come back since I left, but thats why I read. I love the sorcery. But if you are restricted by "age" then 5th age could not be very fun and then I understand why you may say there is only one story to tell... unless you are allowed to be a dragon...
To me the "older pre-companions" dragonlance novels are the best written, best story lines and best characters. If you can't find a great story line/ campaign setting from these then you are just not trying very hard. If it's the setting after all the BS where the entire world of Krynn became magic-less and boring then I agree.. boring stories=bad RP.
PS I have no idea if any of this applies to the D&D setting, I just enjoy the novels and thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.
I do not play D&D, never had a group to get it going, I have tried the online version but I do not know as much about D&D. I do however own over 50 dragonlance novels, and I feel I can say I'm experienced there. To say their is only one Epic story is not true. I personally find the Chronicles to be ok compared to several other trilogies I've read, and that is the one that gets amazing reviews and is always talked about. Point is if the books have anything to do with how the D&D setting goes then it should never ever be said that their is only one or two stories in Dragonlance worth telling. I can think of 3 off the top of my head that would make incredible movies, so how could that not be a good D&D setting? The way I understand it, you would have even more freedom in the world of Krynn.
However if you are playing in the 5th age... good luck.. no magic means boring reading so while I loved a lot of the new characters, I have stopped reading most of them. Perhaps magic has come back since I left, but thats why I read. I love the sorcery. But if you are restricted by "age" then 5th age could not be very fun and then I understand why you may say there is only one story to tell... unless you are allowed to be a dragon...
To me the "older pre-companions" dragonlance novels are the best written, best story lines and best characters. If you can't find a great story line/ campaign setting from these then you are just not trying very hard. If it's the setting after all the BS where the entire world of Krynn became magic-less and boring then I agree.. boring stories=bad RP.
PS I have no idea if any of this applies to the D&D setting, I just enjoy the novels and thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.
Not sure where you stopped reading, maybe with the departure of the gods at the end of the Chaos War?
***SPOILER*** Since then, another war has been fought, the War of Souls. This (ultimately) ended in the return of *most* of the gods, bringing back magic, arcane and divine. There have been several series set in the time after the War of Souls, and each one I know of heavily involves magic. The Age of Mortals, still called that as the mortals now control the power of the gods, is a much more exciting time than before, and the best part is there is little defined history to it. Solamnia rises as an empire, the elves and the minotaurs battle for Silvanesti, Dark Knights have settled Qualinesti, another god appears (I don't know how this one ends, haven't gotten book 3 of that trilogy yet) and a few monstrous kingdoms arise. Ansalon has become a far more interesting place, in my opinion, thanks to the work of several authors, including Weis.
I do not play D&D, never had a group to get it going, I have tried the online version but I do not know as much about D&D. I do however own over 50 dragonlance novels, and I feel I can say I'm experienced there. To say their is only one Epic story is not true. I personally find the Chronicles to be ok compared to several other trilogies I've read, and that is the one that gets amazing reviews and is always talked about. Point is if the books have anything to do with how the D&D setting goes then it should never ever be said that their is only one or two stories in Dragonlance worth telling. I can think of 3 off the top of my head that would make incredible movies, so how could that not be a good D&D setting? The way I understand it, you would have even more freedom in the world of Krynn.
However if you are playing in the 5th age... good luck.. no magic means boring reading so while I loved a lot of the new characters, I have stopped reading most of them. Perhaps magic has come back since I left, but thats why I read. I love the sorcery. But if you are restricted by "age" then 5th age could not be very fun and then I understand why you may say there is only one story to tell... unless you are allowed to be a dragon...
To me the "older pre-companions" dragonlance novels are the best written, best story lines and best characters. If you can't find a great story line/ campaign setting from these then you are just not trying very hard. If it's the setting after all the BS where the entire world of Krynn became magic-less and boring then I agree.. boring stories=bad RP.
PS I have no idea if any of this applies to the D&D setting, I just enjoy the novels and thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.
Not sure where you stopped reading, maybe with the departure of the gods at the end of the Chaos War?
***SPOILER*** Since then, another war has been fought, the War of Souls. This (ultimately) ended in the return of *most* of the gods, bringing back magic, arcane and divine. There have been several series set in the time after the War of Souls, and each one I know of heavily involves magic. The Age of Mortals, still called that as the mortals now control the power of the gods, is a much more exciting time than before, and the best part is there is little defined history to it. Solamnia rises as an empire, the elves and the minotaurs battle for Silvanesti, Dark Knights have settled Qualinesti, another god appears (I don't know how this one ends, haven't gotten book 3 of that trilogy yet) and a few monstrous kingdoms arise. Ansalon has become a far more interesting place, in my opinion, thanks to the work of several authors, including Weis.
***END SPOILER***
I actually have a few of the newer books, I just really don't enjoy the non magic era. The Wizards Conclave I believe is an age of mortals book, it was good. But it still isn't as good as The Ergoth Trilogy.
***SPOILER***
The main character in that story, Tol, has an Irda Nullstone and so he is constantly being attacked by wizards/sorcerers who have no idea why he doesn't die. The main sorcerer Mandes is constantly throwing spells that are more powerful and unlike anything since. In the time line it is set way before the "chronicles", Pre-cataclysm, it's very close to the forging of the Ergothian Empire. This story isn't focused on a mage, Tol is actually a warrior, but it has a lot of magic in it. Most of these stories I read now have very little magic, and it's weak in comparison. I've yet to read any other book where the mage summons a wind storm, then an ice storm, uses voodoo dolls, summons golems, etc all as standard procedure. The legends books, while very good, have very little in the way of actual magical fighting. It's usually Raistlin casting 1 spell that almost kills him, then he teleports somewhere else and spends weeks recovering. Don't get me wrong I don't want to see mages running around with unlimited power, and I suppose the circumstances of this trilogy allowed for powerful magic casters, an Anti-Magic stone can do that, but through-out the entire trilogy Tol is running into powerful mages unlike any others I've read about. I do not mean to summerize a story you may not have read but the point is what happened to the magic! It's constantly getting weaker and weaker.
I have the first Mina book also, I found it to be good but I never followed up with it. The chaos war was a big turn off for me, and then Mina showed up who was not someone I wanted to read about. I read the 5th age books, then the Dhamon trilogy. The loss of magic turned me off but Dhamon was a great story in my opinion. Jean Rabe got a lot of crap for it but Dhamon was a great character. I love the constant struggle he has with his morality. And who wouldn't want to become a dragon? But that final Dhamon book made me realize how much I missed by not reading Mina.. I assume. Large chunks of story were missing for me. So for that reason alone I am a bit intrigued.
I guess I just happened to pick up a few medicore books that turned me off for awhile. I had a few "Crossroads" novels that were just.. terrible. Then while dragons of a summer flame was good but magic was gone.. and then the mina book finished it for me.
Any specific suggestions for new books to read? I have been told the Minotaur trilogy is good but I havn't looked into it.
