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Post by Daos on Feb 11, 2019 16:24:44 GMT -8
As 3/5th of the party is ready now, we'll probably be starting fairly soon. So I'm opening up an official OOC thread now. Here's some random trivia about this game:
I actually ran another Dragonlance game set 10 years prior, called War of the Lance, on another site. It was about the struggle of the city of Haven after it was first flooded with refugees from the war (increasing the town's population three fold), then being conquered and occupied itself. It was a super dark, gritty and bleak game which I think caught most of my players off-guard. Regardless, it did end in a semi-happy ending. The final boss was a mature adult red dragon with the expectation that the party would fail and die or run away, but amazingly they managed to defeat it. Horizons is the only player who came from that game. It lasted 6 years, but there were only 4 PC deaths throughout (one of them being against the last boss).
Originally this game was called Tower of Wayreth. It was supposed to be an all-mage game, where the players were sent on missions throughout Ansalon to fight renegades, seek out forgotten artifacts and spells in ancient ruins, and overall protect the good name of magic and bolster the sullied reputation of wizards everywhere. There was so little enthusiasm toward it, not just from the old players of the last game, but like, everyone I talked to about it, I decided to scrap it and came up with this game instead.
At one point in development, I seriously considered making this a 3E game. The main reason is that there is this wealth of 3E material for Dragonlance, but the 2E stuff for the setting is even more byzantium and esoteric than usual. However, I am not well versed in 3E. I know a little through videogames and such, but I've never run a 3E game before and I am currently still trying to learn 5E as it is, and 3E is so very, very complex. Ultimately instead I just tried converting most of that wealth of 3E material into 2E instead and clearing up some of the weirder 2E things, like how Knights of Solamnia work.
Anyway...I wanted to ask, what is everyone's knowledge level of the Dragonlance setting? I ask so I know how much exposition I should be including in my posts once the game starts.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 11, 2019 16:56:17 GMT -8
I know...literally nothing apart from what’s been discussed in the Character Creation thread. That’s actually a large part of why I chose to play a Feralan, actually.
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Post by Daos on Feb 11, 2019 17:01:20 GMT -8
That's probably a good strategy then. But nevertheless, let me know if you have any lore questions, because I'm basically a walking Dragonlance encyclopedia.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 12, 2019 4:27:12 GMT -8
Well, judging by her personality, I think Grognak and Ravarie are going to get along just fine.  |
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Post by Ezeze on Feb 12, 2019 9:00:24 GMT -8
I read the Chronicles trilogy (Dragons of [season] [time of day]) and the Dragonlance Legends trilogy (* of the Twins) once each a little more than a decade ago - so if you throw a main character's name at me I'll probably recognize it, but I may need to lean on you and the Dragonlance Wiki to refresh my memory about the minutia.
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Rax
Dicemaster
Posts: 2,263 
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Post by Rax on Feb 12, 2019 9:22:15 GMT -8
I read the original series back when it came out back in the eighties and haven't really touched it since. I think I read one book set after the war as well - something about Caramon and Tasslehoff time travelling? I do remember not being hugely impressed by the original series though. The heroes seemed awfully whiny to me and the villains kinda formulaic. There was a sense of the writers desperately trying to be EPIC, but I remember feeling that it all fell pretty flat. I suppose part of that might have been because it really did read like someone's AD&D campaign with extra fluff padding between the adventures.
So, overall, poor-middling knowledge of the setting. I do have the Tales of the Lance supplement for 2e though, and I've been brushing up on my fluff knowledge by reading that. Unfortunately, that too feels like a missed opportunity. There's definitely the bones of a decent campaign world there, but the level of detail when it comes to nations, cultures and tribes is...really thin. I own the boxed set for Taladas as well, and I must say it beats Tales of the Lance by a mile.
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Post by Snacs on Feb 12, 2019 9:37:32 GMT -8
Anyway...I wanted to ask, what is everyone's knowledge level of the Dragonlance setting?
I read through most of the dragonlance novels that existed prior to 2000, but that was during middle and high school  I'm horrendous at remembering names, but I remember some of the stuff about the setting is my best answer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |
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Post by Daos on Feb 12, 2019 15:22:23 GMT -8
There are over 190 Dragonlance novels, but it sounds like most of you have at least red the first six and if that's the case, you probably know enough to get by. The first three novels, known as Chronicles, were Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning. They were, in fact, literally based on a tabletop game (I've actually run the first two modules before). Margaret Weis (co-author of the series) has gone on record to admit you can 'hear the sound of dice rolling in the background' of the first three novels. There's even a scene in the first book where the party had a random encounter with a giant slug while in a dungeon.
The sequel trilogy, known as Legends, is the one involving time travel. They are Time of the Twins, War of the Twins and Test of the Twins. Most people agree they were much better written and had less of a tabletop game feel to them.
These six books are considered canon to everyone. But there are tons of other books that are not, depending on who you ask. No new books have been published since 2007, and likely never will again. WotC seems to have little interest in reviving Dragonlance for 5E.
Just watch out when using the wiki. It will reference stuff all the way to the end of the series (around 430 AC, which is 70 years ahead of where this game takes place). If you're reading up on anything, make sure to dismiss anything under the label of Age of Mortals (this game takes place in the Age of Despair). It would be weird if a character accidentally referenced something that hasn't happened yet.
Yeah, Tales of the Lance is very bare bones. There is more information in other supplements, though. The setting got really fleshed out during 3E's period.
I've always wanted to one day run a campaign in Taladas or Adlatum. But it's a hard sell. If the players are fans of Dragonlance, they are likely only familiar with Ansalon. So the pitch is basically, 'Hey, let's play a Dragonlance game, but with none of the familiar organizations or peoples you are familiar with. No Knights of Solamnia, no Wizards of High Sorcery, no Qualinesti or Silvanesti or Hylar or Neidar, no Heroes of the Lance, etc.'
Still, maybe some day.
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Post by Daos on Feb 13, 2019 18:20:28 GMT -8
I've never had a player turn in a character that described their personality with an anime term, For half a second I was indignant because I totally described Mas'erin as being a bishi but then I remembered that A) that wasn't your game, and B) that's technically describing his appearance, not his personality. So your statement stands unchallenged. Speaking of which, now that it's pretty clear Jherek won't be coming back, I'm starting to consider reviving that game myself some day. Granted, NotARobot is gone, too, but everyone else is still around. |
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Post by Daos on Feb 14, 2019 15:50:45 GMT -8
Another thing to think about, is how your characters feel toward each other. Do you get along?
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 14, 2019 16:16:43 GMT -8
Grognak would probably admire Ravarie quite a bit, thanks to her affinity with animals. Whether she likes him back is Horizons' choice. I also feel like he would feel a kinship with Teakettle. No idea why, he just would. He'd react with indifference to Runt and...Sir Placeholder.
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Post by HorizonsDream on Feb 14, 2019 16:25:55 GMT -8
Ravarie would have been distant with everyone in the very beginning, but after working together for a little while she would get use to them. Grognak is a lot like her, and despite the fact that he is half golbin, she would probably tentatively get along with him. I think she would probably be cautious around Runt. She would put up with Teakettle, as she finds that kender in general just talk too much. As for our other party member, I'm not sure yet since I don't know much about him.
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Post by Daos on Feb 14, 2019 16:42:41 GMT -8
Something to consider, with both Ravarie and Grognak having grown up in the wilderness and missing out on the entire war, it's entirely possible that neither of them know about draconians and that Runt is their first encounter with one. It's also possible they don't know about dragons returning, or even the gods for that matter. (Well, Ravarie probably figured it out when she started casting spells.)
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 14, 2019 17:29:36 GMT -8
Something to consider, with both Ravarie and Grognak having grown up in the wilderness and missing out on the entire war, it's entirely possible that neither of them know about draconians and that Runt is their first encounter with one. It's also possible they don't know about dragons returning, or even the gods for that matter. (Well, Ravarie probably figured it out when she started casting spells.) Well, the hunters Grognak lived with for the latter half of his childhood probably would have explained the gods in passing. He wouldn’t be familiar with draconions, though. |
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Post by Ezeze on Feb 14, 2019 18:34:18 GMT -8
Teakettle has asked anyone who has sat still for more than a second what their name is, where they are from, how they got here, if they miss their family, what food they are going to eat when they are free, whether or not they like fighting for Bulbos, what makes them happy and whether or not they want to see this cool rock she found yesterday and picked up I have it here in my pouch wait where did it go?
She likes everyone. Even the people who threaten to beat her to a bloody pulp if she doesn't leave them alone.
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I'm horrendous at remembering names, but I remember some of the stuff about the setting is my best answer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 
