In last week’s post, I discussed my D&D Next home playtest game using the classic Dragonlance modules (the DL series).
Competing for Time
I didn’t really get into details of why I chose to run Dragonlance. Aside from the setting being a staple of my youth (as described in several earlier posts), it’s an issue of practicality. A fundamental challenge with D&D is the time pressure it creates, particularly for DMs. In this era of 24-hour entertainment, with the ability to jump online to X-box Live any time, carving out time to both plan and play D&D is hard. I’m in graduate school right now, and it turns out my day job keeps me pretty busy. Without getting too far into the weeds of the WotC inner-workings—I can say this: I don’t get much time at work to keep up with the rules. Most of my time spent with the D&D Next materials occurs at home around 1 or 2 AM.
So, getting back to the question of why Dragonlance? I think it’s an issue relevant to any of us who are especially familiar with particular settings: ease of use. I am intimately familiar with the history of Krynn and the War of the Lance. That means minimal preparation time familiarizing myself with the world/adventure. That time can instead be spent keeping up with the rules, or coming up with cool hooks for the characters.
Reinventing the Classic Characters
As for characters—a lot of the criticism of Dragonlance comes from the idea that it tells just one story. It’s not exactly made for people that want a sandbox. In recruiting players for this game, I made it clear to all those involved that we’d be running the War of the Lance, so anyone familiar with the novels would “know what’s coming.”
Somewhat surprisingly, the three or four people who had read the books were okay with that. I think it shows that novelty in an adventure can be trumped by just having a great time playing fun characters and hanging out with friends.
I gave everyone the option of playing the Heroes of the Lance, but only one of my players, Dan, opted for this path (and ended up playing Tasslehoff, who almost died in the fourth session). That would have been awkward.
To make the party feel integrated into the story, I borrowed elements of the classic War of the Lance heroes and imparted them to the characters. [PLAYERS IN MY GAME AND PEOPLE INTENDING TO READ THE CHRONICLES BE WARNED: HERE BE SPOILERS]
I modeled one of the characters after Berem, the Green Gemstone man. The character hasn’t died yet, but I expect it will be interesting when he does.
Another character has elements of Sturm Brightblade‘s background—a family slain, dishonored. Trying to earn a place among the knights.
One character carries the Staff of Magius, and has the spirit of Fistandantilus in her head.
Another players is a hill dwarf of the Fireforge clan.
A silvanesti elf foundling who has been raised among the seekers discovered the Blue Crystal Staff in a forest glade, near the body of two dead Que-Shu barbarians. Yeah, I went there.
And then I’ve introduced some new elements, just to mix things up. For example, we have an ascetic from the Library in Palanthas who was an assistant to Astinus the Chronicler. There’s also a mountain dwarf with a royal (and draconic) bloodline, and potentially an heir to Kharas.
Conclusion
My takeaway from setting up this campaign is that Dragonlance doesn’t have to be the same old story. The players and the characters bring something unique to this epic tale of war. I think Dragonlance presents groups with the opportunity to play out a sweeping narrative arc, without the frequent problem of campaign burnout. I know where the stories going. I don’t have to spend hundreds of hours preparing my game. That means as a DM, I’m much more equipped to commit a year or two to finishing the campaign.
As for why D&D Next? It’s nothing really unique to Dragonlance. Sure, the magic system in the current playtest makes creating houserules for the phases of the moon more feasible. And yes, it means that the player characters can battle ten or twenty draconians and have it feel threatening without being a slog. Ultimately, though, it’s an issue of preparation. I can run those bare-bones AD&D Dragonlance modules off the cuff, with few modifications for D&D Next, and that’s satisfying as hell.
Related articles
- D&DNext and Dragonlance (dicemonkey.net)
- [Eye of the Beholder] My On-Off Relationship with Dragonlance, Part 1 [Gaming] (wanderingbard.com)
- My On-Off Relationship with Dragonlance, Part 2 [Gaming] (wanderingbard.com)
- How D&D Next Taught Me to Love Dragonlance Again, Part 1 (wanderingbard.com)
I’m doing something very similar, though only one of my players is intimately familiar with Dragonlance, my daughter, who recently read the Chronicles trilogy (several times). My players also opted for their own characters, and we played through a few “prelude” adventures (and character levels) as a lead in to Dragons of Despair (which we’ve also finished). My oldest son plays a Thorbardin dwarf who aspires to be the first dwarven Knight of Solamnia. He also lost an arm in the prelude (Dragonlance fans know why that is significant). My oldest daughter plays a magic-using character (we’re recreating the characters with the latest playtest and she’s currently deciding whether to go wizard, sorcerer, or warlock) who was raised by the Forest Master and is the half-sister of Kitiara. Kitiara blames the character for their mother’s death. My wife plays a Silvanesti elf who has developed a relationship with Gilthanis. Gaming buddy plays the token Kender, similar to Tas in personality, but with a bit of a mean streak. He has found himself unintentionally worshipped by the Gully Dwarves in Xak Tsaroth and married to Bupu. Gaming buddy’s son is playing a human born of Ergoth nobility but raised in Thorbardin. He has taken a NPC wizard as a henchman, a young man whose price from the Test of High Sorcery was to be trapped in an unaging 12 year old body. This NPC has found the spellbooks of Fistandantilus. Finally, my youngest son (11) is playing a minotaur whom the other PCs found themselves imprisoned with at the wicker dragon and who joined their cause after the escape.
I also did something different with the Blue Crystal Staff. During the “prelude” adventures, Tika fell in love with and eloped with the son of the mayor of Solace. Unfortunately, the mayor’s son was branded a heretic by the Seekers and exiled. He wandered and eventually found a place where “death had black wings” and came back with the Blue Crystal Staff. Tika fled with the PCs, bearing the staff, and is now a cleric of Mishakal as we prepare to dive in to Dragons of Flame.
Hey Quentin,
We just finished Dragons of Despair. Things ran pretty close to the module. I actually borrowed a little from your Bupu idea, and she ended up marrying one of the characters (I took a page from Firefly and had her gift of the dead rat be a symbol for marriage). Sounds like you’ve got a pretty cool game going. Are you playing D&D Next?