Find out how Dragonlance fundamentally changed Dungeons & Dragons from breaking established Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules and expanding on the already vast rules, bestiary and player offerings.
Transcript
Cold Open
TSR made a gamble on Tracy Hickman’s proposal of Dragonlance, but I don’t think they ever truly anticipated how impactful Dragonlance would end up being on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and even in the direction of the future editions of the role-playing game.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and I am going to explain how Dragonlance fundamentally changed Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to this channel, ring the bell, and you can further help this channel and pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials using my affiliate link in the description below. Dragonlance made some real innovations outside of the campaign releases Tracy Hickman outlined. It broke some fundamental rules that existed in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game and fundamentally changed what players expect from a campaign. Let’s get into it!
Discussion
From its inception Dragonlance was meant to infuse a story into an up-till-then, very hack and slash role-playing game. He had written a sort of manifesto on how to create more immersive adventures and that guide would serve to take both Dragonlance and Dungeons & Dragons into a whole new era. I want to dive into some game mechanics that are specific to the Dragonlance campaign, so buckle up!
First and foremost, the world expanded with its module release and Novels, a first for TSR. The world would unfold and ultimately be clarified with the Dragonlance Adventures sourcebook released in September 1987. It was the fifth and final Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1.5 edition core book!
On campaign release, dragons didn’t even exist! Kind of a strange notion for a saga called Dragonlance, but the backstory explained that they were all banished in ages past. In addition to a devastating cataclysm that scarred the surface of the world and the vanishing of the gods, Krynn was a truly raw and dangerous place to start a campaign!
The gods played a major role in the Dragonlance world. As the world was released, they were seemingly non existent so cleric characters couldn’t actually use any magic! It wasn’t until the end of the DL1 Dragons of Deceit adventure module that they (re)gained their abilities. That and for the first time, Clerics were actually split into alignments with their gods granting access to specific spheres of magic and special abilities. As a character you were meant to have sought out a member of the gods order and petitioned them for the right to serve the god! You only gained your abilities after acceptance by that group and the granting of your medallion of faith.
Traditional magic was also controlled by gods! It was governed by alignment with access to spheres of magic like clerics and adjusted by the three moons of krynn. Depending on the lunar cycle, your magic would be more or less effective, requiring players to track the cycle of the moon, which could be an immersive experience or a pain in the tucas. For the story and role playing side of it, magic also took a physical toll on the players, the more powerful the spell, the greater the toll. Wizards were also required to be part of a fraternity called the Orders of High Sorcery, or you were considered a renegade and could be killed on sight!
Alignment in the game was no longer a limit to choices for the player, but a scale that the Dungeon Master would track on behalf of the players to determine their actual alignment based on actions they took. This was a fundamental change to role-playing and yet one more task added to the already encumbered Dungeon Master.
Gold had zero value. Dragonlance introduced the idea of currency being dependent on the culture or society you happen to be traveling through. Good luck keeping track of the price of ale on Krynn!
Dragonlance changed some races and introduced others as playing characters as well. Tinker gnomes would end up changing and defining the race for the entire game system outside Dragonlance. Minotaurs and Irda ogres became playable for the first time, and there were variations to elves, and dwarves that hadn’t existed before. Halflings were completely transformed into Kenders who had a penchant for enraging others with insults and unconscious thievery. Draconians were the first dragon-like humanoids in Dungeons & Dragons as well.
Dragonlance introduced the first form of prestige classes in the Knights of Solumnia. You would start as a Knight of the crown, and could earn your way into more powers and abilities after entry into the Knights of the Sword and Knights of the Rose orders.
Tracy Hickman even redefined how Adventure Modules could be presented with pre-generated characters which were meant to be used with the module, rather than your own rolled character. This was a big shift for home games. He introduced player handouts in the form of poems and songs for the first time in D&D. Tools that brought a sense of immersion and world building till then unknown. And his approach to mapping areas to explore was innovative to say the least. Just look at Xak Tsaroth as a prime example!
All in all if it wasn’t for Dragonlance, D&D may have ended up where it is, but it would’ve taken longer to get there, and if it wasn’t for Dragonlance’s introduction which broke D&D conventions, we may not have been so attracted to and immersed in the world of Krynn.
Outro
But what do you think? Has Dragonlance changed Dungeons & Dragons for the better? Would we have the evolution of the games editions without Tracy Hickman’s role-playing manifesto? Leave a comment below, subscribe to the channel and like this video. You can support this channel and pick up some Dragonlance gaming materials by using the affiliate link in the description below.
This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
Games give you a chance to excel, and if you’re playing in good company you don’t even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.
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