In an effort to recapture fans of the Dragonlance novels and reinvigorate the IP, TSR created a new roleplaying system to return to the romanticism and storytelling focus of Dragonlance with the SAGA Roleplaying System. Buy Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/186462/Dragonlance-Fifth-Age-Dramatic-Adventure-Game-SAGA?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
With the absence of the gods and magic, the Fifth age dramatically changed the world of Dragonlance. Gaming was next…
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Dragonlance in the SAGA System. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. All of these titles are available as digital editions through my affiliate link.
Discussion
TSR’s Creative Director Harold Johnson, wanted to revitalize Dragonlance and bring about a complete change from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Originally considering a rules lite version of AD&D, he decided instead to create a “storytelling” game that could better capture the fictive essence of Krynn. Harold brought in the game designer William W. Connors. Around the same time, TSR contracted a Chronicles II trilogy from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman which would be condensed into a single novel that dramatically changed the fate of Krynn and understanding of Dragonlance. Margaret Weis said in an interview with this channel that the trilogy would have returned magic to Krynn if they were able to complete it, and so with the absence of the gods and magic, designer Sue Cook rather politely stated that they were “surprised at the turn of events”. Cook said that “it gave [them] an interesting jumping-off point” and that Connors “took the disappearance of the gods [in the novel] as a challenge”. Steve Miller conversely said that it was “a fantastic waste of [Dragonlance’s] potential” and stated that he worked hard to balance Fifth Age material with classic material from the setting.
This forced the design team to reimagine Dragonlance without the input of the settings creators. Jean Rabe would become the primary chronicler of the Dragonlance Timeline, moving it thirty years into the future with a series of initial short stories in Dragon Magazine, then fully chronicling the Dragon Overlord era with the Dragons of a New Age trilogy. This upset fans for a number of reasons and between the massive time jump and system change from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to the newly developed card based SAGA System, TSR faced the first real backlash from fans in Dragonlance since its creation twelve years before. The SAGA System was intended to be a “narrative” game that could better support the “rich literary heritage” of Dragonlance. Connors worked to “minimize conventional role-playing mechanics” and instead focus on the sort of freeform narrative role playing that many people enjoyed as children. The rules for game mechanics were completely minimized, allowing the players and game master to be inventive with spells and choices. This was a trend the role playing world was experiencing with White Wolf’s properties and was a sign of the times.
Dice became a thing of the past, and the Fate Deck, with symbology not unlike traditional playing cards of suits and numbers, were used for action resolution and even experience levels and player health. This new time frame brought with it many new elements including: the appearance of the Legion of Steel; disappearance of the gods and clerical magic; the rulership of the dragon overlords; the affliction of the kender; and the appearance of mysticism and sorcery. Sue Cook would say about Afflicted Kender; that their purpose was “to drive home to the reader the fearsomeness of the new dragon overlords”. Steve Miller, who came up with the original backstory for the afflicted kender, imagined that afflicted kender had previously popped up after the first Cataclysm, but that they’d faded away after a few generations — but his theory never made it into print. It was Vice President of Creative Services James Ward who said, “Put really big, mean dragons in the game.” which became the genesis of the Dragon Overlords. The SAGA System would continue with 15 publications, ending in February 2000. Let’s take a closer look at Dragonlance in the SAGA System.
Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game was released in August 1996 in the form of a boxed set containing the Fate Deck, three booklets describing the new game mechanics, the new face of the Dragonlance setting and the first adventure in the new system called Heroes of a New Age. It also featured a large map of Ansalon showcasing the changes the Dragon Overlords wrought. Heroes of Steel was the first splatbook to be released by Skip Williams in
October 1996. Each of the initial splatbooks would follow Jean Rabe’s storyline, similar to the Chronicles and original Dragonlance modules. Heroes of Steel would deal with the discovery of Dragonspawn and showcase the warrior roles of this new Dragonlance world, even presenting a mass combat resolution system, unseen since Battlesystem. Heroes of Defiance by Steve Miller was released in August 1997 and took six months longer to release than planned due to TSR’s bankruptcy and the insistence by Wizards of the Coast for them to complete their production plans for the coming years. Heroes of Defiance focuses on rogues and provides the most detailed systems for espionage and subterfuge to date, and also continues the dramatic campaign with Storm over Krynn. Wizards would insist on broadening the SAGA System line before the next release with the stand-alone Fate Deck and The Last Tower: The Legacy of Raistlin in 1997. This gives the most detailed account of The Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth and gives examples of Tests of High Sorcery as well as an adventure for an artifact that nearly destroyed the tower. Heroes of Sorcery by Steven “Stan!” Brown was released in December 1997, and between The Last Tower and Heroes of Sorcery, they would detail out mages and magic in new ways. The adventure A Killing Frost would see the heroes searching for Huma’s Dragonlance.
Heroes of Hope by Duane Maxwell was released in January 1998 as the fourth splatbook to define roles, focusing on mystics. It contains the adventure The Crown and the Serpent which somewhat mirrors the final book in Jean Rabe’s trilogy, but doesn’t end the adventure campaign. It also featured the character of Mina for the first time, and the design team had vast plans for her. Miller also says “I was personally very disappointed in the direction she went in. I think she could have been developed more. I also disliked the way she was characterized.” Another Fifth Age author, Stan! Brown, counters with “Any time you collaborate with other writers, particularly ones as gifted as Margaret and Tracy, you’ve got to be ready to let go of your preconceptions and look at new possibilities. The Fifth Age team had a loose plan for Mina’s future, but when they started developing the War of Souls with Margaret and Tracy, they realized that this character would work well in the new storyline. Together, they all helped craft the new direction of her life.” Wings of Fury by Douglas Niles was released in March 1998 and concluded the Dragons of a New Age campaign. It focused on dragons and gives the most detailed history of Krynn’s dragons yet. A Saga Companion by William W. Conners was released in May 1998 and presented a whole new series of rules and options for the SAGA System for narrator and players alike. Citadel of Light by Steve Miller was released in July 1998 and continued the setting series in the same vein of The Last Tower, fully detailing out the Citadel and its inhabitants. The Bestiary by Steven “Stan!” Brown released in September 1998 is the monster manual for SAGA System, and features beautiful sketches and illustrations of creatures. Its focus was on telling the story of the monsters therein. Palanthas by Steven Stan! Brown was released in December 1998 as the next setting book and changed the supplements in a few ways. It wasn’t in a box, it didn’t contain an adventure and is mostly in-character. It provides the most detail about the city to date.
With TSR gone the way of the Dodo, and Wizards of the Coast in control they hosted a Dragonlance Summit, held during a week in the Winter of 1997-1998 in Renton, Washington. To bring back Weis and Hickman. After two more summits, Wizards decided to return to the Chaos war and re-examine it as the authors began writing their War of Souls trilogy. Wizards saw the lack of success with the SAGA System and decided to hedge their bets by reintroducing AD&D to the mix of adventures. Seeds of Chaos by Douglas Niles was released in October 1998 and was a return to AD&D, the first supplement since Unsung Heroes in 1993. It featured both AD&D and SAGA System rules, and returned to traditional format. It also took the timeline back to the Chaos War and focused on Palanthas. The Sylvan Veil by William W. Connors and Miranda Horner with Stephen Kenson was released in February 1999, and is the first Battlelines adventure. It was also written for both AD&D and SAGA. It centered around the Silvanesti Shield and set up the War of Souls. It also contains the most detailed information of the Silvanesti forest ever written. Chaos Spawn by Douglas Niles was released in December 1999 and is the sequel adventure to Seeds of Chaos. It introduced Daemonlords to the setting and was a bit more of a railroad adventure than its predecessor. Rise of the Titans by Richard Dakan was released in February 2000, and was the second and final battle lines adventure following The Sylvan Veil. It focused on the Ogre Titans which were originally going to play a large role in the War of Souls but were not included in the end. It focused on the two ogre nations in detail.
On March 24th 2000, Steve Miller announced that Wizards of the Coast was ending its support of Dragonlance: Fifth Age, as it didn’t perform as expected and that Dragonlance would not be seen for some time. In the end Dragonlance: Fifth Age lasted from August 8, 1996 – March 24, 2000.
Outro
But that is all the time I have to talk about Dragonlance in the SAGA System. What do you think of the SAGA System? Have you ever played the Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game? Leave a comment below.
I would like to take a moment and remind you to subscribe to this YouTube channel, ring the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and click the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
Ours is an age of change that much is certain. Whether it will end in disaster or in a new, glorious renewal of our land no one knows.
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