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Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Sagas from the lands of Krynn are filled with valiant heroes destined to discover ancient secrets and vanquish terrible evils. Like those great champions, you will band together with brave companions to set forth on daring adventures. The tales of those bold deeds will become the newest legends in the world of Dragonlance .
From Solamnic Knights and Dragon Riders to kender, tinker gnomes, and draconians, the rich tapestry of the Dragonlance world comes alive in this campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. With historical content covering eras from the War of the Lance to the War of Souls, along with expanded rules for aerial combat, the Dragonlance Campaign Setting provides the charcter races, prestige classes, feats, spells, monsters, and maps you need to fully explore the world of Dragonlance .
From Solamnic Knights and Dragon Riders to kender, tinker gnomes, and draconians, the rich tapestry of the Dragonlance world comes alive in this campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. With historical content covering eras from the War of the Lance to the War of Souls, along with expanded rules for aerial combat, the Dragonlance Campaign Setting provides the charcter races, prestige classes, feats, spells, monsters, and maps you need to fully explore the world of Dragonlance .
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2003
6 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
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Wizards of the Coast
429 books429 followersWizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 12, 2022
Krynn is a world of conflicts. This sourcebook is one of conflicts as well, in more ways than one.
A disclaimer upfront is that Dragonlance is not on my list of favourite official settings, though it is one of the earlier ones I got acquainted with. As I got older, I just found the core (and constant) morality conflicts, to be too clear cut, and thus unappealing to me.
The campaign setting presentation starts off with an introduction to the world of Dragonlance, the continents, and the history of the setting. Like many, my introduction to this world is heavily coloured by the beautifully written novels, especially the earlier trilogies. This section kind of summarises it, and presents it as a world that constantly sees a conflict between good and evil, and scales of balance.
The first chapter presents the races, focusing on their outlooks, and giving readers an easy comparison on how the standard races are different from the core game (not really in a good way - just exchanging one set of stereotype with another). We also get a first look on how the new edition allows for draconian PCs. The "joke" races are included too (kender, gnome, and gully dwarves) and while they make for comedic reading material, in general, I feel like these races are unrealistic. They always throw me out off - one minute it's all serious and heavy, and suddenly one of these characters would do something ridiculous, yet completely in-character.
Chapter 2 introduces all the character and prestige classes available. This is the first taste of the uniqueness of Krynn, where the Knights of Solamnia and the Wizards of High Sorcery truly set the world apart. They come with a rich and detailed explanation that oozes with flavour. Of note is the mystic (kind of like favored soul, but Krynn-flavoured), the Knights of Neraka, and the Steel Legionnaire. Although the existence of the latter two is a prime example of the ever-present mirroring of good, evil, and neutrality found in Krynn. There's also a dragon rider prestige class, but it's extremely unlikely to see any PC play, for obvious reasons.
Chapter 3 explains magic in more detail. The new spells are interesting, but it's great exposition to exlain the various states of magic in Krynn. An age where arcane magic is gone, another where divine magic is gone, another, both. It's quite flavourful, although somewhat irrelevant since most campaigns aren't unlikel to take place across the different ages.
Deities are in chapter 4. I've always found the divine conflict to be mostly limited to Paladine and Takhisis. The rest of the deities are more like side characters, given how little they affect the narrative compared to the primary two. The gods of neutrality are even more in the background. It's a strange kind of conflict. All the problems on Krynn are directly caused by the deities, but they always end up indirectly resolving the conflicts, through mortals. Makes for great storytelling though, if nothing else.
Chapter 5 presents the continent of Ansalon in detail, but unfortunately not detailed enough. It is divided into regions, but it only presents short overviews, so unless you're very familiar with the setting (or have forgotten much), there's really not much material to go on. Many of the regions end up feeling generic (i.e. "this region was devastated by a dragon overlord", "trade was severely disrupted", "the terrain was completely messed up"). One really huge miss was the lack of a world map. Each region presents a regional map (all in different scale), but it's really hard to visualise where they are.
Side note: Neraka means "hell". The very first time I came across Neraka (before the internet became a common one), I thought it was a coindence. Then I saw Taman Busuk, and I just found it really funny that Weis and Hickman basically just took words from another real world language.
Side side note: One aspect of the worldbuilding in Dragonlance I found to be poor was in names. Peoples and locations in the same region can have different naming styles.
Chapter 6 finally brings up adventuring in Krynn. The default is after all the books are done - basically, all the major wars and magic upheavels have come and gone, and things are finally settling down. It touches on the aftermath of all the wars, and how different regions have changed. The whole continent is kind of "known", but the wars have left enough ruins and altered landscapes for "typical" adventures to take place.
Chapter 7 presents some of the unique monsters and creatures found on Krynn. Of note are the draconians and the unique types of undead.
Chapter 8 focuses on the dragons themselves. As with the treatment of the standard races, dragons of different colours are narrowed down into stereotypes. But it makes for good reading to see the myriad conflicts on Krynn from a dragon's point of view.
Finally, the final chapter presents gameplay and rules changes to place campaigns during the earlier Ages. It could be fine to adventure alongside heroes of the past, but depending on how one feels, the strength and epicness of the novels could be a hindrance to such adventures. The primary obstacle being the fact that PCs either end up doing side quests and playing side characters to the true heroes, or end up overshadowing or replacing the story heroes.
Overall, the seting is fine. The presentation of the material makes for an easy read. My quips are that in several places, the mechanics don't quite match the flavour, and the artwork is strangely inconsistent (some great pieces, some horrible). There's a decent amount of details and flavour, but some pre-knowledge of Dragonlance is likely necessary to make the any Dragonlance campaign richer.
A disclaimer upfront is that Dragonlance is not on my list of favourite official settings, though it is one of the earlier ones I got acquainted with. As I got older, I just found the core (and constant) morality conflicts, to be too clear cut, and thus unappealing to me.
The campaign setting presentation starts off with an introduction to the world of Dragonlance, the continents, and the history of the setting. Like many, my introduction to this world is heavily coloured by the beautifully written novels, especially the earlier trilogies. This section kind of summarises it, and presents it as a world that constantly sees a conflict between good and evil, and scales of balance.
The first chapter presents the races, focusing on their outlooks, and giving readers an easy comparison on how the standard races are different from the core game (not really in a good way - just exchanging one set of stereotype with another). We also get a first look on how the new edition allows for draconian PCs. The "joke" races are included too (kender, gnome, and gully dwarves) and while they make for comedic reading material, in general, I feel like these races are unrealistic. They always throw me out off - one minute it's all serious and heavy, and suddenly one of these characters would do something ridiculous, yet completely in-character.
Chapter 2 introduces all the character and prestige classes available. This is the first taste of the uniqueness of Krynn, where the Knights of Solamnia and the Wizards of High Sorcery truly set the world apart. They come with a rich and detailed explanation that oozes with flavour. Of note is the mystic (kind of like favored soul, but Krynn-flavoured), the Knights of Neraka, and the Steel Legionnaire. Although the existence of the latter two is a prime example of the ever-present mirroring of good, evil, and neutrality found in Krynn. There's also a dragon rider prestige class, but it's extremely unlikely to see any PC play, for obvious reasons.
Chapter 3 explains magic in more detail. The new spells are interesting, but it's great exposition to exlain the various states of magic in Krynn. An age where arcane magic is gone, another where divine magic is gone, another, both. It's quite flavourful, although somewhat irrelevant since most campaigns aren't unlikel to take place across the different ages.
Deities are in chapter 4. I've always found the divine conflict to be mostly limited to Paladine and Takhisis. The rest of the deities are more like side characters, given how little they affect the narrative compared to the primary two. The gods of neutrality are even more in the background. It's a strange kind of conflict. All the problems on Krynn are directly caused by the deities, but they always end up indirectly resolving the conflicts, through mortals. Makes for great storytelling though, if nothing else.
Chapter 5 presents the continent of Ansalon in detail, but unfortunately not detailed enough. It is divided into regions, but it only presents short overviews, so unless you're very familiar with the setting (or have forgotten much), there's really not much material to go on. Many of the regions end up feeling generic (i.e. "this region was devastated by a dragon overlord", "trade was severely disrupted", "the terrain was completely messed up"). One really huge miss was the lack of a world map. Each region presents a regional map (all in different scale), but it's really hard to visualise where they are.
Side note: Neraka means "hell". The very first time I came across Neraka (before the internet became a common one), I thought it was a coindence. Then I saw Taman Busuk, and I just found it really funny that Weis and Hickman basically just took words from another real world language.
Side side note: One aspect of the worldbuilding in Dragonlance I found to be poor was in names. Peoples and locations in the same region can have different naming styles.
Chapter 6 finally brings up adventuring in Krynn. The default is after all the books are done - basically, all the major wars and magic upheavels have come and gone, and things are finally settling down. It touches on the aftermath of all the wars, and how different regions have changed. The whole continent is kind of "known", but the wars have left enough ruins and altered landscapes for "typical" adventures to take place.
Chapter 7 presents some of the unique monsters and creatures found on Krynn. Of note are the draconians and the unique types of undead.
Chapter 8 focuses on the dragons themselves. As with the treatment of the standard races, dragons of different colours are narrowed down into stereotypes. But it makes for good reading to see the myriad conflicts on Krynn from a dragon's point of view.
Finally, the final chapter presents gameplay and rules changes to place campaigns during the earlier Ages. It could be fine to adventure alongside heroes of the past, but depending on how one feels, the strength and epicness of the novels could be a hindrance to such adventures. The primary obstacle being the fact that PCs either end up doing side quests and playing side characters to the true heroes, or end up overshadowing or replacing the story heroes.
Overall, the seting is fine. The presentation of the material makes for an easy read. My quips are that in several places, the mechanics don't quite match the flavour, and the artwork is strangely inconsistent (some great pieces, some horrible). There's a decent amount of details and flavour, but some pre-knowledge of Dragonlance is likely necessary to make the any Dragonlance campaign richer.
April 11, 2020
Mieszane uczucia. Myślałem że dostane opis świata który znam. Okazuje się że świat smoczej lancy jest nadal żywy i fabuła poszła daleko do przodu. Mimo to dodaje klasy postaci typowe dla settingu albo złowieszczo złe albo skrajnie dobre. To co sie nie zmieniło to brak odcieniów szarości w społeczności Dragonlance
March 9, 2018
Another fantastic guide to my favorite Dungeons & Dragons setting. More in depth then Dragonlance Adventures. this book is giving me a great many ideas for my own Dungeons & Dragons game and provided a fountain of inspiration to add things to my game. could not ask for more.
June 11, 2012
For a manual of game rules and guidelines, this was actually fairly entertaining. Once I catch up on my DragonLance reading (and re-reading) and get the source material more firmly set in my head, I might consider running an online campaign using this book. Even though I am not currently gaming, the book was interesting and filled in some gaps in the DragonLance world that I was missing.
Fair warning, if you intend on reading a lot in this series, this manual contains quite a few spoilers, so you may want to wait to take a look at this until you've at least read the main cannon of the DragonLance time-line.
Fair warning, if you intend on reading a lot in this series, this manual contains quite a few spoilers, so you may want to wait to take a look at this until you've at least read the main cannon of the DragonLance time-line.
August 29, 2015
Dragonlance is a great fictional world, but in spite of the authors' implied hopes for this book, I'm not sold on it as a great setting for games. Since everything seems to be centered around the novel storylines, either you have to work within the existing plots, or go completely outside and make up your own stuff... and in the latter case, wouldn't I be better off making up my own setting from scratch? Don't get me wrong, this book does a great job in presenting the world of Dragonlance in game terms, and it's worthwhile for that alone... but it still doesn't feel as open a world as the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk. (I would probably recommend it over the latter, though.) (B+)
September 14, 2012
This has to be my FAVORITE campaign setting, right after this would have to be Forgotten Realms, then Ebberon, then Ravenloft. Well, I wouldn't say in that order, but Dragonlance is definitely my favorite out of all.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews