Dragonlance. On the paths of Tanis, Raistlin, Goldmoon and Co.
The Dungeons & Dragons campaign world, Dragonlance, has always had a certain fascination for me. One of the reasons could be that I read the novels of the „Dragonlance Chronicles“ in my youth and found the books extremely amusing and still enjoy them. Now, many years later, I turn my eyes again to the named Dungeons & Dragons campaign world.
I regularly play Dungeons & Dragons (5th edition) and run the campaign, „Tomb of Annihilation“*, among other things. I also run game session at various conventions from time to time, such as the „Namenlose Tage“ (German podcast episode). All of the played adventures played always in the Forgotten Realms.
A campaign world that challenges the Forgotten Realms
Faerûn is great and a fantastic continent that gives me as Dungeonmaster a lot of possibilities to realize my ideas. The Forgotten Realms are for me a kind of home among the many campaign worlds for Dungeons & Dragons. But there has always been another campaign world that challenged the Forgotten Realms: Dragonlance.
Why this is so is easy and quickly explained: In my youth I read the novels of the „Dragonlace Chronicles“. The novels tell the story about a group of adventurerers called Tanis, Raistlin, Goldmoon, Tasslehoff and so on. Some of you will probably say now the stories are not special. That could be, but I was immediately fascinated by the stories and especially the kender, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, as well as the knight, Sturm Brightblade, got my special attention.
The Dragonlance Campaign Setting
I wanted to play in a world like Krynn, like the world of Dragonlance is called. Just getting the material for it was not so easy at that time. The situation changed with the edition 3.5 and I celebrated when the official Dragonlance Campaign Setting was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2003. I did not hesitate to buy the book.
Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Published 2003 by Wizards of the Coast. 
Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Published 2003 by Wizards of the Coast. 
Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Published 2003 by Wizards of the Coast. 
Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Published 2003 by Wizards of the Coast.
Dragonlance Campaign Setting – Overview
- Campaign world for Dungeons & Dragons (edition 3.5)
- Hardcover, 288 pages (colored)
- Year of release: 2003
- Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
- Authors: Margaret Weis, Don Perrin, Jamie Chambers, Christopher Coyle
The layout looked great and the illustrations were beautiful. I was fascinated be about the Dragonlance Campaign Setting and wanted immediately to immerse myself in the world of Krynn and play there, but it took a little while until then.
Finally the player characters were created and we started to play in the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. We played adventures in the continent of Ansalon, where the „Dragonlance Chronicles“ also played. In the days of Dungeons & Dragons (edition 3.5), Dragonlance was the campaign world that I used most as background. That changed abruptly with the release of the 4th edition. With that edition I turned away from Dungeons & Dragons and only with the 5th edition I returned to the mother, grandmother or great-grandmother of all roleplaying games.
Back to the roots or whatever
Now Dungeons & Dragons has been out for a few years and in the last few days I have felt a strong urge to return to Dragonlance and expierence fantastic adventures in the world of Krynn. Currently, it does not seem that Wizard of the Coast will publish an official Dragonlance Campaign Setting for the 5th edition. For this reason I posted a tweet on Twitter and asked if there is a conversation list to Dungeons & Dragons (5th edition). The answers came promptly. Even Margret Weis became involved. Wow!
Since then I have used nearly every free minute to visit the Dragonlance Nexus because that website contains a lot of interesting information and material about Dragonlance. My goal is to run fantastic adventures as soon as possible again. Probably it will be „only“ one shots or short adventures at first, but no epic campaigns. I do not have time for that at the moment.
Therefore it could be that I will write more here from time to time more about Dragonlance, if it is about Dungeons & Dragons.
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PS: This is my first English article on my website and also my first article in English ever. Please let me know if you find some mistakes in the text. I am not an English native speaker, but I’m trying to improve my English. If you have helpful tips, please leave a comment.
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