On 23 Aug, 21:32, Matthew Amsel <matthew.am...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR DOSF AND FIFTH AGE AND WAR OF SOULS!
> Essentially, Dragons of a Summer Flame nuked the setting. 5th age was
> *very* different in flavour from everything before it, with many of the
> elements that made Krynn, well, Krynn, removed or altered beyond
> recognition.
Yep, but one shouldn't foget that while DoSF nuked the setting, 5A
nuked what was left. The combined efforts of those two made it a
setting that I eventuelly stopped caring about, and that several
others hated. For some reason, people on this group have been blaming
either DoSF or 5A for the changes, not both. It was the loss of gods
and magic *combined with* the dragon overlords, their massive
destruction of Ansalon and a new game system that left so many people
with the feeling that this was no longer Dragonlance. Both projects
were, of course, well intentioned, but misguided. War of Souls,
another well intentioned project, tried to settle things back to what
made Dragonlance Dragonlance, and was in that respect less misguided
than the two products that defined the 5A. It still suffered from
being a compromise that caters to everyone, and the amalgam of 4A and
5A that WoS ended with made me feel that I've had enough, and I lost
interest in following the setting further.
Now I am going into some speculative territory, but from what I
gathered Dragonlance was in a sad state financially prior to DoSF.
Sales were, I've heard, very bad, and without DoSF it probably would
have died. I'm not sure the reason why DoSF ended like it did, itmay
have to do with W&H's knack for cataclysmic stories, it probably also
has to do with giving Dragonlance a fresh start, like it needed.
Searching for magic and all that, like DoAT started with the search
for the gods. I too thought it was a good idea at the time, but I
don't think so anymore. 5A picked up the thread, but to be honest I
think the people behind it lacked insight into what was so appealing
about Dragonlance. For example, one of the explanations for the dragon
overlords was that in DL, dragons are special, and shouldn't be
defeated easily. So they kill most dragons on Krynn and introduce
oversized ones that change the continent. It necessarily creates a
different feel, and if you look at the original modules and novels
lots of dragons are killed, they are not that big in the classic
paintings and there are battles with the skies filled with dragons.
What was special about the DL dragons was their personalities and the
role they played in the stories. This is the most obvious example of
how the people behind the 5A, while trying to develop core DL features
and concept, actually replaced them with something very different.
As was revealed in an interview, the 5A team actually had in mind to
bring the gods back. W&H beat them to it with WoS, again at a time,
apparently, when DL sales again were so bad that it was in danger of
dying a slow death. WoS held some promise, it had a good idea but was
poorly executed. For someone who likes the 4A and thought that the
changes in DoSF and 5A ruined the setting, it was a disappointment.
You can actually see the compromises in the trilogy: At the end of
DoLS, it is revealed that Takhisis is the source of all the new magic,
as part of her effort to silently make the people depend on her.
(Which finally made the answer to where the magic came from, and why
it wasn't used previously, make sense.) This is ignored in the next
book, and as a compromise (with 3e, or 5A fans or both) the whole
thing ends with the new magic and divine and arcane magic coexisting.
Blah. Those who like 5A were probably happy about it, to me it was a
cop-out that made post-WoS DL less interesting.
What we have, unfortunatly, is a setting whose history since, well,
Legends, is so clearly shaped by cor****ate politics and different
personal interests that I lost my suspension of disbelief. Cataclysms
galore, gods coming and going, previous material ignored no matter
who's in charge. Cool Dragonlance concepts are left undeveloped while
writers introduce new ideas instead that often doesn't really fit into
the world. (This was a problem before DoSF as well.) So I am happy
about roleplaying in the 4A, developing concepts myself, using
excellent books like War of the Lance and Holy Orders of the Star. At
least something good came out of War of Souls: D&D sourcebooks that
are useful for 4Agers.
Ranting nostalgically,
Morten
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