Dragonlance or Bust (and Death)!

January 31, 2025

2–3 minutes

*Just a few of the resources for my long-dreamt Dragonlance campaign…*

Dragonlance turned 40 in 2024 (the first novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, was published in 1984). I turn 50 in 2025.

Unlike Dragonlance, I am not immortal. Not to be morbid, but I’ve recently confronted a fact: I’ve reached a stage of life where one cannot easily ignore the signs of inevitable mortality.

Both of my parents died over the last year or so. Celebrities I’ve watched since childhood have passed away. Legends of the roleplaying industry have departed from this earthly realm.

As I see it, when we reach “midlife,” we all have a choice, just like a roleplayer facing a T-intersection in a dungeon:

slip into despair at the thought of Death and fall victim to the traps and monsters of paralyzing fear, the mire of depression, and the siren song of overweening nostalgia, or
boldly choose a direction, and stride into the dark unknown of the future with torch, sword, and head held high.

What does this have to do with Dragonlance? Well, for about a decade, I’ve made a few attempts to start a long-running Dragonlance campaign. They were short-lived, mostly because I’ve always had a raging case of “RPG Attention Deficit Disorder.” My mind is constantly whispering to me, “Hey, I know you have this campaign you’re running now, but wouldn’t it be cool if you ran [insert RPG system and/or campaign setting]?”

This is where Death comes into play. I’ve discovered that contemplating my own demise has mitigated my RPG ADD somewhat. I am determined to check some items off my RPG bucket list, and a big one is to start a Dragonlance campaign that spans many years, many players, and many characters.

I’ve always wanted to run a long-lasting campaign like others have run in settings like Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms. Dragonlance has gotten a lot of derision and outright hate over the years for its perceived “limitations,” like how the novels and RPG materials have focused on the War of the Lance and the Companions. Not to mention the fact that the bulk of the early published modules were focused on mostly “recreating” the story of the original novels (“all aboard the world-famous Dragonlance railroad!”).

But I believe, with a little love and careful crafting, the Dragonlance setting is fertile ground for the sort of sandbox-style campaign true RPG connoisseurs seek! All it takes is dedication, time, and effort! That’s where I come in…at least, that’s the plan. More details to come as I sally forth once again on this quest. Will I succeed this time, or fall once again on the path?

I wonder: if I get this going, will this long-sought Dragonlance endeavor be the last great campaign of my life? Can I establish it so it stands the test of time until it’s my turn to shuffle off the old mortal coil?

Only the River of Time will tell, eh?

To paraphrase Frank from Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I don’t know how many years on this earth I got left, but I’m gonna get real kender with it!

Tags:

Campaigns, Dragonlance, Dragonlance campaign, Dragonlance is 40, milestones, mortality, RPG ADD

10 responses to “Dragonlance or Bust (and Death)!”

Anonymous

January 31, 2025 at 4:44 pm

Don’t feel too bad, I’m going to be 60 this year and I think I have a few good years left. I’d love to be a part of such a campaign, if the stars align.

Reply
The Eternal Aspirations for Mastery of System and Setting – Silverbeard Games

February 4, 2025 at 2:34 pm

[…] an inveterate dreamer from dreaming! As I’ve said, I’ve long wanted to establish a grand Dragonlance campaign that spans many years on Krynn and in the real world. Or rather, more precisely, I seek to make […]

Reply
Anonymous

February 10, 2025 at 2:26 am

Although I am a couple of years older, for years I have wanted to take some players through the War of the Lance modules. I purchased the complete set mid-to-late 80’s and dabbled with friends at the time ‘Dragons of Despair’ and skipped to ‘Dragons of Desolation’. The last 5 years have been actively DMing and playing D&D 5e, finishing Curse of Strahd in October last Year.

So … I choose to offer my players (6) an introduction into my beloved Dragonlance, and they couldn’t wait to start. I spent a few weeks building a Players Handbook in Homebrewery, converting all I could to 5e, with the help of many many websites and on the 7th Jan this year we began … in Solace.

I decided I needed the party to want to protect Solace, feel like they had a home, so I purchased “Seekers of Haven”, converted the Seekers to Belzorites, and started the campaign 3 1/2 years earlier, hoping the players “will” remove the Belzorites, giving the Seekers the chance to thrive, then with their given backgrounds/histories send them away for 3 years to seek their truths before returning back to Solace, and the start of the main campaign.

Anyway … ALL THE BEST to your Dragonlance Campaign.

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1. Anthony Simeone
  
  February 10, 2025 at 10:49 am
  
  Excellent! Thanks for sharing this, and for the well wishes on my own campaign aspirations! Be well, and happy gaming!
  
  Reply
Other Krynns: Tributaries of the River of Time – Silverbeard Games

February 13, 2025 at 1:47 pm

[…] working on establishing a long-desired Dragonlance campaign, and with any consideration of using such a widely published (and beloved) fictional world, […]

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Jonathan Becker

May 22, 2025 at 1:38 am

I have managed to collect all the (1E) DL modules; I regularly repurpose them for use in my own campaign. There are good ideas to mine in their pages, despite the overall flaccidness of the “plotted serial.” Best of luck to you with your own War of the Lance!

Reply
1. Anthony Simeone
  
  May 22, 2025 at 9:52 am
  
  Thanks, JB! Though, I have to say, old Gamer ADD rears its horrid visage once again! To be honest, I have a competing idea for what might be “the last great campaign” of my life, and it’s not set in Krynn, and I’m considering what system to use. I was reminded of this conundrum when I saw your “One Game, One Campaign” post yesterday. Indeed, I’m considering what system and setting is worth my precious, dwindling time! Stay tuned!
  
  Reply
  1. Jonathan Becker
    
    May 22, 2025 at 10:55 am
    
    I have suggestions regarding both:
    
    1) For system, I would choose the most robust system that you feel most comfortable with. If that’s 2E, so be it; you can always adjust it with 1Eisms in the areas that it suffers (like the x.p./advancement mechanics).
    
    And (this is important!) it’s not necessary to institute a bunch of changes and adjustments at the beginning, nor all at once! When introducing players to (what is to be) your “one system” it’s easiest to say: “it’s 2E” or “1E.” They then know what they’re getting into, they can read the rules (yeah, right), they can know what to expect, etc. and it’s far less intimidating than saying “well, I run this Frankenstein homebrew…” which is just going to cause eye-rolls.
    
    For the most part, these systems function fine (1E especially, in my experience)…and since you’re choosing the system with which you’re most familiar, you should have a good idea of its limits and what kind of performance you can expect from it. Try to steer within its parameters…I would try to keep house rules to a single, one-sided page (large font).
    
    2) For setting, find something that already has a map you can live with. These days, I use our real world (lots of interesting terrain features), but you could certainly use Greyhawk or Krynn or Mystara or Middle Earth or whatever. Choose something you can live with. I wouldn’t waste time drawing your own map, unless that’s your personal passion…if you need a “blighted area of evil” or “citadel of goodness” or whatever, just pencil it in.
    
    But for the most part, the setting is the secondary consideration. Just give yourself the time and patience to develop at your leisure. God willing, you’ll have 40-50 years to figure stuff out…just start with the area nearby and add detail as needed. It’s Your World…it can be whatever you want it to be. So you had an idea for a Dragon Army invasion and then decided you didn’t want to do that…dissolve it (the army cannibalized itself, or was smited by the gods, or disbanded after the assassination of their leaders or whatever). You decide you don’t like the idea of a wandering wizard tower…have something happen to it (and no one knows what…it’s just a “mystery”) but then have rumors of a different school of magic (that’s sedentary) or whatever crop up. You can always have things disappear…you can always have things appear (or reappear)…as the situation (adventure) arises/requires.
    
    Do not worry about “story.” Just worry about your world, and use it as inspiration for interesting situations that will appeal to your (hopefully adventurous) players.
  2. Anthony Simeone
    
    May 22, 2025 at 5:07 pm
    
    I concur with all of that, for sure. I’m thinking Greyhawk for a setting, because I’ve acquired the old maps and folios within the last year, and to be honest, I’ll feel much less “chained” to lore than I would with, say, Dragonlance. I know some people think being “setting captured” is silly, but I see Greyhawk as more flexible than Dragonlance. The latter has specific aspects that must be maintained to make it “feel” like Dragonlance. It has quirks unique to it, and when you don’t remain faithful to it…something is lost. Call it…”Dragonlance verisimilitude,” I suppose. Greyhawk is, well, one of (if not THE) earliest D&D setting, and I’ve never used it for a campaign. Plus, like I said, I got my grubby hands on some old materials that I’m itching to use. IF I can be forgiven for saying it…Greyhawk is “generic D&D.” Dragonlance, in many ways, is NOT. I’m sure some will fight me on any and all of that (heck, this is 2025…fighting is all most of us seem to do on the Internet), but that’s how it is in my wacky mind.
    
    As for system, that’s…stickier. I’m gonna post about this, but…suffice to say, I’m just “meh” on my return to 2E thus far. Not the campaign I’m in, I love it. But the system…eh, I think I had rose-colored glasses on my hindsight. Again, I’ll elaborate in a post, but…I think I might run some Greyhawk using AD&D or some variant of AD&D. Stay tuned!
Jonathan Becker

May 22, 2025 at 9:39 pm

I look forward to it.

Reply