Dragonlance The importance of Dragonlance

[DarkCrisis]

Came across this article from over a year ago and wanted to share:

How Dragonlance Was Born

These adventures are successful beyond TSR’s initial expectations. After the first of the series, Dragons of Despair, launches in 1984, the seeds of Krynn are sown. But it’s not enough. What really set the world to blossom into the beloved series we know today was a push by TSR to feature fiction that helped promote Dragonlance as a full multi-media experience.


Yes, despite Gygax’ being ousted off to Hollywood, TSR had been bit by the multi-media bug. Everyone wanted more than just adventures. They wanted miniatures, calendars, merchandise… and especially books. Margaret Weis pens the first official Dragonlance story, The Test of the Twins, published in Dragon #83, and these short snippets in Dragon magazine generate more and more interest.

This novel was a smash hit. It found an audience hungry for more drama and action, eager to know where the story would go. And with the promise of much more Dragonlance in the future, TSR quickly pivoted. Two more books, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning follow suit, pushed out by the end of 1985, which cements the setting in the hearts of gamers around the world.

This first trilogy locked in a legend, and many would soon follow. Through the years there have been almost two hundred Dragonlance novels. That is a lot of Dragonlance. With such success behind them, it’s little wonder that Weis and Hickman would feel underappreciated, and by 1995 they had left TSR, only to rejoin back in 2000 when Wizards of the Coast acquired D&D. They worked producing Dragonlance novels up until 2007 (with the last one released in 2011), and that might have been the end of it… until last year, when news of a new Dragonlance trilogy broke amid a lawsuit. The lawsuit has since been settled, and Dragonlance is poised to once more rule the skies of our fantasy worlds.

It’s a world shaped by novels and guided by adventures. With millions of words exploring every corner of the realm, the world of Krynn is one that we’re eager to see return again. We know, at the very least, we’re due for another one in July. Here’s hoping that when we return to Krynn it’s with the warmth that brought us the first trilogy of novels. With Weis and Hickman back at the helm, the future looks magical for the world of Krynn.

More in the link,

Maybe that will help you guys understand how BIG Dragonlance is/was and how it effected so much.

Also, how much it effected us common folk. As someone who came to not only the fantasy genre as a whole and then to D&D which became a lifelong obsession thanks to Dragonlance and its stories, I hope this might help some of you wonder why some of us are so protective of it.

 

[Stormonu]

I was on the verge of abandoning D&D until I ran across Dragonlance - I discovered it when only the 2nd module was released as one of the groups in our "D&D club" started to run it. It opened my eyes to the idea it could be more story-orientated than the episodic dungeonhack I'd gotten bored with DMing. That you could do an extended narrative campaign - with Dragons! - was something I hadn't grocked until I started delving into the modules.

I became obsessed with it - novels as well as the modules; I got my friends to read the books too and they got really excited as well. Whole new avenues and paths for playing D&D opened up as it created a whole ecosystem in nerd culture akin to the unleashing of Harry Potter.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The very first fantasy novel I picked up post-Tolkien was War of the Twins (book 2, go figure). My love of fantasy and the importance of worldbuilding was shaped by that story and the other core DL novels, and my love of D&D as well. Dragonlance is immensely important to my personal history and how I engage with the game, and fiction as a whole.

 

[TerraDave]

There is an issue of timing.

I remember reading the Test of the Twins in Dragon, and seeing those early references to Kender. The first module came out before the novel, but its full of references to the story, including all the famous novel characters to play. Seems like they must have done some work on the novel by that point.

The emphasis on the story is of course the downfall of the series....of modules (not books, those are obviously a big success). You'll note that they do not make any of the best of lists floating around on the forum right now.

I do wonder how the DL modules sold compared to those early classics. Which sold in truly huge numbers.

 

[Malmuria]

More in the link,

Maybe that will help you guys understand how BIG Dragonlance is/was and how it effected so much.

Also, how much it effected us common folk. As someone who came to not only the fantasy genre as a whole and then to D&D which became a lifelong obsession thanks to Dragonlance and its stories, I hope this might help some of you wonder why some of us are so protective of it.

Why are you assuming people, especially people on these boards, don't understand the importance of dragonlance? I, too, got into dragonlance when I was 10, around the same time I got into dnd (can't remember which was first). I had the Tales of the Lance set, the Time of the Dragon boxed set (which I loved), and Leaves from the Inn of the Last home (a dnd book with recipes and musical scores?? What's this game coming to). And of course a shelf full of the novels. I'm sure something similar was typical for a lot of people. So it was hugely important. Yet, I'm not "protective" of it in any particular way. I don't feel those early memories entitle me to any sort of proxy ownership of it. Same with other franchises.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Why are you assuming people, especially people on these boards, don't understand the importance of dragonlance? I, too, got into dragonlance when I was 10, around the same time I got into dnd (can't remember which was first). I had the Tales of the Lance set, the Time of the Dragon boxed set (which I loved), and Leaves from the Inn of the Last home (a dnd book with recipes and musical scores?? What's this game coming to). And of course a shelf full of the novels. I'm sure something similar was typical for a lot of people. So it was hugely important. Yet, I'm not "protective" of it in any particular way. I don't feel those early memories entitle me to any sort of proxy ownership of it. Same with other franchises.

There are a whole lot of new players that came to the game with 5th Ed. And this is the 5th Ed forum, as opposed to the “old editions” forum.

 

[Malmuria]

There are a whole lot of new players that came to the game with 5th Ed. And this is the 5th Ed forum, as opposed to the “old editions” forum.

What do you mean when you say you are "protective" of it? What do you want to protect?

 

[DarkCrisis]

What do you mean when you say you are "protective" of it? What do you want to protect?

You never had a favorite toy or car or book or tv show or movie or song or hat etc etc you might feel “protective” over? Perhaps something that literally changed your life?

If so consider that someone might have similar feelings like that over something different.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What do you mean when you say you are "protective" of it? What do you want to protect?

Why you interrogating someone about their fun dragon game thread?

 

[MGibster]

For someone who played a ton of 2nd edition AD&D, I really didn't get into Dragonlance at all. I can't recall playing any of the modules or reading any of the novels. But that doesn't mean necessarily mean I haven't felt its influence. Looking back, it reminds me of all the games in the 1990s that had a significant metaplot. Vampire, Legend of the Five Rings, and Deadlands come to immediate mind. I can't help but wonder if Dragonlance influenced that tred.