And they've now also managed to get to Xak Tsaroth and are in the middle levels now. So they've neatly chosen the path which sets up the rest of the immediate story. This is veryhandy. I've even managed to squeeze in a side-quest to hunt for the Spellbook of Fistandantilus, which I hope will open some interesting roleplay opportunities later, especially as they move south beyond Pax Tharkas.

In the catacombs of Xak Tsaroth, about half have fallen in love with the Gully Dwarves, and the others have started loathing them (but no Dwarves in my party!).

And they've been correctly bricking themselves after their first encounter with Onyx (Above ground)! Which is perfect.

They're making their way down in search of the Disks, and I've planted the seeds for needing to do something with the Blue Crystal thing (had to change it from a staff), but I'm not sure they know what to do with it. I'll see how that goes!

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The players have also been told that they will not be earning Inspiration automatically each session, but will instead gain it if they offer a short write-up of each session on our club’s Discord server.

Here is the first, from the meditations of Shep, the Kagonesti Scout.

It is very good, to be back together. I am so happy to again be with everyone. In the other place before, it was very quiet, very peaceful, but cold without friends. Five years, it is a long time alone. A lot of time to think. A lot of time for things to happen, too many things to say. Some days I think, this time, this day I die maybe. But then I remember that I must do this and come back to them. They asked this of me. I promised them.

And now, everyone is excited, happy to be together again. It is very good we find what we search for, or sign of it perhaps. Gods look like what, anyway? I thought of this when I looked all this time. If I see it, will it look like gods look? Who can say? But if you don't look you can't find. Everywhere I went, I ask people 'where are there no people? I am looking for something lost people cannot find.

It must be where there are no people, or they would find it', and they say 'go south, there is no one there'. So I go south, and I don't know what I find, but after a long time I see something strange, and everyone is very excited to hear it so perhaps I did find something good anyway.

I don't know what is happening next, but we will do it together anyway. We will see.

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The second session log, from the diary of Tedorock the human Barbarian:

Scrawled in a ragged leatherbound book in poor handwriting: What a day, after so long being apart from my friends we have already started a new adventure together, I was the first to arrive to the inn it was amazing to see Otik again and Tika got so big, I didn't recognise her but I'm glad they remembered me, I would have been very sad if they didn't.

Seeing Lily again was a shock, at first I didn't recognise her but when she pulled her disguise off it took me by surprise, she is properly grown up now and looked very tough made me feel proud! we got to eat lots of food and soon Robert arrived he hadn't changed at all just as fancy as ever! and soon after Shep, Sasha and Dastan all arrived, they said a Frog-man had bothered them on the way into town, I've never heard of a frog man before! I was so happy to see them all, I'm glad Shep hasn't changed a bit, Sasha has grown up so much too it so nice to see her doing well.

I told everyone about my adventures, and about my dreams that D'Argent told me were from the gods! I wish we could have stayed in the Inn I missed it so much but we got warned that the town Chief was coming for Lilys neckless her proof that there are still gods! So we had to run away, Robert and Dastan stayed behind to draw them off, they are strong warriors but I am very worried about them...

It was fun to be on the road with my friends again but I wish we were all here, I didn't get to see Gelbin or Tilda I hope they are ok too, we slept all together in a cave with delicious water in, but when we woke up there was a strange wizardy type man, he told us about some people that failed I think? he spoke so much and didn't make any sense all I could figure out was that we needed to go to the place in my dreams.

A new crumpled page in the book:

This day was less fun, We found an abandoned settlement, it seems like the people managed to escape, I hope they are ok...

There seems to be armies running around causing terror, Nightshade told us they attacked his home, it makes me so sad to hear about all these people we cant help. I don't remember the fight with scaled men I went to the bad place again and it was over fast.

The Stars are missing! I knew something was wrong with the sky, I woke everyone up cause they are all very smart, and they figured out it was the stars of Paladine and Takhisis gods who had a war in the past! I wonder if they are going to fight again?

A small note scrawled in the bottom of the book:

I can't sleep, that huge monster that tried to eat us has freaked me out I thought the old dwarf fort would be safe.

A hastily written page, the paper a bit damp from the moist underground air:

Its been another strange day, We found the place we needed to go! but it wasn't all good, fighting those lizard men again was scary, but not as scary as that DRAGON! I feel bad about running away but it just scared me so bad... That temple felt nice though it must have been Lilys mum Mishakal, shes a god I think? she made Lily all strange like too happy to be a person. I'm glad shes found what she has been looking for for so long. I can't believe I found some new friends here in the temple, those small guys are so nice that they told us lots of stuff and that they loved my pickles, no-one who likes pickles can be bad. They told us to speak to their boss Fudge-high-burper and that he was underground.

This underground place is a bit dangerous so many holes to fall into but making another friend was nice, I'm glad she likes pickles too Boopa is a good person, That slide she led us too was fun but I am a bit worried about her Tribe being led by ogres, they didnt sound very nice.

A small note written in a corner of the page:

Dragonlance of cours eis a series of books. A long series. And I plan on taking my player party through Dragonlance Chronicles, the opening trilogy in the series and the start of the grander story. What will happen is that the original characters - the “Innfellows” - will effectively be erased from history. I’m pretty much ignoring all the other books, but those characters will never have been, and instead this new group of player characters will take their place. It is they - totally new and original characters - who will split up to search for signs of the gods, and will meet back up in Solace, and become involved in the War of the Lance.

To make sure I get that right, I’ve gone through the Chronicles trilogy again and made notes of the entire journey, and come up with this rough timeline:

That gives the right sequence of events as they’re laid out for the Innfellows, but of course I won;t be forcing the party down this exact path. There are different things they may become aware of at different times, and they may choose different paths. Anything could happen. What if Vemrinaard defeats them? What if they lose the Blue Crystal Necklace (we’ve replaced the staff with a necklace for narrative reasons)? What if the refugees don’t make it, of Silvanest is lost?

So this is a rough guide mainly so that I know what quests are available, but primarily so that I know what the enemy Dragonarmies are doing at any time. Their movements will influence the party.

As such, I also have this page of notes on actual quests:

So an introductory mission, and then open to wherever the part want to go. They may even go to multiple places in different orders. All will work now that I know where and when everything CAN be.

Thoughts? Have I missed anything from the timeline? Options for side-quests to add?

There are still more side-quests to add, especially as I want to come up with some options for each player character specifically.

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The group I’m running for are currently neck-deep in a long Call of Cthuluhu game, just stepping in to what I’ve been told is the third and final act of Horror on the Orient Express, which is why I’m making sure my notes are together now and ready to go next year. It gives me time to go over my plans and make sure of what I’ve got and what needs adapting. Anyone with Dragonlance experience is of course welcome to offer advise, but the crux here is that the last time the setting had rulkes was D&D 3rd edition. We want to play 5th. So some adaptations need to be made.

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If you’re actually one of my players, this is where you should STOP reading.

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As the narrative of Chronicles goes, five years ago a group of friends would frequent the Inn of the Last Home in the treetop city of Solace. Having adventured together for some time and grown weary of the actions of those serving the new religions since the Cataclysm, they made a pact to separate. Each would take a different path and travel Ansalon searching for some sign of the true gods, agreeing to meet back in that inn five years later.

I plan to start my party at Lv5, as brand new characters of their own devising. They will completely replace the Innfellows in the narrative of the War of the Lance, starting the game with their return to the Inn of the Last Home after their five year journey. My plan is that the world will exist as though the classic set of characters never existed. After their original encounters and the introduction of the Blue Gem Staff, the party will be visited by none other than Raistlinn Majere. He will explain that HE has erased his own cohort from history, because they FAILED to defeat the Darkness. As such, he has twisted time using forbidden magics to give another group of characters a chance to succeed.

Its quite a twisting of the ending of the Chronicles trilogy, and I should point out for those who have read other books in the series that I am basing this SOLELY on the mythology of the Chronicles trilogy (so assuming Legends, etc has not happened yet).

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In order to make it work of course, some changes need to be made. Dragonlance, the world of Krynn, the continent of Ansalon, are not the same as Faerun, Eberron, etc. Different races have prominance, others are more common than in other places, and some are outright unheard of (because they didn’t exist in D&D at the time Dragonlance was being written and developed). So in terms of races, these are the changes being made:

The most common races, those developed more in the stories, are Humans (Civilized and Nomadic, Elves (Qualinesti, Silvanesti and Kagonesti), Dwarves, Gnomes, Kender (Halflings), Centaurs and Minotaurs.

Rare but accessible races in clude Half-Elves and Half_Ogres (Firbolgs and Goliaths).

Very rare races, with my apporval only, include Kyrie (Aaracokra), Phaethons (Aasimar) and Thanoi (Loxodons).

Races I’ve banned outright, because they are to be used as purely evil or isolationist races, include Dargonesti  (Sea-Elves and Tritons), Ogres, Orcs, Half-Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins.

I have also banned Dragonborn, Lizardfolk and Kobolds as player races, because there will exist only as the evil Draconian race.

Other races which are never mentioned in the Dragonlance stories (as far as I know) are a tricky question I haven’t addressed yet. I’ll probably base my decision on them on whether someone can come up with an interesting concept for them in the game world. These are of course the Tieflings, Gith, Genasi, Changelings, Kenku, Kalashtar, Tabaxi, Shifter, Yuan-Ti, Warforged and Tortles.

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Some alterations also need to be made to character classes before we begin, as some are represented very differently within the world of Dragonlance, and need addressing.

Mostly everything can stay the same, the key difference being however a complete lack of Divine Magic at the start of the story.

As Chronicles begins, the gods do not grant power to any beings on Krynn. The restoration of that link is part of what the Chronicles story is about - finding the old gods and trying to get them to come back, and dealing with the one or two who already have.

As such, I’m putting in the rule that as the story begins, no Cleric or Paladin has Spellcasting, or any other healing ability. The exception of course, will be if one characters WANTS to play a Cleric, then they will find themselves as the chosen wielder of the Blue Gem Staff, the first artifact of the gods to be seen on Krynn in three hundred years, which LETS them use their class spellcasting ability. This helps kick the party into the narrative too.

As part of this though, I’m making the world a little harsher. There is a point in the story at which Divine Magic does return should the party choose to do as the original Innfellows did and make it happen (at Xak Tsaroth). However I am ruling that no spellcaster can use any healing or divine-influenced spells until this event occurs (or something like it at least).

As part of that, seeing as there are no gods and no truly god-like beings on Krynn, I’m ruling that no levels can be taken in the Warlock class until this event occurs (because there are no beings around to be a Patron other than the central villain of the narrative!).

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The final note in my planning is based in Paladins, which I think need a full re-flavouring. My intention is that Paladins will stand-in as the Knightly Orders of Ansalon, very intentionally to allow something special should somoene wish to affiliate with the Knights of Solamnia (such as Sturm Brightblade in the novels). I think the concept stands well for them, and makes the Knights more than just Fighters. The spellcasting part of the class makes it a bit weird though, which is what I think needs adjusting to make it fit. I think the Healing restriction I already mentioned will help itigate it, but I will likely have to strip down the spell list for Paladins and maybe replace a few spells entirely with new ones. This way I can make every spell they have more of a martial ability than an explicit spell, which would work nicely for the Knights of Solamnia. I might even be able to flavour each new rank in a Paladin’s Oath as rising to a new Order within the Knights.

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I’m very interested to know what other people think, and waht advice they’d give based on this framework. People with better knowledge than I might be able to offer new ways to address a few of the alterations I’ve made, and hopefully I’ll have it all organized in a good, structured way and ready for when the game begins next year.

What I need from the start then is a simple collection of creatures - Goblins, Hobgoblins and Draconians.

Goblins and Hobgoblins at least ar eeasy, because 5e already has them. I can just use those.

The basic Hobgoblin also has a few variations available, so I took the Captain and make a few adjustments so that I had the character of Fewmaster Toede ready early on. Should he manage to survive, I’ll likely upgrade him a bit for later appearances.

For the Draconians I had to be a bit more creative, but still took a few shortcuts. At a base level, I’ll just be using basic NPC stats such as the Knight or Mage, and adding some additional elemtns. In a few places I've changed weapons, added claws more fitting to Draconians, and to each type added their special mode of death.

Draconians of course don’t just die, they have t make a spectacle of it. Baaz for example turn to stone, whereas Bozak have exploding bones.

Another thing of course is that Draconians, unlike Dragonborn who I thought to use as a base originally, have wings (though most can only glide rather than fly). To the best of my knowledge Draconians also lack breath weapons like Dragonborn, but this might be due to a misstep in research, so I may change if I discover otherwise.

Anyway, these are the basic stats I’ve prepared for the basic enemies to be faced in the opening chapters. I think, based on the core narrative, that the only other things to think about are whether the party choose to fight the spectres of Daarken Woods, and how quickly they come across Onyx at Xak Tsaroth.

All of the images below I’ve printed and made into sleeved cards for easy reference during the game.