Thread by @hexcrawl

To begin at the beginning...

DL1 Dragons of Despair by Tracy Hickman.

So the basic concept here is 300 years ago the true gods abandoned the world during the Cataclysm. 5 years ago, six of the PCs left Solace to search for any sign of the true gods.

We're continuing our Let's Read of the #Dragonlance Saga, which started over here if you'd like to begin from a different beginning.

https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1528081088001605634

So here's the opening boxed text from DL1 and also the reprint from DLC1.

I share these as a good micro-example of difficult it can be to actually parse the Saga.

DL1 has mis-typeset the text, resulting in the actual premise not being included.

DLC1 includes the missed text, but takes a hacksaw to the rest of it, excising the explanation of WHY the characters would be searching for a true cleric.

Solace, where the PCs are meeting up, is pretty cool. Built among impossibly large trees, many of the buildings are actually built into the treetops.

Including the Inn of the Last Home.

None of the PCs who took the Oath to search for the true gods and return to the Inn of the Last Home exactly five years later to compare notes actually found anything.

It looks like the True Gods are truly gone.

(Although it turns out the Oath was more along the lines of "I guess if I happen to see anything, I'll let you know, Tanis, but I don't actually care that much.")

But there are two other PCs!

Riverwind and Goldmoon are members of the Que Shu tribe. Goldmoon was the chieftain's daughter and forbidden to marry the man she loved (Riverwind) unless he returned with a magic item from the Forsaken Lands.

He got a blue crystal staff which is divine in nature (an artifact of the true gods!), but Goldmoon's father wasn't impressed and the two of them had to flee.

The way this works it that you roll 1d4 and, after that number of Encounters, Goldmoon and Riverwind show up.

Which is interesting, because it can dynamically vary how that encounter plays out (ranging from meeting them in Solace to meeting them in a grove of pegasi).

But may be a little awkward if they're PCs, because - depending on how events play out - you might go most or all of a full session before your last two players get to join the game.

If they aren't NPCs, it may ALSO get a little awkward, because the entire Saga is predicated on the PCs escorting Goldmoon with the blue crystal staff.

So if the PCs don't ask the traveling musicians to go on adventures with them, the whole thing derails.

The adventure's solution is to just have Goldmoon periodically show up again and nod enigmatically at the PCs until they get with the program.

It's kind of an odd choice, because there ARE hobgoblins in the area searching for the blue crystal staff.

So if the first encounter didn't end with Goldmoon joining them, to me the obvious follow-up would be "the PCs need to rescue Goldmoon from hobgoblins."

In any case, this is how the canonical Innfellows kick off the campaign.

(If you're only familiar with the books or animated movie, you might be asking: "But what about Fizban?" In the modules, he doesn't show up until later.)

What if you want to play original PCs?

The CAMPAIGN CONCEPT would be straightforward: 5 years ago you all took an oath to explore the far corners of the world, seeking any word of the true gods, and then return to the Inn of the Last Home in Solace to share what you had learned.

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4514…

Each individual player needs to answer:

1. Why is it so important to you to find the true gods?
2. What is your character concept?

The group needs to collectively explain how they originally came together as friends/family in order to take the oath.

The PUBLIC INTEGRATION phase will include integrating their backgrounds into the lore of Ansalon.

You're an elf? Let's talk about the Silvanesti, Qualinesti, and Kagonesti. Which heritage do you belong to?

You want to be a knight? Let's talk about the Knights of Solamnia.

I'll also be asking each player which direction the went. (Some of they may have gone together if they'd like.)

I'll use that information to prep BRIEFING SHEETS that will detail what they found on their journeys.

This is an excuse to give each player a unique "slice" of world lore, history, and god lore. This would be designed with the rest of the campaign in mind, so that every player will have a chance to shine by sharing their unique insight.

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4124…

For the PRIVATE INTEGRATION, you'll also want to look at the whole campaign and look for opportunities to establish interesting characters.

You can pull straight from the relationships in the modules. For example, you can just drop Kitiara in as the Missing Companion who some or all of them were once friends with, but who has failed to keep the Oath.

But you don't have to. It's much more about having established relationships in the various places where you know the Saga will go.

So look at their character backgrounds and the Five Year Mission to Seek Out True Gods, Explore Strange Civilizations, and Boldly Go Where No Demihuman Has Gone Before.

And drop in the NPCs.

The final bit of integration here is the blue crystal staff.

This is pretty straightforward: Tell the group that the Oath-takers all failed to find any sign of the missing gods.

Then secretly tell one of the players that, in fact, their PC succeeded.

They get to have the fun of making a VERY BIG REVEAL at the Inn of the Last Home.

This requires adjusting the lore around the staff and Xak Tsaroth, but that's fine because the lore is all over the place in DL1.

The draconians:
- Want the staff.
- Want the staff returned to Xak Tsaroth.
- Want to stop the staff from being returned to Xak Tsaroth.

- The draconians have been guarding the crystal staff in Xak Tsaroth.
- But also they were just created recently.

And so forth.

There's what they intended (which you can figure out from other sources), and then there's what they printed in DL1.

This also gets into the other really weird bit of continuity: All the Innfellows have just gotten back from exploring the wide world.

Also, the draconians have been conquering the entire world.

But the Innfellows have no knowledge that a literal world war is happening.

There's a vast draconian army with a front that's 50+ miles wide camped 6-10 miles north of Solace.

But the adventure wants the draconians to be a surprise reveal, so somehow nobody is aware this is happening.

Anyway, here's what I'd do:

1. The blue crystal staff was found somewhere else.

2. There were documents or paintings or a prophecy or a weird dream or something that said, "The staff must be returned to Xak Tsaroth."

Maybe these were near where the staff was found. Or maybe a different PC found them far away.

3. Where's Xak Tsaroth? Not 100% clear. But they've turned up a couple references:

- It lay north of the gates of Thorbardin.
- There is a reference to it in the myths of the Que Shu.

So it would seem to actually lie somewhere near Solace. Let the hunt begin!

The Let's Read continues over here!

https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1529147603941609472