Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

As I ramp back up to writing this blog on a regular weekly basis, here's a few other news items I meant to comment on a while ago. In recent months, while many players eagerly await the release of "D&D Next", Wizards of the Coast has found numerous other ways to keep our interest in D&D going, including releases guaranteed to appease our eyes and ears. Recently Wizards has released a number of classic novels in audio book format on Audible.com . Previously only a select number of books (mostly those from the most well known Wizards authors like R. A. Salvatore or Margaret Wies and Tracy Hickman) were released in audio book format, and even then, mostly in abridged format. Now, thanks to the last releases, all in unabridged format, D&D fans can fill their ears with the works of the above mentioned authors, as well as many other books set in the D&D worlds of Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Eberron, Ravenloft, and more. Just check out the D...

The other day I was in my FLGS, looking at the New Stuff rack. It's the first step in my ritual which usually takes me around the store, looking at d20, 3.5, and 4e books (in that order) before finishing up at the miniature rack with all those great Reaper minis that I don't have the time, or talent to paint. Anyway, while looking over the new products, I was pleasantly surprised to see something called The Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis. It was new product, but had a great old-school cover (and I'm talking Erol Otus-old, not Jeff Easley-2nd-edition-old), and an even older-school price tag. At $9.99 for a hardback book, I certainly had to check this out. The store shrink wraps everything meaning I had to wait to get home before paging though it and also putting a strain on "F" of FLGS. The book clocks in at 48 pages, with a couple used for the TOC and other product advertising, and features a color cover by Erol. The interior is black and white with a ton of...

A Short Guide to the "Core" Dragonlance Novels In part one , I looked at the some of the earliest "core" Dragonlance novels, up to the Chaos War . Now, I'll look at some more recent books that many consider core books, set after that world altering event. Chaos War The Last Thane , Tears of the Night Sky , The Puppet King , Reavers of the Blood Sea , The Siege of Mt. Nevermind In addition to Dragons of Summer Flame, these other books are set during that same time, and in some cases feature scenes from Summer Flame told from a different point of view. Like many of the books related to major Dragonlance events, I pick and choose only the ones that really interest me. In this series I only read Tears of the Night Sky (because I intrigued by Crysania's tiger companion) and Reavers of the Blood Sea (I'm a big fan of Richard Knaak's minotaur-themed books). Final Recommendation: Once again, read what you want to fill in some of the gaps hinted at in Summer ...

A Short Guide to the "Core" Dragonlance Novels As of 2008, Dragonlance novel series (or more accurately "series-es") now numbers close to 100 books, so for the new reader the confusion of what to read is a genuine concern. Consider this... if you pick up the wrong book you could find yourself at the dawn of the world, in the middle of the reign of the Kingpriests, in the time just before the War of the Lance, decades after the "last war" (be it the War of the Lance, the Chaos War, or the War of Souls), or even on a totally different continent! If you survey a bunch of fans, you'll come up with a lot of variation on what to read and what not to read, but there are a few consistent responses, most of which I agree with, so here's a chronological list of a portion of the Dragonlance saga: The Meetings Sextet and The Preludes Sextet These books detail the early stories of characters that appear in the Chronicles trilogy. While set before Chronicles, a...