Customer Reviews

Dragonlance Campaign Setting

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Perhaps I am bias because when I was young I read the original three Dragonlance novels, but I find this edition of the Dragonlance campaign setting to be very disappointing. I have seen the AD&D 2e boxed set of Dragonlance, and it was very fascinating.

However, I think that the main reason for my disappointment is that the authors felt it necessary to include the novels written in the Dragonlance world that occurred after the 2nd Edition boxed set, which gives the world of Krynn a very different flavor from its previous incarnation. I suppose I feel alienated because of this, but there are other reasons.

The basic classes are redefined, edited, or left out in this book, which is both good and bad. Some new basic classes are added for flavor, some of which seem redundant since other basic classes essentially do the same thing. There are prestige classes that could have been modeled better in terms of mechanical progression (3 progressive classes for an Order of Knights seems silly). The writing style failed to make the material interesting, as well as trying too hard to cover many novels in a short space of text.

For these reasons, I cannot possibly recommend the purchase of this book unless you're a D&D collector or a diehard Dragonlance fan.

I love Dragonlance...let me say that first and formost. However, I think they forgot a few things in this book. Some of the dwarven and elven histories are changed and you aren't really given enough info on alot of other races and classes of Krynn. Minotaurs are included under the ogre heading and thier history is very limited. I think Margaret could have done a much better job if she had broke the book down in order to actually give the players more information. If you already have D & D Monsters Manual and the Players Handbook, this book isn't even needed to play in Dragonlance.
I caried my book back for a refund..

This book is great, it provides all sorts of cool stuff about the dragonlance campaign. New monsters, new races, new classes, new prestige classes, new spells, everything. However, its art is mostly terrible, theres only about 3 good pictures in the book. But if you are looking for a campaign setting, this one is very good.

Well, I waited and waited for this book to come out. When I first bought it, I was quite disappointed in the material presented within. Where were all the cool spells that aren't in FR or D&D 3.5? What about the other races, better statistics on the gods?
So I took my time to read and re-read the book. Well, I've gotten used to it and have found a lot of useful info for running a campaign. Kind of like that cd you buy where it takes listening to it a few times to like it.
I would still recommend going to the unoffical Dragonlance website because it has a lot more useful info than this book. But I still give this one my recommendation.
Oh yeah, the biggest disappointment: No Fold-Out Map! It has been put on the WOTC website for download, but it doesn't make up for this book lacking one. They should have released a map with the Dragon magazine to make up for this.

The collaborative effort of role gaming experts Margaret Weis, Don Perrin, Jamie Chambers, Christopher Coyle, Dragonlance Campaign Settings is an extensive and detailed role-playing game resource designed especially for players familiar with the Dragonlance campaign setting -- a war-torn world where good and evil dragons and their kindred clash, along with their human and nonhuman allies caught up in the storms of conflict. An extensive history and chronology, unique spells, information crucial to generating player characters and NPCs of various races, a basic bestiary, sample ecologies, and so much more, distinguish this excellent and highly recommended role gaming resource.

Ok - to sum this up briefly, if you want to play Dragonlance in 3rd edition rules, buy this book.

Doesn't matter if you didn't like the Fifth Age or the War of Souls. If you did, fantastic.

What this book provides is a comprehensive translation of all outdated material from the previous editions into a newer supplement. It explains the history of the setting from the creation of the world to the end of the War of Souls.

There are new races, new prestige classes and base classes. New magic items and artifacts. Now so, more than ever, DL3E is richer and more vibrant than ever before.

My pet gripes which prevents this from being five stars:
- The history had several spoilers, which, I think the book should have done a better job at warning the reader against.
- I found slabs of text which where copied and pasted from previous editions of Dragonlance campaign setting(sections on the Wizards of High Sorcery being a good example, ripped from the Tales of the Lance boxed set, and from the AD&D 1st Ed campaign setting as well IIRC).
- The art could have been greatly improved (the art in the Age of Mortals however, is the best I've seen in any recent d30 DnD 3e book, so that made up for it really).

The book lives up to reputation however, the material is substantial, well written (albeit poorly illustrated) and I thoroughly recommend it. I recommend you purchase Age of Mortals with it, as you'll wind up with a lot of questions which are answered in that book anyway.

Been looking for a book as fufilling for Dragonlance rpg as this for a long time. Way to go! From aerial combat rules, to the many dragonalcne specific races and Prestige Classess, love it.

Let me first just say that I was very excited to receive this book. I have always loved dragonlance especially the art by Larry Elmore (www.larryelmore.com) which really does the setting justice. However this book was biggest letdown of all the D&D and d20 books I have purchased.

I don't know who the art director on this book was but all I can say is it looks like a bunch of high school students without any experience in life drawing were hired to illustrate this book. Half the characters and people illustrated in this book are out of proportion. I was really excited to see the illustrations on Draconians, but was sorely disappointed by the almost juvenile poses and horrible painting techniques. And I thought the Monster Manual 2 was ugly!

Compare this to the art by Larry Elmore, and you will see what I am talking about. I personally have taken some life drawing classes in college... and it looks like something I WOULD DRAW! (And this is not a compliment) Some Illustrators know how to draw the human form. Some need more practice. There were very few illustrations in this book that I found marginally acceptable.

Its sad the art director (or whoever was in charge of this book) decided to skimp on the art, and it shows. I am tempted to send the book back because I find the illustrations revolting.

Secondly, the graphic design is just stinky! Every single page has a Carved relief motif taking up nearly 2 inches of the left and right hand margins. I was okay with this for the opening of chapter... but it is HUGE and on every single page! Not to mention the font selection and sizes are less than desirable. The whole execution of the book looks clunky and unrefined... I would have expected some refinement for such a wonderful campaign setting.

And the organization of the book is horrible. Enough said... I think this is a disservice to the dragonlance setting.

Bottom line... don't buy this book if you are interested in some cool illustrations of dragons and other dragonlance characters. If you want to use the dragonlance setting in a game then perhaps you can ignore the horrid pictures, although the text and graphic design make the whole book an utter disappointment.

Ok, no index, but that is ok, i can deal with that. There is no spelcial items pages, but all the cool items that i as dieing to know that stats about are in there spread out...other then that it has everything you would want. It has fantasitic art work, detailed airial comabt rules, the poems of the dragonlance books, new classes, new prestige classes, a detailed history, new races, new critters, new gods, new spells, new domains, This is the book htat i ahve been waiting for and it did not disapoint...i would defently suggest buying yon book...you wont regret it...sorry for all the spelling mistakes...im not the best speller in the world

Finally! An updated campaign setting for the Dragonlance world. While this book does live up to expectations, it's not quite perfect. The organization of the book comes across as somewhat sporadic, and the information within isn't as detailed as, say, the Forgottem Realms campaign setting book.

With several source books already planned for release soon, I believe the Dragonlance setting will become even more popular. If you're a fan of Dragonlance, and not necessarily a gamer, I highly suggest picking up this book.