The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Fifteen years ago I bought an AD&D adventure which, in my opinion, surpassed any that had come before or since. Dragonlance was the first series of AD&D modules that focused on an overall storyline in an epic manner. I purchased all of them as they came out, but for one reason or another, I was unable to buy the last few adventures. Since they have been out of print for several years, I have never been able to DM the entire series.

Until now. TSR has just published the entire series under one cover to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. This 256-page softcover book encapsulates the entire epic saga of the War of the Lance, using rules that are compatible with both the original AD&D system and also the newer SAGA sytem from the Dragonlance: Fifth Age game. Players can assume the roles of all the old familiar characters, and even more characters and locations are introduced in this adventure.

Many of the portions of the story have been abbreviated, partially in the interest of smoother gameplay, but I would imagine that this was also done so that the adventure would fit into one 256 page book. Part of the genius of this design is that it allows for a greater deal of flexibility than the original adventures did. Since you have the whole thing in one place, you can jump around from location to location in the story rather than guiding the players in the direction that you, as the DM, want them to go.

I was a little saddened to see a few parts of the adventure cut, such as the floating tomb from DL4, but I was also happy to see several areas that were confusing or difficult to play simplified. An example of this would be that the navigation of the Dwarven City of Thorbarden, which would have taken forever to figure out and then longer to traverse in the original version, has been simplified to a series of events and random encounters that fit together smoothly. Although some things have changed, overall I feel that the new version of the Dragonlance epic is a more solid version than the original.

I currently have a group of adventurers experiencing the Dragonlance Saga for the first time, so my playtesting of this product is incomplete, but so far it seems to be going very well. The style that it is written in encourages role-playing over fighting, and allows the DM and the party of adventurers the flexibility to determine how complex encounters really are.

This is a product that I have been hoping to see for years, and so far, it has lived up to all my hopes and expectations. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the truly epic adventures that place the entire fate of the world into the hands of a small party of bold adventurers. It's worth every penny and then some.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Dragonlance Classics 15th Anniversary Edition
Author: Based on the original by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Line: AD&D Cost: 25.95 Page count: 256 ISBN: 0-7869-1350-9 Capsule Review by Chuck Tinsley on 06/25/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	Fifteen years ago I bought an AD&D adventure which, in my opinion, surpassed any that had come before or since. Dragonlance was the first series of AD&D modules that focused on an overall storyline in an epic manner. I purchased all of them as they came out, but for one reason or another, I was unable to buy the last few adventures. Since they have been out of print for several years, I have never been able to DM the entire series. Until now. TSR has just published the entire series under one cover to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. This 256-page softcover book encapsulates the entire epic saga of the War of the Lance, using rules that are compatible with both the original AD&D system and also the newer SAGA sytem from the Dragonlance: Fifth Age game. Players can assume the roles of all the old familiar characters, and even more characters and locations are introduced in this adventure. Many of the portions of the story have been abbreviated, partially in the interest of smoother gameplay, but I would imagine that this was also done so that the adventure would fit into one 256 page book. Part of the genius of this design is that it allows for a greater deal of flexibility than the original adventures did. Since you have the whole thing in one place, you can jump around from location to location in the story rather than guiding the players in the direction that you, as the DM, want them to go. I was a little saddened to see a few parts of the adventure cut, such as the floating tomb from DL4, but I was also happy to see several areas that were confusing or difficult to play simplified. An example of this would be that the navigation of the Dwarven City of Thorbarden, which would have taken forever to figure out and then longer to traverse in the original version, has been simplified to a series of events and random encounters that fit together smoothly. Although some things have changed, overall I feel that the new version of the Dragonlance epic is a more solid version than the original. I currently have a group of adventurers experiencing the Dragonlance Saga for the first time, so my playtesting of this product is incomplete, but so far it seems to be going very well. The style that it is written in encourages role-playing over fighting, and allows the DM and the party of adventurers the flexibility to determine how complex encounters really are. This is a product that I have been hoping to see for years, and so far, it has lived up to all my hopes and expectations. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the truly epic adventures that place the entire fate of the world into the hands of a small party of bold adventurers. It's worth every penny and then some. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Dragonlance Classics 15th Anniversary Edition