The all Dragonlance all the time thread!

I don't quite know what I would think if I reread them now, it's been many, many years, and for a while there I was literally collecting all the spinoff books. Must have been nuts. But the original six in their own stop-start way (much more smoothly flowing with the second trilogy -- I remember counting down the days to the release of Test of the Twins with desperation) were quite something. Mechanistic and shoehorned at time, sure, but still pretty damned good, a touchstone for a slew of us at that time and place, eighties fantasy kids who loved D&D and wanted a Lord of the Rings of our very own.

And Larry Elmore's art and, again, Raistlin. Best damned Goth in fantasy lit pre-Gaiman's Sandman, easy.

As a portrayal of adolescent-derived rage and frustration taken to literally apocalyptic levels, it's quite something.

Well, yes. ;-)

me: "we should give some of these to our friends".
mr: "you're assuming our friends don't already own them all."

I ended up giving away all of mine in the move last year. Something had to give and it was them, plus a lot of other stuff. That said, I still definitely want to get those omnibus-with-notes versions of the first two trilogies at some point.

Dragonlance novels, as awful as they were sometimes, were almost always lightyears ahead of the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, etc. books.

"LORD - SOTH - IS - DEAD."

NER-NER-NER-NUH-NUH-NUH

FR books -- Ed Greenwood and R. A. Salvatore seem to have been the only ones in that batch worth a damn, Greenwood cause he actually came up with the whole thing before his involvement with D&D, Salvatore cause, you know, Driz'zt.

Ned: The omnibus editions are massive and unwieldy and have tiny tiny type.

I collect Folio Society editions, this is just like that. ;-) I actually had the original hardback omnibuses from the early nineties or whenever they were.

I could never get into this stuff. The only Forgotten Realms book I liked was The Ring of Winter, and I don't remember who wrote that one.

I recall trying to reread the main trilogy around the age of 18: the experience was seriously shameful. They're really, really crap (except for Weasel's Luck).

but drizzt, yeah!

My Secret Cheesy Fantasy Love -- The Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis McKiernan. Here's the deal in brief:

MCKIERNAN -- "Hey, I've got this great idea for a sequel to The Lord of the Rings talking about how the Dwarves eventually take back Moria a century or so after the Fall of Sauron."

TOLKIEN ESTATE -- "Die and rot."

MCKIERNAN -- "Erm." *changes all the names but writes it anyway, shops around to various publishing houses*

SIGNET -- "Fantasy book eh? Yeah, looks good, sure...but you know, this seems like it's following on from some other story first. Could you write that one instead?"

MCKIERNAN -- "Erm." *makes a few...SLIGHT...changes*

And so if you ever wanted to read a version of The Lord of the Rings minus the Ring, the Nazgul, Gandalf and Gollum but otherwise pretty much is almost exactly like the original story but with all the names changed, The Iron Tower Trilogy is for you. The actual 'sequel' was eventually published -- The Silver Call Duology (oh brother) -- and as a piece of dedicated fan-fiction which essentially DOES imagine that Dwarf reconquest of Moria under another name, it's not all that bad. Not GREAT but it's cool. But The Iron Tower Trilogy makes The Sword of Shannara seem like the most original book ever written anywhere.

(ten or eleven times.)

Oh, you don't know the half of it. The Elven names alone should be taken out and shot.

I don't believe you.

I forget about the "Twins" trilogy.

_____________
*loved, as in the preterite.

I'm reading the first chunky book of George R R Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series at the moment (someone at my local library is an enormous geek and stocks the SF&F section well) but it's a bit dull. I think I may finally be over dodgy fantasy.

OTM fer sure.

His sci-fi stuff's shite, though.

Most definitely not OTM. His Otherworld series, though very craptacularly titled, is rock fucking SOLID.

-- nickalicious (nickaliciou...), August 9th, 2004.

I read the first two Otherworld books and found them dreary, meandering and lacking in original ideas. Slow-building, picaresque stories are fine for fantasy, but I like my sci-fi quite punchy.

Otherworld gets much more rewarding the longer you stay with it. I lost the will to live after wading through the first book, then the ball started rolling down the hill as the strands started to come together. Still not as tight as Memory, Sorrow and Thorn though - that trilogy is the cod-Arthurian bomb. And I got my (one-volume hardback, heavy as hell) copy of To Green Angel Tower signed when Mr Williams did a talk at the crappy local library near where I was living at the time. I was 15 and agog.

That I admit I liked.

Nick, for me the problem was -- I sorta mumbled this up above, but to repeat -- that Williams' treatment of the historical analogues throughout didn't get as really involved or interesting as I hoped it would in comparison to Kay's similar efforts. And I read Kay first, which might have also had something to do with it. For me, the interest with Kay is the balance of historical what-if mixed with fantasy then further mixed with that moral ambiguousness I found so striking in his stories. It's very heady stuff.

Nick, that's the Chronicles trilogy, get it STRAIGHT dude!

Those are pretty hazy in my mind, actually, I mostly remember Raistlin befriending the gully dwarf and wanting to eat spicy fried potatoes.

Every time we actually tried to play a Dragonlance module, it would devolve into arguments as to where the best fried potatoes could be found should Otik not be available.

The draconians were great because they were all about GENETIC MUTATION via magic. Also because of that great unsettling scene describing a dragonlet born of a corrupt egg that maintains its shape for a second or two before bursting and turning into draconians.

The story of the Dragonlance which started in the Inn of the Last Home under the vallenwoods ends in this wonderful book. Raistlin (Caramon Majere's frail twin) opens the mystical Portal to the Abyss to challenge Takhisis, Queen of Darkness. At the exact same time, his twin Caramon operates the magical time-traveling device. The fields of magic shift and collide sending Caramon and his kender friend, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, are sent into an unknown time and place while Raistlin enters the Abyss. Meanwhile the planet the full continent of Ansolon on the planet Krynn is undergoing one of the most destructive wars ever recorded by Astinus. Tanis Halfelven and Caramon take over a giant flying catedal and had Tasslehof and a gully dwarf fly the catedal to the Tower of High Sorcery. Once there Caramon and Tanis went past Dalamar's guardians (Dalamar- one of the most powerful sorcerers in all of Krynn) to find him laying on the ground after being stabbed by the Dragon Highlord Kitiara (Kitiara is the friend and foe of many people throughout all of the Legends and Chronicles)...

(um, x-post, yeah)

Caramon, I think.

Basically, Caramon and Tas end up in the future after the Dwarf War catastrophe in the 2nd book and find out that not only has Raistlin won over Takhisis but that he's essentially about to destroy Krynn via sucking all the life out of it and laying everything waste. It's been too long so I'm fuzzy about what happens after that, but the book splits itself between Raistlin actually fighting Takhisis in the Abyss, Kitiara and Lord Soth leading an attack on...cripes, I forget the name of the city, where Raistlin's tower is and where Crysania has been based...and Caramon having to face up to the fact that if he wants to save the rest of Krynn, Raistlin can't be allowed back from the Abyss. Tas's little gnome buddy get iced by Raistlin at some point and that finally wakes him up to the fact that Raistlin isn't much fun anymore. Caramon and Raistlin have a final faceoff via the Dragon Portal in Raistlin's tower, Caramon gets hold of Raistlin's humanity somehow (I forget the details) and the Portal is sealed, essentially damning Raistlin to eternal torment at Takhisis's hands, but the book suggests that his soul is able to retreat into a small quiet place where his brother still looks after him in a very abstract sense.

I'm probably missing some details. Oh yeah, and Kitiara dies and Lord Soth claims her for himself, the dead perv.

Double x-post! I don't care, I'm posting it anyway!

I'm enough of a Weis/Hickman groupie I've got the Darksword and Rose of the Prophet books. And all of the Death Gate cycle -- in hardback!

But after that, my interest declined, and I really can't believe there's much good about the new Dragonlance books they've done.

Ladies and gentlemen, I should note we are excluding another important factor in all this -- Larry Elmore!

ihttp://www.steamfantasy.it/gallerie_artisti/elmore/1/larry_elmore_dragonlance.jpg

(And if that doesn't work, just go here).

1. Kitiara
2. that one elf chick
3. that one moon-chick what was with Riverwind
4. Tika
5. that one ice-chick

Dan is keeping too quiet on this thread but I KNOW he must surely have had a high regard for Kit.

Who's the chick with the curly hair in that jpeg?

Tika. Kitiara is the figure in the armor looming behind them all.

6. Tasselhoff on the cover of Winter Night

"Hi, what are you doing? Can I join in? Hey what's this, what happens if I pull this..."

Long flowing copper-bronze hair -- Laurana, aka 'the elf chick'

Other names/words that will make you feel like a geek:

"Huma"
"Qualinesti"
"Thorbardin"
"Kagonesti"

The Legend of Huma could have been a great story if it had been told right. Instead, we get a book full of plot holes, lifeless characters, pointless battles, and a romance that never develops. Worse, it's not even well written! I mean, what happened to the white stag Huma followed that was talked so much about in Dragons of Autumn Twilight? Knaak must have forgotten to read the ORIGINAL Dragonlance books! I can't see why so many people think this is the best book ever, but they really should wake up and read some truly good books.

And Tanis was some sorta halfbreed who was snootily looked down upon and etc.

Ah, The Legend of Huma. It was the first post-Legends book when the setting became a franchise full-on and such was the anticipation it actually hit pretty high the NY Times bestseller list (as had Test of the Twins before it). I think Knaak's publishers still use the 'NY Times bestselling author' tag to this day!

he sucks.

....did you have Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home?

Um hello SILVARA, so hawt she's a DRAGON.

http://www.bl.com/~dpb/silvara.gif

Mirrored Heart Dragonlance Slash. How can Dalamar tell Raistlin of the way he feels?

Tempest Set before the cataclysm. Raistlin is tempted by the Dark Queen

"You're not like the other magic-users..."

"My psionic powers are well-developed."

DRAGONLANCE SCIENCE THEATER 3000

Join Raistlin Majere, Dalamar "The Dark" Nightson, Caramon Majere, and the kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot as they face spam and badfic galore in their eternal struggle against Takhisis, the Dark Queen herself! For the newcomer, there's a handy Character Reference of all the main movers and shakers of the DST3K series.

Raistlin pulled the sheet off the sheet-covered mound that had been
sitting on the bridge's main counter for a week and a half. It looked like a
VCR, but when Drizzt pushed the on button it opened up a CD carosel.
"This is the Device of Entertainment. We got tired of trying to program
the VCR and desired the video and sound quality of a DVD, so we made this. You
simply buy a supply of CD read/write disks and put them in the carosel. Then,
you tell the Device of Entertainment what show you want it to record. Like
Tasslehoff, who religiously watches the various anime programs on cable, the
Device automatically knows the channel and time slot of the program in question.
The Device makes a DVD-quality recording with no commercial interruptions. Not
only that, but it's a regular DVD player as well," Raistlin said as Tasslehoff
snatched up the Device and installed it in the SOF's entertainment center.
"Now I can watch those Monty Python's Flying Circus DVD's..." Drizzt said
thoughtfully.

Holy shit.

It shivered as Cid's shaft tore into it's rectum.
Caramon: That Shaft is one big mutha--
Tasslehoff: Shut yo' mouth!
Caramon: I'm only talkin' bout Shaft.
Tasslehoff: We can dig it.
Dalamar: Gods, I never thought I'd see THAT joke...

You have ruined 1997 for me.

Actually, I haven't played it, no, but now you've given me a new sense of the permutations.

1. "ice-pirates" at the Icewall
2. the monster in the whirlpool in the Eastern sea that some old fisherman tries to catch in one of the short-story collections
3. hot chick alert: Alhana Starbreeze
4. Raistlin's gully-dwarf lovepet
5. "Solamnic" knights (bad naming all over this stuff)
6. Verminaard (ditto)
7. the one gnome who wants to study the Dragon Orb

What's up with this Fanlisting?
This is a listing of fans from around the world for the Dragonlance character, Tanis Half-elven, the half elf who doesn't quite fit into either the elven or human worlds..and ends up saving them both...
This fanlisting was last updated on July 26, 2004.
We have a total of 1 members.
We have a total of 0 pending members.

And the picture is spot on.

http://kittykat.tristrum.com/Dst3k/chara_tasselhoff.jpg

5. "Solamnic" knights (bad naming all over this stuff)

I think it was Terry Pratchett who implicitly noted that the big problem with so much post-Tolkien fantasy is that unlike Tolkien, there are very few trained linguists involved and the names have very little internal logic, just an aiming for sound that 'works.' And so, to paraphrase him, you have Dwarf names like Gladgust Thunderpot.

*arched eyebrow*

I would like you on
A long black leash
I would parade you
Down the high street
You've got the attraction
You've got the pulling power
Walk my little doggy
Walk my little sex dwarf
(Here, doggy, doggy)
We could make a scene
We'd be a team
Making the headlines
Sounds like a dream
When we hit the floor
You just watch them move aside
We will take them
For a ride of rides
They all love your
Miniature ways
You know what they say
About small boys

(Er, so were they any good?)

"KITIARA-SAN!"

("potatoes")

"And Otik is about to put on the finishing touches..."

"KITIARA-SAN!"

"Go, Tas!"

"Raistlin has said he's about to unleash a demon to destroy Otik! How fun!"

There was at least one novel devoted to the story of each character's travels in the seven years before the first trilogy. I remember reading the Riverwind one and thinking it was cool as shit; there were lots of the underground Draconians that he beat to tar with a big stick, no?

NED STOP TRYING TO MAKE THIS HENTAI

There seems to have been a bit of a food theme on ILE today. No bad thing.

sturm = "strum"
caramon = "carmen"
raistlin = "rasslin"

he just wouldn't see reason on the issue, either. (but the "strum" one i was like, "dude, are you even literate?")

Oh, Moz has dignity. And Sturm had the rose on his crest, yeah?

Sturm preferred to sacrifice his life honorably rather than get laid.

Which was ironic because he got shafted by a lance.

Er.

Age 12: Read about draconians in Dragonlance
Age 15: Heard Paradise Lost's Draconian Times
Age 19: Read Paradise Lost

Sturm was boring, and I didn't feel Riverwind was very fleshed out as a character. I think Flint (Flynt???) was my favorite. Tas was also radical fo real. But god, Verminaard is the most ridiculous name ever.

x Jeremy's friend Jeff: im reading about dragonlance [this thread] now
x Jeremy's friend Jeff: and feelilng like i missed out

This made me think of Steve Jackson's "Sorcery!" series, which was a more complicated version of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Did anybody else here read those?

My Halloween costume 1987 was in fact Raistlin.

No, no photographs exist. ;-)

http://www.lysator.liu.se/~kring/pics/live/trolldom99/DROW.JPG

xpost OH DEAR

I have no words for those 'drow'.

Google says the Icewind Dale trilogy started in '88 and the Dark Elf trilogy started in '90.

THEY ARE THE GUMMI BEAAARRRRRRRS

also, the ranger and the barbarian kid from the D&D cartoon show up in Baldur's Gate 2, as you no doubt know...

BUT STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE DEATHGATE CYCLE.

--

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: FANTASY DUO WEIS AND HICKMAN TO FORGE NEW TRILOGY

Authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, co-creators of the DRAGONLANCE® world, will pen new adventures

May 19, 2005 (RENTON, Wash.) ÿÿ Two of the premiere voices in American fantasy fiction have just agreed to write a new hardcover fantasy trilogy titled The Dark Chronicles for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. In this new venture, longtime masters of the fantasy genre Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman will return to Dragonlance, the sprawling magical world they first wrote together over two decades ago. This marks the first time Weis and Hickman have collaborated on a project since the 2002 release of Dragons of a Vanished Moon, the final book in The New York Times best-selling War of Souls trilogy.

The Dark Chronicles trilogy will return to the period of the original Dragonlance Chronicles and will feature some of the more popular heroes and villains from that era. The first book in The Dark Chronicles is currently planned for release in summer 2006.

"The Dark Chronicles tells the tales that took place between the chapters of the original Dragonlance Chronicles," said Hickman. "It is intended to mesh smoothly with the established story millions have come to know and love."

Added Weis, "Many of the characters whom fans have come to know intimately over the last twenty years will again come to life in the new series. You can expect to see all the original Heroes of the Lanceÿÿespecially Flint, Tanis, Kitiara, Lord Soth, Tasslehoff, and, of course, the brothers Caramon and Raistlin Majere."

"We're very excited about Margaret and Tracy's newest collaboration. They're a dynamic writing team, and their energy and imagination has earned them a tremendously popular following, both collectively and independently. You don't have to be a Dragonlance fan to like their books, since they know how to deliver a great adventure story," said Peter Archer, Associate Publisher at Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

In addition to the new series, Margaret and Tracy will collaborate on a Dragonlance novella, which will feature several characters from their new trilogy. The novella will appear in Here Be Dragons, an oversize trade book scheduled to release in June 2006. That book will also include stories set in different fantasy-themed universes by New York Times best-selling novelist R.A. Salvatore, and by authors Keith Baker and Scott McGough.

About Weis and Hickman

Since their co-publication of The Dragonlance Chronicles in 1985, Weis and Hickman have jointly authored eleven Dragonlance books, four of which have appeared on The New York Times best-seller list. Both authors also publish independently while remaining committed to the Dragonlance world and fans of their collective efforts.

Margaret Weis's high profile career as one of fantasy's most prominent authors spans two decades. She has written numerous novels and short stories set in the fantasy world of Krynn. Most recently she has completed the third novel in the Dragonvarld trilogy for TOR, Master of Dragons. She is now working on the second novel in the Dark Disciple Trilogy, Iron and Amber, set to release in February 2006 from Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Tracy Hickman, co-creator of the Dragonlance world, has been publishing fantasy novels for over twenty years. His first two solo novels, Requiem of Stars and The Immortals released in the spring of 1996 from Bantam press. Tracy and his wife Laura released Mystic Warrior (2004) and Mystic Quest (2005), their first joint novels in The Bronze Canticles, a trilogy from Warner Books. Their third novel in that series, Mystic Empire is expected in 2006.

About Wizards of the Coast

Since its founding two decades ago, Wizards of the Coast's Book Publishing division has produced hundreds of titles that have sold millions of copies in over 16 languages.

For more information about books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, scheduled author appearances, or other novels published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., please visit wizards.com/books.

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times bestsellers. For more information, visit Wizards of the Coast's website at wizards.com.

Wizards of the Coast and Dragonlance are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the U.S.A. and other countries. Copyright 2005 Wizards.

====================
THE REST OF THE STORY

As those who follow the history of Dragonlance are aware, the original Chronicles series was drastically cut for editorial and production purposes when it was originally written. 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight' was originally to have ended where 'Dragons of Winter Night' began ÿÿ at the southern gates of the dwarven kingdom. Nearly half of the original story was, therefore, missing ... until now.

Rather than rewrite what, for many fans, has become a classic of fantasy literature, Margaret and I decided to produce a new trilogy ÿÿ the Dark Chronicles ÿÿ that told those parts of the original Chronicles that were lost 'between the pages' of that wonderful published work.

This is the announcement which I have been anxious to bring to you ÿÿ and you are probably hearing it here first though it was announced to the trade publications earlier. While we quickly came to agreement on this project some months ago, working out all the details took longer than any of us expected. I must admit that I have been holding off on releasing the newsletter in anticipation that the announcement would be made any day now ÿÿ which means that the newsletters have been held back for a few months. Now that the announcement can be made, we are all back on track. Both Margaret and I are delighted to be working together once more. Most exciting for Laura and I is the fact that the writing schedule for The Dark Chronicles will not impact either the writing or the release schedule for Laura and my 'Bronze Canticles' series.

For those of you who guessed that we were about to announce other projects such as a Dragonlance film or the final completion of the Starshield series, know that we are still pursuing those possibilities as well. For now, however, join with us in celebrating our return to the story we have so long loved and which we look forward now to sharing, at last, with all of you.

but there were two separate sex scenes in the second book and you're conflating them. (The first one in the forest involved a regular ol' elf and an 'elf' who was really a silver dragon, the second Tanis and Kitiara

The second one was outrageous (at the time): One boot, two boot!! (or whatever the "game" was) I re-read that shit so many times. Boner city.

i was always a Tasslehoff disciple. had so much love for the be-topknotted one.

Ew Ned, NO KENDER PORN.

LONG LIVE CHAOTIC NEUTRAL!!!

As spotted in a parking lot today:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1191/573370484_0c29fc93d9.jpg

Whatever happened to the Dragonlance movie? Wasn't is supposed to come out by now?

Sometime soon, I gather.

http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/media/DoAT_trailer_v1.mov

Jesus, the CGI stuff looks terrible...why couldn't they have just done the whole thing in traditional animation style?

Also wtf @ Lucy Lawless and Michael Rosenbaum getting shouted out but not KIEFER!?

As a classic D&D nerd, I read "Autumn Twilight" right when it came out. I waited interminable months for the sequel. Haven't really gone back, but I do have intensely fond memories of the first six. Felt ripped off by everything after that.

I saw Weiss & Hickman speak at GenCon '88. They swore they would never write another DL book. I guess the joke is on me and they're laughing all the way to the bank.

I'm kinda scared to go back because the authors are religious and we all know what happened when we tried to reread the Narnia stuff...

Gah, the animation looks cheap. The CG stuff just looks like game cutscenes, but not horribly offensive.

It doesn't matter how bad it looks. We will all rent it, shut the curtains, and watch it anyway.

I'm kinda scared to go back because the authors are religious and we all know what happened when we tried to reread the Narnia stuff...

Well, there's a lot of 'the gods didn't leave man, man left the gods' hoohah, but the first Legends book (when they went back in time to Istar) actually does a pretty good (in years-ago-memory) job of portraying a nominally righteous religious society led by love and light in fact being little more than a cover for rapacious cruelty and ensuring its hold on power above all else. A standard trope but it's more than you would find in C. S. Lewis, or at least his fiction.

That's reassuring!

So it's actually an allegory for Lord of the Rings and not the bible?

^^ totally gully dwarf, man, 8080

"two, not more than two"

Further proof that Ta-Nehisi Coates knows what it's all about. Check the first entry.

What a great thread. I re-read Chronicles last year for the first time since around '88, and man do they stink. Didn't taint the memories exactly, but I do wonder why I read them over and over again from ages 12-15. Of course, I was also reading the Gor books, which make Dragonlance look like Pulitzer Prize winning material.

Larry Elmore may be known for these covers, but Snarfquest was his finest achievement. Which is no achievement at all.

i described the old videogame adaptation of the first book as 'frustratingly arbitrary' on twitter the other day; then this account (@the_arbitrator) automatically retweeted it as 'frustratingly definite'. i was confused.

I had that game - "Heroes of the Lance" - for my Tandy 2000. It looked like the screen shot here. I think I might have beat it once or twice - arbitrary and hard as hell, like many games from those days. Played the hell out of it - only had that and the Nine Princes In Amber game, which was also rather difficult.

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/original/1211426248-00.png

it was a bit better looking on the master system:

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HqTC1nIImxs/0.jpg

because

Revive the thread Remy. You know you want to.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, October 13, 2010 4:26 PM (24 minutes ago)

i did want to

Wasn't there supposed to be an animated film or something?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHrOfJ8_D0o

Oh dear.

The comic adaptation was quite good.

God, Dragonlance. I was obsessed when I was about 10, before moving on to longer (not sure about better) fantasy. I still have at least the core six books somewhere though I dread revisiting them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8yyhaB3qII&feature=related

Unleash the arguments

http://io9.com/why-dragonlance-should-be-the-next-fantasy-film-franchi-1520791414

that is a long book report

I loved these books so much. I think the last one I read was Dragons of Summer Flame, before progressing to more mature reading material (Death Gate).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragon-Lance-The-Minotaur-Wars-Trilogy-MMPB-Richard-A-Knaak-/331149360459?pt=US_Fiction_Books&hash=item4d1a0a3d4b

where are all the people clamoring for an in-depth exploration of krynn's minotaur culture? and why?

He wrote Kaz the Minotaur also, so his credentials are definitely unassailable.

the wikipedia page on raistlin majere describes him as possessing "relative depth"

From a few weeks back but it's a good read

http://www.avclub.com/article/first-dragonlance-novels-gave-dungeons-dragons-new-205614

And basically hits the nail on the head re: Raistlin.

joe abercrombie* : weis/hickman :: arch deluxe : big mac

(or grrm or scott lynch or patrick fuckin rothfuss)
(adding swearing and embarrassing fedora sex to your rollicking childrens adventure story takes away a lot more than it adds imo)

(in re: My reading preferences now lean more toward George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire series—the source of the aforementioned Game Of Thrones—as well as other contemporary fantasists like Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, and Scott Lynch.)

Yeah the guy's current path is more than a little "Uh...you COULD expand a bit."

i thought it was interesting how much he harped on the unoriginality of krynn as a setting as i find krynn to be much more amorphous and suggestively drawn than say the lazy 1-to-1 mapping of the forgotten realms or something (tho i did prefer FR to dragonlance once upon a time tbh as i came of age during the drizzt do urden era)

Bump

Cataclysm time?

Of a sort

I named my tabby cat Tika.

I'm playing my first ever d&d game this weekend and bought Autumn Twilight for prep, to get et into the spirit.

I'm pretty sure I read one of these as a kid but god knows which one, there were 1000s by the time I got there. I wouldn't call it great so far, but it's super fun and readable. I lasted longer with this than Glen Cook, say.

shout-out to Dragonlance for predicting the entire 2000s nerd-jock dichotomy with Raistlin and Caramon including the nerd's slow descent into bitterness and evil

— sads mikkelsen (@corgzone) January 31, 2019

Figured we'd end up here:

Fantasy writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (of Dragonlance fame) have sued D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast. Complicated allegations, but the gist is they were writing a new Dragonlance trilogy and WoTC said it would not approve further drafts, "no reason was provided."

— Cecilia D'Anastasio (@cecianasta) October 19, 2020

Weis and Hickman's complaint references rewrites following controversies around WoTC re: cultural insensitivity/bias in content and corporate culture. If anyone has more information, my DMS are open. https://t.co/jIeK7Yk4sH

— Cecilia D'Anastasio (@cecianasta) October 19, 2020

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I expect that once the details of this come to light, there will be plenty of facepalms for everyone

Although as the person who posted Taz Takes A Tentacle upthread, I am no position to judge the poor choices of others

We're all in this together.

I don’t really understand the background here – fuckery at WOTC aside, why did the problems with one product (magic the gathering) result in the cancellation of another?

as I said, I expect facepalms all around

Annnnnd all is resolved

https://io9.gizmodo.com/that-new-dragonlance-trilogy-from-the-series-classic-au-1846125826

Although as the person who posted Taz Takes A Tentacle upthread, I am no position to judge the poor choices of others

― shout-out to his family (DJP), Monday, October 19, 2020 11:25 AM (three months ago)

dying

A legend that lives on.

give me Otik's spicy potatoes STAT

Rob Bricken's (very great) column on old D&D novels, which has mostly been looking at Forgotten Realms stuff and a few side notes too, has, after dispatching one of the first spinoff novels, gotten around to starting the original trilogy:

https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-revisiting-dragons-of-autu-1847446582

Unsurprisingly he says it's the best of the books he's read so far, which, yes.

Everything about the Raistlin bullying is OTM

Really is!

i'm sure i've mentioned this before, but just to reiterate, I once read a Margaret Weis series that was, if anything, a *more* fascist take on Star Wars

also the protagonist was named Dion Starfire

Bricken gets around to book two of the original trilogy

https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-novels-revisiting-dragons-of-wint-1847942044