Dragonlance

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For the dragonlance weapon as seen in the Dragonlance world, see Dragonlance (weapon)

Image:Dragonlance-Logo.jpg Dragonlance is a large series of fantasy books, and a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Draconians and kender are creatures unique to this fantasy world. To further differentiate it from other similar fantasy settings, Dragonlance is supposed to have a post-apocalyptic feel, although this emphasis has considerably lessened over the years.

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History and influence

Image:Dragonlance CS Cover.jpeg This series was published by TSR, Inc. to supplement their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game products. It is currently published by the company that purchased TSR in 1997, Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast has licensed Sovereign Press to publish further Dragonlance game material.

The world of Dragonlance was the first fictional world to be professionally produced as a role-playing game world, with product tie-ins (novels, role-playing modules, figurines, etc.) prepared and manufactured when it was first released. Before Dragonlance, fictional role-playing worlds evolved from the amateur creations of the games' players (with the most notable example being the Greyhawk campaign setting), or from previously existing fictional settings (I.C.E's MERP) or settings based in the real world. The success of the Dragonlance series encouraged role-playing game producers to invent and market additional fictional game worlds, such as the Ravenloft series.

The most important books of the Dragonlance series were written by the authoring team of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Other notable writers within the series include Richard A. Knaak, Douglas Niles, Roger E. Moore, Don Perrin, Jean Rabe, Paul B. Thompson, Tonya C. Cook and Chris Pierson.

For most of Dragonlance's history, the "main storyline" has meant those books that were set in the world's "present" and moved events forward. For example, until Dragons of Summer Flame, almost all novels were set before the Chronicles trilogy, often in ancient history.

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Main Storyline

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The original Dragonlance story is set over 300 years after the Cataclysm, an event in which the gods appeared to depart Krynn. A war is developing, and a group of friends meet with an exiled barbarian couple carrying a Blue Crystal staff, which is being looked for by the local authorities. These discover the whereabouts of the staff, and the newly formed group of travellers, the Companions, decide to help the exiled barbarian couple. They begin a journey in which they learn about the staff's secret, the real meaning of the departure of the gods, the return of the dragons and the fabled weapons known as dragonlances.

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Book List

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The main storyline of the Dragonlance series has been written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, with multiple books written by several authors included the aforementioned ones covering different years in between and sometimes during the main events.

The Chronicles Trilogy relates the events since the meeting of the Companions until the end of the War of the Lance and the defeat of the Dragonarmies of Ansalon, covering years 350 to 353 A.C. The Legends Trilogy cover the Blue Lady's War in 357 A.C.. Since the books also feature time travelling, it includes information about the Cataclysm and the Dwarfgate Wars, in the year 39 A.C.

Dragons of Summer Flame book (originally intended to be a trilogy but shortened to a single book due to publisher's pressures) covers the Chaos War, also known as the Second Cataclysm, in the year 383 A.C. The gods and mortals join forces to defeat Chaos in his attempt to destroy Krynn. The war ends with the withdrawal of Chaos and the gods of Krynn, in a divine agreement to keep the world safe.

The Second Generation is a single compilation book which picks the most important tales from the Tales series and details the children of the Companions, all of which become players in the later story. This book is considered in the main storyline, as it is needed to be read in order to understand events that happened between the War of the Lance and the Chaos War. However, it is possible to read Dragons of Summer Flame without reading The Second Generation. These two novels developed characters that would later be seen in the War of Souls trilogy.

In the year 421 A.C. (38 S.C. in the new year nomenclature), a strange storm courses through Krynn, beginning the War of Souls, covered by the trilogy of the same name. The end of the war brings the return of the gods, the death of Takhisis and the departure of Paladine as head of the good gods in order to maintain the balance between Good and Evil.

June 2006 will see the release of the Lost Chronicles, a trilogy detailing the events surrounding the recovery of the Hammer of Kharas, between the first and second books of the Chronicles Trilogy, the War of the Lance from Kitiara Uth Matar's and Lord Soth's point of view, and how Raistlin Majere took the Black Robes in Neraka during the third book. The first one of this trilogy is to be called "Dragons of Dwarven Depths". These books will fill gaps left in the original Chronicles Trilogy, and may be considered to fit in the main storyline.

These books are considered to be the core Dragonlance books. Although other books may contradict these, most fans consider these series to be the canon. Nancy Varian Berberick, a Dragonlance author, explained that authors had to work with the written novels and gaming modules, which accounted for some continuity issues. An example of these problems can be found in the Dragons of a New Age trilogy by Jean Rabe, which was written before the War of Souls Trilogy.

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See also

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External links

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