I thought everyone’s general comments were touching on the same issue with Dragonlance – everything surrounds the companions. The reason Cam gave was quite accurate – the writers were pigeon holed in their perspective of Krynn to support and drive the part of the setting which already made TSR money, Ansalon and the Chronicles.

If you set up a next version of Dragonlance, then it needs a greater perspective of the world and it has years of resources to flesh out the world even before you add new elements.

There is this overwhelming concern about preserving canon and loss of canon when a reboot could finally put the disparate pieces of canon together properly.

One more thing, with the anvil of time tales, we are introduced to the idea of Renegade Mages (i.e. sorcerors) prior to the Fifth Age, so we don’t need to lose them during the Fourth Age to rediscover them. We need more plot describing the renegade hunters activities during the Fourth Age.

Also, if you have sorcerors, you have mystics. End compartmentalization of time spanning themes into the Ages where they originally were introduced and you can create a whole and cohesive world that dispels the illusion of having only one story to tell.

I ask this only because I don’t think you need to truly touch the overall history of the War of the Lance. Here is what I have done to bring in the setting into a current atmosphere:

1. I am setting the point of deviation with the onset of the war in Abanasinia. The companions are wandering their way while my party goes theirs, so the events of Chronicles will be unfolding simultaneously. The history of the companions and Ansalon is expanded upon but not shaken to the core.

2. Retconning the history of the monk, sorceror and mystic in the world of Krynn. The Age of Despair makes sense for these classes to become elusive, in the case of the monks and/or reviled as in the cases of sorcerors and mystics. Rogue magicians and empowered heretics would have been the prolific purveyors of the mystical arts during this age. It never really made sense to me that so much focus was made on them during the Fifth Age when the beginning of the Fourth Age and the loss of the true gods and the isolation of the Wizards of High Sorcery would make for naturalistic practice of faith and hedge wizardry which I subscribed to the roles of mystics and sorcerors.

3. To the victor… Success of Takhisis or Paladine during the war would be of benefit or detriment to the other gods. In a revisited Fourth Age, agents of the pantheons other deities play expanded role. The companions can continue to follow Mishakal and Paladine’s sway, but the ravaged lands, sea battles and spoils of war would be sought after by the followers of any of the gods. The weapons of Istar as well as other ancient powers and artifacts still exist in Ansalon and that would certainly be inspiration enough for a god or its followers to become protagonists or antagonists in the game. The short story regarding Chemosh during the War of the Lance was a good one illustrating this (“The Hand that Feeds”, I believe)

4. Fourth Age on the World Stage – Taladas and Adlatum, Gragath and the Tamak, even the Dragon Isles had history and tales unfolding and during this age of abandonment, the extremes of dark and light clashed regardless if they existed as the presence of gods or in the souls of desperate beings across the planet trying to survive. Fourth Age was an incredibly popular setting but only a scant few sourcebooks and novels really explored the other lands of Krynn. In my game, I decided to allude to Taladas’ gnomoi having greater involvement with Ansalon than anyone knows, as well as the Hulderfolk and a grand design by the god of vengeance which will take place over time using his chosen people, the Minotaurs (pronounced Meno – taowr – I don’t say Mynotor because the king whose name was given to the beast was Minos (meenos) in Greek and Cam is correct, there is a u there that deserves recognition. )

Again, great show and I really enjoy listening to it several times because you all cover many different perspectives and each new review reveals something more during your interaction. Later

I respect Trampas’ statement about the principle forces of the War were Paladine and Takhisis, and they remained so throughout the life of Dragonlance up until the last portion of the Fifth Age.

I thought the ex machina removal of these two powerhouses was a bit of a cop out. You needn’t remove the Queen of Darkness to tell stories of the other evil gods seeking ways to arrest the mantle of power from her. You also didn’t need to depower Paladine for the sake of balance. It would have been interesting to see how the pantheons would have adjusted to create equilibrium once again. Perhaps Paladine was placed in a similar position when the rise of Istar and its kingpriests came into power.

For my part, I merely have decided to look at the war in a different perspective. I am looking forward to observing Taladas (pronounced – Tal ahd ahs ) during the War and really giving the Orlox distinction from the dragons in the war.

good show, worth the wait.