The Origins of Dragonlance in Dungeons and Dragons

This video delves into the origins of Dragonlance in Dungeons and Dragons! It takes a look at the early careers of Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis as well as other influential people close to them. Dragonlance was one of the first times when the story was made important in DND rather than just being about dungeon crawling.

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Sources:
30 years of Adventure: A celebration of Dungeons and Dragons
Dragon Magazine 91
Dragon Magazine 120

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#dragonlance #dnd #tracyhickman #margaretweis #laurahickman #tsr #dungeonsanddragons

[thinking-ape]

Lord Harbs Narbs never ceases to amaze. I remember reading these in the 80s when the gods had not yet granted life to many on this plane.

[theexpatriate]

I remember the first time I read Dragonlance like it was yesterday. I was home "sick" from school in early middle school (pretty sure it was fairly exaggerated) and my mother didn't have any place to send me so I stayed at my aunt's place, and quickly became bored. Found their fantasy books, which included Dragonlance. Read all day, and ended up borrowing them. Got my hands on each and every one I could after that (and man were there a lot, even back then). Fun fact, there was once a Dragonlance total conversion mod for the original Baldur's Gate games called Glory of Istar, if I recall. It never got finished but had a playable demo which I remember as being decent. Good times.

[neilthomas]

The Dragon lance chronicles was my first encounter with D&D and with out that story I would never have looked into the actual game!

[MichaelGalt]

Dragonlance is one of the things that I want on TV or as movies... Raistlin is the the perfect anti-hero.

[SimonAshworthWood]

I read many of the original series of Dragonlance modules, and actually, they don’t require that the players use the pregenerated characters. It was recommended, but optional.

[exitsexamined]

Excellent video, great research for this!

[alicantoprak]

Yet again an exemplary documentary journalism. Well scripted, no fillers, fluid flow, each section informative and relevant. I watched many videos on YouTube on this topic, I think you created a video that is unlike any. I believe if WofC was to do a documentary about their past, they should employ you as a writer and editor. Cheers!

[TheArgon]

As a former Mormon, I’m actually super surprised to learn that a return missionary was so involved in early DND/Dragonlance. Growing up in Utah as a Mormon, most adults in the church saw anything dnd related as incredibly demonic, and any talks of playing it was heavily discouraged. Hell, I remember my dad tossed out my 3e book and dice set way back in the day thinking I was trying to “contact demons” or some such nonsense ha ha

Great video as always good sir!

[Darkeners]

Thank you for your channel, I was playing D&D as Kid in Europe we didnt have Dragon magazine, so a lot of those back story is totaly new to me.

[wdford]

Really enjoying the channel. Looking forward to the Ravenloft deep dive as well. The Stradh and Lord Soth content was the very pinnacle of what they spent the 1980's creating for the brand. Cheers mate.

[moonringXD]

Excellent video as always! Also can you do a video on birthright? It one of dnd most forgotten settings!

[MalakiaLaGattaNera]

I feel bad for not reading these books when I was younger. They're still quite enjoyable but I think I woud've loved them even more as a teen.

[joneckberg]

For those of us who became early readers of R.A. Salvatore, there wasn't any need to look outside of the Forgotten Realms. No offense to Weis and Hickman. I enjoyed their Serpent Mage books later.

[biteso]

I find Dragonlance interesting for the same reason that I find greyhawk interesting.. it's not forgotten realms!!

[aedwardsss]

All settings have one thing in common. Tiamat has been there.

[SimonAshworthWood]

TSR had many projects under its belt, you say? I have a large project under my belt. Coincidentally, you could call it a “Dragonlance”! 😉

[mrsrefrigerator]

I hope you didnt block me you need a chaotic evil character in your group

[mrsrefrigerator]

>sticks mic down throat
>ha bla bla bla bla
>arcade machine
>loud noises
>you might think ur dis but ur wrong and its not lmao