Dragonlance is a Dystopia | DragonLance Saga

Travel to any age on Krynn and you will find a dystopian landscape, which has always confused me when I hear people claim Dragonlance is a childrens setting or not interesting or challenging enough. If anything, Dragonlance is too challenging for most players!

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Transcript
Dystopia is defined as an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic—In other words… Dragonlance.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about the bitter truth of the Dragonlance world of Krynn. I would like to take a moment and thank my collaborator patrons, the Heroes of the Lance, and invite you to consider becoming a patron or member of this channel by visiting the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. This episode is informed by the novels and various sourcebooks, as well as my own experience playing the role playing setting throughout the years.
Discussion
When one thinks of Dragonlance, typically the first thing you think of is the War of the Lance, or the Heroes of the Lance. And though that entire war was told primarily from the heroes side, and focused on good overcoming evil, I believe seeing Dragonlance solely from that one event is burying the lead, so to speak. You can look at any point of Krynn’s history and find yourself mired in a dystopian landscape where any beacon of hope is at best buried in sorrow and fleeting.

The first expected reaction from this set up is logically, well isn’t every fantasy story like that? Didn’t they just copy The Lord of the Rings? I would argue that no, Dragonlance is a distinctly dystopian world, different from every other high fantasy setting. First the gods themselves are the ones meddling with the affairs of men. The Gods of evil are actively, not passively, but actively making war on the land. The Gods of Good are bolstering up heroes to battle the evil minions and ultimately, in the moment of need, they abandon them all because they weren’t worthy. Worse yet, they threw a mountain into the planet, changing the very face of Krynn, in all of it’s continents.

Again, you may say, but cataclysms happen in every fantasy world… right? Do they? Was it because of the machinations of the gods themselves meant to punish the people? And what about the collateral damage? We are brought into this world at nearly 350 years of plague, pestilence, famine and war which had killed millions in that time according to the Prologue in Dragons of the Hourglass Mage. After a couple generations, the memory of Dragons and the gods faded to myth. There wasn’t even healing! Magic was shunned at best or magic users were murdered at worst! The Knights of Solamnia, once seen as the protectors of the people, were hunted and thrown off their lands or murdered. And to think we lost our minds about toilet paper scarcity last year.

After the War of the Lance the citizens of the world had what, 30 years of reconstruction, fighting and struggle before, whoops, cataclysm number two in the form of Chaos itself! For some reason chaos was upset after having been imprisoned in the Graystone for well over 9000 years, who would have thought it? It takes the entire pantheon of deities and every fighting aged citizen of the world to stand up against him or risk oblivion. Chaos cuts a canyon through the Solamnic Plains, erupts the Lords of Doom, a trinity of volcanoes, calms the maelstrom in the Blood Sea and boils the ocean. Can you imagine being a farmer in this world? You know nothing but death, destruction and starvation. Looting and murder are tools of survival, not the actions of bad men. Game of thrones has nothing on Dragonlance!

If survival at this point was impossible, it was about to get even worse! Seriously. About a year later, after about 38 years of the return of healing, it’s gone again just like that (snap), but not just healing, all magic! A world that was based on the gods' engagement and gifts to the world is now absolutely over. Worse still, massive dragon overlords start appearing and actively terraform random regions of Krynn, enslaving and murdering its population. And seeming to have learned nothing the citizens of the world begin warring with each other anew, rather than fighting back! Individual families have no chance of peacefully existing and struggle under the weight of the power hungry dragon overlords who themselves are warring...

[DLSaga]

Thank you for watching today's video. Do you play Dragonlance like a dystopia? Am I way off base? Leave a comment below.

[rb]

Dragon Lance is my favorite series of D&D, read these books as a kid in juvie. Saved my life and preserved my sanity for 8 years. I love fantasy novels.

[RyngsRaccoon]

I know this is an old video, but having just discovered your channel, this popped up in my feed.

I have to say this is by far the BEST description of Dragonlance I have ever seen! I use the terms "Grimdark", "Dark-Fantasy", as well as "Dystopian-Fantasy" to describe to others what Dragonlance is. When ever I start a new DL game, be it a one shot, or a full campaign I am going to ask my players to watch this video.

I have always favored the time after the cataclysm, up to the start of the war of the lance. No healing, low magic, a near lawless time. When I have run games in the period, I play up the severity of infections, and disease (which can kill a PC in my games). With the Gods playing "Hands -Off", I have always imagined that the souls of the dead do not pass into the after life often, if at all. That wild packs of undead haunt the wilderness and ruins. I also, run the setting as experiencing a minor ice age, caused by the cataclysm. Muddy, cold, stormy, diseased, infested with vengeful undead, desperate/violent peoples and evil warlords. Good times!

Keep up the good work! <3

[scottsquires]

I had always thought Dragonlance had this veneer of chivalry and brightness that hides a backdrop of tragedy and corruption, but I really had no idea. Thanks for the video, it makes Krynn so much more interesting.

[Rocketsong]

Dragonlance is post-apocalyptic (having a mountain thrown at you will do that), but it is not Dystopian. Key to being a dystopia is that the situation must be hopeless, and thematically, things are getting worse. 1984, The Iron Heel, This Perfect Day, It can't happen here.
Indeed, because the heroes can rise above the darkness, and generate positive change makes it non-dystopian.

[FallenRingbearer]

In other words, Raistlin was in the right.

[dragonchr]

The less said about the Age of Mortals and their "primordial magic and mysticism" where you can "make up" spells, the better....

[Case_]

My DM decided to go here during our spelljammer campaign. It was great! I was playing a Giff paladin with the Oath of Conquest. We met with the leaders of the Solemnic Knights and there was so much infighting among the leaders that I decided to put the fear of my god into them. Got slightly over half of them.

[lorcan_]

Short side note to 1:55: The setting IS in Fact, heavily inspired by LoTR, there also basically everything that happens, can be traced back to the gods of middle earth (Silmarrilion is the primary source for this), but I admit, it is much more subtle than in the DL Setting. I, personally, never saw this as a bad thing. In fact I saw DL as a setting in the same direction as LOTR or Wheel of Time. Good ol' classic high fantasy, with a deeper religious or philosophical touch.

@DragonLanceSaga btw, I love you channel, it inspired me to include aspects from DL into my own, Wildemount-based HB Setting. ;-)

[nlaborde]

Characters in Dark Sun tell stories about the worst suffering in DragonLance and consider them to be cheerful fairy tales. They can’t imagine a world so nice.

[ZyloxDragon]

I've always liked challenge. The time after the cataclysm was my favorite period because no clerics, destroyed economy, older maps had a chance of being completely wrong, etc. Even wizards had to follow strict guidelines and follow their oaths to their order. It was the perfect setting for adventurers. In the aftermath of the devastation, it was the perfect scenario to build a small kingdom (and incredibly tempting for some). The pendulum was swing wildly :)

[bradleypetrushak]

Its more post apocalyptic than dystopian. I'd say the closest it came to being dystopian would be during the height of Istar, just before the Cataclysm: the Kingpriests enslaved those useful to the state, crushed descent using the Knights of Solamnia, undesirable races(like kender) were slowly excised from Istar, and wizardry no matter the robe is evil. Each Age of Krynn ended in an apocalyptic war, with the exception of the Age of Might where the gods threw a mountain at Istar.

[marcuswooldridge]

Dragon lance and the world of Kyrnn other then homebrew, later to Toril was my first real interduction to a campanion setting. love this change. keep it up/

[mobbofmobs]

on the one hand i am just finishing up dark sun finally and find it hard for any setting to be more Dystopian. on the other hand i recall what happed to the ogres and there "cold fire judgment". effectively nearly eradicated and then devolved because they were to good at what they where made for. the thing was there civilization was on the verge of being at the very lest less evil.

[ripapa]

I love this channel. I really do. The fake laughing and chuckling doesn't work. Best channel on youtube though.

[nonnayerbusiness]

I think Dragonlance *should* be post apocalyptic and dystopian due to its many cataclysms, but outside of the original 14 adventures it never really commits to it.

In the original adventures, ruins outnumber settlements and people are unaware of what exists a couple hundred miles away due to balkanization.

After the War of the Lance, massive events keep happening which supposedly devastate the world, but there is always wealth enough for the standard D&D economy, and the world becomes more interconnected through trade and politics rather than less. The Solamics and Dark Knights have influence across the continent and coordinate with each other. Heroes criss cross the continent with relative ease in what took the Heroes of the Lance months of hard travel.

Despite entire armies being obliterated or entire regions supposedly depopulated by supernatural destruction there are still farms and villages, merchants and ships and functioning states. There are also ever more knights to annihilate by the thousands in a couple paragraphs to show that this time the threat is serious.

Contrast this with Dark Sun, which has a lot more "Mad Max" aesthetic and attitudes, which shows that people had to adapt to their crapsack world.

[travisdonaldstanley]

Thanks for the video.
After studying up on the Age of Might, this dystopia theory is worth visiting, but it's not nearly as bad as you make it.
For example, the Knights of Solamnia actually did well with quickly building an army in just weeks after the War of the Lance. They were able to put in some work with The Golden General. But the Dark Lady was setting them up.
Also, Solace was fairly orderly and peaceful when the companions returned, and that was far from Solamnia.

However, things were really dystopia with
The Dragon Overlord and Purge. Scary stuff.
And what's the point of learning magic and praying to the gods when they vanish within a couple of decades. Big time dystopia.

150 years before the Cataclysm seems like a great time to be a farmer for sure.
😆
That is the Age I would wish to explore and build a campaign.

I would disagree with much of your thoughts and opinions, because there are plenty of good people on Krynn, you lost me on the corruption talk.

Bit at times, Dragonlance was very dystopia.


Thanks again for the video.

[chadstinson]

Brightest lights shine bright in total darkness

[SwordlordRoy]

I'm of the opinion that the key to Dragonlance is balance that Good and Evil are on opposite arms of the cosmic scale and it's the Neverending job of neutrality to race to the weaker side to try and balance the scale...

...to an extent, much like the worlds of Michael Moorcock where Gygax and Arneson (May they rest in peace) drew the original Law-Neutral-Chaos Alignment system from (and got wrong in the process). In these, Law isn't inherently good, neither is Chaos inherently evil, they are just two extremes that, if left unchecked, cause more harm then good...likewise, Good on Krynn isn't inherently...well...good, just look at Istar. Evil forces on Krynn have also displayed honor, integrity, teamwork, and acceptance...all things we normally consider good.

[Gruntvc]

I have a theory, it's all the dragons fault. Oh wait, Kender exist. Nvm...

Probably Chaos too.