[D&D-5e] Dragonlance: The Shadow of the Dragon Queen

[Arkanis]

Game Name Dragonlance: The Shadow of the Dragon Queen

Game System DnD 5e

Theme Dark rumours and darker tales lead to a desperate fight for survival against the encroaching dragonarmies

Flavour Heroic Fantasy, Cross-Country Adventure, Character Driven Roleplay, War

Plot Summary Closing Date: Monday 11th November “Look to the sky. Where the stars shine brightly. There, where you would see the constellation of Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness and the Platinum Dragon, Paladine. Always they have stood there in the sky, facing each other in an eternal battle. But now? Two dark holes in the sky where they once were. This, this is your sign that the Gods are real, and that they exist. She has returned to Krynn and with her she has brought the dark dragons. And Paladine? He has come back to fight her.” Once, long ago, in the age before ages, legends tell of the human who reached out to touch the gods themselves. This man, the Kingpriest -- most holy of holy, believed he could call upon the gods in his pride and his arrogance. He demanded the power of the gods themselves in order to stamp out evil across the world. Yet, in his vanity and hubris, the Kingpriest of Istar had overstepped his boundaries. The gods response was both swift and brutal. Istar was crushed underneath a fiery mountain sent down from the heavens. The heart of the Kingpriest's power was shattered, his city cast into a fiery inferno that is now lost underneath the Blood Sea. The ramifications across Ansalon were terrible. The land shifted and changed. Entire cities were destroyed, their names forever lost to the annals of a past long gone. On the back of this terrible Cataclysm, the True Gods turned their backs on the races of Krynn, cursing them for the arrogance of the most powerful of their kind. And although the remaining living priests called out to their patrons, their prayers forever went unanswered. Once a land of education and enlightenment, Ansalon became home to despair, ignorance and prejudice. The knowledge of healing magic was lost to an age long gone by. Darkness has since fallen over the world in the intervening centuries since. Thus it has been since the great Cataclysm, when the old world fell. Lost were the great cities, the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of many generations. Lost as well was all knowledge of the True Gods, and mortalkind sank into idolatry. Priests lost their power and mortalkind lost hope for its salvation. But hope always springs from the most modest of causes. *** This story begins with the death of a friend, and the receipt of a missive. Dear friend, I am Becklin Uth Viharin. I’ve heard much about you from our mutual friend, Ispin Greenshield. It grieves me to share the news that our dear friend passed away peacefully here at his home in Vogler. May fortune and the old gods protect his soul. Ispin’s friends are holding a memorial for him in the manner he always wanted. It will take place here in Vogler on the eve of the Kingfisher Festival. I write to ask you to do Ispin one last honour and attend. Should you come, accommodations will be available at the Brass Crab. Though the circumstances are sad, I am eager to meet you and, through our memories, to revel in the life of our great friend. Becklin Uth Viharin Knight of the Crown. Before the Cataclysm, the Knights of Solamnia were revered and loved as beacons of light and goodness. However things have changed in the centuries since. Faith in the knighthood has soured to suspicion. Rumours spread that the knighthood had possessed the power to avert the Cataclysm and either failed to, or chose not to. Either way today the Knights of Solamnia are persecuted, even as they still try to protect the people who have long since rejected them. It is unusual for one to contact you openly admitting to being a member of the reviled knighthood. This is a troubled time of dark rumours and darker deeds. There are rumours of war reaching you from the north, of a shadowy army laying waste to all it encounters. There is fanciful talk from some that the silence of the gods is about to break and that the select chosen few are beginning to find signs of the True Gods once more. Yet all of these tall tales are distant, fanciful stories at best. They are a long way away from you, so far away that these tales may as well apply to a different life altogether. This is not your problem, and there is no way that these dark events unfolding elsewhere have any connection to you. Or do they? Little do you realise as you begin the journey to Vogler to say your final goodbye to a friend that the shadow of the Dark Queen falls over all of you. About the Game and the Application Process There has never been a series of novels that has defined me as much as the Dragonlance novels. The Dragonlance Chronicles and the Legends Trilogy in particular have served as a great inspiration to me throughout my life, and I have likely read them enough times now that I could probably quote entire passages verbatim. The application process will be fairly standard, I am looking for characters in the below template. Please note, this is 2014 5e only. Name: Race: Acceptable Sources: PHB and Shadow of the Dragon Queen only with the following exceptions: 1) No Dragonborn 2) No Tieflings 3) No Aasimar 4) No Halflings, however you may use the Kender Race in place of halflings Class: PHB and Shadow of The Dragon Queen only, this is inclusive of Clerics and Paladins and I will cover your discovery of divine magic in-game. Alignment: Personality Traits: Bond: Ideal: Flaw: Background: Please select your backgrounds from either the PHB or Shadow of the Dragon Queen sourcebooks. Give me a bit more detail on the below three sections: Appearance: Personality: Backstory: RP Sample: I would like you also to think about two secrets for your character. The first is a secret the character is aware of, and the second is a secret that they are not aware of. Please put both of these in secret text to me. Lastly I would like to know a little bit about the player behind the application. Could you answer the below questions for me as part of your application. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, it just allows me to tailor the game to meet individual expectations:- 1) What is it you would like to get out of the game? What kind of things appeal to you in a PbP game? 2) What sort of things do you not want to see in a PbP game? 3) What is it that made you want to apply to this game? 4) Do you prefer PbP games that are predominantly focussed on combat, or predominantly focussed on role-play? Or a mixture of the two? All characters will begin at level 1, and character advancement will be milestone based. Please note I do not require you to have knowledge of the Dragonlance setting to apply, I'm more than happy to introduce the world in-game, particularly as the lore of this setting is very deep indeed.

[Arkanis]

Player	Character	Alignment	Race	Class	Background	Status
Howling Winds of	Saida Q8ijeon	?	Silvanesti (High Elf)	Paladin	Soldier	WIP
HexCursed	Sarabeth	Neutral Good	Human (Variant)	Rogue	Folk Hero	Complete
DraconigenaArma	Ronan Blackwood	Chaotic Neutral	Human	Warlock	Criminal	Complete
Remorazz	Grunri Cavestone	Lawful Neutral	Daewar (Mountain Dwarf)	Fighter	Guild Artisan (Stonecutter)	Complete
Alemar	Kallion Nightwind	Lawful Neutral	Half-Elf	Fighter	Noble	Complete
Seekr34	Kagonosarian	Chaotic Good	Kagonesti (Wood Elf)	Ranger	Guide	Complete
Salvation	Kellis Whittlewit	Chaotic Good	Kender	Bard	Entertainer (Storyteller, Instrumentalist, Singer)	Complete
Revlar	Xavmorn	Chaotic Neutral	Half-Elf	Wizard	Mage of High Sorcery (Lunitari)	Complete
RossN	Jasra the Crimson	Neutral (Chaotic Good tendencies)	Human	Wizard	Entertainer	Complete
Onward	Elara Windrider	Chaotic Good	Half-Elf	Bard	Entertainer	Complete
Grouchy	Brother Bergen	?	Kender	Cleric (Life)	Urchin	Complete
Elanir	Fliparin "Flip" Squiggledraw	Chaotic Good	Kender	Rogue (Arcane Trickster)	Folk Hero	Complete
keylan	Damaris Bloodstone	Lawful Good	Human	Paladin	Knight of Solamnia	Complete
The Rat Queen	Valira Zan	Chaotic Good	Human (Variant)	Fighter	Sailor	Complete
Mitsubachi	Taela Sparrowswift	Chaotic Good	Silvanesti (Wood Elf)	Ranger	Outlander	Complete
Lazer	Lewin uth Ulfric (Lewin Firemane)	Lawful Good (Neutral Good tendencies)	Human (Variant)	Fighter	Knight of Solamnia	WIP

[RossN]

Dragonlance!

Posting extremely intense interest! Dragonlance is perhaps my favourite fantasy setting and I've fallen even more in love with it thanks to playing Elanir's superb game here!

The only problem is I have about a million character ideas I want to try!

[Toad`]

What are you looking for as a post rate for this game?

-Grave

[Arkanis]

Originally Posted by Toad`

What are you looking for as a post rate for this game?

-Grave

Probably about 2 a week would be doable from my perspective if ok with everyone else.

[Nasrith]

Very tentative interest, mostly so I can stew on whether it makes sense for me to take on another game right now. Suuuuuuper tempted though.

How much is my absolute lack of Dragonlance knowledge going to get in the way here?

[Lazer]

Definitely interested! I’m mulling over a Solamnic character because I find the idea interesting of these ‘noble’ knights having to do what good they can in secret. Since we’re starting at level 1, I’d imagine the character wouldn’t be a full knight though?

[Seekr34]

I don't usually put in apps for games at 1st level anymore, after 11 years with 80% of the games that start at 1st level and only two of those games I get past 5th level. However, it's rare to get in a Dragonlance game, so I have to think on on this.

[Arkanis]

@Nasrith not at all, happy to introduce the setting through the game itself.

@Lazer there is a background available for this game specifically for Solamnic Knight. You would start as a squire so no, not a full knight, but there might be an opportunity during the game to join the order as a full knight later on

[Howling Winds of]

This sounds super fun! Posting interest for this!

Application - WIP Name: Saida Q8ijeon Race: High-ElfSulvanesti Class: Oath of VengeancePaladin Personality Traits: I"m haunted by the memories of war. I can't get the images of violence out of my mind. Bond: I"ll never forget the crushing defeat my company suffered or the enemies who dealt it. Ideal: MY people are all that matter. Flaw: I made a terrible mistake in battle that cost many lives. I would do anything to keep that mistake a secret. Background: Soldier Appearance: Personality: Backstory: RP Sample:

About The Player 1) What is it you would like to get out of the game? What kind of things appeal to you in a PbP game? 2) What sort of things do you not want to see in a PbP game? 3) What is it that made you want to apply to this game? 4) Do you prefer PbP games that are predominantly focussed on combat, or predominantly focussed on role-play? Or a mixture of the two?

[HexCursed]

How are you going to have us generate ability scores? Is point-buy available?

I really don't have any experience with Dragonlance. Does the restriction on divine character classes also apply to druids?

[Arkanis]

Point buy is available.

There is no restriction on divine classes, you are free to pick cleric or paladin. The reason I called these classes out specifically is because for those who know Dragonlance lore, divine classes and healing magic were pretty much unknown at the time period this game is set in. However I don’t want to restrict what core classes you can and cannot pick so part of the beginning of this game will deal with the events as to how you discovered these abilities.

[RossN]

Dang this is surprisingly hard coming up with a character!

I'd been thinking about a Cleric but unfortunately none of the Krynnish deities quite fit what I'm looking for which is more along the lines of rogue with a heart of gold type like Tymora from the Forgotten Realms (Branchala is closest but even he really leans more into art and song than something like luck.)

I'm hovering between a rogue, spellcaster of some sort or fighter. I do have a couple of character concepts from unfortunately quite short-lived games that I'd be interested in trying but again I'm not sure if they quite fit Krynn, since it is such a specific milieu.

[HexCursed]

Originally Posted by Arkanis

There is no restriction on divine classes, you are free to pick cleric or paladin. The reason I called these classes out specifically is because for those who know Dragonlance lore, divine classes and healing magic were pretty much unknown at the time period this game is set in. However, I don’t want to restrict what core classes you can and cannot pick so part of the beginning of this game will deal with the events as to how you discovered these abilities.

I guess what I was asking is whether or not all healing magics needed an in-game explanation given the land's history with the gods. So, more specifically, could Bards and Druids cast Cure Wounds, Lesser Restoration, etc. even when the gods were absent?

[Arkanis]

Prior to the events of this game, no they could not, so I guess if the ask is would the character have already used those types of magics beforehand when creating the character, they would not have. In terms of mechanics, what I would say is that although Cure Wounds wouldn't be selectable at the point of game start, it would become selectable shortly after it starts.