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Dragonlance in SAGA System
In an effort to recapture fans of the Dragonlance novels and reinvigorate the IP, TSR created a new roleplaying system to return to the romanticism and storytelling focus of Dragonlance with the SAGA Roleplaying System. Buy Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/186462/Dragonlance-Fifth-Age-Dramatic-Adventure-Game-SAGA?affiliate_id=50797
https://youtu.be/Mc6UtsAi70c
Transcript
Cold Open
With the absence of the gods and magic, the Fifth age dramatically changed the world of Dragonlance. Gaming was next…
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Dragonlance in the SAGA System. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. All of these titles are available as digital editions through my affiliate link.
Discussion
TSR’s Creative Director Harold Johnson, wanted to revitalize Dragonlance and bring about a complete change from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Originally considering a rules lite version of AD&D, he decided instead to create a "storytelling" game that could better capture the fictive essence of Krynn. Harold brought in the game designer William W. Connors. Around the same time, TSR contracted a Chronicles II trilogy from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman which would be condensed into a single novel that dramatically changed the fate of Krynn and understanding of Dragonlance. Margaret Weis said in an interview with this channel that the trilogy would have returned magic to Krynn if they were able to complete it, and so with the absence of the gods and magic, designer Sue Cook rather politely stated that they were "surprised at the turn of events". Cook said that "it gave [them] an interesting jumping-off point" and that Connors "took the disappearance of the gods [in the novel] as a challenge". Steve Miller conversely said that it was "a fantastic waste of [Dragonlance's] potential" and stated that he worked hard to balance Fifth Age material with classic material from the setting.
This forced the design team to reimagine Dragonlance without the input of the settings creators. Jean Rabe would become the primary chronicler of the Dragonlance Timeline, moving it thirty years into the future with a series of initial short stories in Dragon Magazine, then fully chronicling the Dragon Overlord era with the Dragons of a New Age trilogy. This upset fans for a number of reasons and between the massive time jump and system change from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to the newly developed card based SAGA System, TSR faced the first real backlash from fans in Dragonlance since its creation twelve years before. The SAGA System was intended to be a "narrative" game that could better support the "rich literary heritage" of Dragonlance. Connors worked to "minimize conventional role-playing mechanics" and instead focus on the sort of freeform narrative role playing that many people enjoyed as children. The rules for game mechanics were completely minimized, allowing the players and game master to be inventive with spells and choices. This was a trend the role playing world was experiencing with White Wolf’s properties and was a sign of the times.
Dice became a thing of the past, and the Fate Deck, with symbology not unlike traditional playing cards of suits and numbers, were used for action resolution and even experience level...
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By DragonLance Saga
4.1
99 ratings
In an effort to recapture fans of the Dragonlance novels and reinvigorate the IP, TSR created a new roleplaying system to return to the romanticism and storytelling focus of Dragonlance with the SAGA Roleplaying System. Buy Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/186462/Dragonlance-Fifth-Age-Dramatic-Adventure-Game-SAGA?affiliate_id=50797
https://youtu.be/Mc6UtsAi70c
Transcript
Cold Open
With the absence of the gods and magic, the Fifth age dramatically changed the world of Dragonlance. Gaming was next…
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Dragonlance in the SAGA System. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. All of these titles are available as digital editions through my affiliate link.
Discussion
TSR’s Creative Director Harold Johnson, wanted to revitalize Dragonlance and bring about a complete change from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Originally considering a rules lite version of AD&D, he decided instead to create a "storytelling" game that could better capture the fictive essence of Krynn. Harold brought in the game designer William W. Connors. Around the same time, TSR contracted a Chronicles II trilogy from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman which would be condensed into a single novel that dramatically changed the fate of Krynn and understanding of Dragonlance. Margaret Weis said in an interview with this channel that the trilogy would have returned magic to Krynn if they were able to complete it, and so with the absence of the gods and magic, designer Sue Cook rather politely stated that they were "surprised at the turn of events". Cook said that "it gave [them] an interesting jumping-off point" and that Connors "took the disappearance of the gods [in the novel] as a challenge". Steve Miller conversely said that it was "a fantastic waste of [Dragonlance's] potential" and stated that he worked hard to balance Fifth Age material with classic material from the setting.
This forced the design team to reimagine Dragonlance without the input of the settings creators. Jean Rabe would become the primary chronicler of the Dragonlance Timeline, moving it thirty years into the future with a series of initial short stories in Dragon Magazine, then fully chronicling the Dragon Overlord era with the Dragons of a New Age trilogy. This upset fans for a number of reasons and between the massive time jump and system change from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to the newly developed card based SAGA System, TSR faced the first real backlash from fans in Dragonlance since its creation twelve years before. The SAGA System was intended to be a "narrative" game that could better support the "rich literary heritage" of Dragonlance. Connors worked to "minimize conventional role-playing mechanics" and instead focus on the sort of freeform narrative role playing that many people enjoyed as children. The rules for game mechanics were completely minimized, allowing the players and game master to be inventive with spells and choices. This was a trend the role playing world was experiencing with White Wolf’s properties and was a sign of the times.
Dice became a thing of the past, and the Fate Deck, with symbology not unlike traditional playing cards of suits and numbers, were used for action resolution and even experience level...