Brainstorming

There is a superior cult/sect of Dragonlance Panzers, completely female dominated. They're like special
ops or the NAVY SEALs of Dragonlance.

Dragons in Dragonlance are actually magical shape-shifting humans, the dragon is just a natural form
that is the junction of the Easiest and Most Powerful form to transform into.
* perhaps building on this, the rider is also a shape-shifter, and they often switch positions
* they also maintain a strong sexual dynamic through the partnership

Kender are carnivorous. They don't cook their food. Imagine Kender crossed with Smeagol or Dark Sun
Halflings.

Up the (post) apocalyptic. Think WWI + WWII. Cities under siege and burning. The Battle of England,
Stalingrad, etc. Smaller Dragons for aircraft, massive Land Dragons for tanks / sieges.

No Gully Dwarves & Gnomes

Minotaurs are living metallic constructs like Eberron’s Warforged (and think of minotaurs from Monster
Vault Nentir Vale)

The dragon-men aren't called Draconians but XXXX and they are not created from good dragon egss --
They're prisoners from the places the dragon armies have already conquered that are bioengineered as
super-soldiers.

The Cataclysm happened a hundreds of years ago. Humanity on Ansalon is on the verge of annihilation.
Plagues, famines, infighting and wars which never stop. Never enough people to do much more than
subsist and engage in petty squabbles. Now with the Dragon Armies emerging, total extinction or
complete domination feels almost inevitable.

There is lots of distortion about the old civilization, lots of odd taboos.

The previous civilization knew that it was going to fall before it did, and so they hid stuff, and built things
to instruct or possibly warn successor peoples of things.

Civilization in ruins, lots of relics and artifacts laying around.

* The dragons are the Cataclysm, and it's happening now.

* Magic is also fundamentally draconic in nature; spend too much time in the presence of strong magic,
and you start to change into a Draconian. This is known as the Dragon Curse.

* However, magic is needed to make the Dragonlances and other magical weapons, to defend yourself
against the Dragon-Army.
* By all accounts, Raistlin should be a dragonman by now; he's the most pwerful mage on Krynn. To
avois this fate, he's cut a deal with somethng else, that may be even worse than the dragons.

* Kender are also immune to the Dragon curse, but they're creepy in a different way.

* Elves are still present, but they are very vulnerable to the Dragon Curse, because of their inherently
draconic nature.

* After several major losses, most of the humans are willing to cut a deal with the dragons. Life as a
draconic servant is better than no life at all, right?

* A beautiful woman appears from the plains, wielding powerful healing magic but seemingly unaffected
by the Dragon Curse. She claims to know where a cure for the Dragon Curse can be found, deep
underground...

Xak Tsaroth, the shattered, sunken city in DL1, is full of ghosts, all trapped doing whatever they were
doing at the moment the Big One hit. They made me think of those flash-fried Hiroshima shadows. In
DL3, I think there’s some implication that the cursed tomb of Fistandantilus is radioactive or
something. Or maybe I just made that up. Either way, the Cataclysm and pre-Cataclysm Krynn should be
spooky scary shit. The ancients Knew too Much. They angered the gods, who basically roasted
civilization. That is hot, and should be front and center in any DL reboot.

So I think I would up the tech level of pre-Cataclysm Krynn and drop the tech level of post-Cataclysm
Krynn. Make it less Middle Earth Light, more Hyperborea. Even before the dragons start making trouble,
Krynn is a land on whom Night Has Fallen. Our heroes are not sensitive new age elf boys but grim
barbarians stalking the wasteland, ekeing out a rough life in the radioactive graveyard of a dead
civilization whose infernal engines confuse and frighten them

black science and infernal machines and terrible secrets of the past. When the PCs find a crazy witch
woman howling in the wasteland about the Old Gods (ie, Goldmoon), they should be split on whether to
join her or burn her at the stake

Dragons are freaky, alien & ferocious. In fact, what if they're kind of like the Alien Queen in Aliens -
perfect killing machines, all acidic blood and glistening retractable jaws and sinuous psycho-sexual H.R.
Giger bodies

The Gods destroyed the world, then disappeared. Now they want to come back. Is that such a good
thing?

Dragons are the gods, and the gods are exactly what the world doesn't want -- they've outgrown them.
However, the gods aren't just sitting idly by and letting this happen.

the Cataclysm is a plague or epidemic that still swirls around occasionally throughout the later ages.
Now the gods and the dragons are all there, but the dragons become a precious commodity. Not only
are they military weapons, but their blood is a cure to the Kingpriest Plague. Now you have people using
dragonlances not only to defend against evil dragons and dragon riders, but also to retrieve life-saving
dragon blood. This could also be a rationale for breeding dragons, beyond riding them, to offset the
major risks of dragon-rearing by having a dual purpose. Now you have dragons as a scarce commodity
with two potential uses - military conquest or plague fighting. Of course, the dragons have to die to
produce the plague elixir. The plus side is that it makes enough for a small village.

No Gods

2 Kinds of Magic = Sorcery (Solinari / Lunitari / Nuitari – Moon Magic, each use draws the Moons closer
to Krynn, use Ars Magica or Sorcery from Mythras) & Mysticism (spiritual, animistic, psionic, inner, Krynn
magic)

ANSALON – THE FINAL WAR

(A Dragonlance setting re-imagining)

Ansalon faces the Second Cataclysm. This time, the source is known.
Dragons, beings of tremendous power, have risen across the continent
threatening utter destruction. Their origin is poorly understood but
speculation abounds:

It is said that they are the product of mankind itself, an experiment gone
awry and now lost in oblivion, hidden deep inside the ruins of the First
Cataclysm that dot the landscape.

It is said that they are gods, otherworldly spirits incarnated, drawing their
first breath on Krynn and bound to wreck all that is.

It is said that they are Magic personified, Entropy given shape and form and
sentience.

It is said that they have slumbered deep within sentient life itself for
eternity but it is just now that they have finally awakened to wreak sweet
vengeance upon their imprisoning shells.

If someone truly knows, it remains a secret.

Most of us have put our squabbles behind and united in the face of total
annihilation. But there are others. Where we fight for hope and freedom, some
of our kind have subjugated themselves for thankless survival. So we fight
against them too, the dragon slaves, our lost sisters & brothers that swell
the Dragon armies and bring chaos to the lands they once called home. Given
the chance, we would see them redeemed because we understand; the Final War
has made monsters of men and we know this too well. We watch in sorrow and
 dread as our own comrades lose sight of the struggle and turn their faces to
the dark, wondering if we will be next. We watch in frustration and horror as
the choices we make lead to tragedies unforeseen, reminding us of heart-
wrenching past mistakes that come to haunt us yet again. Yes, we understand.
Because we too, fall from grace. But after all is said and done, we try to
ascend.

Welcome to The Final War

This is my re-imagining of Dragonlance as a toolkit to build your own stories

in a (post) apocalyptic, war-ridden setting. What follows are baseline
assumptions about the world and some story widgets you can use to make it
your own. Hardcore DL fans be advised: All this may be completely
disappointing to you, as huge chunks of DL canon has been modified or
outright ignored.

So why?

I always felt Dragonlance was disserviced by what many people call “D&D-isms”
and that there was a much more interesting game hidden deep inside the old
gamebooks. I always loved its themes and feeling but the implementation
always felt lacking.
Here, I will try to envision a different kind of Ansalon by building basic
setting elements that will hopefully help towards experiencing Dragonlance as
the heroic, idealistic, epic, high fantasy I always imagined it to be.
Last by not least, I will also try to propose mechanical systems (with little
or no actual mechanics) that could help creating memorable and immersive
stories in this version of Dragonlance which just begs for (inter-) personal
struggles, tragedies, heroism and hard decisions.

How?

You can start by reading an official Dragonlance setting book 😊

Seriously, although I am changing too much stuff it helps to know what
Dragonlance was about originally. I can’t and won’t go into much detail about
the setting as it has been molded through years of official releases. This is
a toolkit designed to make Ansalon your own after all… So, grab an old tome
and give it a read first. Don’t dwell on the cosmology & divine matters much
as these things we’ll be the least relevant for Ansalon - The Final War but
keep an eye for geography & locations that pique your interest. Most of these
things still exist although they may be modified accordingly when you use the
story widgets below.

What follows are (my) basic setting assumptions together with three
variations immediately below them to choose from when building your own
version of Ansalon during the Final War.

So, make a choice, combine what you find most interesting or just make up
your own;

1) There are no gods. There is no divine magic.

a. There never were any gods. Maybe people worshipped them and still do but
they never were real. Ancient relics are powered by sorcery or pre-1 st
Cataclysm technology.
b. The gods have left long ago. There used to be persons capable of
channeling the power of the gods but now this kind of thing is the stuff of
legends.
c. The only “gods” are the Dragons themselves; They are the most powerful
among all sentient beings. Some worship them as deities out of fear and spite
(eg. subjugated people) while others view them as demons to be fought at all
costs.

2) History is lost to oblivion. Why the 1st Cataclysm happened is a mystery.

However, answers may be found among the ancient ruins that dot the landscape.

a. The Dragons had destroyed the world at the dawn of time. Now they are
coming back. Why did they leave back then and what of their recent return?

b. The pre-1st Cataclysm civilization knew that it was going to fall before it
did, and so they hid stuff and built things to instruct or possibly warn
successor peoples that things may yet again come full circle. Was the Fall
self-inflicted or did something alien bring it about? What unfathomable
technologies and secrets lie in the rubble of History among war-torn Ansalon?

c. A great contagion, a plague of vast proportions decimated civilization and

left kingdoms and cities lifeless upon the land. Yet, here we are still,
albeit towards a death spiral. How did life cling to existence when it seemed
it had been snuffed out altogether? And how will we persevere now, in the
midst of this new Apocalypse?
 3) What of the Dragons? Who are they? Where do they come from? Why do they
bring about the Apocalypse - the Second Cataclysm?

a. The Dragons are beings of pure magic, inhabitants of Krynn’s three moons.
Their existence fuels the magical energies on Ansalon even from distant
Solinari, Lutari, Nuitari. Apex predators, their mindset alien and ferocious,
they periodically visit Krynn to feed and use as a breeding ground. Each time
they do, total destruction ensues. This is the Second Coming.

b. The Dragons are magically bioengineered lifeforms originally created by

the pre-1st Cataclysm civilization. They had laid dormant since the end of the
first apocalypse but now they have risen once again. Corrupted and insane by
the ages spent slumbering they wreak havoc upon Ansalon. As their sentience
slowly re-emerges will they learn compassion or hatred from the world around
them?

c. The Dragons are the highest physical form of all sentient life. Beings
from every species can (and in the Final War era, have) awaken to draconic
bodies, shedding their prior shells to erupt into majesty. Immaculate
shapeshifters, Dragons can change back to their original forms, hiding in
disguise and mingling undetected. They have been with us all along. They make
themselves known now only because we forced their hands. But how?

4) What of the Dragon-riders? All across the skies of Ansalon, women & men
are sometimes seen riding these majestic creatures of mayhem. How this came
about?

a. The Dragon and Dragon-rider share a selfless bond of some kind. It may be
philosophical, spiritual, genetic or even sexual. This bond is crucial to
both, even beyond life & death.

b. A Dragon-rider is someone who has made some kind of pact with a Dragon.
They have given pieces of themselves in order to attune to their majestic
mounts and a constant power struggle is taking place between rider and Dragon
for control. Could a mortal ever win and is the price paid worth it?

c. Dragon-riders are mutated protrusions of the Dragons’ own bodies. They may
be the next stage of Dragon evolution or they may be accidental growths given
life but in all cases, Dragon-riders and Dragons are one and the same, just
split in two.

5) Since the start of the Final War, there is talk of some ultimate weapons,
the Dragonlances. They are yet to be revealed but their time draws near. What
of them?
 a. The Dragonlances are mighty (flying, sailing, land-based or any
combination in-between) “ships” from a bygone age. Their power is such that
they could turn the tide of war against the Dragon Apocalypse. But as with
every war-ending weapon will they be used for good or ill?

b. The Dragonlances are mighty artifact war lances used from the back of a
mount with the power to obliterate the winged wyrms. Whether they had been
constructed in a different era or they are a marvel of the current age, they
are very few in number and only the greatest heroes will have the power to
wield them as there is a great sacrifice involved in attuning to them.

c. The Dragonlances are the rarest and ultimate manifestation of Krynn’s

magic through a sentient lifeform’s mortal body. Lances of pure magical
dweomer, they require great struggle and enlightenment to manifest and
control but their powerful destructive effects are only equal to the dreaded
Dragon Breaths.

6) As the Final War breaks out

a. there is already much internal squabble and war across Ansalon. Kingdoms
have fought each other for a hundred years. The people, though hardened and
committed, are losing themselves to their darker sides. Will they manage to
draw themselves to the light?

b. a great period of prosperity and cooperation comes to a sudden halt.

Civilization was slowly spreading everywhere, even across the most distant
wilderness of Ansalon, as the various peoples of the continent had been
mingling seamlessly together, living peacefully for the first time in
recorded history. Can they all stand together as one?

c. the spark of a great all-out war that was brewing is momentarily

extinguished. All sides involved have been readying themselves for battle but
now there is a much bigger enemy. A common enemy… Or maybe not? It may as
well be that some will side with the bringers of the Apocalypse in order to
destroy their enemies from the war that was about to begin...What of their
final fate and what of their tipping of the scales?

7) There are two kinds of magic on Ansalon. Sorcery is oldest of them and is
the technique of invoking magical effects through the understanding and
application of transcendent knowledge. It requires great study and research
and it is taught through a formal system of training in the fabled Towers of
High Sorcery by members of the three Orders of Sorcery (White Robes, Red
Robes and Black Robes).

a. Sorcery is powered by Krynn’s three Moons; Solinari, Nuitari and Lunitari.

The power of a sorcerer waxes and wanes according to the lunar cycles.
Powerful sorcery cast to harness a specific moon’s magical resources actually
draws the celestial body closer to Krynn. This can cause different side
effects on the face of Ansalon according to the proximity and the nature of
the respective moon.

b. All the Towers of High Sorcery except for the ones in Palanthas and
Wayreth lie lost and deserted. What secrets do they hold and how can one
harness the magical knowledge they contain in between The Final War? Who will
venture towards these ancient places of power and to what ends?

c. Sorcery is an art mostly forgotten. It is only a few who have mastered it

and can safely practice it without serious repercussions. What is the common
person’s disposition towards Sorcery and what kind of problems does
uneducated dabbling in it create?

8) Mysticism is the newest form of magic found on Ansalon. It is based around

awareness and sensitivity to the spiritual nature of one's surroundings and
shaped by the beliefs and one’s closeness to life itself. Where Sorcery is
considered a cold, academic art, requiring guidance and stict nurturing from
authoritative figures, Mysticism is something deeply personal and warm,
requiring first and foremost acknowledging one’s true self (which actually
may be even more demanding and difficult).

a. Mysticism comes from the latent magical energies of Krynn itself and was
always there from the beginning of time even if it’s only recently that has
been discovered and put to use. It is frowned upon nobility and the
hierarchical Order of Sorcery but it finds many supporters among the common
folk.

b. To use Mysticism is to give part of yourself. To come into close contact

with one’s inner soul or the primal entities of the spirit world is to risk
detachment from mundane reality. There have been instances were a Mystic was
left in a state of trance for days on end after using his magic or even
suddenly becoming unresponsive and comatose with no signs of recuperation.

c. Mysticism is really the magic of gods long gone. What’s left of these
great entities who have abandoned the world since time immemorial are the
bewildering visions the mystics receive intermittently, mostly after periods
of great physical or magical exertion. Is the recent discovery of this new
kind of magic connected to a possible return of these gods? What do the
visions say? Are there any people receiving (or claiming to be receiving)
clearer visions and how do they communicate them to the rest?