What about rewriting the trilogy as a campaign for my 4E group? Changing some of the names, places, gods, and objectives. The basis is similar... the "Dragon Queen" Tiamat is amassing an army to sweep across the planet and is seeking the items of power that will allow her to return to material form.
The party starts in their home city, returned after their foray into the world for training and minor adventuring, to find it being run by this religious organization that they later find has ties to the dragon armies. The first level of adventuring is basically their encounters arriving home (goblins working with the "cult"), confrontations with the guards and the high theocrat in the inn, the escape from town, and the confrontations on the road and woods. Dragonborn soldiers loyal to Tiamat replace Draconians of Dragonlance.
Levels 2 through 3 happen after the party meet the forest master and learn about the dragon armies, and an item of power that will be key to stopping them in a ruined city. They fight lizardmen and some Dragonborn captains in the swamps surrounding the city. The Gulley Dwarves of the original are replaced by a lowly clan of Kobolds who are not in favor of the existing dragon, and are looking for escape from its control. Through the ruins of the city the heroes find a subterranean path underground (plenty of non humanoid encounters), and then in the lower city fight more dragonborn and eventually the black dragon.
So far that is the first adventure taking them from levels 1-3. The players should hit 4 very shortly after on the way back to their home town, when they find it ravaged by dragons and are captured by the dragon armies.
I have specifics for all the encounters through the black dragon fight scratched down at home and could post them later for feedback.
How does the idea sound? Interesting? Horrible? Most of my players are newer converts to D&D from a strong MMORPG background. My wife has read the trilogy, but is probably the only one of my players who has.
Hoping to influence the party with themes of Good (Bahamut) vs Evil (Tiamat), and throw in some other gods who are choosing sides or staying out of the fight. Final campaign battle would be a fight against Tiamat herself, after finding a way to kill her permanently, possibly with dragon weapons made from her generals' bones.
You also have to remember that, to an extent, everything in those books was written in such a way that they almost force-feed you all the diverse details of the world and the party is intentionally made up of 1 of each race and class available in the setting simply to have a paragon example.
Raistlin is the dull, vanilla, default 2nd edition wizard example to an even greater extent than Elminster and the Kender in those books draws about as much revile as JarJar Binks. The structure of the plot of those books was basically lifted from LotR. But problems with the books themselves aside, it is all too easy to make a D&D adventure out of them since that's basically their reason for existing in the first place.
Well, it has been done - I can tell you that much. The books were printed up as adventures back in 2nd edition-- nearly 30 years ago around when those books came out. So it can be done...
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But problems with the books themselves aside, it is all too easy to make a D&D adventure out of them since that's basically their reason for existing in the first place.
Those modules & novels you speak of were originally written during the days of 1e (AD&D that is).
They are well written books (with some parts unfortunately removed due to length) and no doubt have proven to be a source of ideas for many campaigns through the years.
By the way, Elminster is much less interesting than Raistlin ever was.
On the part of the party composition, you should have no problem since you will already be planning around whatever your players have created. Just remember to let them play what they want and not to try to force them into roles similar to those in the books.
Ah well, have fun with the idea.
On the part of the party composition, you should have no problem since you will already be planning around whatever your players have created. Just remember to let them play what they want and not to try to force them into roles similar to those in the books.
Ah well, have fun with the idea.
I was not actually planning on forcing any party restrictions with class or race. That wasn't the part of the story I was adapting. More or less the "locations" with names changed along with the encounter types. Starting off with a tree top city, leading to a ruined underground city and a black dragon with dragonborn (rather than draconian) followers and kobold (rather than gully dwarf) slaves. Then a big fight back at the tree top town the party is intended to lose and then be captured, leading to a meeting with elves and raid on a slave mine and confrontation with a dragon highlord.
That's about the bare minimum summary based on the first novel, I think.