For a while now, I have been wanting to write a blog post about how one could move Dragonlance forward in the timeline, without destroying what came before. I think the Greyhawk community did a pretty good job of doing this on their own, after the setting was abandoned by Wizards of the Coast, however, the Dragonlance community has not really done the same thing. Truth be told, I wonder if there really is a Dragonlance gaming community around?

The starting point should be the end of the Dark Disciple trilogy, as that was the last published work on Dragonlance that moved the setting forward. Obviously Dragonlance Destinies opened the possibility of a different timeline, one in which Chaos is never released, but let’s not assume it will have an impact on any future releases.

So, if we stick to the published work, there are several constraints we need to consider:

• Takhisis and Paladine are dead.
• The other gods are back
• The elves have been driven from their homelands and now reside in the valley of The Blue Phoenix.
• High Sorcery is being rebuilt
• Sorceres and mystics excist
• There are still a few Dragon Overlords around
• The minotaurs have conquered Silvanesti
• Lord Golgren is trying to rebuild the ogre nations with one hand
• The Tower of Palanthas is now located in Nightlund
• Lord Soth has left the building
• The knights of Takhisis/Neraka are still around to some extent
• Mystics and sorcerers are around
• Mina excists now

There has been a tendency to build the storyline around grand wars, so maybe the future should take a different turn, and make the storyline more focused on rebuilding the world. However, this could sow the seeds for new conflicts. Conflicts that start small with the potential to develop into something much bigger.

Maybe the future conflicts are less about what the gods want, and more about what the peoples of Krynn want? Here’s a list of random ideas that could be developed:

• Lord Golgren wants to expand Ogre culture and Ogre territory and decide to attack the minotaurs in Silvanesti.
• The Knights of Neraka try to re-establish a powerbase in the valley of Neraka but must be covert.
• The Wizards of High Sorcery attempt to secure the Tower of Knightlund but seeking to appoint a new master of the tower.
• The elves create a new homeland in the valley The Blue Phoenix but plan to go back to Qualinesti and re-establish that kingdom.
• Since the minotaurs have invaded Silvanesti, maybe they are vulnerable to attacks at home.
• Tarsis is being rebuilt. After the forest of Qualinesti has expanded Tarsis has a new opportunity to rekindle its economic future. Maybe there are various factions in the city vying for control of tis future. And let’s not forget about the library of Khrystan.

I believe there are many more ideas that could be explored here, but these are just some of the ones I have been toying with. There could be many great campaigns still to be had in Krynn all one needs to do is to dream a little and come up with some good ideas.