This article originally appeared in Pyramid #23

Pyramid Pick

Dragonlance: Fifth Age

Published by TSR
Written by William W. Connors
and Sue Weinlein Cook
$25.00

When Harold Johnson first told me about the new Dragonlance line early in 1996, I had my doubts. I was told that the Fifth Age line was to be a completely new card-based roleplaying system for TSR, set in the popular Dragonlance world. Now that I have both read and played Dragonlance: Fifth Age, I can say that my initial reaction was dead wrong. Simply put, it's a darn fine game.

The game is set 30 years after the second Cataclysm of Krynn, a relatively unexplored time in the Dragonlance epic. The world has been ravaged by the god Chaos and the old gods of Krynn have left. Old magic is gone, and the dragons have risen. From across the sea came the Dragon Overlords who now rule much of Ansalon. Having slaughtered other dragons for their lifeforce, they are slowly changing the land into a reflection of their desires. The dragons of good cower in fear, the Silvanesti have cloistered themselves behind an impenetrable magical shell, and the Kender of Kendermore have known something formerly thought impossible — fear.

The SAGA rules, around which Fifth Age is based, concentrate heavily on roleplaying. One of the most difficult facets of reading the game was detaching myself from the typical D&D stereotypes I was used to. The lines between good and evil are blurred, there are no "classes," and so on. Overall, it is a very mature system meant to provide an excellent . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: January 1, 1997

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