This is Part 1 of a outline and discussion of my plans and thoughts for the work I shall soon begin on the Elemental Dragonlance Mod entitled "The War of the Lance". The Mod will concentrate on the War covered in the original Trilogy, also called the Dragonlance Chronicles. As readers of Dragonlance can tell you this war was in fact Not the first War of the Lance. The first war was fought many many years prior to this one and can be found in part in the book "The Legend of Huma". There may be references in the Mod to some of Dragonlance's rich history including the first War of the Lance as well as other events. Now, on with the planning.

1) Conception of Ideas:

There are one of two ways I can think to do this. Either each Hero could act as a Sovereign and have full control over raising armies to fight back the forces of Takhisis the Evil Dragon Goddess, or, the Heroes could be "Champions" the player always has control over if they are playing on the side of the forces of "Light". One thing I'm decided upon is that one of the main companions, Laurana Kanan, will be a Sovereign once she takes the position of the "Golden General" after the battle of Palanthas. The rest of the main "Companions" will be Champion units under the players control.  

At this point a decision must be made. Do I heavily follow the storyline of the books and have the Companions in game mirror their actions in the book (this requires a lot of scripted events)? Or do I go with a broader scale and concentrate more on the War having the companions act as "Adventurers" that must complete certain Quests to help further their faction?

There was another strategy war game for PC a long time ago based on Dragonlance. In that game you didn't directly control the Companions. Instead you sent them on Missions/Quests to find magical artifacts to help your war effort. They would go off looking for "Dragon Orbs" or pieces of the "Dragonlance" and if they were successful in finding them you could then use those items in your fight against the armies of Takhisis. I rather like this idea but I'm not sure if people would rather directly control the war effort or if they'd rather treat this like a RPG where they control the Companions and don't have to worry about raising armies or designing cities. Right now I'm leaning heavily towards having the player control a faction in the war and have the companions be assigned to the players faction as Champions. You'll be ale to use them to lead armies and also go on Quests to find items (like Dragon Orbs) to help the war effort.

2) Possible Factions:

"The Forces of Whitestone" aka the Good Factions:

Knights of Solamnia , Sovereign: Lord Gunthar Uth Wistan

Qualinesti Elves, Sovereign: Silveran the Speaker of the Sun

Silvanesti Elves, Sovereign: Lorac Caladon the Speaker of the Stars

Dwarves of Thorbardin, Sovereign: Pounce Quickspring

Conclave of Mages "White Robes", Sovereign: Par-Salian the Highmage, Head of the Whiterobes

(Note: The Conclave of Mages is made up of 3 "Orders" each representing Good, Nuetral, and Evil. As such they will also have a Evil faction)

"The Dragonarmies" aka the Evil Factions:  

Blue Dragonarmy, Sovereign: Highlord Kitiara Uth Matar

Red Dragonarmy, Sovereign: Highlord Verminaard

Green Dragonarmy, Sovereign: Highlord Salah-Khan

Black Dragonarmy, Sovereign: Highlord Lucien of Takar

White Dragonarmy, Sovereign: Highlord Toede

Conclave of Mages "Black Robes", Sovereign: Ladonna the Highmage, Headmistress of the Blackrobes

Secondary Idea for Gameplay:

Instead of having all those sovereigns and factions, I could go a third way and only have two sovereigns on the map in the form of the head deities in Dragonlance. These being Paladine the God of Good and Takhisis the Goddess of Evil. I could make each of them a sovereign and have them guide the war effort for their side. They would be Truly Immortal in game and would not be able to be defeated unless they are killed by their counterpart. Meaning only Paladine could kill Takhisis and only Takhisis could kill Paladine. Other characters or armies could defeat them in battle, but they wouldn't be truly killed unless they were slain by their counterpart. If I do things this way all the Companions and other heroes and villains will be playable as Champions for their respective factions.  

The World of Krynn:  

The world of Krynn, and more specifically the continent of "Ansalon" is where the game will take place. If there will be a way to load characters into another map while still in the same game I may or may not have the various characters traveling to other areas which will get their own maps, like the Abyss, or the under-sea remains of the Kingdom of Istar. As I don't know if we'll be able to do that or not for now I'll plan on just mapping out the continent of Ansalon. Pictured Below:

Reduced 71%

Original 800 x 530

I Do plan on releasing the Map of Ansalon as a "Stand Alone Map" that people can play as a "preview" or "demo" of the Mod. In this instance it will be just like any other game of Elemental played the normal way. I just thought it would be nice to release it separately as it will most likely be the first piece I finish and it will be a way to "wet" people's appetite for the full Mod.

Races:

There will be quite a few races in this Mod provided Stardock is awesome enough to include some of the models I will need. If they don't then I'll have to make them my-self or find someone to help me make them as 3D modeling isn't one of my strong points. Skins and textures I can do, modeling...eh, not as well. Anyway, on with the planned races.

Intelligent Races:

Humans

Dwarves

Elves and Half-Elves

Kender (halflings)

Dragons

Draconians (Dragon-Men, some fly, some don't)

Minotaurs

Ogres

Goblins

Undead

During this planning phase I'm very open to suggestions for Gameplay and any other thoughts or questions you may have. I'm also accepting applications for those of you who may want to help out with this. I don't know any Python so if You do, please let me know as there will be some "events" during the war that will have to be scripted or hard coded into the mod. Also as I mention above, if you're a decent modeler I could probably use Your help as well. I imagine there may be Models for more then a few of the races/monsters I mention above. I think I heard somewhere that Minotaurs will be a wandering monster so it might have a model already. I do know how to do Some things with 3DsMax so I might be able to piece a few things together as well.

So, what does everyone think? Thoughts, Ideas, Comments, Questions?