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Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................................................................4
1.1. Dragonlance.............................................................................................4
1.2. Approach..................................................................................................5
1.3. Methods....................................................................................................6
1.4. Perspectives..............................................................................................6
2. From fairytales to fantasy fiction................................................................8
2.1. Fairytales..................................................................................................9
2.2. Fantasy fiction........................................................................................12
2.3. Secondary worlds of fantasy fiction.......................................................14
2.4. The secondary worlds of Toliken and Lewis..........................................15
2.5. The characters of Tolkien and Lewis......................................................17
2.6. The secondary world of Dragonlance and according to Tracy Hickman.18
2.7. Fantasy role-palying (FRP)....................................................................19
2.7.1. The history of role-playing games (RPG)..........................19
2.7.2. How to play live role-playing games?................................20
2.7.3. Why to play live RPG?.......................................................21
2.8. Fantasy fiction and RPG in contemporary American literature.............23
3. Analysis........................................................................................................25
3.1. Structure of analysis...............................................................................25
3.2. Dragons of Autumn Twilight...................................................................26
3.2.1. The setting..........................................................................27
3.2.2. The characters.....................................................................35
3.3. Dragons of Winter Night.........................................................................42
3.3.1. The settings and the characters...........................................43
3.4. Dragons of Spring Dawning...................................................................47
3.4.1. The settings and the characters...........................................48
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3.5. From autumn to spring, from hero to human...........................................51
4. Conclusion......................................................................................................51
4.1. The world of Dragonlance.......................................................................53
4.2. The characters of the Chronicles..............................................................54
4.3. Eucatastrophe...........................................................................................55
5. Appendix.......................................................................................................56
6. Bibliography.................................................................................................67
7. Summary........................................................................................................69
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1. Introduction
1.1. Dragonlance
Once upon a time there was a man, called Tracy Hickman. Tracy was a dreamer, he
dreamt about a world, a realm where man can be free from the stress of the real world, a
realm of adventures where magic and heroes are not just words which meaning only
children know...Tracy shared his thoughts with his wife, Laura, who had always been
fond of dragons and she also dreamt about another kind of world where these creatures
could exist with all their shadows and myths. Man and wife together created the world
of Krynn, which gave home to all kinds of creatures and supernatural beings of their
imagination. They were so satisfied with this new world that they contacted a fantasy
publisher (TSR, Inc.) hoping that by publishing their adventures they might find others
who want to join their realm. TSR had already had created a similar world, which was
very popular among some people called gamers, as they played live or board role-
playing games in the already existing imaginary world, which they called simply
Dungeons & Dragons, though in D&D there were more dungeons than dragons, which
made Tracy‘s and Laura‘s Krynn was heartily welcome in TSR. But something was
missing. The adventures demanded extra characters. Luckily TSR had contact with a
third dreamer (with great writing talent), Margaret Weis. Margaret fell in love with
Krynn and joined Tracy and Laura in their work of creation. Soon they decided to start
the creattive process with simple role-playing, just like their target audience. They
created the first characters (the protagonists and two protagonist-antagonists of the
Chronicles), described the settings to some of their colleagues from TSR who wanted to
join the game, and they started to play...
Dragonlance is a shared world on which a series of fantasy novels (containing more
than 190 books) well known and very popular among both fantasy role-players and
readers of fantasy novels are based. Most of the novels were written as gaming
modules for role-playing games, but they can also be read as separate novels for
reading only.
The first part of the series, Dragon of Autumn Twilight was published in 1984
and was followed by Dragons of Winter Night (published in 1985) and Dragons of
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Spring Dawning (published in 1985), and this way the Dragonlance Chronicles was
born, which is the core element of the Dragonlance world describing the settings of
all of the DL novels and DL fantasy role-playing games (fantasy RPG‘s), and
introducing the core characters of DL. Today DL is one of the most popular shared
world fantasy fiction series.
1.2. Approach
The Dragonlance Chronicles’ main success as fantasy literature lies in its literary
quality, as well as its richness in terms of characters and adventure possibilities,
which makes it an ideal frame for fantasy role-playing games (e.g.: pen-and-paper,
board game and live RPG). The three novels of the Chronicles were actually born
from a live RPG session arranged by the authors. During my interviews my attention
was called to the problem of the well defined characters and the importance of the
detailed description of the settings of a fantasy story or novel to be ideal background
to live RPG. That is why my focal point of interest in my project is the characters and
the settings of the Dragonlance Chronicles, a work of modern fantasy fiction that can
work as background story for live RPG. In my project report I try to find the answer
to the following questions:
Why is the settings of the Dragonlance Chronicles ideal for live fantasy role-
playing games, while the characters are not; and how do they function together
as a background of live role-playing games in the 21
st
century?
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1.3. Methods
In order to analyze the Dragonlance Chronicles as a piece of fantasy literature, I first
needed a firm knowledge of the fantasy genre. In my project report I follow Tolkien‘s
and Lewis‘ description of fairytales/fantasy fiction, and their creative process, which
influenced the authors of the Chronicles. However the Chronicles is not just a fantasy
trilogy, but also a supporting literature to live role-playing games, that is why I
interviewed a Game Master (Mark ), who explained the basic principles of creating a
live RPG with DL as background literature emphasizing the role of the settings and
the characters of a fantasy novel; thus I involve sociological criticism to analyze the
role of the readers as possible players (using the characters and the settings of the
Chronicles) in shaping the text and possibly determining the social context of the text
and to analyze how the readers interpret the text when reading it as the supporting
literature of live DL RPG.
1.4. The perspectives of fantasy role-playing
The interest in fantasy as a literary genre has been more or less even since the
appearance of the first modern fantasy novels (i.e.: Tolkien‘s and Lewis‘ works
among others). Of course there are subgenres, such as dark fantasy (horror) or science
fiction that periodically takes over, especially successful Hollywood productions
based on a work of the genre raise the awareness of the reading public and calls the
attention to this kind of literature (like in the case of the movie version of Harry
Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Narnia etc.). The connection between fantasy and role-
playing is so strong, that when readers start being interested in fantasy ficti
