Dragons of Desolation

Dragons of Desolation

Code	DL4
Rules required	AD&D (1st Edition)
Character levels	6 - 8
Campaign setting	Dragonlance
Authors	Tracy Hickman Michael Dobson
First published	1984
Linked modules
DL1, DL2, DL3, DL4, DL5, DL6, DL7, DL8, DL9, DL10, DL11, DL12, DL13, DL14, DL15, DL16

Dragons of Desolation is the fourth and final module in the first major story arc in the Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance series of game modules. It is one of the 14 Dragonlance adventures published by TSR between 1984 and 1986. Its cover features a painting by Keith Parkinson which shows the heroes riding away from the floating tomb of Derkin. There is a very tiny TARDIS, Doctor Who, and K-9 hidden in the painting.^[1][2]

These events are covered in the book titled Dragons of the Dwarven Depths.

Plot synopsis

In Dragons of Desolation, the player characters find their way into the underground kingdom of Thorbardin, where the dwarves are already contending with agents of the draconians.^[3] The characters must search a floating air-castle for the legendary Hammer of Kharas to gain the dwarves' aid.^[3] The module describes the realm of Thorbardin, which is mapped using repeating modular map pieces.^[3]

In this module, the dragon armies have conquered the North. The players must use their characters to lead the band of refugees to the Doors of Thorbardin. Once there, they must persuade the dwarves the let them pass, meeting their price. All of this must take place before the draconians find the hidden camp of the refugees and destroy it.

Chapter 14: The Doors of Thorbardin
Event based with a small wilderness trip. Elistan appears dead, strange dreams, a possible conversation with Verminaard then finding the Doors of Thorbardin.

Chapter 15: The North Gate of the Dwarves
A vast but very sparsely populated dungeon that leads into a vast underground dwarven realm. The characters encounter dwarf Arman Kharas who is searching for his kidnapped half-brother Pick, but should avoid the Derro city.

Chapter 16: The Honor of the Hylar

Eventually the players will come to or be brought to Life-Tree of The Hylar, a massive half mile high stalagmite with a dwarven city carved into it, that rises out of the middle of an underground lake. There they attend an audience with the Council of the Thanes who agree to allow the players to go and the refugees to pass through if the heroes recover the Hammer of Kharas. Eben Shatterstone is kept as a hostage by the dwarves, but Arman Kharas travels with them on their quest to recover the hammer

Chapter 17: Kalil S'rith
Kalil S'rith is Dwarven for "The Valley of Thanes", it is a valley totally enclosed by high mountains, in which the Dwarves bury their dead. There they find the Derkin's tomb floating above a lake. Evenstar the Gold Dragon is the guardian of Kharas Hammer which is inside the tomb. After a confrontation with Ember, which will be the end of both Ember and Evenstar, the heroes escape on magical horses as the tomb begins to sink, this is the image shown on the module's cover.

Chapter 18: Dark Realms
With the Dragon armies in pursuit the Heroes are chased, or captured and taken, to the climactic encounter of the First Book of Dragonlance. In the Temple of Stars the heroes will confront Verminard, the traitor is revealed and fight the final battle.

Epilogue
With Verminard dead and the Hammer of Kharas returned the heroes have secured a safe passage for the refugees. If they have not done so in time there is sadness for the few survivors. The Wedding of Goldmooon and Riverwind completes the story as the heroes consider what needs to be done next.

Publication history

DL4 Dragons of Desolation was written by Tracy Hickman and Michael Dobson, with Harold Johnson and Bruce Nesmith, with a cover by Keith Parkinson and interior illustrations by Larry Elmore and Jeff Butler, and was published by TSR in 1984 as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder and a large map.^[3]

Reception

Graham Staplehurst reviewed Dragons of Desolation for White Dwarf, and gave it 9/10 overall. Staplehurst called the module "perhaps one of the most innovative scenarios that TSR have recently produced", although he noted that he felt TSR UK had been a lot more forward-thinking in their ideas at the time than TSR itself had been.^[4] He did feel that the DM would have a lot to keep track of with this module, making it very taxing to run. However, he felt that the scenario was rewarding if well-run, "with some very interesting encounters and a mapping system that I'm sure I'll want to use elsewhere".^[4] Staplehurst was impressed with the module's design, and noted that the scenario had the most actual text of the first four (Dragons of Despair, Dragons of Flame, and Dragons of Hope). Staplehurst concluded the review by sharing his feelings on his the module: "one of the most intriguing aspects of the scenario is that the main part of the action (a tomb) is essentially not run by the DM at all! In fact, both players and DM are caught up by the action at many points in the adventure and can do no more than take a backseat asthe story unfolds. Whilst 'dominating' players might find this a trifle annoying, it is in fact a good opportunity to forget the gaming aspects and concentrate on role-playing. It is a shame that players could not have developed their own characters for the quest, but those provided by now will be familiar enough."^[4]

In his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, Lawrence Schick calls this adventure "A dramatic scenario."^[3]

Adaptations

The Shadow Sorcerer personal computer game is based on this module and DL3 Dragons of Hope. It is very different from the official games based on earlier modules in the series, it is one of the earliest real-time strategy games.

References

1. ^ "DragonLance Series (DL1 - DL16)". acaeum.com. http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/dl.html. Retrieved 2007-03-22. 
2. ^ "A Tribute to Keith Parkinson". Wizards.com. http://ww2.wizards.com/books/Wizards/default.aspx?doc=main_kptribute. Retrieved 2007-03-24. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. pp. 89–90. ISBN 0-87975-653-5. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Staplehurst, Graham (July 1985). "Open Box". White Dwarf (67): 13.