Publisher: Wizards of the CoastEst Sularus oth Mithas: My Honor is My Life. For the young men who have gathered at the High Clerist's Tower, those words mean one thing: Knight of Solamnia. For some, knighthood is just around the corner. For others, there will be only failure and the shameful return home. Whatever the eventual outcome, all of the candidates bear those words in their hears. Eagerness and anticipation fill the sun-filled morning air, as the candidates hockey for position, ready to show their prowess before the Knights of the Orders. My Honor is My Life.On Knight, however, does not live by the Oath.
The sword of Sturm Brightblade is gone, stolen from his dead body. The dishonorable one must be brought to justice, before he flees forever and the blade lost. The trail leads through webs of intrigue to traitors and thieves most foul. This is a task suitable only for those of keen mind and stout heart, for danger will confront them at every turn.
This is the first adventure module written for the Tales of the LanceBoxed Set, and is especially designed for beginning players and the Dungeon Master. It reveals for the first time the powers of the Brightblade, the hereditary sword of Sturm Brightblade, a Hero of the War of the Lance. Additional background information is included, along with new magical items and some pregenerated characters to help get the adventure running quickly and easily.
For 3 to 6 characters levels 1-3.
Product History
DLQ1: and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; (1992), by Colin McComb with Thomas Reid, is the first Dragonlance Quest. It was published in July 1992.
Origins (I): New Tales. The publication of Tales of the Lance (1992) marked the beginning of a new era for the Dragonlance setting. TSR supported the revitalized line with the new and quot;DLQ and quot; adventures, which had two goals. First, they were intended to ease new GMs into running games; and second, they were meant to be so fun that they encouraged people to buy more Dragonlance supplements.
Though and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; was a new beginning for Dragonlance, it also recalls the past. Colin McComb includes a minotaur named Karathos from the continent of Taladas. This paid homage both to the sub-setting that had dominated Dragonlance publication from 1989-1991 and to McComb's first Dragonlance design, DLR2: and quot;Taladas: The Minotaurs and quot; (1991).
Origins (II): Good Knights. As suggested by the name, and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; returns to one of the most popular elements of Dragonlance lore: the knightly orders. In fact, and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; is heavily focused on them: it's all about the tests to become a knight, with plenty of NPCs and locales central to the organizations. McComb had thought that Sturm Brightblade was the best character in the Dragonlance Chronicles (1984-1985), so he was especially enthused to revisit this material.
Origins (III): Funky Credits. Editor Thomas M. Reid was given a secondary authorship credit in and quot;Knight's Sword and quot;. This was due to his work on the then-unpublished Dragon Mountain (1993).
McComb had co-authored Dragon Mountain, which was also edited by Reid. Though Reid received and quot;additional design and quot; credit on it, McComb felt like he hadn't received enough praise for his and quot;fantastic job and quot;, so gave Reid more credit here.
Adventure Tropes. Dragonlance had received an introductory book just a few years earlier in DLS1: and quot;New Beginnings and quot; (1991). However, where that book was almost entirely focused on new players (with a bit of adventure), this one is a beginning adventure (with a bit of new-player material).
So how do you write a novice Dragonlance adventure? McComb chooses to focus on a novice character, working to become a knight. Thus, and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; is really a coming-of-age adventure in a way that most novice D and amp;D adventures aren't. The adventure is somewhat episodic, with a set series of encounters. However, most of them are very open-ended, including an investigation of the High Clerist's Tower, and a visit to a city where players have a very free hand. As a whole, it's a surprisingly open adventure for story meant for novice GMs. Perhaps because of that, it's received quite a bit of praise over the years.
Exploring Krynn. and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; is yet another adventure to provide great details on the High Clerist's Tower; it then sends the PCs to Solanthus. Curiously, later sources put this adventure at 362 AC, a decade before the official setting for Tales of the Lance.
Artifacts of Note. The most important artifact of and quot;Knight's Sword and quot; is the eponymous Brightblade, Sturm's weapon. It is fully detailed here. However, it's not the only unique weapon. The Dagger of Jealousy also appears; it was called the and quot;dagger of vengeance and quot;, a member of the and quot;triad of betrayal and quot;, when it debuted in Tales of the Lance.
NPCs of Note. Obviously, Sturm Brightblade is a core part of this adventure and hellip; though he's sort of dead. He's not the only touchback to the original Chronicles. Charles Crownguard also appears, cousin to Derek Crownguard from the Chronicles.
A few other characters are references. Kellin Solanius is author Colin McComb, while Sir Rateliff is editor John Rateliff. Finally, the minotaur Karathos, with his axes Bonebiter and Heartcleaver is a tribute to Drizzt Do'urden who wields two scimitars, Icingdeath and Twinkle.
Organizations of Note. This adventure is all about the Solamnic knights and becoming one of their number.
About the Creators. McComb was still a young designer at TSR. In 1992, he worked on a wider variety of projects, the most notable of which may have been a new micro-setting, and quot;Thunder Rift and quot; (1992).
About the Product Historian
The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of and nbsp;Designers and amp; Dragons and nbsp;- a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.