Publication:Dragons of Mystery

[  Dragons of Mystery]

System: Dungeons and Dragons 1e Levels: N/A "N/A" is not a number. – N/A "N/A" is not a number.   Author: Michael Dobson  Publisher: TSR  Item Code: 9135  Publication Date: 1984  Format: Paperback  Page Count: 32  ISBN-10: 88038-090-X

Product Blurb At last! A sourcebook for the most exciting epic ever from TSR. Now you and your players can have the entire world of Krynn at your fingertips! "Dragons of Mystery" gives you the background and tools necessary to run a complete Dragonlance campaign adventure, an epic quest through the world of Krynn, threatened by the domination of the inhuman draconians. Can you win against powerful forces of darkness? This package contains a four-color map of the Continent of Ansalon, where all the adventures in the Dragonlance saga take place. Player character sheets for the Dragonlance heroes (illustrated by Larry Elmore) give your players an exciting tool for visualizing their characters. Even the stars in the heavens are shown on a special map of the constellations! This text is quoted from promotion material. Text and images are copyrighted by the original publisher.

Contents Summary

Dragons of Mystery is a sourcebook for the world of Krynn and the characters in the Dragonlance series. The book covers the geography, creation myths, and gods of Krynn, including articles on each of the heroes which detail how they met and provides background information on the characters. The book also includes an errata sheet for modules DL1 through DL4.

Publication History

Alan Mynard reviewed DL5 in Imagine magazine, giving it a balanced but overall positive review. He described the contents, noting that the large color map is of no use to anyone running the modules DL1-4. Mynard praised the section of background info (How the Heroes Met) as "welcome news" for gamemasters who are often asked about this type of material by the players. He also liked the detailed information on the player characters (The Companions of the Lance), but noted that his players complained that it would have been useful having access to it from the beginning of the campaign. Mynard described DL5 as being a "good attempt to bring together" previously published (and some new) information and as being written in a "clear, concise style". However, he wondered why it had only been published so late in the series—he felt the content should have been included in DL1. In summary, Mynard found DL5 "in no way essential", but nevertheless recommended it for anyone running the DL series of modules or thinking of doing so. Graham Staplehurst reviewed Dragons of Mystery for White Dwarf, and gave it 6 of 10 overall. He wrote that "To some extent, players will have been so overwhelmed with background information in the Dragonlance modules that the style of the setting and adventures will be as familiar as any campaign world can be." Staplehurst said that Dragons of Mystery was produced essentially as a sourcebook for Krynn, because "TSR obviously feel that both DMs and players would appreciate yet more background to the world of Krynn and perhaps some hints of the adventures still in the pipeline and yet to be produced". According to Staplehurst, its actual use and value as a sourcebook was questionable, as much of the information in the book was repeated to a greater extent from the prior four modules, and that "the ten or so pages of new material was insubstantial and too shallow to be of practical use". Staplehurst stated that "Various points hinted at in the modules are not expanded here and the only really interesting notes are those on the Dragons of Krynn: the designer's note in the introduction that the project is seen to some extent as a 'showcase' for the twelve varieties of dragon ... and the extra details are welcome." Staplehurst concluded the review by stating, "Overall, there is plenty of information contained within the modules themselves for DMs, and I would not recommend the sourcebook even for the continental map-this is going to be little use to the players except for papering a spare wall.

---