Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
WOTLK and Dragonlance
rywalt
Member Posts: 44
I've been reading the Dragonlance novel Dragons of the Highlord Skies and I have noticed some similarities between the novel and the Wrath of the Lich king expansion.
1. The frozen kingdom of Icereach is very similar to Northrend.
2.The Thanoi in the novel are a race of Walrus men as are WOW's Tuskarr.
3. Lord Soth in the novel is a Death Knight, wraths new class is a Death Knight.
I just found these similarities interesting especially for products that were released only a year apart.
I haven't finished the book yet so there may be more. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or found anything I may have missed?
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
Paul Atreides
Comments
Yes i have read this and found the simmilarities, but for once Blizzard did not copy. This book came out long after the Frozen Throne was released, which Northrend in WoW is based on.
Balance that with the outright plagarism that blizzrd did with Games Workshops Warhammer (WoW) and Warhammer 40k (starcraft).
I wish a MMO based on the entire Dragonlance world could be made, but knowing our luck Cryptic would make it. . . . (Atari has some deal with wizards of the coast, who own D&D properties, and Cryptic is owned by Atari, which is why there is a rumor that Cryptic is going to be making Neverwinter Nights MMO)
Your right frozen throne did come out before that book.
I know Lord Soth has been a Dragonlance character for a while.I just found out that the Thanoi and Icereach made their first appearance in 1986 in a Dragonlance module.
I just wonder what the odds are of this being a coincidence?
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
Paul Atreides
I would love to see a Dragonlance MMO and a live action movie! Like you said as long as Cryptic doesnt make it.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
Paul Atreides
I read the Dragonlance novels. I collect miniature armies. Wasnt all this stolen from tolkie anyway?
Ofcourse it wasnt. Fantasy is fantasy. Ofcourse its all a rip off of everything else
I think they all borrow Ideas from one another. The similarities just struck me funny as I was reading.
The closest Ive seen to blatant plagiarism in fantasy would have to be The sword of Shannarra ripping off The Lord the Rings. I mean plot characters almost everything was ripped off lol. I still love the book though.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
Paul Atreides
FYI - The original Dragonlance Chronicles Series books consisted of:
1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (published in 1984)
2. Dragons of Winter Night (published in 1985)
3. Dragons of Spring Dawning (also published in 1985)
Not only are they immensely enjoyable to read, but they preceded WotLK by..... 24 years. The book containing the Icereach portion was Dragons of Winter Night if I'm not mistaken, which itself preceded WotLK by 23 years. I read them all (the first time) back in the 80s. Damn I feel old.
If you're reading Dragons of the Highlord Skies you're missing out on a massive amount of lore if you haven't read The Chronicles Trilogy and Dragons of the Dwarven Depths first. The newest series (Dragons of the Dwarven Depths / Highlord Skies / Hourglass Mage) was written over the past few years to try to cash in on the popularity of the original books. They're terrific books even though imho they've made some horrific screw-ups in terms of lore / timelines, etc.
Proper reading order is: (note: I haven't read Hourglass Mage yet, so I'm not sure where it belongs)
1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Chronicles)
2. Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (Lost Chronicles)
3. Dragons of the Highlord Skies (Lost Chronicles)
4. Dragons of Winter Night (Chronicles)
5. Dragons of Spring Dawning (Chronicles)
??? Dragons of the Hourglass Mage??? (Lost Chronicles)
I recommend reading the original trilogy above most or even all of the other Dragonlance trilogies written in the 80s and 90s. The stories are amazing (much better than Blizzard's lore imho) and they really engage the reader.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
FYI - The original Dragonlance Chronicles Series books consisted of:
1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (published in 1984)
2. Dragons of Winter Night (published in 1985)
3. Dragons of Spring Dawning (also published in 1985)
Not only are they immensely enjoyable to read, but they preceded WotLK by..... 24 years. The book containing the Icereach portion was Dragons of Winter Night if I'm not mistaken, which itself preceded WotLK by 23 years. I read them all (the first time) back in the 80s. Damn I feel old.
If you're reading Dragons of the Highlord Skies you're missing out on a massive amount of lore if you haven't read The Chronicles Trilogy and Dragons of the Dwarven Depths first. The newest series (Dragons of the Dwarven Depths / Highlord Skies / Hourglass Mage) was written over the past few years to try to cash in on the popularity of the original books. They're terrific books even though imho they've made some horrific screw-ups in terms of lore / timelines, etc.
Proper reading order is: (note: I haven't read Hourglass Mage yet, so I'm not sure where it belongs)
1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Chronicles)
2. Dragons of the Dwarven Depths (Lost Chronicles)
3. Dragons of the Highlord Skies (Lost Chronicles)
4. Dragons of Winter Night (Chronicles)
5. Dragons of Spring Dawning (Chronicles)
??? Dragons of the Hourglass Mage??? (Lost Chronicles)
I recommend reading the original trilogy above most or even all of the other Dragonlance trilogies written in the 80s and 90s. The stories are amazing (much better than Blizzard's lore imho) and they really engage the reader.
I have read Chronicles, Legends,Dragons of Summer flame, and some of the books by other authors but I prefer the ones written by Weis and Hickman. I hadn't read Chronicles in maybe 12 or more years so when I discovered the Lost Chronicles I decided I would read all the books again. I've been reading them in chronological order. I have Hourglass mage but I'm gonna read Spring dawning again before I read that one.
I have noticed some of the mistakes also going straight from Dwarven depths to winter night. The newer book doesn't seem to be the same story told in Winter night of the Finding of the Hammer. I have a 1st edition of Dwarven Depths and it is full of spelling errors and missing words, they need to fire the editor. I know I have my share of spelling mistakes but I'm not trying to sell a book.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
Paul Atreides
A dragonlance mmo would suffer from the same issues as star wars galaxies -- there would be no way to truly advance the storyline of the war and, ultimately, you're playing second fiddle to the NPCs that are the true stars. On the other hand, new Dragonlance computer games would be wonderful. I've been replaying the old silver box series and finally beat Death Knights of Krynn for the first time ever (at the expense of both my priests). It's a shame that Neverwinter Nights never got an officially sanctioned dragonlance expansion but was set exculsively in the FR setting. For now, all I have left is dark queen of krynn.
Once again: Blizzard didn't copy War TT.
Period. The complete lore doesn't even resemble - apart from the typical D&D fantasy setting.
Chainmail was the first fantasy miniatures game and it was published in ... 1971 by Gary Gygax (D&D).
So Warhammer copied this D&D battle module in the mid eigthies. And these were .... miniature games btw.
First learn your fantasy history and then post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainmail_(game)
Blizzard never denied they were influenced by D&D for their Warcraft settings though.
Also a false rumour: never were there talks between GW and Blizzard for the WH franchize (both parties never affirmed those talks either). Not one source from both companies confirmed this ever.
A pity the quality of the DragonLance books is so high, it can never be translated into a decent computer game. Not in its present forms.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
I've read the Autumn, Winter, and Spring books and the lore of Dragonlance > World of Warcraft by about infinity.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
I saw more similarities with Lord of the Rings in the expansion more than a Dragonlance vibe to be honest.
Me too especially now that on my server Landrover I've managed to meet like 5-6 people with avatars named in ways to honor the series (me included).
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
A year apart? DoWS is basically a "filler" for events that happened between the first and second dragonlance books, as well as between the chapters stuff for the second book. The novels in turn were based on several D&D modules. Dragonlance was first created in 1984. Many of the elements you refer to are nearly as old.
That aside...the concept of a Death Knight existed long before then. Icy tundra regions are certinaly no strranger to fiction; Howard did Conan novels about them before my parents were born. The Walrus men are a little less used; but there are other examples of them in ficiton as well. I don't reallyt feel WoW ripped off Weis and Hickman at all; they both borrowed heavily from older fantasy fiction sources and adapter them to their own needs. This is pretty common.