#Tracy Hickman

[oldschoolfrp]

The apparition glared at each, its coils twisting, its very appearance shifting and shimmering in the gusty winds of its creation. Both mages held it in check, watching the other intently, waiting for the eye blink, the lip twitch, the spasmodic jerk of a finger that would prove fatal.

"Mages' Battle" by Jeff Easley, from the 1988 AD&D Dragonlance Calendar, inspired by this passage in War of the Twins by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. This also appeared in 1991 as a divider page in AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium 8: Outer Planes Appendix, and in 1995 as collectible card #82 in Jeff Easley's "Heroes & Villains" series by FPG. It occasionally appears online as "The Battle of Raistlin and Fistandantilus."

[whats-in-a-sentence]

"Griffons!"

"DragonLance Chronicles: Dragons of Winter Night" - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

[aretheybisexual]

Are they bi?

[darklinaforever]

Raistlin majere. (1984)

Jareth, the Goblin King. (1986)

Tarabas. (1993)

Julian, the Shadow Men. (1994)

The Darkling. (2013)

Dorian Havilliard. (2012)

Rhysand. (2015)

Cardan Greenbriar. (2018)

Kasta. (2020)

Luc. (2020)

[dndhistory]

528. Various Authors - Dragonlance Tales Volume 1: The Magic of Krynn (1987)

The first volume in the first Tales trilogy (there would be more Tales series), The Magic of Krynn is an anthology of short stories (and some longer ones), exploring the world of Krynn and often filling in gaps in the stories we already know while in other cases actually advancing the stories of some of the main characters we came to know and love. 

The biggest attractions in this volume are the two tales told by the original Dragonlance novelists, with Margaret Weis contributing "The Test of the Twins" which, much as in a previous, lesser developed, Dragon Magazine short-story, tells us of Raistlin's test in the Tower of High Sorcery and the toll this took on himself and Caramon, his twin. 

The longest tale in the volume is by Weis and Tracy Hickman who in "The Legacy" introduce us to "Dragonlance: The Next Generation" as the children of Caramon and Tika deal with their family history and we get to pick up on what happened to Raistlin and everyone after the Legends trilogy. Tales like "Finding the Faith" fill in gaps in the Chronicles trilogy and overall the other stories are generally entertaining if you are into the world of Krynn, which I certainly am. 

[godzilla-reads]

Welcome to Minnesota, where we celebrate spring with an overnight snowstorm. Stay safe, my friends.

❄️ Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

[smbhax]

Cover illustration by Larry Elmore

Info from ISFDB

[tenth-sentence]

Tanis didn't know.

"DragonLance Chronicles: Dragons of Spring Dawning" - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

[comicbookfanzevad]

IT CAME FROM AMAZON!

Classic Dragonlance Chronicles 40th Anniversary Hardcover Edition

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Serpent Mage - art by Ciruelo Cabral (1992)

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Dragons of Summer Flame | Author: Margaret Weis / Tracy Hickman | Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (2011)

[oldschoolfrp]

Until April 5, 2025, Humble Bundle has 26 classic Dragonlance novels available for $18, starting at the beginning with Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (1984)

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Raistlin's Farewell

Caramon, the gods have tricked the world

In absences, in gifts, and all of us

Are housed within their cruelties. The wit

That was our heritage, they lodged in me,

Enough to see all differences: the light

In Tika's eye when she looks elsewhere,

The tremble in Laurana's voice when she

Speaks to Tanis, and the graceful sweep

Of Goldmoon's hair at Riverwind's approach.

They look at me, and even with your mind

I could discern the difference. Here I sit,

A body frail as bird bones.

In return

The gods teach us compassion, teach us mercy,

That compensation. Sometimes they succeed,

For I have felt the hot spit of injustice

Turn through those too weak to fight their brothers

For sustenance or love, and in that feeling

The pain lulled and diminished to a glow,

I pitied as you pitied, and in that

Rose above the weakest of the litter.

You, my brother, in your thoughtless grace,

That special world in which the sword arm spins

The wild arc of ambition and the eye

Gives flawless guidance to the flawless hand,

You cannot follow me, cannot observe

The landscape of cracked mirrors in the soul,

The aching hollowness in sleight of hand.

And yet you love me, simple as the rush

And balance of our blindly mingled blood,

Or as a hot sword arching through the snow:

It is the mutual need that puzzles you,

The deep complexity lodged in the veins.

Wild in the dance of battle, when you stand,

A shield before your brother, it is then

Your nourishment arises from the heart

Of all my weaknesses.

When I am gone,

Where will you find the fullness of your blood?

Backed in the heart's loud tunnels?

I have heard

The Queen's soft lullaby, Her serenade

And call to battle mingling in the night;

This music calls me to my quiet throne

Deep in Her senseless kingdom.

Dragonlords

Thought to bring the darkness into light,

Corrupt it with the mornings and the moons—

In balance is all purity destroyed,

But in voluptuous darkness lies the truth,

The final, graceful dance.

But not for you:

You cannot follow me into the night,

Into the maze of sweetness. For you stand

Cradled by the sun, in solid lands,

Expecting nothing, having lost your eat

Before the road became unspeakable.

It is beyond explaining, and the words

Will make you stumble. Tanis is your friend,

My little orphan, and he will explain

Those things he glimpses in the shadow's path,

For he knew Kitiara and the shine

Of the dark moon upon her darkest hair,

And yet he cannot threaten, for the night

Breathes in a moist wind upon my waiting face.

"DragonLance Chronicles: Dragons of Spring Dawning" - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

[tildeathiwillwrite]

Something I just realized: the concept of seasons doesn't exist in The Death Gate Cycle.

Arianus isn't a planet to begin with, no rotation around the 'sun' to speak of, and therefore no winter. Snow only happens the further up you go due to altitude, as ice forms in the High Realm.

Pyran doesn't even have a day/night cycle, not to mention it's a Dyson sphere and constructed around the 'suns' and therefore doesn't rotate either.

Abbarach is similar to Pyran in that the heat source is the core of the planet. But the surface is all ice, so everyone lives underground, therefore no seasons.

Chelestra has the closest thing to a season, where the 'sea-sun' travels slowly around the planet, freezing and thawing different zones as it moves, and thus the humans, elves and dwarves chase after it in a continuous migration across centuries.

It is possible that the Sartan recreated the seasons in places like the Nexus, which are constructed to be like the old Earth. But I think they would have been too practical to keep something that might be seen as irrelevant, especially since farming fields are noted to be planted around the Nexus. Therefore no winter in the Nexus or the Stars on Pyran.

The Labyrinth might have winter, if only for the Patryns to suffer more.

[dndhistory]

541. Tracy and Laura Hickman, et al. - Desert of Desolation (1987)

Back from my winter break, back to work, back at the home computer and, finally back to this project! Hope you didn't miss me too much. Speaking of going back, this time we go back in time to the early 80s, when TSR published the modules I3-5:  Pharaoh, Oasis of the White Palm, and Lost Tomb of Martek. You can find reviews of these on posts numbered #183, #189 and #213 in this project as well as #108 for the initial version of Pharaoh published by DayStar West.

This time around the three modules that composed this storyline are bundled into a mega-adventure, with no module numbers titles simply "Desert of Desolation" and with a truly classic Keith Parkinson cover. Other changes happened with the adventure, however, and you can see in the Foreword shared here some of what that meant. 

Also interesting is the fact that now the Desert of the title is set in a specific AD&D campaign setting, and as we know Forgotten Realms is now the thing from this point onward in the game, meaning that the Desert of Desolation is now relocated into the world of Faerun helping expand the fledgeling FR line for TSR. 

[godzilla-reads]

“The gigantic room was filled from ceiling to floor with tall, wooden shelves, stretching as far as the eye could see. On the shelves were books. Books of all kinds. Books with leather bindings, books bound in wood, books bound in what looked like leaves from some exotic tree. Many were not bound at all but were simply sheaves of parchment, held together with black ribbons.”

—Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman