Yes, but every time he appears *after* the Legends series (which he does far too often), any supposed character development he’s undergone is cheerfully ignored and he seems to be exactly as he was right at the start of the Chronicles.
I re-read the Dragonlance books quite recently (and read the Lost Chronicles for the first time, even the third, which is hard to find). Just the War of Souls ones to go (I only read the first of these the first time around). Only doing the Weiss/Hickman ones, of course. In many ways they still stand up pretty well. In others, not so much. I love Raistlin but did feel by the end of it that they’d wrung more out of that character than was reasonable (and not always very consistently), and same with Tasslehoff, with whom a little really goes a very long way. I’d have liked a bit more of Tanis, with whom I increasingly identify.
Yes, Tasslehoff is in a lot of the prequel books and short stories. But the only Weis/Hickman (aka canon) books I remember him being in are the Chronicles and Legends, plus the "Second Generation" anthology that bridges Spring Dawning and Summer Flame. And didn't he die in Summer Flame? Or am I thinking of another character? They killed off so many people in that book (was profoundly annoyed about Steel, as I liked him).
I haven't read much of the post-Summer Flames novels. I'm not sure I even have all of them. Crysania is one character who should have been killed off, in my not even remotely humble opinion, as I found her boring from the get-go.
Raistlin was my favorite character almost immediately, as he was interesting and not just a walking list of stats. I also liked Tanis, and I think it's safe to say that most of the Chronicles trilogy is actually from Tanis' point of view. We see his thoughts and perceptions of the others most often.
Have you read any of the
Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home books? They have recipes for various dishes mentioned in the novels (including Gully Dwarf Stew and Otik's Fried Potatoes). The gaming group I was part of in college had a potluck party and the entire menu, from appetizers to desserts, was made from the recipes in this book. They worked fine.
I really liked that. I thought it made the story feel much more real, as though we're following just one thread of a much wider narrative in a world where the main characters aren’t the only ones doing anything significant. A little like the First Age material in Lord of the Rings, but contemporary with the story, if you see what I mean.
I especially liked the bit where Theros is about to tell everyone the story of how he came to have the Silver Arm, and they just hush him, and we never find out. Maybe that’s in a module? I never had them. But for me it really created a sense of depth.
Any of the Chronicles events that happened "off-camera" in the novels were covered in a module, as long as they involved a dragon... mostly. Gilthanas and Silvara's story (the doomed love part) wasn't, to the best of my recollection. But it's been nearly 40 years since I seriously read those, and I'd have to take another look to be sure. I do remember being annoyed about it, because Gilthanas was another character I liked.
I guess to a fanfiction reader/writer, no detail is too trivial or mysterious to want to explore it, and have some kind of story about it.
Reading modules for actual
story can be frustrating at times. There's so much math and stats to wade through, sifting it for what the PCs are supposed to do if they're to succeed. And since the original 12 modules (each featuring a different dragon) have a connected plot, the players can't go off the rails too far (the modules offer suggestions to the DM of how to guide them back to the main plot).
That's another reason why I enjoyed the Legends books - they're not based on modules, and the authors and readers can just get on with the
story.
There is one major goof that Weis and Hickman made, though, again in my not at all humble opinion. There was a story that was published in Dragon Magazine before it turned up in one of the prequel anthologies - the encounter Raistlin had with a mysterious woman in the forest, not long after his Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. The result of that was supposed to be that Raistlin had a daughter, who turned out to be Usha.
They retconned that in Dragons of Summer Flame, and that really annoyed me. Usha wasn't very likeable much of the time, and I guess W&H realized that if she was Raistlin's daughter, they couldn't pair her with Palin (cousin marriage). It just seems unfair that they didn't let Raistlin have any children, like most of the others did.
