Some twenty-odd years ago, I entered the library in the small Missouri community where I had just recently moved. It was the first place I visited - I moved around a lot at the time, and was young so pretty much lost all my friends every time we moved. The only thing I brought with me from place to place was gaming. So, my mom and I drove the fifteen miles into town to run some errands, and we stopped by the library. I had spent a lot of time in these places by then, and wasn't impressed with the tiny little book nook.
Yet, that library was the best one I've ever visited. I still remember finding Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and was pleasantly surprised when I found they had all three of the volumes of this trilogy. I didn't know much about D&D then, but I was into gaming so I picked up the books and went to my home. Buried in snow for the winter, I read the Dragonlance Chronicles. In fact, in the short time I had them on loan from the library, both my mom and dad picked up the books and read all three of them as well.
Well, they were fantastic books. Great story, classic stuff with magic and dragons. I loved it.
It was about that time I was introduced to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, though my gamer buddies from before had dabbled in it. I was more about Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Shadowrun and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness to really seek out more D&D stuff. Couple that with the hostile attitude of that backwater burg with regards to these roleplaying games and well...I didn't do that much gaming while I was there. Middle Earth Roleplay was about as far as it went. I never played or owned the Dragonlance modules, and after reading the books I never really wanted to. It seemed to me that Krynn was a part of D&D, but apart from it as well.
A lot of folks, for many years, decried the Dragonlance game. No one wanted to play it - it had too strong a case of what some might call "metaplot" or "canon". I bought into this as well. Part of it is TSR's fault - by 2nd Edition, they had pretty much reduced the game to "play our characters through our story". Of course, that has little appeal to most folks, especially if they read the novels. The Silver Anniversary reprints of Dragonlance Classics seems to reinforce this notion. They made the game mirror the books, and they promoted that sort of play. It's apparent in the language of the reprints, and many options given in the original modules are not present.
So, I feel that as time went on there was a shift in design philosophy. The original modules offer all sorts of alternatives for playing your own, unique characters. It's part and parcel of the modules. Of course, there are some familiar names, but you get the drift. In 2nd Edition, it was more about the success of the original novels. However, the original modules are a different beast entirely.
The modules and novels were developed concurrently. That is to say, one did not come before the other. TSR didn't know how well novels would sell, and the Dragonlance Chronicles was their first foray into such things. I think the success of the novels did much to poison the well for the adventures, and they faded into obscurity. I don't know one person who claims to have played the original modules, and most folks who are D&D aficionados stay well away from Krynn.
The Dragonlance series of novels is probably the most read of all the game-related literature in our current group, but only a few folks have read them. I want to discourage you from trying to find them while I'm running the modules - do yourself a favor and wait until the campaign is over. Yet, I've found that the two guys who I know read the books don't remember much. In fact, any knowledge they might remember from books they read twenty years ago hasn't helped one iota.
I've begun running the modules in the series as the second part of our Dungeons & Dragons cruise. We're using 1st Edition rules and the original modules, obtained fairly cheap from eBay. So far it's been a fantastic game - if a little different. The modules are focused on drama, not combat - though that's not in short supply either. I hope my players can make it through - some of the combat scenarios are fairly difficult.
Some folks have talked about what a "railroad" the DL series is. Pardon me while I say poppycock - Poppycock. It's a written adventure, and half the people I've talked to about it admit to not writing much (if anything) before the game. So, instead of having a scenario clearly delineated, a lot of the folk who bother to talk online would rather just make things up as they go along. Well, we know how we feel about that sort of game here at the Wargate - "railroading" isn't a real thing. Yeah, there are parts of the series that must happen to continue the story, but that's part of the story and the adventure. Nothing that I've seen so far (and one part was rather meat-fisted in getting some things done) stretches what I consider an adventure module. It's all rather par for course.
I think the guys crying "railroad" are the guys who've never even looked at one of the original DL modules. Or, they think that if a scenario is designed it's somehow ruining their game. Come on, now...these are simply great modules.
If you decide to run the DL series, go ahead and drop the Innfellows from your roster. You only need Goldmoon and Riverwind (who are NPC's in game) to begin. Other characters from the series will arrive, but if you've never read the novels then what do you care if Tika or Gilthanas joins the party as henchmen? They are just another NPC you've never heard of.
Don't worry about getting Tanis and Raistlin in, becaue there is plenty of room for new, unique characters designed by your players. Give the original DL modules a chance, don't think about the novels, and everything will be alright. The scope of the story is truly epic, and it can provide months and months of gaming pleasure. Just don't worry about canon - in fact, throw it out. I always saw the modules as being an example of what might happen in an adventure, rather than what exactly happens.
My players have made an entirely new story for themselves in Dragonlance, just like they do in any other campaign setting / adventure path. We're having a blast - and you might be surprised to find that a lot of folk don't know what a Dragonlance is. There is still plenty of awesome gaming to be had on the face of Krynn, which I mean to tread for many moons both now, and in the future.