 Dragons of Autumn Twilight is a 1984 fantasy novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman , based on a series of Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ) game modules . It was the first Dragonlance novel , and first in the Chronicles trilogy , which , along with the Dragonlance Legends trilogy , are generally regarded as the core novels of the Dragonlance world . The Chronicles trilogy came about because the designers wanted novels to tell the story of the game world they were creating , something to which TSR , Inc . ( TSR ) agreed only reluctantly . Dragons of Autumn Twilight details the meeting of the Companions and the early days of The War of the Lance . This novel corresponds with the first two Dragonlance game modules , Dragons of Despair and Dragons of Flame , but with a different ending . The novel introduces many of the characters that are the subject of other novels and short stories . 
