Pyat is a progressive gamer

[pyat]

In happier news, I'm starting an AD&D game with the players from my Serenity RPG. Mainly because I have a wealth of material for it, and I don't feel like converting to 3.0 or 3.5. I like 3.0 and 3.5 well enough. 4e I've not played. I own the 4e Player's Handbook and find it terribly unengaging, though I am quite willing to play it someday. Just not, you know, today.

Setting will be Greyhawk, and I'm going to start with one of those 2nd edition Fast Play adventures they sold in magazine format in the late 90s.

Comments

[bandersnitch.livejournal.com]

I have all the 4e books for you to read if you would like.

I am not really playing anymore, but I like sharing if I can.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Nah, I have the PHB and know folks with the others I can borrow off of. Thanks, though.

[relee.livejournal.com]

What's Greyhawk actually like, as a setting? Apart from that one book I read that was based there, and the basic "It's Dungeons and Dragons", I don't know much about it.

And if you consider Dark Sun and Planescape are also both Dungeons and Dragons settings, well, that doesn't say a lot. XD

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

the basic "It's Dungeons and Dragons"

That's pretty much Greyhawk right there, actually. :)

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Greyhawk is generic D&D, set on a very large planet. It's Gygax's own home campaign setting, and so it has some silly names and illogical bits because it's quite evidently an ad hoc structure.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Well I know a few things about it from Spelljammer. Like, it's a geocentric world, so the people there are all jerks who think they're the center of the universe.

And I know that's where Vecna and Bigby are from.


But I have no idea about the culture or geographical distribution of biomes or even the shape of the continents and oceans. By which I mean I've never seen a map.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Well, Greyhawk is simply the name of the largest city. The planet is called "Oerth."



Ta da!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

It is a silly place.

[relee.livejournal.com]

*investigatin'*

LOL Japan. XD

So I guess it's loosely based on asia and south america? And there's a sort of australia there, but isn't there more desert in the real australia?

Poor Japan doesn't even get topography, they're just a green Japan-shaped blob in the sea. It's supposed to be a hilly and mountainous country! XD

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I think that the resemblence is mostly coincidental. For example, that bit in the top right called "The Flanaess" has faux-Europe and the Middle East all packed into it. The planet is huge - like five Earths or something. I'm not sure how many of these countries are canonical, come to think of it. DMs were encouraged to fill in the stuff outside Flanaess with their own civilizations.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Nippon is Japan's real name irl, so it's not even a real change. Next to it is the Caliphate of Zindia, which isn't shaped much like it but is probably India. Next to that is Erypt, which is very Egyptian, and north of it are the Steppes aka Mongolia, and next to that the Baklunish West aka the Balkans. China is probably Shaofeng, and it looks like they have even MORE Mongolia to beside them. Fireland is about the right location for Iceland, though sadly there's no England and friends. I don't see any Rome or Greece either.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Oh,hey, Nippon. I didn't see that there. To expand on what I was saying earlier, the only detailed land in the core setting is "The Flanaess." Googling now, I find these continent names (aside from the The Flanaess) are actually from Frank Mentzer's own campaign.

So.. um. Ignore those bits?

[relee.livejournal.com]

*giggles* The Flanaess is definately the most detailed part of the map, but even that isn't really detailed enough to know the diversity of biomes or the nations within that region and their cultures. But thanks for all your troubles, and sorry about your car in the dreamworld. I'm pretty sure it dodged all the trees.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

As I said, "Europe and the Middle East." For more detailed information (and there are dozens of cultures and kingdoms in that section), refer to your local Internet.

It even contains "The Empire of Iuz," a sort of Mordor-type "Land of Darkness."

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

Aw, man, I am totally having "Birthright" flashbacks right now.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

The hobby store I was at today had a ton of Birthright stuff in shrinkwrap!

[paka.livejournal.com]

My standard spiel about 4e is;

Basically the designers figured that anything outside combat can be mostly role-played, so the rules really are heavily about combat. This means it's a fine system for role-playing, but it also means most people come away with the perception that combat is all there is to do.

It is a much better game for game-mastering than for players. It's a huge improvement at figuring out how fair combat encounters are or aren't, and good with guidelines for awarding treasure and awarding experience for things beyond fighting. These are the big reasons I think you might enjoy it from what I know.

That said, 2e was brilliant in its own way. Not the rules - but people threw so much love and imagination towards what you could potentially do with it.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

...but it also means most people come away with the perception that combat is all there is to do.

That seems to match most of the negative impressions I've been getting. I guess that fits with the MMORPG comparison, too. Sure you can get into deeply social and interactive roleplays on World of Warcraft servers, but you have to make it yourself.

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

That's the thing I missed most about going from Star Wars 3.5 to Saga (I figure they did the same thing with 4e), one of my favorite skills was craft. I figured, put my Mon Calamari scout in a junk yard and he'd have you blasters, droids and ships inside a week. Not anymore.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

It's a matter of not having a game-described advantage for certain kinds of character, but rather one reliant on what the GM is willing to give you.