Difference between FR, Eberron, Middle Earth, Greyhawk etc.

[buzz]

I think you've got it, there - there's one breed of player that only cares about what character build options are in, and another that cares about how their character gets to interact with the world, and what kind of world they have to interact with.

Right. Again, my comments are really in the context of the OP asking for ways to get players to care about the setting. The second player type you describe will care about the setting no matter what, becuase they're the people who ilke reading elvish hsitory and whatnot. They're the player who looks forward to thick handouts from the DM. However, I think that kind of player is not the majority.

Ergo, to get the other players to care, too, there has to be more impact than just the elvish history essay. That, and I think there are better ways to convey setting in play than an info-dump. That's all I'm trying to say.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Here's an example of altering the rules to match the flavour of a campaign world:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=151866

 

[DestroyYouAlot]

While I fully agree with you (although I believe most people overlap these two types) [EL SNIPPO]

Of course - I oversimplify. Big words, grand gestures, and all of that.

Right. Again, my comments are really in the context of the OP asking for ways to get players to care about the setting. The second player type you describe will care about the setting no matter what, becuase they're the people who ilke reading elvish hsitory and whatnot. They're the player who looks forward to thick handouts from the DM. However, I think that kind of player is not the majority.

Again, you're right in that - and the first type have a right to their kind of game, too, don't get me wrong.

One example I just was lucky enough to experience first-hand (last night, in fact) was the campaign one of the guys in my group just kicked off. He's using some "generic" elements (races and classes, Greyhawk/PhB gods with lots of other ones added in), but the setting and premise are his own. Basically, we're all residents of a large, old city that's in a moral and economic decline. We've all been recruited (through various methods, some against our will) to serve as a "special task force" attached to the city guard, and as such are seeing first-hand a) the state of the city, and just how bad things really are, and b) the political workings behind it all - or, at least the tip of the iceberg. It's something we're right up to our elbows in, so it matters to us. Whereas if this were all just exposition for a place that we just shopped at between dungeon crawls, it'd go in one ear and out the other. (And, so far, it's brilliant - I'm really looking forward to next week's session.)

 

[00Machado]

I've always seen the differences as:

Middle Earth - A classic fantasy epic. In terms of the world specifically, I'd say it provides a setting where things from an earlier time are passing into history, and magic is leaving the world.
FR - Takes the ME idea of the empires and history of ancient times and adapts ot for D&D. Instead of all of the past moving into the mists of time, people search out those secrets for power, loot, etc. and at times, elements from history drive present day organizational/political motivations
Greyhawk - more sword and sorcery and less expansive (in terms of land mass and places you can go) feel that FR. More of a shades of gray setting. Also feels less over the top to me.
Eberron - A setting designed to do a few things
*Encourage certain styles of play (politically driven adventures and mystery/investigations)
*Hold onto D&D fans tiring of retreading the same ground in the Realms over and over
*Appeal to new fans who like something 'different' like video game players, and younger people who don't need the trappings of traditional fantasy, and draw them into D&D

 

[Gentlegamer]

Forgotten Realms:

Several things separate Toril from other campaign worlds or fantasy settings and make it rather unique. One is its sheer size. Even the main continent presented in the FRCS is just mind-bogglingly huge and near to every inch of it crawling with adventur-some goodness . . . .

. . . which major NPCs have already explored and resolved any plot-points associated with the adventure locale.

 

[haakon1]

And then do some of the things Tolkien did in Lord of the Rings, drop elements of history into the references people make, the things they say, the songs they sing in the taverns. Don't worry about writing the songs, just say that the people in the common room are singing a drinking song based on the foolishness of a previous lord whose deranged antics eventually led to his selling the castle to a small band of kobolds who then turned it into a massive cheese factory. It'll give them a little insight into the history of the area as well as help set the atmosphere.

I feed nuggets into the plot like this. As in, a bard will sing about something, and darned if the PC's don't encounter something related to it another adventure. Use history and setting as plot hooks and keys to mysteries, and people pay attention. I also tell players what their characters know about things that come up. For example, a beginner might get an explanation like:
"When that guy said, "The Old One", he was referring to the demon lord Iuz. Legend has it that if you say the name of a demon lord, it attracts their attention and sometimes summons them' only a fool would test the legend. Iuz is the ruler of the eponymous land of Iuz, a wasteland full of humanoids and foul demon-worshippers, north and east of your homeland, across the Vesve Forest. The Old One's father was a demon, and his mother was the witch queen Iggwilv. Iggwilv ruled you region about 200 years ago, and is famous for her many magical creations and her lost citadel, The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, somewhere in the Yatil Mountains."

The magic items and dungeon references tend to perk up some ears.

 

[haakon1]

Well, wasn't Blackmoor eventually set in Greyhawk? I was under the impression that all that Egg of Coot and Land of Black Ice business was originally from the Blackmoor campaign.

They are intertwined in the early days, and both Greyhawk's Blackmoor and Arneson's one share the Egg of Coot and frog-humanoids. Technically, "Temple of the Frog" was in the Blackmoor suppliment of OD&D, but that was years before the Greyhawk setting was published and decades before Arneson published his setting -- sans the Land of Black Ice -- for 3.5e.

 

[haakon1]

The only sense I can make of your statement is that either way, a cleric has the same number of spells/day, BAB, etc. But we were talking about differences in setting, not differences in character statistics.

I think that's the point . . . that only stats matter. I disagree, but some gamers only care about stats and actual combat in the dungeon, with everything else handwaved. Basically, D&D as a video game, but with more flexible and complicated rules.

 

[buzz]

I think that's the point . . . that only stats matter. I disagree, but some gamers only care about stats and actual combat in the dungeon, with everything else handwaved. Basically, D&D as a video game, but with more flexible and complicated rules.

That wasn't really my point, but I elaborated above.

 

[RFisher]

I have two things to add to my earlier comments:

Just to be clear: I would not be above using Middle-Earth as just a map & some names for a D&D campaign just as we always did with all the others.

I have seen (at least some) players invest time to read about a homebrew world that I've seldom witnessed for published worlds.