D&D 4E How would you re-envision Greyhawk with 4e?

[IanB]

I think the complaint was valid. You're spamming. This is too many virtually identical threads. All you did was change a word or two here or there. A single thread on "how would you change the various settings" would have sufficed. Not only that, but you duplicated several threads, at least one of which is virtually identical and on the front page right now (Ravenloft).

And it would probably be in your best interest as well, since you've diluted the topic between so many threads that few will be able to stay on top of the forum.

I entirely disagree. It would be a total pain in the ass to try and follow 8 different threads about different campaign settings and what would be needed in a single thread, at least with the board software ENWorld uses. It is far, far preferable to have each discussion in its own thread, and I think the conversation is one worth having personally.

 

[Greg K]

I entirely disagree. It would be a total pain in the ass to try and follow 8 different threads about different campaign settings and what would be needed in a single thread..(text deleted)..It is far, far preferable to have each discussion in its own thread, and I think the conversation is one worth having personally.

I completely agree with this. I don't see what the OP did as spam.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'd start with Bocob realizing that he can't stop the dissipation of magic and that he sacrifices himself to super saturate the lands with magic.

So doing creates a vacum and a gods war takes place.

With the super saturation of magic, wizards wind up going mad and lose control of their powers taking 100 years to gather new lores to replace those lost and they emerge from the ashes in a new world where all the old heroes are dead, save legend whispers that the most popular are still alive.

 

[IanB]

Hm, that's not very "Uncaring" of Boccob.

I could see him sacrificing/imprisoning some *other* deities in order to power things back up though, sort of like a scaled up version of his own protoge Zagyg's god-trap - and as a neutral deity, there's no reason he couldn't pick some good and evil gods to remove.

Sounds like an opportunity to clean up some of the redundant deities to me - we could clean out some of the 53 redundant LG gods of mining for example.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Hm, that's not very "Uncaring" of Boccob.

I could see him sacrificing/imprisoning some *other* deities in order to power things back up though, sort of like a scaled up version of his own protoge Zagyg's god-trap - and as a neutral deity, there's no reason he couldn't pick some good and evil gods to remove.

Sounds like an opportunity to clean up some of the redundant deities to me - we could clean out some of the 53 redundant LG gods of mining for example.

From what I know, he cares... Just he is very, very one-sided and obsessive in a way. Magic. It's all that matters.

 

[The Little Raven]

Only that Star Trek did use some convoluted mutating genetic virus story line to explain the the Klingon retcon anyways...

And there was also a difference in appearance between the first appearance of Klingons in TOS and their second appearance. This was because the makeup guy never saved any reference shots from the first appearance, because he thought they were a throw-away "species of the week."

 

[IanB]

The more I think about this, the more I like it really, and I may just use it.

Zagyg's apotheosis, via the imprisoning of the 9 gods, was really just a test run for Boccob's big plan - he's a scientific sort of god, really, so of course he'd want to test his plan on a smaller scale first. Satisfied that it works, he puts his plan into motion, imprisons a bunch of more powerful gods, and uses the power thus generated to stop the slow fade of magic from Oerth. Maybe he even has the assistance of a couple other similarly-minded, trustworthy allies. Zagyg would help him, certainly - maybe Beory too?

 

[cthulhu_duck]

I'd advance the timeline 10 years on from the end of the Living Greyhawk campaign, incorporating elements of the LG campaign, but allowing for a period in which the writers (including Erik Mona and Sean Reynolds if they could be recruited for this) could make some changes or reveal certain 'new truths' of the world to reflect 4E's changes and innovations.

* Rules for gnome and half-orc PC's.
* Celene, Ulek and the Vesve would all gain elements of the Feywild. Yolande would be Eladrin of course. Other changes that could be made due to ideas from 4E
* The survivor states of the Great Kingdom should be the primary homeland for tiefling characters.
* Stealing an idea from A'koss above, return a number of the great Greyhawk villains to areas of Greyhawk. Iggwilv could return and reconquer Perrenland for example, but it would be more interesting to see her assume control somewhere else - providing an opportunity for her (or another of the great villains) to appear elsewhere with a new legion of followers (the Dragonborn).
* Leave the 4E changes to magic alone, and not mention them (don't see any need).
* Leave Greyhawk's rich diversity of gods intact, but only detail the greater gods (e.g. the 3.5 PHB list) leaving the rest to be mentioned in one or two lines.

 

[Duncan Haldane]

Well, I'd disagree. I don't think Greyhawk or FR improved at all in terms of setting. With respect to Greyhawk, I think they ruined it with the introduction of alchemical items, spiked chains (and similar weapons), and a lot of other things. However, I do think game play improved from to the unified mechanical changes to the core mechanics. On the other hand, I can't speak for Ravenloft or Dragonlance as I didn't check either of them out under 3.x.

I've got to query this. I hate Spiked Chains myself (they are too powerful and versitile, that seem to be the "best at everything super-weapon"), but how do they damage GH, but are acceptable elsewhere?

If you want spiked chains removed from the rules, that's fine, but what is it about spiked chains that is inappropriate in GH that is ok in other worlds?

Duncan

 

[Duncan Haldane]

So, 4e has come out. You are working on the WOTC staff incharge of making the campaign guide for the 4e Greyhawk setting. What changes do you make to the setting? What do you focus on for the players to do? How do you change D&D game play? What changes do you make to the story? What sort of content do you plan for the campaign guide?

I would be very concerned about how one would introduce the 4th ed world changes into Greyhawk, especially changes to races and classes.

Suddenly there are this new race, the Dragonborn, wandering everywhere? I can't imagine you could introduce that without an event. I'm not a fan of "ret-conning" to say they were always there. As well, with the removal of gnomes as PC races that would have an impact IMO.

I think you do need some story-advance to try to explain the sudden changes. It's hard to imagine that it would be acceptable (albeit desirable) to just remove a core PC race from the setting.

Duncan