Whats better... Forgotten Realms or Grey Hawk

[Nightfall]

I vote Scarred Lands! *Thus proving I'm a neutral party! *

 

[Nightfall]

No and the Scarred Lands kill them both dead, dead, dead. Honestly though. I like the Realmss, I like GH, prefer GH but my players look at it and say bland. I look at it and say "oooh, a real world". Scarred Lands arer still better and Kalamar comes a close second. Both are well thought out and not at all haphazard or after thoughts.

Jason

Thanks to Teitan and Tysr (even though I think you're wrong for liking Kalamar! *is kidding*)

 

[Silver Moon]

F.R. or G.H.

Well, I'm not a big fan of mint, but I definitely like Peanut Butter or Caramel filled chocolates. Coconut's not bad, but it's better with almonds.

I think Wizardru's analogy is about right - it's all a matter of personal taste (and I, for one, am not fond of Coconut).

We use a largely home-brew campaign, but last year I ran a module using three different Forgotten Realms source materials that worked great together. I combined the oriental setting from the F.R. Kara-Tur source book, Darkhold Castle from the Castles boxed set, and the F.R. deity Finder Wyverspur and his followers from several F.R. Novels by Kate Novak and Jeff Grub (specs from Dragon and Polyhedron magazines).

If anyone is interested the log for that Story Hour is posted as the following thread:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28642&pagenumber=1

 

[grodog]

Basically, I think it comes down to what we're familar with. [snip] While I'm not an FR expert or have all the old books, I do know the setting pretty well. On the other hand, when I played in a Greyhawk game, I was pretty much lost and confused. I didn't know the gods, geography, history etc. And there wasn't a good place to learn it.

I agree with everyone thus far: it's a matter of personal taste, and whether you are more familiar with one setting over any others out there.

I'm a Greyhawk fan, but I've happily stolen ideas, pieces of modules, spells, etc., etc. from many settings and incorporated them into my version of Greyhawk. The Forgotten Realms is one among good settings to steal from, since there are so many analogues between the two campaigns (FR's ancient Elven Court can be used to fill-out GH's City of the Summer Stars; FR's magics of of Netheril can easily be switched over to GH's Suel, etc., etc., etc.).

With sufficient tweaking, any DM can make any material from one game world adaptable to another.

Oh, and if anyone's still looking for good introductions to Greyhawk, check out www.Canonfire.com.

 

[Decado]

My first choice is always Greyhawk. I grew up playing in GH and love its wide open feel. As a DM I do not like the Forgotten Realms as there is too much written about it IMHO. I know as a DM I can ignore the stuff I don't want to use but I perfer GH openess.
As a player I enjoy FR. My enjoyment comes from having a DM that is very familiar with the setting and plays it well, not knowing the setting and enjoying the sense of wonder I get when we explore new areas and finally having the chance to visit places my PC Characters explored in the Baldur's Gate series of PC Games. If I had to DM a campaign in a different setting from GH or FR I would pick the Kingdoms of Kalamar.

Decado

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Greyhawk.

I prefer the history, dieties, setup and close proximity of the kingdoms, Iuz, Hommlet & the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Tomb of Horrors, and the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and the whole S series of modules. I like the lack of metaplot and the way it's setup as a DM's world to mold to his liking. If I could grab one setting package it would be the 1983 boxed set.

I've played a lot in the Realms in 1e, but I'm tired of it. I'm tired of Elminster, Drizzt, and the whole shebang. I don't ever see myself running a FR game in the future.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Both myself and my players prefer the Forgotten Realms. A whole bunch of stuff which was wacky and/or lacking in 2nd edition was fixed with the coming of the 3rd edition FRCS. First of all the Realms have gotten a little darker in the sense that the forces of evil have grown in strength (examples: Church of Bane, Zhentarim, Red Wizards, etc). Also, you can merely disregard the previously published products from 1st and 2nd edition, instead focusing on published products in 3rd edition. This accomplishes two things:

1. There is more "air" in the Realms, many places remain only vaguely detailed in the FRCS. This makes it easier to implement home-made stuff into your FR campaign. Sure, some places like the Dales and the North are more detailed than most other locations, but they serve a purpose in providing a particular atmosphere and depth (as in more detail).

2. Greater sense of consistency and quality. The 3E Forgotten Realms products are quite good, and certainly extremely beautiful. Magic of Faerun, Lords of Darkness, City of the Spider Queen, Faiths and Pantheons, etc. In addition, the less packed production-cycle means fewer books will contradict each other (as was such a problem with 2nd edition).

Realms-bashing always includes the good, old "There are like so many 40th level characters in the realms and that sucks". Ask my players: they have never encountered any of them.

 

[Warmaster_Horus]

Among the two of them I personally favor Forgotten Realms more than Greyhawk. I feel that as a campaign setting it is way bigger than Greyhawk, and it is easy as a DM to get a corner to run adventures in such a place. However, I don't like the repeated overuse and exagerration of things like Elminster, Drow or Bane and other stuff... The way I run it is that most people don't even know who or what these people and places are.

However among the other campaign settigns, it comes after Planescape, Birthright and Darksun

 

[DDK]

I'v played both. I enjoy Forgotten Realms more.

Here is why...

1. For third edition Fogotten Realms has a more indepth story line.

2. I love the huge pantheon on Toril.

3. I like almost all of the Prestige Classes on Toril.

4. NO Temple of Evil!

MUST... NOT... ANGER... RISING... MUST... COUNT... 1... 2... 3... Calming... 4, 5, 6... almost de-enraged... 7, 8, 9... hey, this works! 10!

Ok, I have 'Troll Sense MINUS 20' but surely this is little more than an attempt to start a flamewar? Nice to see it didn't work.

Regardless, I HATE this sort of thing. By that I mean the reasons presented above. As a fan of GH it irks me to no end when I see falsities perpetuated by people who know jack-all-and-nothing about the setting.

If they DID know, of course, then they wouldn't be spreading such lies. What irks me most about this is that the people who spread them do so in an authoritative manner, as if they DO know what they're talking about.

Let's look at the above and dissembow... err, disseminate.

1. For third edition Fogotten Realms has a more indepth story line.

What the? My god man, have you read ANY GH material? Part of the reason the GH fanbase is so incredibly divided is due to the sheer amount of depth, story, plot and material that is available. Everyone seems to have their own definition as to what is and isn't Greyhawk. The sheer amount of 'canon' information that is available for GH easily rivals that of FR.

As a person who bought into FR (fiscally and mentally) from about '88 onwards and who now has made an effort to research and find old GH material, I can almost claim that there is MORE GH material than FR material. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm simply NOT sure of exact figures I would go so far as to make that claim.

2. I love the huge pantheon on Toril.

Geehsus, you really don't know much about GH, do you? There are so many damn gods on Oerik that this is another bone of contention for GH fans. Some love it, some hate it, but none can deny the plethora that exist. In fact, I think a list was published in the LGJ (Living Greyhawk Journal in Dragon) which was nothing more than a text list and yet spanned several pages.

I'd even, hesitatingly, say that a lot of FR gods are nothing more than copies of GH gods. One example that stands is Lolth (hell, they didn't even change the name). Much like a lot of the monsters presented in the 'Monsters of Faerun' book were originally GH monsters... sigh, if you knew the history, you'd lament just how much has been nicked from GH and relabelled as FR. To then have FR fans claim how wonderful their world is and point out examples that were originally GH is... well... frustrating.

3. I like almost all of the Prestige Classes on Toril.

Err... ok... good for you! But umm... two things, what's stopping you from using the Archmage PrC on GH? Or adapting the Red Wizard PrC for the Circle of Eight or a secret cult of Vecna (heh, they're all secret)? Aside from which, there are BILLIONS of PrC's to choose from so I really don't see this as a valid criticism of a world and therefore I dont' see it as a valid argument for preference. Go check out Librum Equitis V. 1 & 2... I'm sure there will be PrC's there that you can use for Oerik OR Toril.

I'll assume the last one is a joke.

Before dismissing Greyhawk, I suggest you actually do a little digging. There is an abundance of free material on the net (legal, too) as well as fan-based articles a lot of which is of high quality. Go check out www.canonfire.com for loads of free stuff.

Oh, and yeah, I prefer Greyhawk