How much of the old setting(s) in the new setting?

[JamesM]

They're trying to make a new D&D, and they're cloaking it in familiarity by using names like Vecna or Tharizdun or Pelor or whatever, mostly to keep people interested in to keep some tangential ties to old stuff just for fun.

This is my belief as well and it's probably the main reason why my initial suspicion of 4E has grown to titanic heights over the last few weeks. This isn't 4E; this is Dungeons & Dragons 2.0. From WotC's point of view, this probably is a no-brainer, but I don't have to like it -- and I don't.

 

[Klaus]

I have to say it: the name, Tharizdum, sounds silly. (quick 10 seconds thought: I like it "gygaxed" into Thar Za Doom... reminds me of Thulsa Doom... hey, waitaminute! Tharizdum DOES sound awfully similar to Thulsa Doom!)

I liked the feeling of dread and mistery back in 1e and 2e when the "elder evil so destructive it had to be locked away by the collective might of all gods" was unnamed, and just speculated to be the Elder Elemental God.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I have to say it: the name, Tharizdum, sounds silly. (quick 10 seconds thought: I like it "gygaxed" into Thar Za Doom... reminds me of Thulsa Doom... hey, waitaminute! Tharizdum DOES sound awfully similar to Thulsa Doom!)

It always scans for me as "There is done".

 

[Sundragon2012]

I am a bit of a purist regarding the sactity of a given setting, even one I don't much enjoy like Greyhawk. I have a real problem with Greyhawk gods as the "core" pantheon but also realize that these gods are only "Greyhawk" gods to those who even know Greyhawk exists or care one way or another. I bet that group is getting smaller every year.

IME DMs who really craft their own settings create their own pantheons anyway while those that run one-shot adventures are more inclined to do the quick and easy grab a god from the book thing.

I don't care about named spells. In my setting as in Dragonlance and Midnight the names are changed to suit the setting. Often this involves nothing more than stripping the proper name from the spell or simply slap the name of a setting relevant mage or cleric on it.

I realize that WoTC wants to leverage popular (relatively speaking) D&D IP to draw folks to the game. That's cool. In my game, in my setting, just like you in yours (if you are DM) are the law, not WoTC, not D&D tropes and not new edition lore unless you want it to be.



Sundragon

 

[RPG_Tweaker]

Additionally, it kind of puts a little Eternal Champion effect on the implied setting.

Arioch existed in multiple realities... why not Tharizdun and Corellon?

 

[MerricB]

Sounds like WotC is taking the names that "say D&D" to their design staff, divorcing them from some or all of their historical context, and rebuilding everything from the ground up in a way that incorporates what they want to incorporate and ignores what they want to ignore (which, in the case of Greyhawk, will be almost everything).

Let's face it: Paizo did the same thing by putting the Isle of Dread in Greyhawk.

(It could be argued that Gary Gygax did the same thing by putting Blackmoor in Greyhawk).

Non-human deities? Let's add them to Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms!

Bloodstone Pass? It's too good to be standalone - let's add it to the Realms! Ditto Kara-Tur. Double-ditto Desert of Desolation.

When you create a world, you can create everything anew, or you can use established elements. Why did Gary choose the leader of the devils to be called Asmodeus? Because it's a name that resonates with us.

Now, here's the thing: why should the designers of the default D&D setting be limited to purely Earth mythology - why not use some of the body of the created mythology of D&D? Tharizdun is a name that will resonate with quite a few players out there...

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

The thing is, upon further reflection, I'm not sure why I feel this way. I don't object to them using names like Mordenkainen's disjunction or the Eye of Vecna. I don't object to the inclusion of Demogorgon or Graz'zt.

Vecna isn't even original to Greyhawk. He was adopted in later.

Cheers!

 

[coyote6]

I have to say it: the name, Tharizdum, sounds silly. (quick 10 seconds thought: I like it "gygaxed" into Thar Za Doom... reminds me of Thulsa Doom... hey, waitaminute! Tharizdum DOES sound awfully similar to Thulsa Doom!)

It's Tharizdun, not Tharizdum.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I never really grokked Rao. Which made some things (Crook of whonow?) somewhat difficult.

Same here. He and Pelor always seemed hard to believe as gods of the common man. It's hard to get a whole lot of passion worked up about such bland figureheads.

 

[MerricB]

Same here. He and Pelor always seemed hard to believe as gods of the common man. It's hard to get a whole lot of passion worked up about such bland figureheads.

Which is why St Cuthbert is the god of Veluna in my Greyhawk campaign and not Rao.

Cheers!