What 4e Fluff do you Like?

[Khairn]

I just purchased the two preview books Wizards presents Races & Classes and Wizards presents Worlds and Monsters and I've been extremely impressed with them so far. I honestly think if more of the stuff in these books had been included in the PHB and MM, there would have been much less of a "4e lacks fluff" reaction after the release of the initial books.

Agreed. The preview books were very well done and filled with snippets of outstanding fluff and outstanding landscapes that left me wanting more, especially about POL. Unfortunately the 3 initial books contained very little additional fluff that I found interesting. A lot of what was presented was "OK", but I found little that was really creative and unique.

From what I'm reading here it looks like WotC has increased the quantity and quality of the fluff in more recent publications which is great. But as a setting and fluff junkie, I've found little in WotC's current 4E worlds that really grabbed my imagination and made me want to play. I'm hoping that once WotC has finished their practice of publishing recycled settings, that they come up with something new and creative that has been designed with the 4E mechanics from the ground up.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Believe it or not, a lot of the fluff I like is in the statblocks. For instance the Kobold and Goblin statblocks both tell me that they are slippery little buggers - but in subtly distinct ways. (Kobolds sneak around, goblins get out of your way fast). And they do this far more clearly than three paragraphs of text could. Also the 4e statblocks tell me far more than previous editions about how the monsters think. (One good example is the Kuo-Toa Monitor. There was a lot in the 2e MM about that sucker - but the 4e statblock tells me how it does what it is supposed to whereas the 2e one basically said "Big Kuo-Toa").

 

[Old_school_overlord]

Underdark book has a page on Grell Philosophies that absolutely blew me away - its easy to throw in a line about how Aberants have bizarre and inhuman mentalities, its alot harder to actually make some, and for these to have interesting in game hooks.

Then, they go ahead and give each of the philosophies a crunchy monster theme power, so you can mechanically differentiate them...top notch work.

 

[avin]

One of the 4E defenders myself, I think 4E fluff is absolutely *insert filter word here*.

There are some good exceptions, like Fomorians... but everything seems dumb downed and explained for a 7yr old audience.

Admin here. We call this threadcrapping -- it seems designed to insult people and start a fight. Don't do it, please. ~ PCat

All subtle agendas and mystery were removed in the name of Gods vs Primordials stuff. Some fluff removed just because some designer dislike it. Yugoloths gone? "yeah, it's very hard to have a 3rd aspect of things, let's keep everything dual".

Too bad I can't engage in a optimal argumentation in english to explain in details... =(

 

[SkidAce]

Twist/Plot Idea: The Far Realm is annoyed by this "reality" draining into its unreality, and wishes to close the Abyss. (Which probably seems great, since it means fighting Demons,but turns out bad, because it means reality is draining into itself, causing it to implode.)

When I converted my homebrew to 4th I made a similar notion one of my campaign secrets.

The Abyss is like a black hole in reality. The farther down you go the more tainted things are because the walls of the cosmos are gettng thinner and thinner, until finally everything dissapears into the "black hole/far realm".
This explains why some of the worst demons seem like abberations and such. Dagon I'm looking at you. (He belongs with HPL imo anyway).

The hole occured because Tharizdun wanted more power than this reality could give him and he summoned a ruby gem shard from the far realm, creating the initial crack, which turned into the hole when he cast it aside. A highly placed angel tried to close the hole and even chipped a piece of the ruby gem off, but failed.

Hehe...

Similar but different, letting me keep some of the plots from over the years of homebrewing.

 

[Stormonu]

Hmm...I guess I don't understand why folks think so much of the Dawn War. Personally, having been introduced to a Primordial-God war back with Scarred Lands in 3E, 4E's Dawn War didn't grab me as very interesting so much as it seemed "stolen" (and refined a bit). Of course, the whole Primordial (Titan)-God war is pretty much first appeared back in Greek myth anyway, so that part isn't original even for Scarred Lands.

 

[Votan]

Believe it or not, a lot of the fluff I like is in the statblocks. For instance the Kobold and Goblin statblocks both tell me that they are slippery little buggers - but in subtly distinct ways. (Kobolds sneak around, goblins get out of your way fast). And they do this far more clearly than three paragraphs of text could. Also the 4e statblocks tell me far more than previous editions about how the monsters think. (One good example is the Kuo-Toa Monitor. There was a lot in the 2e MM about that sucker - but the 4e statblock tells me how it does what it is supposed to whereas the 2e one basically said "Big Kuo-Toa").

I think that this is rather insightful. A lot of the coolest things in 4E are coming in how different monsters play and act in the game. This makes them feel unique and inspires neat ideas about how each type might act or exist in the world.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

. . . 4E's Dawn War didn't grab me as very interesting so much as it seemed "stolen" (and refined a bit).
. . .

Isn't there some famous saying that great art is stolen, or something to that effect? Also, that there are no new ideas? Regardless, you seem to be implying that something must be wholly, untaintedly, original to be appreciated by those "in the know". Just sayin'.

 

[Hussar]

Hmm...I guess I don't understand why folks think so much of the Dawn War. Personally, having been introduced to a Primordial-God war back with Scarred Lands in 3E, 4E's Dawn War didn't grab me as very interesting so much as it seemed "stolen" (and refined a bit). Of course, the whole Primordial (Titan)-God war is pretty much first appeared back in Greek myth anyway, so that part isn't original even for Scarred Lands.

But... but... but.. they're borrowing from SCARRED LANDS. That's gotta count for all sorts of cool.

But, yeah, it's certainly got a fair bit of resonance between the two. Since I loved SL, the 4e cosmology is great. Even better since it doesn't have to try to shoehorn the 3e cosmology into SL.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Of course, the whole Primordial (Titan)-God war is pretty much first appeared back in Greek myth anyway

That's why it is so great.

Many aspects of the Points of Lights don't feel like some alien, remote or abstract concept. It feels like it is actually creating a mix of all the ("Western") traditional myths and folklore.

They Feywild ties into ideas of Faeries and fairy tales. The entire setting is closer to our* cultural heritage then something abstract like the Great Wheel and the Blood War ever have been.

This is in some ways old and unoriginal. These are stories we might have heard before. But they are not necessarily stories that have been told "with" D&D, stories that we have played through.


*(well, "our" if you are within the Western/Eurocentric part of the world)