Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder vs. Greyhawk campaign settings

[Shemeska]

It depends on personal interest a lot. For myself, the greatest part about fantasy worlds are the new and unique cultures and to explore their society and learn to understand their culture. Generic settings don't provide anything in this department.
But if you are mostly interested in having an environment for your adventures that is easily accessible and can be understood almost completely with just applying the knowledge of mainstream fantasy you already have, then a generic setting is a huge improvement and something like Dark Sun or Planescape would be a major obstacle for the group. You would have to dump most or even all of your preexisting knowledge of fantasy worlds and learn everything again, and many of the popular plots you enjoy can't be replicated well within the special circumstances of the world.
It's a very different use of a world, which results in completely different requirements.

I've not had problems running Planescape inspired material in Golarion's cosmos, it heavily inspired it.

But your point about Dark Sun and such is noted. Given the region to region differences though, I think the setting allows itself to be used for games with different atmospheric expectations and themes, which was the intent. And the various nations aren't islands either, they've got interaction and history between them.

 

[Yora]

Well, Planescape is designed in a way to be easily integrated into other worlds. But when we say "playing a Planescape campaign", we're usually really saying "playing in Sigil". And Sigil doesn't work like anything else.

Except the Zamonia novels. Just switch some names, and nobody would ever notice they are not reading an official Planescape novel. ^^

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

You may not like it, but there was a lot more:

Greyhawk Adventures, City of Greyhawk, Greyhawk Wars, From the Ashes, three or four regional sourcebooks, and two books (one focused on DMs the other on players) set after the war, whose names escape me right now.

Not to mention a lite 3e gazetteer and a heftier Living Greyhawk Gazetteer for 3e.

Basically, Greyhawk most certainly is a complete setting, with much source material, history, maps, adventures, etc.

I can't really comment on Golarion, though, having only played a small portion of Legacy of Fire. I haven't touched Greyhawk in years, but I used to play heavily in it and I do like it.

 

[Elf Witch]

There are times I enjoy a vanilla world especially when I am playing with a DM who is just not good at world building. As a player I like to know about the world especially the areas my character is from. I often get frustrated with the lack of information some DMs put in their homebrew.

I think I would say I like Pathfinder a little better than Greyhawk because most of the information is one book not spread out all over the place like in Grayhawk.

 

[fireinthedust]

I am not sure what you mean by this. Pre 3e, there was

1. the original Greyhawk folio about the lands and cultures (no mention of skin color).
2. Len Lakofka's Dragon articles about the Suel people of Greyhawk to which Gary added notes

3. Gary's Dragon articles including
a. Gary's Barbarian class article included a bit on the various "barbarian" cultures and each culture altered the classes weapon selection and "skills"
and all of this was in the 1e Unearthed Arcana
b. Gary's Dragon articles about the deities and quasi deity's of Greyhawk.
The pantheon presented in 3e was not the same, but a mix of the Gary's deity's plus Lakofka's the Suloise pantheon (which appearedlafter Gary's set of deity articles). However, most of not all of Gary's remaining deity's were among those listed in the 3.5 Complete Divine.

4. The Greyhawk box set which, if I recall correctly, incorporated a lot of Gary's material from Dragon sans the Barbarian class.

Buh-wuuuuuuh?

Where were you all these years when I was asking around for Greyhawk sourcebooks? I'm sure I've asked on various boards a number of times and always the only response I get is "uh, it's just the default". And no, Google told me nothing at the time.

Fie!

Oh well, I stand by what I said. It wasn't the setting I grew up on (that was Ravenloft followed by FR), and I've had more interaction with Golarion than with Greyhawk.

However, should someone wish to run a Greyhawk or Golarion -based game for me, I'm up for it!

 

[haakon1]

I've always liked Greyhawk . . . in fact, I've never played or run another published D&D setting, with the exceptions of Oriental AD&D setting in the 1980's and Nentir Vale (more of a proto-setting) now.

My Greyhawk is a combination of:
-- Living Greyhawk Gazeteer from 3e era
-- 1983 Greyhawk boxed set
-- Paizohawk setting (Shackled City and the other Dungeon Adventure Paths)
-- play history for my various campaigns
-- borrowings from online sources like the AOL Greyhawk board in late 1990s
-- borrowings from lots of modules, including Paizo ones

For example, my email campaigns is set in Bissel. My Bissel has a town called Piren's Bluff, which is directly lifted from Golarion, since I ran the Paizo module "The Last Baron". I kept the church of Asmodeus as is, and made light changes to the politics to fit -- it really wasn't a lot of heavy lifting to make it fit that part of Greyhawk.

The Keep on the Borderlands (combo of 1st Edition TSR version, 2nd Edition TSR version, a little Hackmaster and a little homebrew), the Pohl Dubh Doracha from a Dungeon adventure (2e), Dzeebagd from a Troll Lords adventure (3e), Oakhurst from WOTC's Sunless Citadel (3e), and many more modules and homebrew ideas are all just in little Bissel in my game.

A setting with room to add a lot of fun stuff works really well for me -- I shift the published materials for stuff that fits, and then snap it on.

 

[amerigoV]

Buh-wuuuuuuh?

Where were you all these years when I was asking around for Greyhawk sourcebooks? I'm sure I've asked on various boards a number of times and always the only response I get is "uh, it's just the default". And no, Google told me nothing at the time.

Fie!

Cripes man, you have 2k posts on this board and never managed to see this thread (which just popped back up again)?

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/296532-greyhawk-collectors-guide.html

 

[Drowbane]

I've never cared for Greyhawk. I got into (A)D&D in the summer of 89. I was 10yrs old and trying to get into Greyhawk at that age was for me very difficult. It came off "dry" and "boring" to me.

My first campaigns were set in Cormyr and later my group(s) experimented with other FR regions and eventually Dark Sun, Ravenloft (mostly in Barovia), and Planescape. In 3e we continued to play in FR, tried out Eberron and returned to FR.

So... my experience with Greyhawk is rather limited. 23yrs later I am still not a fan. However, after taking a look at the Inner Sea book for Golarion, I do like that setting. Far more than I like Pathfinder itself, I might add.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

I like both, for different reasons.

I like Greyhawk because I've been DM'ing in it since the folio was brand spanking new (re: 1980, iirc). I find Greyhawk to be the defacto setting for "classical medieval fantasy".

What I mean by that is that when I picture a group of guardsmen lead by a knight and a ranger, out patrolling the borderlands of the Yeomanry and The Tors (north of the Hold of the Sea Princes), I picture men on horses. They are outfitted in ring-mail, have spears, perhaps a mace or warhammer at their side, and a round, wood-and-metal-rimmed shield. The knight has chainmail, a lance, a longsword, dagger and a steel shield emplazoned with the standard of the Yeomanry and his house. The ranger is in studded leather, and has a battle axe strapped to his back, and a short bow and quiver of arrows, along with a dagger. All are regular men, of average, if a bit more muscular, build of the typical human male. Equipment is mundane, with nothing out of the ordenary.

Now, for Golarion, it seems to be a much more "cartoon-fantasy" (I hesitate to say 'anime', because it isn't...but has elements of it, for sure). A group of guardsmen out patrolling the borderlands of Brevoy and Numeria I see men on horses. Men all of imposing stature (at LEAST 6'), with strong builds and chiseled features. They all ride massive horses, clad in scale barding. The men themselves wear banded mail, thick and imposing, with etched runes and prominant spikes and/or rivets. Swords hang at their sides, each looking like it weighs 20lb or more, and each in an odd design, with jagged-teeth along the middle, tapering out to a curved point. Daggers, likewise fanciful, on their other side. Shields are huge; easily 2' wide by 4' high, with a strange shape...perhaps a inverted curve at the bottom, and the top two corners flared out like horns from some fantastical beast. The knight is in full plate; etched in runes and phillagree, with huge spikes and a massive chest piece that is carved in the face of a smiling demon. His bastard sword is heavy...looking like it weighs at least 50lb or more, and with a few artistic holes placed through the middle of the blade and two jutting spikes near the pommel. No shield, but his gauntlets look like they could be used as make-shift bucklers from their sheer massiveness. The ranger is in studded leather, black as night, with far more buckles than any sane person needs. A dozen slender daggers are latched to the front, side and arms of this man, who can barely be seen under his flowing black cloak that seems to suck in all light around him. His bow is in the shape of a crecent moon, with the gripping area of the middle being protected by a brace, with spikes, of course.

That's the difference. Greyhawk is more "realistic fantasy, with fantasy-logic applied" and Golarion is more "fanciful fantasy, with logic ignored in favor of looking cool".

Both are fun. I like both. Other than Greyhawk, Golarion is my current favored world...I really like the diversity and the fantastic nature of everything. In fact, I just started a campaign in Golarion, using the Dark Dungeons rules (we just don't much care for 3.x style rules)...and the campaign is specifically geared towards the PC's just wandering around checking out places and things that peak their interest. Should be a lot of fun!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Dragonhelm]

My own tastes lean more towards Golarion. To me, the Pathfinder setting seeks to capture the feel of several classic adventures. I look at Ustalav (sp?) and think of Ravenloft, while Numeria gives me the feel of Keep on the Borderlands, City of the Gods, and Tale of the Comet. The list goes on.

Greyhawk never quite captured me in the same way. Maybe it's the presentation, being an older product with B&W artwork. Certainly, I like elements of it and have stolen adventures for my old Forgotten Realms game.

Too bad I can't just put the two together and call it Greylarion. Or can I? Hrm...

I'm kind of curious where Mystara falls in this discussion. How does it compare with Golarion and Greyhawk?