D&D General Greyhawk setting material

[lowkey13]

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[Aaron L]

boggle

You, sir, just put forth the best argument I have ever seen for alignment languages.

I am convinced!

(blush)

Why thank you, my friend! I am sincerely honored!

I just think there is so much more to Alignment Languages than "HAHA how do you speak Chaotic Evil?!" Or the old joke about Lawful Good peasants who hear their teenage son speaking Chaotic Evil with his friends one day and confront him about it later at the dinner table, yelling "we didn't raise you to use such language, young man!" (although that is admittedly a funny joke.) As if speaking the Chaotic Evil tongue is just using really, really foul language (although the CE Tongue probably would be pretty foul and contain lots of profanity!)

It's a genuine shame that people dismiss Alignment Languages out of hand as dumb, without ever bothering to try to understand why they existed and what their purpose was.

 

[Parmandur]

So, here's a fun exercise: what sort of Module reprint sandboxes ala Ghosts of Saltmarsh are a good fit for Greyhaw/generic D&D?

I've got:

1.) All the Slavers stuff, the original modules plus any other Pomarji material over the yeares, with an expanded sandbox description of the region: maybe Patriots of Ulek?

2.) T1-4 with the surrounding countryside described in some detail: maybe throw in S4 and WG4 (for geography and level appropriateness) or City of Skulls (to get a Big Bad in there).

3.) N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God & environs, which are not far from Saltmarsh as the crow flies: N1 is the only Mithril Seller on DMsGuild for pre-5E material, the single best-selling old module in PDF. I2 and I7 are nearby, as well, and Red Hand of Doom is in the same vicinity for Greyhawk purposes.

4.) Castle Maure would get a classic module and one of the best-regarded Dungeon Magazine adventures in one go.

5.) D series, mixed with Night Below (set in the Yeomanry and below if used for Greyhawk, physically right next to the D modules AND near Saltmarsh, and provides a low level "in" for the Underdark), maybe big Dungeon Underdark stuff like Kingdom of the Ghouls. Rules for Dungeonerring survival, maybe?

6.) Gates of Firestorm Peak?

7.) The L modules?

 

[LordEntrails]

I just think they are really cool and flavorful, and add a whole other layer of esoteric/magical culture to the world of D&D, and to Greyhawk specifically. I get really irked by people who say the Alignment Languages are dumb, especially since their complaints about them usually make it clear that they don't actually understand what the ALs are supposed to be in the first place.

I was/am one of those folks. Because I simple didn't understand all of what you wrote. But then again, was this actually detailed anywhere? Decades later you have this great explanation for alignment languages, but at the time, when I was a pre-teen, where was all this explanation for what alignment languages where?

The Alignments were known philosophical schools of thought in the world of Oerth, and the Alignment Languages were their jargon. A semi-magical jargon that was partly divinely granted.

So... not a language but a vocabulary?

The Alignment Languages weren't normal languages; you couldn't go to the local Lawful Good butcher and use the Lawful Good Alignment Tongue to order a beef tongue. p) They were a specialized jargon dedicated to discussing the finer points and details of the Alignment, and would be made up of words for very specific concepts of the philosophical positions espoused by each Alignment.

So not really useful except is some very specific role playing contexts that murder hobos never encountered? g

words that would only be useful in philosophical discussions about Lawful Good

You're not selling me on the usefulness of alignment languages anymore

Since the Hit Points, Saving Throws, and other abilities gained through achieving higher levels are in large part gained through the grace and power of the Gods and other cosmic entities and beings of magic,

Wait, doesn't this fly in the face of the essay linked earlier about what made GH different from FR? I thought the characters were the "doers" and that the gods were not puppet masters in GH...

It's a genuine shame that people dismiss Alignment Languages out of hand as dumb, without ever bothering to try to understand why they existed and what their purpose was.

Again, some of us were pretty childish when introduced to GH and alignment languages and such inferences were well beyond our capabilities. And even now I wonder the value. I mean I can see and understand all of what you have written and it makes sense, but I still don't see a use for it unless you are in a world where the gods are all powerful and the characters are just puppets of the various gods' wills...

 

[lowkey13]

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[Parmandur]

Great question!

My first thought, because it's always my first thought is ....

drumroll ...

S3. Barrier Peaks, baby! How better to introduce the slightly off-kilter world of GH than with Barrier Peaks?

Or, if they could do it, S2-S4 + WG4 (which is really S5).

(As for the other suggestions- I would go with either the A series or the D series).

Barrier Peaks is getting reprinted in December by Goodman Games with 5E conversions and material expansions, so WotC has no plans to do anything else with it anytime soon (B1-2, B4, and X1 are similarly off the menu: apparently, Goodman has a list they can choose from that WitC has no plans for using). Similarly, S2 is already in Tales from the Yawning Portal along with S1.

It's not that WG4 was meant to be S5, rather S4 was meant to be WG3, following WG1-2 (Hommlet and the Temple of Elemental Evil, respectively). But things got messy around then...

 

[lowkey13]

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[Parmandur]

gah!

I don't know whether to be happy (Goodman Games does a great job) or sad that they are abandoning that particular IP to third parties, which means that they are likely NOT going down the slightly gonzo route.

I hear ya

ep. I was just indicating the shared lineage/story of S4 and WG4, which is not readily apparent today.

Not readily apparent, but Mearls knows that, and S4 and WG4 are his favorite modules of all time.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

So, here's a fun exercise: what sort of Module reprint sandboxes ala Ghosts of Saltmarsh are a good fit for Greyhaw/generic D&D?

If I could pick one, I'd like to see the D series, plus Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Against the Giants has already been adapted so it could be a high-level sequel to that.

And curve-ball suggestion, Age of Worms reprinted an collated in one book.

 

[Parmandur]

If I could pick one, I'd like to see the D series, plus Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Against the Giants has already been adapted so it could be a high-level sequel to that.

And curve-ball suggestion, Age of Worms reprinted an collated in one book.

The 3.x Dungeon APs might be a good idea,not sure if there are any rights issues with Paizo?