Recent content by CruelSummerLord

No, no, a thousand times no. Do this and you'd kill many of the aspects of the setting that attracted fans to it in the first place. For one thing, having those multiple similar nations adds a subtle layer of realism to the setting. To a North American like me, the nations of places like the...

One issue with Greyhawk is that it's many different things to many different people. To me, Greyhawk is a much lower-power setting than, say, FR with its 18th-level archmages and magic items readily available for sale. One of the things I've always hated is the notion that PCs can just stroll...

Regarding adventurers not necessarily being qualified to make administrative and policy decisions, I'd disagree with that notion based on the examples of Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. They lived over three thousand years apart, but they were not only active in directing their...

If you follow that link and look in the comments section, a guy named Anders sums up a lot of my own personal feelings on the subject (I'm 27, so I could be considered part of the younger generation). Before I get into that, though, I'd also mention the phenomenon of how older media can end up...

One of the greatest appeals of Greyhawk, and one that Gygax himself pointed out in the 1E Dungeon Master's Guide, was that a lot of the setting's details were left deliberately sketchy so individual groups could put their own spins on it. You could make the world dark and bloody, more...

There's been a lot of great responses in this thread, and suffice it to say that I agree with most of them, such as fantasy being more forgiving and sword-to-sword combat being more epic than an impersonal gun battle. My two coppers are as follows... -First off, fantasy fires my imagination...

Thanks. I should admit that my initial portrayal of the Brotherhood is somewhat inconsistent, as the Hold of the Sea Princes were plagued by slave revolts and infiltration by the Scarlet Sign, as I wanted to incorporate certain aspects of canon to not make it so abrupt. Later, I realized this...

Hence why my ideal game would be a hybrid of all three editions, with the 3E skill system and feats being combined with the 1E attack tables, saving throws and combat system, and the 2E rules for specialized wizards and THACOS. That was what I truly hated about 3E, the sense that you...

Oh, that's fine. If most of the PCs have to make do with non-magical weapons, it only makes sense that they buy things like Oil of Impact or Oil of Sharpness to temporarily enchant their weapons when they run into things like perytons or gargoyles. Again, selling things like potions or oils...

Heh, thanks. I actually have a lot more material just like it at www.canonfire.com. Go there, enter my username into the search engine, and there you go. Treatises on every major nation in the Flanaess, analyses of the military, profiles of various rulers, takes on history, travel guides...

What about in a campaign where there are no magic shops? I myself hate the idea of just being able to go in and buy a magic sword or shield right off the shelf, pre-made to order; capitalism is all well and good in the real world, but this is a fantasy setting. Buying potions is one thing...

Forked from: Where Has All the Magic Gone? This discussion leaves me wondering-how many magic items do you see anymore that are not related to combat in some way? I mean, if you look at the old 1E DMG and Unearthed Arcana, you have weird stuff like a Decanter of Endless Water...

Oh man, I have been waiting for a topic like this for such a long time. I absolutely hate, loathe and despise From the Ashes, and I have all sorts of ideas for an alternate take. Now, yes, the Greyhawk Wars did happen-with the return of Iuz and the Scarlet Brotherhood, not to mention the...

Thanks for the replies. My own gaming fiction would be standard swords and sorcery fare, I admit, albeit one where the characters are extensively developed, and as much effort is put into character development and getting to know them as people, as there is into the fight scenes. Since I'm...

(NOTE TO MODERATORS: I don't know if this thread is on-topic or not, but it seemed like an appropriate place to put it, since it has to do with plots and places, and many of the posters would know what I'm trying to get at.) Gaming fiction, whether rightly or wrongly, gets a very bad...