Age of Worms - Greyhawk or FR better?

[jdrakeh]

Kyuss has been a part of the Greyhawk campaign setting since as early as 1993's "Iuz the Evil." Although his introduction to D&D in the Fiend Folio did not tie him to the setting (the only official one in print at the time), he was looped into Greyhawk a long time before the Age of Worms.

--Erik

I don't know too many people who were playing in Greyhawk circa 1993

 

[Mirtek]

Firstly, Iuz isn't that powerful.

Maybe, but much more powerfull than Kyuss nonetheless (Kyuss: 30 HD, DvR 1 / Iuz: 50 HD, DvR 3)

 

[Snotlord]

As a devoted realms fan, I would have to say Greyhawk. Eric has done a great job converting the series - its delightful to read, as all his stuff is - but FR is IMO a setting of bullheaded commoners, bards and merry mages, and all this doom and gloom of AoW feels wrong somehow.

I hope to run the excellent series in my homebrew setting - a vanilla setting more similar to Greyhawk than FR - at some point.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Where *is* this conversion that everyone keeps mentioning, anyway?

 

[Nightfall]

Follow the link: Link

 

[Vuron]

Maybe, but much more powerfull than Kyuss nonetheless (Kyuss: 30 HD, DvR 1 / Iuz: 50 HD, DvR 3)

Factor in the power level of the Greater and Lesser Boneheart, various demons that managed to withstand Canon Hazen using the Crook of Rao, and the possible aid and assistance of Zuggtomy (assuming she still lives in your GH), Iggwilv and Graz'zt I think it's pretty safe to assume that Kyuss is quite a bit weaker than Iuz especially within Oerth.

 

[Emirikol]

We're running it in HYBORIA (Conan the Barbarian). Minimal changes are necessary. I made Kyuss the Sumerian version of Tiamat. Works great. I'm even running it in a desert instead of the swamp and it was a snap to convert.

The folks at Dungeon are becomming pretty competant at making these things compatable.

Only drawback of this series is a lack of any sense of role-playing. There are 'NPC's but they don't have any conflicting personalities and there just isn't enough follow-up with them.

jh

 

[Emirikol]

I don't know too many people who were playing in Greyhawk circa 1993

Eh?

jh

 

[Davelozzi]

Eric's conversion is good (if a bit overly complex), and AoW can definately work in either world, but in my opinion it really is best used in Greyhawk. There's enough GH ties that unless you have a strong reason to prefer FR (such as players who would only go for a FR campaign), I can't see the point in using anything else.

I know that the original poster didn't ask about Eberron, but since it's come up, I'd recommend against. The overall feel of AoW and the overall feel of Eberron just don't mesh that well, at least not from where I'm sitting.

 

[takasi]

I know that the original poster didn't ask about Eberron, but since it's come up, I'd recommend against. The overall feel of AoW and the overall feel of Eberron just don't mesh that well, at least not from where I'm sitting.

Eberron works very well with Age of Worms. The entire setup with Katashka, the Wind Dukes, the Dark Six (Ebon Triad) cult, Age of Demons / Worms, Sharn, the Spire in Q'barra, the Principality of Redhand...it all works very well to create an epic story where the heroes truly feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders.

For example, IMC Manzorian / Tenser is a dragon bound by the Prophecy. In Greyhawk why wouldn't Tenser join in the final battle? Or Elminster? Or the Harpers? Only in Eberron can you make a believable case that the party of adventurers are the only ones who can stop the Age of Worms. If it's really so terrible then where are all of the power players in the other settings?

The lack of gods is another major issue. Where are the other gods in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms when these events unfold? In Eberron Kyuss is a powerful fiend rajah, not some "demi" god. The AP is much more consistent in the world of Eberron.

As far as "feeling", I think this is more in how the DM runs the game, not how it's setup in a published module. There are many opportunities for intrigue and noir in the backdrops of Diamond Lake, Sharn and Alhaster. There are also a lot of over the top pulp encounters. The encounters are also generally very difficult, making it more suited to the somewhat more powerful options (like warforged and action points) available to Eberron players.