D&D 5E Bigby Doesn't Call His Homeworld Oerth :)

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, and Greyhawk is at least somewhat familiar to many players. If he'd used the proper name, most people wouldn't have known what on Oerth he was talking about.

Not just to players, but to characters who are not native to that world.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Not just to players, but to characters who are not native to that world.

Why are most characters in the world naming the whole place after one free city in the Flanaess?

(As for why the campaign setting is called the World of Greyhawk, that's for marketing, of course. Everyone knew that Gygax's home campaign was Greyhawk. But the in-game characters would never refer to the world itself as Greyhawk. Admittedly, this mistake continues in other places - I still remember when Spelljammer first came out and it referred to the Greyhawk sphere as Greyspace.)

 

[MarkB]

Why are most characters in the world naming the whole place after one free city in the Flanaess?

(As for why the campaign setting is called the World of Greyhawk, that's for marketing, of course. Everyone knew that Gygax's home campaign was Greyhawk. But the in-game characters would never refer to the world itself as Greyhawk. Admittedly, this mistake continues in other places - I still remember when Spelljammer first came out and it referred to the Greyhawk sphere as Greyspace.)

Greyhawk, Greyhawk, the city so nice they named it twice.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

As a Chicagoan, I get the precedent in defaulting to the city. (I mean, I live 40 miles west of The Loop, but I still tell folks from anywhere else that I'm from Chicago as shorthand. And then they ask me how many times I've been shot at. And I sigh.)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

As a Chicagoan, I get the precedent in defaulting to the city. (I mean, I live 40 miles west of The Loop, but I still tell folks I'm from Chicago as shorthand. And then they ask me how many times I've been shot at. And I sigh.)

That's fair in the US - my wife is from South Bend, and unless people know Notre Dame etc. (which a surprisingly large number of British people do) we usually just have go with "near Chicago" unless we want to go into some sort of elaborate explanation of where it is.

Whereas in the UK, if you called somewhere 75+ miles (or even 40 miles) from London "near London" or "London", people would look at you like you were completely insane.

There was a great example of this cultural divide when UK Queer as Folk (set in Manchester) first went on US TV, and Manchester was described as "town just north of London" by a US TV guide. Manchester is a city of half a million and is "halfway up the country" - i.e. about 200 miles away by road.

 

[Arnie_Wan_Kenobi]

That's fair in the US - my wife is from South Bend, and unless people know Notre Dame etc. (which a surprisingly large number of British people do) we usually just have go with "near Chicago" unless we want to go into some sort of elaborate explanation of where it is.

Whereas in the UK, if you called somewhere 75+ miles (or even 40 miles) from London "near London" or "London", people would look at you like you were completely insane.

There was a great example of this cultural divide when UK Queer as Folk (set in Manchester) first went on US TV, and Manchester was described as "town just north of London" by a US TV guide. Manchester is a city of half a million and is "halfway up the country" - i.e. about 200 miles away by road.

Oh, for sure. And my experience is that we Chicagolanders are the worst offenders. (e.g.: I don't know many Wisconsinites who say "I'm from Milwaukee" when they're from Kohler. But using "Up North" might be a close enough localization of the effect for argument.)

Reminds me of the old cliche: "Americans think 100 years is a long time and Brits think 100 miles is a long distance."

 

[deganawida]

Oh, for sure. And my experience is that we Chicagolanders are the worst offenders. (e.g.: I don't know many Wisconsinites who say "I'm from Milwaukee" when they're from Kohler. But using "Up North" might be a close enough localization of the effect for argument.)

Reminds me of the old cliche: "Americans think 100 years is a long time and Brits think 100 miles is a long distance."

Well, I tell people that I’m from Savannah, even though I’m an hour away. Just easier.

 

[Vaalingrade]

He pronounces it "Erf' before punching things with his huge hand.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

It's fine, Bigby, a planar traveller, simply refers to it by the name it is commonly known by, not by it's formally correct name.

I don't tell people "I am from The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

Why not?

I'm thinking of telling everyone I come from the Dominion of Canada.

 

[Zardnaar]

That's fair in the US - my wife is from South Bend, and unless people know Notre Dame etc. (which a surprisingly large number of British people do) we usually just have go with "near Chicago" unless we want to go into some sort of elaborate explanation of where it is.

Whereas in the UK, if you called somewhere 75+ miles (or even 40 miles) from London "near London" or "London", people would look at you like you were completely insane.

There was a great example of this cultural divide when UK Queer as Folk (set in Manchester) first went on US TV, and Manchester was described as "town just north of London" by a US TV guide. Manchester is a city of half a million and is "halfway up the country" - i.e. about 200 miles away by road.

In US terms it is just up the road and it's a town

For us/me 500 kilometers north/south is a decent drive but 200 km east to west is massive.

Extreme case is 27 km distance is a 5 hour drive.