Difference between FR, Eberron, Middle Earth, Greyhawk etc.

[reanjr]

I briefly owned the Silmarillion.

I read about 1/3 of the way through it but it just couldn't hold my interest. A lot of names and just general "stuff" gets thrown at you and I found it difficult to follow. Personally I think it reads kind of like the bible, only with elves.

I'd also like to find that map I mentioned but I'm having no luck with it on google. Kinda leaves me scratching my head where the old rommate got it from.

I used to have a pretty nice Middle Earth map out of an old hardcover edition of Fellowship of the Ring. I do not remember if it covered the lands to the east and south, though.

There are several products out that are collections of maps or an atlas of Middle Earth. Just look around on Amazon.

 

[reanjr]

I briefly owned the Silmarillion.

I read about 1/3 of the way through it but it just couldn't hold my interest. A lot of names and just general "stuff" gets thrown at you and I found it difficult to follow. Personally I think it reads kind of like the bible, only with elves.

I'd also like to find that map I mentioned but I'm having no luck with it on google. Kinda leaves me scratching my head where the old rommate got it from.

I used to have a pretty nice Middle Earth map out of an old hardcover edition of Fellowship of the Ring. I do not remember if it covered the lands to the east and south, though.

There are several products out that are collections of maps or an atlas of Middle Earth. Just look around on Amazon.

Oh, and Silmarillion is awesome. That's a fantastic book by any conceivable standard.

 

[Nyaricus]

Just a quick note: The Encyclopedia of Arda is a great online resource for LotR stuff, and has some great background info

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I would say that Eberron has a number of elements in it that set it well apart from Greyhawk / Forgotten Realms.

First is that the setting explicitly provides for many pseudo modern conveniences / technologies. There is a lightning rail, which provides trains. There are also airships, which gives you air travel. There are also established banks and postal services. These are things that simply do not quite exist in most D&D games. The game also provides for a PC class that is aimed directly at making magical items, which in turn will give you magic item stores. In terms of the tech availible, as a player it reminds me very much of Final Fantasy 6.

There are also a few PC races. Warforged, Shifters, and Changlings, and the setting also includes psionics. Warforged are essentially magical robots. Shifters are descended from lycanthropes, and Changlings are descended from Dopplegangers. Warforged are the one race that really stand apart from the other D&D settings.

The rest of the setting, the moral ambiguity, the dragonmarks, are the sort of things that could easily enough exist in other settings. The extent to which the pseudo tech has been integrated into the setting is in my experience, unique.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Raven Crowking]

Great post.

Thank you, Sir.

 

[buzz]

One of the biggest problems I've had with published settings is that the players simply couldn't care less about it beyond perhaps a bit of character generation bits.

I don't know if I would consider it a problem, but my experience matches this.

But, I don't think D&D, as a system, really cares about setting, beyond "character generation bits." I don't think that I ever actually used a setting (beyond pointing to the Greyhawk map and saying, "Uh, you're here") until 3.0. Even then, all that really changes are the names of the gods, and then not even all the time.

The setting is built into the system. All you need for D&D is adventures. Settings exist to sell you splatbooks and novels.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I don't think that I ever actually used a setting (beyond pointing to the Greyhawk map and saying, "Uh, you're here") until 3.0. Even then, all that really changes are the names of the gods, and then not even all the time.

Ah, buzz, now I understand why our perspectives are so different.

For me, D&D has always been about setting. This is true whether you are talking about a campaign or a one-shot adventure. If you are running Savage Tide or WLD, the things that make that setting unique, the ways in which you can build up the setting's particular atmosphere, and the ways in which you can make the players gain a sense of the ancient dust-ridden halls, the dark stony forests, and the salt spray of the sea are, to me, what make this game worthwhile.

The Ravenlady of Rookhaven may be an interesting character in her own right, but how much more interesting she becomes against a backdrop of mist-wreathed lakes, haunted forests, and the ruins of forgotten peoples.....

RC

 

[kenobi65]

Good post, Zsutherland, but one nit...

Gandalf calls himself a wizard, but much of the magic we see him along with his personality is more akin to divine magic. Indeed, all the mithrandir would probably be described (in D&D terms) as good-aligned outsiders from the upper planes.

"Mithrandir" is actually Gandalf's name among the elves. I think the general term you want (for him and the other wizards) is "Istari".

 

[grahamdrew]

It's rare that I say this, but I agree completely with RFisher.

One of the biggest problems I've had with published settings is that the players simply couldn't care less about it beyond perhaps a bit of character generation bits.

There have been a number of settings that I've been very excited about as a DM (Dragonlance, Planescape, etc), but for some reason Eberron has been one of the few that my players picked up on as well. In a way it's a lot more "aproachable" from a player's standpoint. Of course, I still have yet to start that Spelljammer campaign up...

Andrew Beard

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

I don't really have much to add to the discussion but since Tolkein is being talked about here, I figured this link may prove interesting:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_en_ot/books_new_tolkien_1

It looks as if Christopher Tolkein is going to have published the 'Children of Hurin', something his father started and he is finishing.