Do you use the DnD "lore" or do you make it your own?

[Iconik]

Personally, I find going by the book ridiculous. Feywild. Deva. Half-elf. The pantheon. I make it my own. For instance, Deva are called Aliunde and I altered their history a lot from what WOTC gave us. Elves are called Nineviil in my world and there are 4 strains. About 80% of the races in the game do not exist and NONE of the Gods or Goddesses are in game. There is no Feywild or Order of the Golden Wyvern (corny!).

So, do you stick by the book? I know they don't set anything in stone or force you do use this or that. But, for instance, they say that temples in the DnD world are always open. Why?

Do you use Moradin or the Astral Sea or do you go hogwild like me and create entirely your own world?

Collapse Under the Empire

 

[Henry]

In a lot of cases, I stick to previous flavor, because I like it better. I prefer Eberron's original plane structure, for instance, to the strong inferences to the new planar stuff. "Is Dolurrh just another name for the Shadowfell? Hell, No!! Your characters have never HEARD of this 'Shadowfell'"...

Nothing is written that says the default flavor text is inalterable. In fact, in the case of 4E powers, I insist on it, because some of the descriptions I've seen are so poorly written it's pretty blatant.

 

[Argyle King]

I create plenty of my own stuff, but I also try to keep it tied to a lot of the established familiar elements. When sitting down to play a game of 4E, players (IME) tend to expect certain things, and don't seem to be quite as comfortable with change as they might be in other games.


A recent example I can think of is when working on my current campaign. Other than monks, psionics are currently unavailable, and there is a very solid story reason for this, but I've found it a little more difficult to have people I play 4E with accept change.


so... I guess to answer your question, I love to world build and create my own stuff, but I try not to stray too far from the path when GMing 4E. A fair portion of the people I've played with seem to be unhappy when a 4E element is unavailable or altered more than casually. Just my experience though; I'm sure things have turned out differently for others.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

Bit of both, with the very unfamiliar like planular things it's easy to go with the books. But if you can make it up, go ahead.

We've made the classes slightly race specific, with swordmagi only taken by Elves or Eladrin. Then there's the rivalry between humans and elves as they're currently at war in the campaign world with half-elves despised by both sides as traitors and interlopers.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yeah, I can't imagine answering this with a yes/no or an either/or. I use the default stuff that I like; I make up other stuff. And it changes by campaign, depending on the world, the anticipated stories/adventurs, and the feel/mood I'm going for.

 

[the Jester]

Both. I like adapting cool flavor into my game, but there are other instances where it contradicts long-established "Cydra canon", in which case I either stick to mine or decide on a good way to integrate the two together.

 

[Aegeri]

Both. If I like it I use it, if I dislike it I make my own or take an interpretation from elsewhere I do like. Fluff is infinitely and easily mutable to your whims as a DM - especially when there isn't strict "canon" to show otherwise. I use a lot of core fluff in my FR games (as it's often flat out superior IMO). The core origins of Sharns for example is the default in my FR games, but that is because the FR origin is utterly terrible and boring.

 

[Iconik]

So both it is, huh? Like I said...I world build from the ground up. Absolutely everything. I've spent a sickening amount of time on the lore in my campaign as evidenced by some of the posts on the blog I linked above. There's 10 times that much typed and printed that I haven't put up on the blog yet.

This is good stuff from you guys. See, I can never see me doing a game where the world is already built for me. Half the fun for me is making up Gods, old rivalries, ancient civilizations, wars, histories, people, tribes, etc etc etc.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

See, when the world is built for you there's a lot of things you don't have to explain. Say when you play Star Wars, I have to do a lot less exposition as everyone at the table is a fan or can just ask someone else about it.

 

[Kingreaper]

I don't stick by the book exactly, but I would never change the name of a well-known race like Elves, without good reason or major changes to the race.
I can't see the value added; it seems like it'd kick people out of immersion having to translate the word "elf" to something else every time.

I have changed the names of elves for one campaign concept, entirely 4e inspired. Elves became Half-El, or El-Halves, or "Elves" for short. They were the bastard offspring of the Eladrin and mortal races.

Mostly it's twisting of preconceptions, while leaving everything that's unstated as the standard setting. An example of the twisting: Melora was once a primal spirit, or perhaps several. She became a god to kill the gods. In doing so, she left behind her primal energies; binding them to a primordial's corpse, and telling it to consume the children of the Gods.
This became the Tarrasque.

The Tarrasque was eventually trapped in a valley now known as either The Larder or The Abyss, depending who you ask. Those who call the valley The Larder have never had to slice the meat off its bones.

The Tarrasque's captor (Torog) is now worshipped by jailors and slavers everywhere; but has become infected with energies from the Tarrasque and gone insane.
The Tarrasque itself is referred to as the Chained God, the Son of Melora, or the Consumer. The original town built around it is now referred to as Tarrazton, or Tharizdun...