Ralif Redhammer
Legend
I'm not sure I'd describe it as "lit af" unless you call getting together with a bunch of friends, eating pizza (not me, because I was a weird kid and hated melted cheese until I was a teenager), drinking soda, playing AD&D for giant 6-8 hours stretches, then winding down with some Nintendo or a movie on VHS, lit. Though now that I typed that out, as an adult living during the ongoing pandemic, yeah, that sounds hella awesome.
But it was pretty cool how the worlds were so open. Heck, even Forgotten Realms, back when it was still just the grey box and a handful of supplements, had plenty of open space. There were sessions where I'd just unfold one of those giant maps and ask the PCs "where do you want to go?"
Looking at the numbers for OA, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and the Manual of the Planes, one thing that strikes me is how sales for RPG books back in the day absolutely cratered after the first year. The World of Greyhawk release appears to have had better legs than the others, but it still dropped by over 100,000 units. You can almost feel people looking at all these numbers and arriving at the strategy of massive blasts of product that would characterize 2e-4e.
But it was pretty cool how the worlds were so open. Heck, even Forgotten Realms, back when it was still just the grey box and a handful of supplements, had plenty of open space. There were sessions where I'd just unfold one of those giant maps and ask the PCs "where do you want to go?"
Man, growing up in the AD&D era with Greyhawk and Dragonlance must have been lit af. Its kind of sad that modern D&D doesn't have a setting that is as easily manipulable as Greyhawk was; FR just has a lot more that I have to examine, whereas with Greyhawk, I could literally add anything.
Yes yes, its still around, but I'm young, so you already know I want the new, shiny thing.
Looking at the numbers for OA, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and the Manual of the Planes, one thing that strikes me is how sales for RPG books back in the day absolutely cratered after the first year. The World of Greyhawk release appears to have had better legs than the others, but it still dropped by over 100,000 units. You can almost feel people looking at all these numbers and arriving at the strategy of massive blasts of product that would characterize 2e-4e.