Fomorians article on DDI

[jodyjohnson]

If the Feydark is the Underdark equivalent in the realm of the Feywild...

Then we're going to have an Underdark equivalent in the real of the Shadowfell.

Shadowdark sounds redundant.
FellUnder sounds more like a comical mishap.
Shadowunder sounds like soiled underwear.
Felldark is only slightly silly and has a catchy comparison to the Feydark.

The Night Below.

 

[small pumpkin man]

The Night Below.

yoink!

 

[The Little Raven]

Um. Isn't "The Astral Sea" just "The Adjective Noun?"

Just like "The Great Wheel," which had it's own completely uniform naming theme, "The <Something> of <Something Else>." And I remember when people criticized White Wolf for their "Supernatural: The Something" scheme.

You can't please all the people all the time, and with RPGs it seems you can't please any people at any time. *shrug*

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Really people complained about Supernatural: The <Something>? I always liked that, made a nice uniform whole for each gameline, and had a theme then for the titles going across each game.

I personally cannot wait till the DMG/specific Feywild supplement comes out to see more art of the Feydark. I am already coming up in my mind some very neat locales.

 

[pukunui]

You can't please all the people all the time, and with RPGs it seems you can't please any people at any time. *shrug*

Perhaps RPG fluff should be a "fill in the blanks" deal ... Seeing as how we're all such creative snobs who want to use our own fluff, if they did that, then we wouldn't complain. Except that those of who don't have time to create our own vastly detailed homebrew campaign worlds would start complaining instead ...

 

[Primal]

That doesn't make it a good name. Well, IMO, as clarified below.

*shrug* I don't see it as much more than suggestions, starting points, and an idea pool. I doubt that you'll need the fluff/PoL gimmick to run 4E.

I think he meant that 4E "hardwires" a lot of these assumptions into the game mechanics. For example, I'm certain that the Fomorians in MM reflects the "fluff" from this article in the game mechanics ('Evil Eye', 'the Curse', 'Summon Dryad Minions') and if you choose to ignore the "fluff" you *also* need to adjust the mechanics. Which is the same as you've got with the magical 'traditions' of the wizard class -- if you don't want Golden Wyverns et al. in your game, you need to rewrite the whole class plus a plethora of Feats.

All in all I'd say that 4E makes a lot of assumptions on the DM's behalf, and all of this "fluff" is more than just assumptions. Therefore, in my opinion it may be far easier to keep running 3E if you don't like this 'Points of Light'-stuff, because I'm not sure whether the effort to change all the bits I don't like is worth it (i.e. it'd be too much trouble).

 

[DandD]

But don't Fomorians in real-world legends have an Evil Eye anyway? Also, let's not exagerate some things. You still don't know if you really will need to rewrite the entire class and all feats just because they have that silly Golden Wyvern-name.

Oh well, can't please the anti-4th edition crowd, but that's okay.

 

[The Little Raven]

But don't Fomorians in real-world legends have an Evil Eye anyway?

Balor, specifically, did. Which is why I always rolled my eyes when looking through the Demon entry.

 

[Wormwood]

The Night Below.

Double yoink!

 

[Primal]

But don't Fomorians in real-world legends have an Evil Eye anyway? Also, let's not exagerate some things. You still don't know if you really will need to rewrite the entire class and all feats just because they have that silly Golden Wyvern-name.

Oh well, can't please the anti-4th edition crowd, but that's okay.

Oh yes, but I was talking about D&D Fomorians, who have always been misshapen "outcasts" of giantkind without any magical powers or fey kingdoms. I fear that in 4E the Fomorians have powers that reflects the "fluff" presented in this article, which means that in order to ignore its contents (i.e. to keep those "traditional" Fomorians in your game) you need to rewrite some of the mechanics.

Well, I assume that each of these 'traditions' have several Feats linked to them, right? Which means that you may have to rewrite, say, probably at least 15-20 Feat names. And I suspect that each of them has a list of powers and Feats in PHB, which means that most likely you have to rewrite at least some stuff in the class entry.