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For the Love of Greyhawk: Why People Still Fight to Preserve Greyhawk
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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8076232" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>I mean, yes? It could be that it is.</p><p></p><p>You seem to be working on a false idea that because something is compelling to some people (and nothing is compelling to everyone, least of all RPG settings), it's universally appealing or easy to describe. This seems like a bizarre principle for an RPG player to work on, given RPGs themselves are neither universally appealing, nor easy to describe in a way that makes sense and makes them sound appealing.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>First off, this isn't a valid comparison, because it's far easier to explain a story than it is to explain an RPG setting, unless the setting has really massive and obvious hooks. I mean, if I tried to describe the Forgotten Realms or Planescape - I mean particularly Planescape - they're probably going to be either incomprehensible, or sound totally rubbish. The problem Greyhawk has is that in the vaguest terms, it's just "the AD&D setting" - a lot about AD&D/D&D just derives from elements of it - but a lot of that is stuff that's been lost, minimized, or shoved aside by more modern tropes. The blasted very points-of-light world (which only 4E even sort of did), the mercenary nature of a lot of the adventurers there, the focus more on neutrality and survival than good against evil and so on.</p><p></p><p>Second off, you're proving my point re: compelling to one person not meaning easy to describe, because that would definitely not sell me on it, and it sounds a bit like sort of stuff anime fans generically overhype about anime. Yet I suspect because you're even discussing it, it actually is pretty good! (Though I do see maid outfits in one picture of it which makes me narrow my eyes because to me they're an "Anime Red Flag". I've had enough of anime that makes to like somewhere between episode 2 and 6 before it's like "SURPRISE! I'M FOR PERVS!!!" - not suggesting this but maid outfits hmmmm)</p><p></p><p>And you seem to think someone needs to have read a lot of Sword and Sorcery to like Greyhawk? Nah. That's a misunderstanding. You need to know what Sword and Sorcery is to have Greyhawk <em>properly described to you</em> in like, less than 2000 well-crafted words. This is how culture works, mate. People share stories and ideas and use them as shorthand, as shared understand. You seem to be rejecting culture. I mean, good luck if you get stuck on a planet with a Tamarian! People have tried, bravely, to describe it, but without also having that hard-to-define S&S vibe, I don't think you're going to get the full picture.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8076232, member: 18"] I mean, yes? It could be that it is. You seem to be working on a false idea that because something is compelling to some people (and nothing is compelling to everyone, least of all RPG settings), it's universally appealing or easy to describe. This seems like a bizarre principle for an RPG player to work on, given RPGs themselves are neither universally appealing, nor easy to describe in a way that makes sense and makes them sound appealing. First off, this isn't a valid comparison, because it's far easier to explain a story than it is to explain an RPG setting, unless the setting has really massive and obvious hooks. I mean, if I tried to describe the Forgotten Realms or Planescape - I mean particularly Planescape - they're probably going to be either incomprehensible, or sound totally rubbish. The problem Greyhawk has is that in the vaguest terms, it's just "the AD&D setting" - a lot about AD&D/D&D just derives from elements of it - but a lot of that is stuff that's been lost, minimized, or shoved aside by more modern tropes. The blasted very points-of-light world (which only 4E even sort of did), the mercenary nature of a lot of the adventurers there, the focus more on neutrality and survival than good against evil and so on. Second off, you're proving my point re: compelling to one person not meaning easy to describe, because that would definitely not sell me on it, and it sounds a bit like sort of stuff anime fans generically overhype about anime. Yet I suspect because you're even discussing it, it actually is pretty good! (Though I do see maid outfits in one picture of it which makes me narrow my eyes because to me they're an "Anime Red Flag". I've had enough of anime that makes to like somewhere between episode 2 and 6 before it's like "SURPRISE! I'M FOR PERVS!!!" - not suggesting this but maid outfits hmmmm) And you seem to think someone needs to have read a lot of Sword and Sorcery to like Greyhawk? Nah. That's a misunderstanding. You need to know what Sword and Sorcery is to have Greyhawk [I]properly described to you[/I] in like, less than 2000 well-crafted words. This is how culture works, mate. People share stories and ideas and use them as shorthand, as shared understand. You seem to be rejecting culture. I mean, good luck if you get stuck on a planet with a Tamarian! People have tried, bravely, to describe it, but without also having that hard-to-define S&S vibe, I don't think you're going to get the full picture. [/QUOTE]
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