Forgotten Realms vs. Greyhawk

[theoremtank]

I read on another site that Forgotten Realms was the official campaign setting for 2nd edition AD&D. Why did Wizards of the Coast switch to Greyhawk as the official setting for 3rd edition?

I'm just curious as I believe the majority of gamers are more familiar with the Forgotten Realms characters and setting than any other D&D setting. I would have thought that a company would use the more popular setting for the core rules.

 

[astralpwka]

I think I remember them wanting to have a world available the players could influence more...

 

[dagger]

Depends on how its run by the DM, just like ANY other campaign setting...

I think I remember them wanting to have a world available the players could influence more...

 

[PatEllis15]

They wanted a default "static" world. A place where they could place generic adventures, and which could be used by those DM's who wishes to complete the details.

Because the Forgotten Realms are such a "dynamic" setting, it simply cannot do that.

I suppose that most gamers do know more about FR than Greyhawk now, but at its Core, D&D IS Greyhawk... From the artificats, to its spells...

LONG LIVE GREYHAWK!



Taro Sarask

Pat E

 

[Enceladus]

Depends on how its run by the DM, just like ANY other campaign setting...

For the billionth time.

 

[billd91]

Second edition had NO official setting. FR was just beginning to hit its major expansion around the time of 2nd ed and so it only appears to be some kind of 'official' setting. 3E uses Greyhawk as its 'default' setting and that's not really 'official'. That's a bit of a difference.
The question why use GH rather than FR as the default? To revive interest in GH so they have another sellable setting maybe. Of course business decisions may be changing that and setting books may be scarce for any setting in the not too distant future.

I also think one good reason for including some basic GH deities in the book (really the ONLY significant GH content in 3E core books) is to set up support for the RPGA's Living Greyhawk campaign, which is VERY popular in this area. It's also been getting more respect around here and Gen Con than the FR-based Living City. The idea behind it is pretty interesting too. PCs come from regions based on the home region of the player. Region events are designed and expanded by players living in the corresponding region. Kind of cool. How well it continues to develop... we'll see.

Personally, I prefer GH to FR. It's far less defined. In the 1983 GH set, the country descriptions were only a few paragraphs long. It's quite the playground for DMs. You are given a few pieces of structure and you fill in the rest. It's more of a tinkerer's setting than FR.
FR strikes me as more geared toward DMs who don't have as much energy or time to do their own design. And maybe for players who like to be able to go out and buy their own setting books and have really detailed histories to plug their characters into and with possible NPC contacts from books with whom their PCs can rub elbows.

 

[Enceladus]

Personally, I prefer GH to FR. It's far less defined. In the 1983 GH set....

What the hell?

Hardbacks
2023 Greyhawk Adventures
Boxed Sets
1015 World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
1043 The City of Greyhawk
1068 Wars
1064 From the Ashes

Accessories
9025 World of Greyhawk

2107 MC5 Monstrous Compendium

9292 WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins
9360 WGR2 Treasures of Greyhawk
9386 WGR3 Rary the Traitor
9398 WGR4 The Marklands
9399 WGR5 Iuz the Evil
9405 WGR6 The City of Skulls

9577 The Adventure Begins
9578 Player’s Guide
11374 The Scarlet Brotherhood

Adventures
9065 WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
9112 WG5 Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure
9153 WG6 Isle of the Ape
9222 WG7 Castle Greyhawk
9253 WG8 Fate of Istus
9251 WG9 Gargoyle
9265 WG10 Child’s Play
9269 WG11 Puppets
9270 WG12 Vale of the Mage

9279 WGA1 Falcon’s Revenge
9289 WGA2 Falconmaster
9302 WGA3 Flames of the Falcon
9309 WGA4 Vecna Lives!

9406 WGM1 Border Watch

9385 WGQ1 Patriots of Ulek

9317 WGS1 Five Shall Be One
9337 WGS2 Howl From the North

9576 Return of the Eight
9579 The Star Cairns
9580 Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad
9581 The Doomgrinder

11327 Return to the Keep on the Borderlands
11413 Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff
11434 Return to White Plume Mountain
11621 Slavers

To name a few, most AFTER 1983. Pretty much anything for 1ED was Greyhawk with some exeptions. Pretty detailed to me.

 

[PatEllis15]

quote:
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Personally, I prefer GH to FR. It's far less defined. In
t he 1983 GH set....
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Quote:

What the hell?


Ah... Encaladus, your not serious are you?

Perhaps its all relative...

Was Mystara more or less Defined than Greyhawk? Dragonlance? FR?

Yes to all 3.

What your are not differentiaties with your list is the amount of info. Most of hte items you list are adventures with 2-3 paragraphs of information. Yep, they are certainly juicy, but that is not quite teh same as FR1, Fr2, FR3 etc that served as sourcebooks detailing the major NPC's and locations for each major region in FR.

To quote Bild91 accurately:
"n the 1983 GH set, the country descriptions were only a few paragraphs long. It's quite the playground for DMs. You are given a few pieces of structure and you fill in the rest. It's more of a tinkerer's setting than FR."

Nothing in that is false... FR doesn't need to be defended in the way in which you feel you must...

Taro Sarask

Pat E

 

[Nightfall]

It's pretty obvious what setting I like!

 

[Enceladus]

Ah... Encaladus, your not serious are you?

I was just goofing around kina. I need to remember to pepper some of my posts with more smiley faces.

I prefer Kalamar and FR to GH as a GM. Lots of abbrev. in that short sentence. As a player I'll play in just about any setting.