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From Forgotten Realms to Red Steel: Here's That Full D&D Setting Sales Chart
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 8699330" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>If I could toss this into the mix.</p><p></p><p>There's a fantastic Dungeon Magazine adventure from the tail end of Paizo running Dungeon magazine. Erik Mona is a MASSIVE Greyhawk nerd and just loves the setting and you can see it in a lot of the adventures that Paizo Dungeon banged out. I mean, they didn't call it PaizoHawk for nothing. All three of the first Adventure Paths - Shackled City, Age of Worms and Savage Tides were love letters to Greyhawk. They really were Greyhawk adventures, just with the serial numbers filed off. </p><p></p><p>But, there was one stand out adventure that really caught my eye as probably encapsulating Greyhawk the best called War of the Wielded (Dungeon 149). Here's the elevator pitch:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This, to me, just highlights everything Greyhawk. You have ancient magic - check. You have a completely morally ambiguous conflict (the two factions were both evil) - check. You have a conflict which is ultimately futile and nihilistic - check. There are no heroes in this story really. The conflict is pointless, everyone who was fighting this war is long dead but, the evil of the conflict lingers, causing pain and destruction long after the war is over. It's a REALLY dark story and, honestly, I'd LOVE to turn this into a full blown campaign. What a fantastic seed - the PC's are now embroiled in this secret war being fought between intelligent weapons which use their power to take over people and continue the war.</p><p></p><p>THIS is a Greyhawk adventure in a nutshell. It just hits all the right notes. You wouldn't generally see this kind of adventure in Forgotten Realms (not that you couldn't, of course, but, rather, it just doesn't really fit with the general tone of FR adventures). FR adventures are mostly pretty heroic - Hoard of the Dragon Queen being a prime example. The baddies are really bad. The party is good. Same with most of the WotC Forgotten Realms based AP's in 5e. Evil cultists (generally) are trying to enact some scheme and the heroic PC's are trying to stop them from their dastardly deeds. </p><p></p><p>To me, this is what sets Greyhawk apart from Forgotten Realms. This whole morally grey nature. Even in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, the main source of trade in Saltmarsh as far as the PC's are concerned anyway (she's the only source of magical items for sale) is a tiefling in Saltmarsh, there to trade for food for Iuz. Since Keoland isn't at war with Iuz, she has no real problems doing business in Saltmarsh. This isn't something I've generally seen in Waterdeep where the "good folks" only really deal with other "good folks" and the "bad folks" keep to the "bad folks". I don't see free trade between Waterdeep and some Underdark city, for example. Which is something you totally would see in Greyhawk.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, I've rambled on too long. I hope this does make it clear though what the difference between the settings is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 8699330, member: 22779"] If I could toss this into the mix. There's a fantastic Dungeon Magazine adventure from the tail end of Paizo running Dungeon magazine. Erik Mona is a MASSIVE Greyhawk nerd and just loves the setting and you can see it in a lot of the adventures that Paizo Dungeon banged out. I mean, they didn't call it PaizoHawk for nothing. All three of the first Adventure Paths - Shackled City, Age of Worms and Savage Tides were love letters to Greyhawk. They really were Greyhawk adventures, just with the serial numbers filed off. But, there was one stand out adventure that really caught my eye as probably encapsulating Greyhawk the best called War of the Wielded (Dungeon 149). Here's the elevator pitch: This, to me, just highlights everything Greyhawk. You have ancient magic - check. You have a completely morally ambiguous conflict (the two factions were both evil) - check. You have a conflict which is ultimately futile and nihilistic - check. There are no heroes in this story really. The conflict is pointless, everyone who was fighting this war is long dead but, the evil of the conflict lingers, causing pain and destruction long after the war is over. It's a REALLY dark story and, honestly, I'd LOVE to turn this into a full blown campaign. What a fantastic seed - the PC's are now embroiled in this secret war being fought between intelligent weapons which use their power to take over people and continue the war. THIS is a Greyhawk adventure in a nutshell. It just hits all the right notes. You wouldn't generally see this kind of adventure in Forgotten Realms (not that you couldn't, of course, but, rather, it just doesn't really fit with the general tone of FR adventures). FR adventures are mostly pretty heroic - Hoard of the Dragon Queen being a prime example. The baddies are really bad. The party is good. Same with most of the WotC Forgotten Realms based AP's in 5e. Evil cultists (generally) are trying to enact some scheme and the heroic PC's are trying to stop them from their dastardly deeds. To me, this is what sets Greyhawk apart from Forgotten Realms. This whole morally grey nature. Even in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, the main source of trade in Saltmarsh as far as the PC's are concerned anyway (she's the only source of magical items for sale) is a tiefling in Saltmarsh, there to trade for food for Iuz. Since Keoland isn't at war with Iuz, she has no real problems doing business in Saltmarsh. This isn't something I've generally seen in Waterdeep where the "good folks" only really deal with other "good folks" and the "bad folks" keep to the "bad folks". I don't see free trade between Waterdeep and some Underdark city, for example. Which is something you totally would see in Greyhawk. Anyway, I've rambled on too long. I hope this does make it clear though what the difference between the settings is. [/QUOTE]
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