How constrained do you feel by D&D "canon"

[Glyfair]

In another thread I asked why people prefer demons to devils (for example, Dragon has a series on demons, but are leaving devils alone). One comment frequently given is that they feel that Hell has been covered very well and it's hard to fit new things into it.

Apparently, many feel that they must stick to D&D "canon." I'm not talking about the canon of a specific world in this case, but a generic canon that seems to have developed around the game without being tied to any campaign world. In fact, there are often complaints when a new official campaign world appears that isn't tied into that canon (for example, that Eberron doesn't use the "great wheel").

How constrained do you find yourself in your own campaign world? Do you feel that you have to leave the major players of Hell the same as mentioned in TSR/WotC publications? Do you feel you need to use the Great Wheel cosmology in your campaign? What other elements of D&D canon you feel tied to?

Why do you feel constrained? Is it your own choice, or do you feel your players would expect it?

 

[Crothian]

I like working ion Canon at the beginning and then changing it if needed. Canon is usually what the players expect and understand. So, I establish that it is how things are and then show the changes as they happen so the players can follow along and understand the changes. I'm running Eberron so it's that cannon I'm working with which is a bit easier since there is a lot less of it.

 

[Psion]

I don't feel constrained by it. I pretty much haven't been since some articles made the spelljammer structure of the prime official.

I am, however, interest in the viability of the canon as a source for ideas and material and am disappointed by development that makes it less suitable in that role.

 

[Andor]

I don't feel constrained by it at all. With the one caveat that the players should know how the world diverges from canon, at least to the extent that their characters are aware of it.

 

[Emirikol]

Interesting topic:

My rule is that NOTHING IS SACRED. My goal is to present games to players that are not like cookie-cutter D&D games. Ours is a grim and gritty world, probably darker than that of what Robert E. Howard wrote of Conan. Here are our examples of THE SACKING OF THE CANON OF D&D:

For example: I tell my players, ahead of time mind you..which is the polite thing to do, that they will NEVER face a D&D monster. For example: there are a lot of natural animals and humans in our games but to face a "monster" is a bad thing. There are no orcs, goblins, owlbears, displcer beasts, or elves in our games. THere are nameless tentacled horrors and things from the darkness that you run from or risk 50% attrition from your numbers..unless you have thought long and hard about how to defeat such creatures..and it is never by brute strength alone.

IMC, the gods do not exist..and certainly do not grant spells..clerics are charlatan wizards like anyone else bent on power and corruption. There is no D&D cosmology. There is no balance of gods, one for each alignment that fairly balances power between priest & peasant. Religion is based on subjugating the weak and obtaining power.

Races, as mentioned above, we don't use D&D races. There are 30 or so HUMAN races...just like on earth..but no dwarves, elves, or halflings. I had a guy REFUSE to play in our CONAN game unless he could play a halfling..I still see him frequently looking for a group to play with.

We don't have Raise Dead, Fireball, Magic Missile or several other sacred cows of D&D. PC wizards are weak and will never be strong. NPC wizards are strong, but shallow and easily killled..but might take a few of you with them.

Alignment? Yea, who still uses that mechanic Oh, there's evil, but little good in this world. Everyone has a motive.

EL/CR balance for the level of the party...yea, that's gone too. Each encounter must be weighed BY THE PLAYERS, NOT THE DM. We lost 10th level PC's to lions in the arena in Age of Worms.

Magic items make the character heroic: Yea, this concept is gone too. The whole "magic item shoppe" to placate some material desire by players doesn't exist. It's the characters, not the items..and it's the characters, not their ability scores that make them heroic. Ever wonder why I post all those polls about these things? I test to see what the 'norm' of what everyone here posts, and then attempt to do the opposite.

My players have been playing too long to face yet another D&D cliche sacred cow. NOT knowing what to expect is what got us into D&D....

Hmm, other sacred cows...I'll think of more later..

jh
..

 

[Mark CMG]

How constrained do you feel by D&D "canon"(?)

Not too much, I guess. I've always been one to primarily create my own seting and adventures, though I have plugged in many a core creature.

 

[Doug McCrae]

How constrained do you find yourself in your own campaign world?

Somewhat. The problem is if you say you're running a D&D game the players expect certain things to be true. Every time you change canon, you have to explain that things are different. For example that there's no Blood War, or arcane magic is illegal, or whatever. Takes time away from playing the game.

 

[Lanefan]

I don't feel too constrained by canon, mainly because there's so much you can do and still remain pretty much canon-true.

That said, there's an awful lot of things in the game (1e) that our crew changed so long ago that they've now become our canon...often, I can't tell where the original game design ends and ours starts.

But the true basics - 5 kindred races (plus part-orcs), chaotic demons, lawful devils, a dozen or so base classes, sword-and-sorcery foundation - we've held to throughout, and will likely continue to do so.

Lanefan

 

[Arkhandus]

I don't feel constrained by it. I respect it and I follow it generally, but I have no compunctions against changing or adding or removing things as I please.

 

[S'mon]

I no longer feel constrained by canon. It's very liberating. Actually I guess I can partly thank 3e MoTP for that, it helped me finally break from the Great Wheel.