How do you like mixing different settings?

[RFisher]

In possibly my all-time favorite AD&D campaign the DM had Oerik, Lankmar, Kara-Tur, & parts of the Forgotten Realms all co-existing on the same world.

At least, those were the places that we managed to visit.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I've DMed a Planescape/Dragonlance campaign for several years before converting to 3E, and while we did have fun, frankly I'm not at all satisfied with it. Probably, those two settings are way too different; they have virtually nothing in common. I don't know if other crossovers could work better.

You picked a hard pair of books to do a crossover. Dragonlance has very clear moralty and morality is, in some cases, entirely dictated at birth. Planescape morality is set up so that two lawful good elf wizards can be blood enemies. That's a lot of work to do at the very core of both settings. Spelljammer/Dragonlance might have been easier.

 

[RichGreen]

But the deities are more haunting... the pantheon is too good not to use it I don't want another book for that, and making a new pantheon myself is just a waste of time. Do you have any suggestion about how to use the deities without automatically being in Faerun?

As a player, would you feel bad if you played in a homebrew settings with apparently everything "new", except the deities?

Thinking about this, I suppose it's like using the core deities in a campaign world other than Greyhawk and shouldn't be too much of a problem. However, if you're going to use Faiths & Pantheons, a lot of the content is very closely tied in with the history of the Realms and you'd have to rewrite it.

Have you thought about using the Book of the Righteous pantheon? It's very detailed and has it's own mythology.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Li Shenron]

However, if you're going to use Faiths & Pantheons, a lot of the content is very closely tied in with the history of the Realms and you'd have to rewrite it.

I usually don't bother much about planning the past history of the setting world, such as the myth of creation for example. The history of the realms can be true or false, history or legend, it won't truly affect the adventures of the PC, and it's even fine for me if different characters believe in different myths.

Have you thought about using the Book of the Righteous pantheon? It's very detailed and has it's own mythology.

I had the book for a while, but quite too short to have a strong opinion on it. It's a vaild pantheon, but not better than the FR one (which still has more deities IIRC), plus I'd have to buy a very big book and get familiar with it, and at least one player has it and it won't be new either for him.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I'm a big fan of mix and match campaigns, find running or playing in them good fun. Currently Kalamar (not a bad pantheon there), with bits of Dark Sun and slowly introducing Planescape elements.

I find they work best for me if I decide exactly what I'm going to use before I run anything. Keeps it all more consistent.

As for the gods, it depends how important they're likely to be to the players and/or campaign?

For my current campaign, religion was a big driving force for it, so I spent quite a time on the pantheon. For other campaigns, religion was something the cleric payed attention to, the rest of the group wrote on the top of their character sheet and forgot about it - I just used the standard Greyhawk one. No-one seemed to mind.

Old Europe has fallen under the sway of a despot, and bids fair to conquer the world. Can America and Asia forget their squabbles and unite against the menace? Will Mars become involved as trade is disrupted? And who has the Spear of Longinus?

Now that sounds seriously fun. Have you actually run that?

 

[MonsterMash]

I'll try it, but I personally also take away things - e.g. no Greyhawk pantheon IMC

 

[Maggan]

Rip, mix and burn

I love mixing stuff. Mostly I rip out pantheons, and replace them with gods from other campaigns.

Also, cities that are sort of self-contained are forcefully ripped from the ground in one world and dumped into another. I've used Middenheim (from WFRP) in D&D, eg.

My next mixing-idea is to take a standard D&D world, like FR or Greyhawk, and have the Chthulhu mythos invade, throwing the entire world into chaos. A bit like the Scarred Lands, but the usurpers are alien gods from beyond time!

St Cuthbert vs Cthulhu!
Iuz vs Nyarlathotep!

Sounds like pure gold to me!

Cheers!

Maggan

 

[DragonLancer]

I would like to combine elements of different settings but I don't for two main reasons:

1. I wouldn't feel all that comfortable doing so. I'd be chiding myself for not being more original.

2. My players are familiar with most of the classic D&D settings, and they would probably not feel comfortable with it either.

I do like to convert modules though. Thats easy enough and theres plenty to choose from.

 

[Shemeska]

Given the large variety of domains found there, Ravenloft can be mixed with nearly any setting (except DS and planescape perhaps). You can make a weekend-in-hell type adventure i.e. the mist take you for an adventure in RL then bring you back after it / or the PCs find the way to escape.

In fact, in the beginning, RL was planned that way. It is only later that they designed campaigns for RL natives.

Joël

There's not much that you couldn't in some way mix into Planescape. Even if I didn't use Ravenloft as a creepy, mysterious demiplane roving about the deep ethereal and sending out whispy tendrils to snag people off of the prime material, I could still use it elsewhere on the planes. Given the various domains within the Demiplane of Dread, I could easily see placing some of them as domains on various lower planes, as mysterious regions in the far reaches of the Hinterlands of Concordant Opposition, as actual nations on various worlds of the prime material, as is or perhaps struck down by some curse or another, etc.

So much flexibility just inherent in PS to do crossovers.

 

[mythusmage]

Now that sounds seriously fun. Have you actually run that?

Nope, it's the sort of thing I do off the top of my head. Flesh it out and run with it.

And along those lines...

Lord of the Rings and the Cthulhu mythos. Can Sauron and the elves cooperate to keep Middle Earth free of Nyarlathotep?