How much of the old setting(s) in the new setting?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Cuthbert rocks. He works as a patron for everyone from a heroic dragon-hunting paladin, to a scary ruler-swinging parochial school nun, to a charismatic leader who blurs the lines between the secular and spiritual and for a terrifying inquisitor.

And he could slap the sass out of both Rao and Pelor with one hand tied behind his back, to boot.

 

[coyote6]

Same here. He and Pelor always seemed hard to believe as gods of the common man. It's hard to get a whole lot of passion worked up about such bland figureheads.

If Pelor was like your typical "benevolent sky/sun father/king", I could see it (and in fact, that's how I tend to portray him).

Rao, OTOH -- god of reason? When has reason been popular?

And, on the original point, I don't mind Tharizdun being swiped for use as a big bad primal god of oblivion. Aside from his presence in iconic adventures, he doesn't seem terrifically tied to Greyhawk; not like, say, Wee Jas or Xan Yae or even Heironeous and Hextor.

 

[Erik Mona]

Rao, OTOH -- god of reason? When has reason been popular?

Um, during the Age of Enlightenment?

--Erik

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Its seems like change for the sake of change to me.
As a comic fan it would be like DC doing another Crisis on Infinite Earths and in the New Reboot Superman isnt from Krypton he's a metahuman. Thats not superman.

When I see all these changes to D&D that so far have no story explaination it feels the same way to me. If they come out and say that due to some unforeseen fallout from the Bloodwar is what causes the new Demon and Devil stuff.
If they change Greyhawk or Faerun, there better be a good reason why. Mystra banned 10+ spells. They now have 25th level spells. They kill Mystra. Problem solved. Thats ok. But change for changes sake is wrong and dumb no matter what they come up with.

 

[broghammerj]

It's actually a rather intelligent way of going about things, but it's going to look like a deformed mongoliod stillbirth to a lot of people for a while.

I think the best way to cope is to just say: This isn't Greyhawk. It looks like Greyhawk in some ways, and some of the names are familiar, but they're not trying to make a new Greyhawk (yet). They're trying to make a new D&D, and they're cloaking it in familiarity by using names like Vecna or Tharizdun or Pelor or whatever, mostly to keep people interested in to keep some tangential ties to old stuff just for fun.

--Erik

Erik,

Just curious why you thinks its an intelligent move? The mongoloid stillbirth is turning me off a bit.

I respect everything you have done with Greyhawk in Dungeon and I am not even a Greyhawk fanboy. I think Paizo stayed pretty true to Greyhawk from the Dungeon adventures my DM ran for us. Doesn't turning what you know and love into a mongoloid stillbirth bother you just a bit?

Call an onion a rose and it still stinks like an onion. To me thats what they are doing with core fluff.

If anything I would prefer things be totally new abandoning Tenser, Vecna, etc. That would be a real act of creativity.

 

[coyote6]

Um, during the Age of Enlightenment?

--Erik

Yah, but was that a popular religious movement?

Besides, hasn't it been downhill ever since? :\

 

[Mortellan]

I dislike the direction these fluff changes are going since it will be more work for me to incorporate (or counter-ignore wotc) 4E at my table. I can actually appreciate wryly that Tharizdun will affect the Eberron universe or whatever. My eye will be on FR and Eberron to see how much they adopt of these new 'core' cosmology changes.

 

[Lackhand]

Onions smell great while frying, are delicious, and are fairly good for you.

Yum.

forgot a good thing about onions: they'll always have a place at my table, too

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Well, to be honest, it's nothing new conceptually for me. I've used bits & pieces like Vecna's artifacts & the like without keeping them in Greyhawk or the like. Recently, I've pretty much taken Warduke wholecloth & used him in my homebrew, scrapping the Horned Society flavor text in lieu of something more compatable with my campaign.

There is a part of me that would prefer for a more generic terminology for game mechanics (esp. spells), but I can see the appeal in using these items as-is.

However, I think I'll be throwing out a lot of the fluff mixed in with the crunch presented with the 4e books, mainly since that fluff serves no purpose for me or my campaign. And, unless the fluff is really, REALLY tied to the mechanical crunch in the books somehow, it really won't be a problem for me.

So, yeah, WotC can go ahead and use whatever names & whatnot they want in their rulebooks. Doesn't mean that I have to adopt it, though.

 

[CleverNickName]

Here's the recipe for my 4E homebrew:

Bring the old Mystara campaign to a full boil...this will rid the classic game setting of the flat-tasting game mechanics, leaving you with the maps, names, and people. Be sure to include the "Isle of Dread" and the "Keep on the Borderlands;" these are essential for the classic flavor we are going for. Mash 2 lbs. of psionics from Dark Sun , 1 lb. of vampires from Ravenloft, and 5 lbs. of Forgotten Realms-brand Drow, Underdark, and Lolth malt with enough of the Mystara to make 2.5 gallons. Add 5 AAU of my custom hops blend at the 60-minute mark of cooking, for a rich, tropical island flavor.

Aerate well, and ferment at 69 °F (21 °C), using the 4th Edition yeast (non-Warforged variety.)