Opinion: PoL and high tiers do not fit in the long run

[DandD]

So you're one of those "simulationists" that the other guys mention occasionally?
D&D is in the end only a game, where many things never made sense to begin with, and never will. The rules don't have and shouldn't reflect the world it takes place into, unless you absolutely want it. Also, these monsters are options given to the Gamemaster to set it as challenges to the player-characters. In Eberron, Mind Flayers are beings from another dimension. In the Forgotten Realms, they're inhabitants from the Underdark. In your homebrew, they simply might be space pirates riding giant manta-rays for fun, and are all chaotic-good.

 

[xechnao]

D&D is an adventure roleplaying game and it needs to somehow satisfy adventure simulationism by providing the necessary info. If I have as a GM to make everything up and use D&D only for the monster skirmish combat rules why bother with D&D when there are dozens of more focused products for fantasy skirmish out there?

FR and Eberron as you say provide such simulationist reasons or cosmology. If 4e comes without perhaps I will have to wait when 4e FR comes out and see.

 

[DandD]

D&D is THE fantasy skirmish-focused game. The most famous of them all. It spawned Warhammer Fantasy Battle, which became successfull on its own.
Some monsters are picked up from real mythology (and done poorly), like the medusa, the djinns, dragons and such, while others are original creations (mind flayers, githyanki, other stuff). And the game designers of 4th edition said that they don't want to force their background ideas specific to the races to the Gamemasters who wish to create their own homebrew setting. The Tiefling city of Bael Turath doesn't have to exist at all in your world. It's just a name, for GMs to play with.

You seem to be mostly interested in the Forgotten Realms. I suppose that yes, you should simply wait and see. Perhaps it won't interest you. Than you can still play with your older material. The WotC super-secret ninja assassins won't be able to burn your collection down, anyway. Rumors are, they don't even exist at all.

 

[Fenes]

The more I hear about 4E, the more I like the mechanics, but the more I hate the fluff.

 

[DandD]

Fluff? As in background? Points of Light is only a concept, not a detailed background.

 

[xechnao]

D&D is THE fantasy skirmish-focused game. The most famous of them all. It spawned Warhammer Fantasy Battle, which became successfull on its own.

Ok, but still there are other more focused at present IMO -regarding 3e d&d that is: we haven't seen 4e yet.
But that's another thread.

 

[Klaus]

PoL and paragon or epic tiers do not fit in the long run.

Why not?

At the higher tiers, YOU are the Point of Light.

And at the end of a campaign, when you become a god, you can then turn the tables on the darkness. What worthier goal could there be in a PoL setting than to make it no longer PoL?

 

[xechnao]

What worthier goal could there be in a PoL setting than to make it no longer PoL?

Yes, that's the point and what I meant by saying "in the long run".

 

[Fenes]

Fluff? As in background? Points of Light is only a concept, not a detailed background.

Anything beyond the mechanics. Call it background, call it fluff, call it campaign concept.

 

[DandD]

Ok, but still there are other more focused at present IMO -regarding 3e d&d that is: we haven't seen 4e yet.
But that's another thread.

There might be other who are better at fantasy skirmish battle in your opinion. But nobody can deny that D&D is the most famous of them all. When people talk of D&D (at all), they think of some guy in armour, a pointy-eared dude with a bow, some slutty-dressed chick with a staff, and a grumpy bearded midget hacking and wacking at big lizards and little critters with spears.
The setting is only the place where the hack&slay takes place.
Some GMs want to be creative and original, and create their own world, cosmology, and stuff. Others don't want to bother themselves with such time-consuming chores, and so they want pre-defined game settings.
That's okay for everyone.