[Sell Me On] Nentir Vale

[klofft]

[Cross posted with rpgnet - I was just trying to reach a wider opinion pool.]

I was originally going to write an unnecessarily long explanation for my request, but I decided against it.

I'm new to 4e (not to D&D) and I started a new game last night (after fooling with combat and characters for a couple months). I decided to use Kobold Hall and when I was doing the scenes leading up to the "adventure proper," I cribbed off Nentir Vale details, even though I had planned on a homebrew setting for my game.

As I DM'ed, I cribbed more and more off the setting, and now I'm wondering if I should just use it or not. Opinions?

That's my short version.

 

[cpendlet]

Do both. Use it when it works or is convenient and don't use it when you decide not to for whatever reason (even if you never actually do it, it is always an option).

My first session DMing 4e was with Kobalt hall as well

 

[DEFCON 1]

My opinion is that my opinion means nothing. If you use it, fine. If you don't use it, also fine. My personal choice wouldn't change that.

 

[filthgrinder]

The setting is actually meant to be doing just what you did with it. It's a generic sandbox that meant to be real informal and allow the DM to do what they want with it.

It's good if you don't have alot of time/motivation for world building. Lots of little details you can go to when needed, but plenty of room for you to make it your own and add your own stuff. The map is small, so that you can basically run heroic tier there and not worry. That give you plenty of time to flesh out and build out everything else.

The down side is that if you are looking for a richly detailed world, this isn't for you. Also, there are many details out and available for the Nentir Vale, but they are scattered across multiple books and articles.

However, here is the best way to run it. Take what work, abandon what doesn't, STEAL FROM EVERYTHING. As long as you aren't creating a campaign to sell, STEAL STEAL STEAL STEAL! Do you like the lightning rail system from Eberron? Steal it! Winterhaven to Fallcrest line! Do you like the Scepter Tower of Spellguard adventure from FR? Steal it!

The best thing to do is just take the bits and pieces from everything and jumble them together in a big ball of coolness. Your players wont go, "thats not in the Nentir Vale!" or "That isn't canonical!" You just shut them up and say it's your home brew.

 

[The Human Target]

If your homebrew was pretty much a generic D&D fantasy setting, I'd say go for it.

Then you can change whatever ya want whenever ya want.

Thats pretty much what I did.

 

[Matt James]

Nentir Vale is a sandbox for what ever you need. In the off-chance that you own the Conquest of Nerath boardgame, the world is completed in it.

 

[Pentius]

Sandbox is not the word I would use for Nentir, mainly because that word is also used to describe a playstyle that the setting doesn't have to used for.

Here's the thing with Nentir Vale, though. If you want it to be a setting, it is. If you want to use it that way, it works. On the other hand, if, like me, you'd rather treat all the Nentir Vale lore as one big bag of good ideas ready for stealing, then it really, really works.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

[Cross posted with rpgnet - I was just trying to reach a wider opinion pool.]

I was originally going to write an unnecessarily long explanation for my request, but I decided against it.

I'm new to 4e (not to D&D) and I started a new game last night (after fooling with combat and characters for a couple months). I decided to use Kobold Hall and when I was doing the scenes leading up to the "adventure proper," I cribbed off Nentir Vale details, even though I had planned on a homebrew setting for my game.

As I DM'ed, I cribbed more and more off the setting, and now I'm wondering if I should just use it or not. Opinions?

That's my short version.

Nentir Vale can be what ever you want it to be. You can create your own world and have the Nentir Vale as part of that world. You could actually take any campaign setting that you are familiar with and take a little bit of each and combine it into one big setting. If you don't really want to spend the time creating your own then just use what's already there.

Personally I enjoy taking a little bit from each and using it in my own homebrew setting.

 

[klofft]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. To clarify a little more, I'm certainly aware that I can steal stuff - my 3.5 homebrew found room for every official option WotC ever released during the 3.5 run.

But while Nentir Vale is not a full "setting," per se, there IS a map, and there are established "adventure locales," and MV2 is loaded with monsters and plot hooks that actually correspond to the map.

I'm guess I'm looking for a sell me on on using the whole kit and kaboodle in that way. I know WotC intended Nentir Vale to be sort of an "non-setting," but it has become one more and more over the years.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, Nentir is, to my way of thinking, not really a full setting.

Well, you can do heroic pretty easily there, but what to do later?

Still, it is a nice setup of adventures in a small area, so ther is a lot to do there. Teh history is pretty thin for my tastes, but the adventures and such have some snippits.