D&D 4E What do you think should be the primary source of inspiration for 4ed flavor?

[Grog]

Elements of the old cosmology are certainly drawn from other places, but anyone who has ever read any of the Planescape books (whether or not they liked them) will agree that it had a very distinctive portrayal of them, and of the universe in general.

So the creators of the old cosmology took lots of different real-life myths and legends and cobbled them together to make the D&D planar universe. I'm not seeing how this is any different from what the 4E designers are doing.

 

[Daztur]

The thing I lked about the Great Wheel cosmology was that it was distincly D&D.

The thing I didn't like about the Great Wheel cosmology was that it was distinctly D&D. I don't want to use D&D rules to run D&D campaigns, I want to use D&D rules to run the kind of fantasy campaigns that I want to run. The new more flexible, simple and open-ended cosmology is a beautiful step in that direciton.

 

[resistor]

So the creators of the old cosmology took lots of different real-life myths and legends and cobbled them together to make the D&D planar universe. I'm not seeing how this is any different from what the 4E designers are doing.

I am saying that they took elements from real-life myths and legends, and reimagined them D&D-style. That's different from just gluing them together.

 

[Grog]

I am saying that they took elements from real-life myths and legends, and reimagined them D&D-style.

Again, I'm not seeing how that's any different from what the 4E designers are doing.

 

[resistor]

Again, I'm not seeing how that's any different from what the 4E designers are doing.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree, because it reads to me like gluing a bunch of stories I've already read together.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I voted myth and legend, but if this was a check box poll and had a few more option, I would have prefered that.

Overall, my own tastes in fantasy arise from a mix of traditional myths and folktales, ancient eastern philosophy, and lots and lots of videogames.

I don't really think traditional D&D lore fits my inspiration very well at all. The Great Wheel and many other classic flavor elements are not very kind to mythological entities, completely fails to provide a "mythological feel", and obviously does not refelect the other two very well...

I would prefer to have D&D flavor be more receptive to my own sources of inspiration.

 

[WayneLigon]

That is, their ideas are evolving from games (D&D mechanics and MMORPGs) instead of literature.

The most grievous example of this is the endless and lazy compounding of words in order to make new "fantasy" words. The inclusion of things such as "city magic" (Cityscape, not 4e) and "emerald frost" are other metagenre offenses that belong on the face of a magic card, not in a RPG.

Because God knows writers never, ever do that.

" 'Rivendell'? Oh, I get it, it has a river that flows through a valley. How much time in the thesaurus did you spend to come up with that one, professor? Jeez, just call it 'Riverdale' and put Betty and Veronica in the background. What a lazy bastard."

 

[TarionzCousin]

" 'Rivendell'? Oh, I get it, it has a river that flows through a valley. How much time in the thesaurus did you spend to come up with that one, professor? Jeez, just call it 'Riverdale' and put Betty and Veronica in the background. What a lazy bastard."

:sob: ...but, but... Tolkien... :WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!:

I didn't vote. I want a combination of everything. I like what I'm seeing so far.



P.S. Veronica.

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

I voted 'modern fantasy' because there are just some interpretations going around that I really like (Hamilton's take on Faerie in the Merry Gentry series, Butcher's take on same & more in the Dresden Files).

Lucky for you, that's been done.

 

[Li Shenron]

All of them are good sources, but I will always put real-world mythology and cultures a step above the others.

At least because you get the incidental benefit of learning something while you are playing