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<blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 3799237" data-attributes="member: 1003">This should have been a &quot;check the box&quot; poll ...I selected &quot;D&amp;D tradition&quot; as the 'primary' source, to ensure that it's still D&amp;D (as opposed to Ars Magica or Arcana Evolved), but the other sources are all viable.Using folklore is cool because it draws on a rich and old source material, which has survived the centuries precisely because it appeals to something is us.&nbsp; It's almost guaranteed to be &quot;minimally acceptable&quot; as long as you don't muck with it too much.&nbsp; That's why (even if I'm not crazy about the name) I really like the Feywild - it allows hags, dryads and treants to be in their &quot;natural habitat&quot;, which makes them much more powereful from a storytelling p.o.v.By &quot;modern fantasy&quot;, I assume you mean &quot;other people's new ideas&quot;, as opposed to &quot;other people's repetition of folklore.&quot;&nbsp; Sure, that's always good.&nbsp; After all, D&amp;D originally drew quite heavily on the &quot;modern fantasy&quot; of its era - Tolkien.&nbsp; That worked out well enough.&nbsp; If something in a George R.R. Martin book really works for a lot of people, copy it.&nbsp; It's what all the best artists do.As for original ideas, yeah, that's cool.&nbsp; Don't try to re-write D&amp;D from scratch, but if someone comes up with something that lots of people find genuinely cool, use it.&nbsp; Just be careful not to get caught in an echo-chamber where everyone is &quot;on board&quot; with the new idea of the month.&nbsp; This one can be dangerous that way.&nbsp; But if you're careful to poll a fair number of outside-the-office opinions and are genuinely open to constructive critcism, lots of good ideas can be generated this way.&nbsp; It's how Pixar comes up with hit after hit.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Irda Ranger, post: 3799237, member: 1003"] This should have been a "check the box" poll ... I selected "D&D tradition" as the 'primary' source, to ensure that it's still D&D (as opposed to Ars Magica or Arcana Evolved), but the other sources are all viable. Using folklore is cool because it draws on a rich and old source material, which has survived the centuries precisely because it appeals to something is us. It's almost guaranteed to be "minimally acceptable" as long as you don't muck with it too much. That's why (even if I'm not crazy about the name) I really like the Feywild - it allows hags, dryads and treants to be in their "natural habitat", which makes them much more powereful from a storytelling p.o.v. By "modern fantasy", I assume you mean "other people's new ideas", as opposed to "other people's repetition of folklore." Sure, that's always good. After all, D&D originally drew quite heavily on the "modern fantasy" of its era - Tolkien. That worked out well enough. If something in a George R.R. Martin book really works for a lot of people, copy it. It's what all the best artists do. As for original ideas, yeah, that's cool. Don't try to re-write D&D from scratch, but if someone comes up with something that lots of people find genuinely cool, use it. Just be careful not to get caught in an echo-chamber where everyone is "on board" with the new idea of the month. This one can be dangerous that way. But if you're careful to poll a fair number of outside-the-office opinions and are genuinely open to constructive critcism, lots of good ideas can be generated this way. It's how Pixar comes up with hit after hit. [/QUOTE]

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