What exactly makes the Greyhawk Campaign Setting

[M.L. Martin]

Yes, Tolkien was a serious Catholic and CS Lewis was a lapsed Ulster Protestant who later became a serious Catholic, hence his works are the most overtly religious of any children's fantasy I know.

Lewis was Anglican, actually, although strongly inclined towards many Catholic beliefs and practices.

Matthew L. Martin

 

[S'mon]

Lewis was Anglican, actually, although strongly inclined towards many Catholic beliefs and practices.

Matthew L. Martin

Anglicans are Catholic - officially, anyway, although the Anglican Church of Ireland is certainly seen as a Protestant church. However I thought Lewis was born Anglican & became Roman Catholic later?

 

[M.L. Martin]

Anglicans are Catholic - officially, anyway, although the Anglican Church of Ireland is certainly seen as a Protestant church. However I thought Lewis was born Anglican & became Roman Catholic later?

This is a tricky subject and getting towards the edge of what EN World forbids. Suffice it to say that while many in the Church of England consider themselves to be part of the universal ("Catholic") Christian tradition as distinct from Protestantism, they are not in communion with the Pope, which is what "Catholic" has generally come to mean in its more restricted sense. "Roman Catholic" is often used for the latter, but I don't believe that's technically correct either.

And no, Lewis was baptized and raised in the Church of England, later became an atheist, then came back to Anglicanism. Where he would have wound up had he lived to see the modern day is a matter of much debate among Lewis scholars.

As for the Fathers of D&D Settings, like I said, I was always under the impression that Gygax was a Jehovah's Witness. Tracy Hickman is a strong Mormon, and one can pick up Mormon underpinnings to Dragonlance, just as you can find Catholic underpinnings in Tolkien. I have no idea what Ed Greenwood's religious background is, although some of the things he's said about "his" version of the Realms (as distinct from TSR's) give me the impression of someone who's partly a 60s-era free-love hippie.

Matthew L. Martin

 

[haakon1]

We should stage a reunion thread or something . . . it would be neat to see what happened to that gang.

Nod, well, most of us anyhow. "Swamp halflings" really didn't do it for me.

Anyhow, I was "LoupRouge", if any one remembers, and no, that's French, not a badly spelled Thief. I think my claim to fame, if any of it existed, was being obsessed with economics.

 

[haakon1]

Anglicans are Catholic - officially, anyway, although the Anglican Church of Ireland is certainly seen as a Protestant church. However I thought Lewis was born Anglican & became Roman Catholic later?

The (Roman) Catholic view I learned in parochial school is that Anglicans (Episcopals in America) are like Orthodox, Coptic, and a few other really old Christian sects. That is, they are not technically "Catholic", but they are "real" anyhow, because their priests were ordained by priests who were ordained by our guys, who were ordained by Peter, who was "the rock (petra in Latin) upon which I build my church", according to Jesus, if you traced it back all the way back. So, they're sacriments count -- if, for some reason, you can't go a Catholic mass on Sunday, Anglican or Orthodox is OK, sort of like they're part of same Frequent Flier club.

That's the theology, at least from the Catholic POV as learned by a 12 year old.

From the practical/historical/political side, Anglicans are Protestants, but they're about as close to Catholic as Protestants get, with differences between High Church (Oxford influenced, Cavalier, almost "crypto-Catholic", with "the whiff of incense") and Low Church (more puritanical, Roundhead-supporting).

Hmmm, anyway to get that back to talking about Greyhawk?
:\

 

[Nellisir]

Anyhow, I was "LoupRouge", if any one remembers, and no, that's French, not a badly spelled Thief. I think my claim to fame, if any of it existed, was being obsessed with economics.

I remember.


Nell.

 

[S'mon]

And no, Lewis was baptized and raised in the Church of England, later became an atheist, then came back to Anglicanism. Where he would have wound up had he lived to see the modern day is a matter of much debate among Lewis scholars.

OK, thanks - I assume you mean he was raised in the Church of Ireland, the Episcopal /Anglican church in Ireland. Then he became CoE in Oxford. I can see how I got confused.

Ed Greenwood - hm, yeah...

 

[haakon1]

I remember.

So, I was marching around in the World Largest Dungeon last night, collecting slain fiendish dire rat carcasses, having the ranger dress them for meat, and casting Purify Food and Drink on them, as we're out of rations. (Again with the economics!)

I'm thinking today -- where in Greyhawk is the World's Largest Dungeon? No clue what it really is about, since I'm a first level character, but . . . anywhere you want, I suppose.

 

[Nellisir]

I'm thinking today -- where in Greyhawk is the World's Largest Dungeon? No clue what it really is about, since I'm a first level character, but . . . anywhere you want, I suppose.

I don't have WLD -- maybe it'd work under Castle Greyhawk? (Purists the world over just got heartburn....)

Barring that, somewhere in Olde Keolande or the Great Kingdom.

 

[haakon1]

I don't have WLD -- maybe it'd work under Castle Greyhawk? (Purists the world over just got heartburn....)

Barring that, somewhere in Olde Keolande or the Great Kingdom.

The Great Kingdom makes sense. You could put everything there.

It'd be neat if OGL adventures could have a Greyhawk location, like how random stuff like Saltmarsh and The Ghost Towers of Inverness (a Scottish tower near the Bright Desert?) were fit in in days of yore.

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Arias = 1978-1984.