What flavor does your campaign have?

[ninthcouncil]

It's cool to look to old fantasy fiction for inspiration, but honestly, are we all influenced as much by it as this thread makes out ...

Also, lets not ignore the fact that, though 3e positions itself as a generic system, D&D possesses a distinct flavour which is difficult to eradicate entirely, even if you don't want your campaign to taste like chicken.... Some parts of this (races, monsters,religions etc.) are relatively easy to change if you have the imagination and time, but other, more system-embedded aspects (massive individual power at higher level, assumption of adventuring as primary means of advancement, etc.) are more difficult to dig out.

So I can claim what I like about my inspirations, but in fact I'm playing a relatively vanilla Late Dark ages / Western feudal game, with a few minor distortions to suit my prejudices (badass monotheist church, underground magical duelling societies, Japanese elves, you know).

 

[Desdichado]

mmadsen:
I wouldn't mind capturing the flavor of Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter either, but how would you? Besides having a demi-plane of Faerie...

First, I concentrated more on mundane classes for the "mortals" especially: mostly by using Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game classes in place of D&D classes, with modified Force Adepts from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game as magic-users. Without the spells, healing etc. given by having clerics, druids, wizards, and sorcerors, I also switched to VP/WP as done on the Middle-earth d20 page.

Then I had to rejig all the races, including making "elves" be Seelie and Unseelie Sidhe.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not borrowing much specifically from The King of Elfland's Daughter, but I wanted to capture the feel a little bit, especially when dealing with the Sidhe in their native lands, the Fae Courts which are north and mostly west of the Northlands (mostly human kingdoms.) I have a very incomplete campaign website at this location you can look at. But it's a skeleton site, really, with only a few actual pages completed.

 

[Desdichado]

rounser:
I'm probably just being cynical, but I get the feeling that some of these influences appear to be a little too "trendy" to come across as totally sincere.

It's cool to look to old fantasy fiction for inspiration, but honestly, are we all influenced as much by it as this thread makes out versus more contemporary influences? I mean sources that aren't "fantasy high brow", because they're not in novels. For example, I think some computer games such as Planescape: Torment or even gaming supplements such as Skullport have as much to offer to a D&D game in terms of inspiration and style as The King of Elfland's Daughter, but it seems tres chic to cite Moorcock, Lovecraft or Howard instead. And yes, I have read a few of their books and do appreciate their work and ideas...

You're probably right, and D&D 3e in general seems to have borrowed it's look, at least, if nothing else, from Herc and Xena. However, I think there's a crucial point you're missing: most of those shows/games are merely rehashes of stuff that's already been done. Maybe we're just clever enough to cut through the BS to the real sources of inspirition rather than the "middleman" computer game that rehashes those ideas. For instance.

 

[mmadsen]

I've noticed that many of the campaigns mentioned so far have been "grim and gritty". Is that just more of the "high falutin'" bias rounser mentioned -- it just sounds impressive -- or do most people (on these boards) enjoy that style of play?

If you're running a "grim and gritty" campaign, what are you doing to maintain that feel?

 

[hong]

If you're running a "grim and gritty" campaign, what are you doing to maintain that feel?

Feed the players grits.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...but it seems tres chic to cite Moorcock, Lovecraft or Howard instead. And yes, I have read a few of their books and do appreciate their work and ideas...

Oh my god, I never thought I'd see the day...ROBERT E. HOWARD IS CONSIDERED "TRES CHIC"!!!

I've lost count of the times I was considered a lowbrow Hack& Slasher casue my game was Howard influenced.

The Worm has turn.

 

[Desdichado]

We play outside in the sand. True, it's not so grim, but damn, it's gritty.

 

[rounser]

Oh my god, I never thought I'd see the day...ROBERT E. HOWARD IS CONSIDERED "TRES CHIC"!!!

Pffft, Billy, get with the times. Write the word "Lovecraft" and you'll attract instant cred - and Howard is oldschool fantasy, which makes him more credible to cite than Tolkien. I mean, everyone and their dog knows who Tolkien is...might as well cite being influenced Salvatore! Ha!

In case you didn't know, two-weapon fighting is so 1999. No fashion concious gamer would be seen dead playing a bladesinger anymore, for that matter. Oh, and this summer, mithril is "in" and adamantite is "out".

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

Re: For PST fans

Rhys Hess has extracted (nearly) all the text in Planescape: Torment,

Thanks, hong, you have just made my day. Now I have something to Alt-Tab to when I'm supposed to be testing...

 

[mmadsen]

Also, lets not ignore the fact that, though 3e positions itself as a generic system, D&D possesses a distinct flavour which is difficult to eradicate entirely, even if you don't want your campaign to taste like chicken....

One seemingly simple change that isn't so simple in practice is lowering the magic level to keep things "grim and gritty". Since so many people have mentioned "grim and gritty" and "low magic" in their responses, I'd like to hear just what they're doing to acheive that.

Some parts of this (races, monsters,religions etc.) are relatively easy to change if you have the imagination and time, but other, more system-embedded aspects (massive individual power at higher level, assumption of adventuring as primary means of advancement, etc.) are more difficult to dig out.

Exactly. One of the easiest changes to make is to restrict your "monster palette". If the heroes face goblins, hobgoblins, ogres, and a monstrous spider or two, the game tends to feel like Tolkien. If the heroes face almost no actual monsters, but they face man-apes and mad cults of demon-worshippers, the game tends to feel more like Howard.

As a general rule, if you want a particular flavor, more is less.

It's mechanically pretty easy to chop out classes and races, but I can imagine that it's politically unpopular at many gaming tables. For many worlds though, the numerous semi-magical classes in particular don't fit, and many of the races don't fit either. You'd also want to cut out many spells.

For those who want a Moorcock flavor, have you cut out arcane magic? Have you restricted magic primarily to summoning spells?