Why didn't Eberron click?

[JPL]

Not exactly. Greyhawk is AD&D1. GH *is* AD&D1.

Greyhawk is different things to different people, obviously. But among other things, it's the default setting for D&D 3.0 and 3.5.

That Greyhawk Gazeteer doesn't require you to forget everything you learned about elves and dwarves and magic and gods and so forth --- it expands upon it, and gives it a geographical and historical context. WotC has specifically designated it as the default world, setting the Adventure Path modules there amd providing just enough background [via the Gazetteer] to give you a whole world where the stuff in the core books happens.

If you want to play "generic D&D" --- actually, I'd rather call it "quinessential D&D" --- Greyhawk is it...even using 3.5.

As to the statement that "FR IS 2.0"...like you pointed out, it's spanned 3 1/2 editions. Me, I've gamed in the Realms from 1.0's Big Grey Box right up to 3.5's Player's Guide to Faerun, and I think 3.5 and the Realms go together like peas and carrots.

Epic levels, decent rules for monster PCs, a renewed emphasis on the PCs as the heroes of the setting, and all sorts of truly threatening bad guys...the Realms have never been better. The rules support the setting, and the setting supports the rules, and both have been substantially improved since 2.0.

 

[Quasqueton]

Have I lost, or have I won?

I liked GH in AD&D1. I never really played much FR or AD&D2.

Quasqueton

 

[JPL]

Have I lost, or have I won?

I liked GH in AD&D1. I never really played much FR or AD&D2.

Quasqueton

Tell us again what you point is and maybe we can vote on it.

 

[Quasqueton]

Tell us again what you point is and maybe we can vote on it.

Huh?

The thread questions is "Why didn't Eberron click [for me]?"

My answer [and point?] was that it wasn't what I expected, hoped for, or wanted. Everything after is just explanation and discussion.

What's to vote on?

Quasqueton

 

[JPL]

Have I lost, or have I won?

Your question, man, not mine.

Me, I think another setting that basically expanded upon the core books without shaking things up considerably would've been redundant. Greyhawk [plus the Adventure Path modules set therein] and FR cover that ground very well.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Seems like you won...it didn't click for you because you expected the Greyhawk Gazeteer, which does what you're looking for.

 

[Macbeth]

Hmmm... I'm not sure about Ebberon not clicking. From my perspective, it clicked. Oh boy, did it click.

Maybe it's because I only started gaming with 3rd Ed. I don't have fond memories of Planescape or Darksun (though they both interest me), and my experiences with Greyhawk and FR are limited to their third Ed. incarnations (which might explain why I never really liked Greyhawk). I bough the FR setting, I bought the Greyhawk Gazzetter, and neither of them clicked. To me, Greyhawk seemed like somebody rewrote the core books in a more prose-like form. The problem with "everything here is exactly like the PHB" is that I've already read the PHB, I want something new. And Ebberon, to my suprise, has done that.

See, in my view, Ebberon takes everything from the PHB and fits transparently over it. None of the base monsters have any changes, except to the flavor, which is exactly what I want from a setting. I want all the same stuff, but with a unique story, a unique flavor. I didn't like Greyhawk (and to some degreee FR) because they just seemed like a world built around what the PHB already told me. Ebberon isn't perfect, but I'm having a dang good time reading it, more so then I ever did with Greyhawk or FR. So, from my point of view as a relatively new gamer, Ebberon is the big setting of 3rd Ed. Without the baggage of expectations of Planescape, Dark Sun, FR or Greyhawk, Ebberon really stand on it's own.