WoG timeline rollback suggestions (OK, is that better?)

[Simon Magalis]

The Real Issue Here

Christian, I think your problem is the same one I have with FR and that is that you REALLY didn't want someone else to advance the plot of the world at ALL. I would be very happy with published matierial that was satisfied developing the world and its details without feeling the need to advance the storyline. Sure, you can ignore it, but it just doesnt feel exactly right somehow.

 

[Christian]

Yeah, you're probably right, Simon.

(Geez, won't anyone let this thread die already?)

It looks like I am definitely going to start running a game sometime in the near future. (Two players committed, another probable, and it shouldn't be hard to find a couple more, eh?) I think I'm going to put some introductory material for my homebrew world on the web and get some opinions from the potential players; if they don't bite, I'll go ahead and run in Greyhawk c. 576. Use the developed history up to c. 580 as background events and, presuming the game lasts that long, develop future history as I see fit.

It's definitely worth the time to develop a homebrew; the trouble is, that would be just me working on it. How can I compete? For example, if I run GH, I'm thinking of starting in Keoland. And lo and behold, at The Kingom of Keoland, there's many megabytes of useful data on the history, politics, and geography of Keoland. That's just for one kingdom in an enormous continent! It would take me years of work to duplicate that level of detail for any kingdom in my homebrew world. OK, since some of the development of it started c. 1984, I've got a little head start. But still, Greyhawk has been in development since c. 1972, and literally hundreds of people, many of whom are much smarter than I, have spent a lot of time working on it. It's real hard to pass up the opportunity to steal, er, I mean make use of that development time.

I expect to be using Greyhawk. Maybe I'll even break down and use the 10 or so years of history that I'm less than thrilled with, so as to take full advantage of The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. But somehow, I'm just not happy. (Sigh. Maybe I'm just a born whiner. But I am not, not, a troll. Now excuse me while I go back to my cave to regenerate.)

 

[Darkness]

(Geez, won't anyone let this thread die already?)

Can do... Don't you want to wait for more answers, though?

 

[S'mon]

Christian:

Honestly, if you want to kick it old-school with Greyhawk then you're best off starting at 576 and ignoring the Greyhawk Wars entirely. Use the LGG as a point of reference for 3e-specific datapoints and use the old boxed set for the rest. You won't go wrong.

Yeah, start it in 576 CY and don't forget to roll the Random Weather Generator by hand!

I tried using that damn thing - takes about 40 minutes for a day, and then I had to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius so my poor British brain could comprehend it...

Seriously, the 1983 set is way cool, it's perfectly valid to start from there without the later accummulated baggage.

 

[S'mon]

Personally I use Gygax-chronology Greyhawk up to the end of Sea of Death, and diverge from there. In my campaign King Graz'zt rules the infinite Abyss and battles for control of Tarterus, Demogorgon lurks an exile in Pandemonium, and Gord & Leda are happily shacked up together somewhere quiet. Tharizdun was taken out with orbital bombardment from a handy (hi-tech) starship fleet, then finished off by a crack Solar hit squad.

 

[Christian]

Yeah, start it in 576 CY and don't forget to roll the Random Weather Generator by hand!

Heh. You know, I'd always just subconsciously skipped that part every time I read the books. After the first time, when I read over it and said, "Yeah. Right." But, in 1983, there was no such thing as Microsoft Excel ...

Maybe I will use it. Write up a spreadsheet, then have it roll out a few hundred days of weather all at once. I could be the first person ever to determine whether those random charts give sensible results! (You can't tell me that anyone, even the esteemed author, regularly used those charts to determine weather ...)

 

[S'mon]

Heh. You know, I'd always just subconsciously skipped that part every time I read the books. After the first time, when I read over it and said, "Yeah. Right." But, in 1983, there was no such thing as Microsoft Excel ...

Maybe I will use it. Write up a spreadsheet, then have it roll out a few hundred days of weather all at once. I could be the first person ever to determine whether those random charts give sensible results! (You can't tell me that anyone, even the esteemed author, regularly used those charts to determine weather ...)

If you do do a spreadsheet for that generator, please email me a copy - I'd love to have it actually usable!
Don't forget the wind chill...

 

[Christian]

I just might, at that. The kids have a 'late-night' at the daycare tonight, my wife is going out of town-it's the perfect night to blow an hour or two on something absolutely and completely pointless.

 

[grodog]

Sounds like a productive use of your time to me, Christian If you do build the spreadsheet, please also consider posting it on http://www.canonfire.com, a site of fan-submitted Greyhawk goodness.

 

[Christian]

Zagyg's beard, that was insane.

I spent a couple of hours on that last night, and threw in the towel. May go back to it sometime, though-I did do a couple of clever things that were worth saving.

For the record, I didn't get to weather per se. I do now have a spreadsheet that calculates, (based on date, latitude, and elevation) the sunrise/sunset times, phases of the moons, and high and low temperatures per the system in the Glossography. The true challenge was the rules for heat waves & cold snaps; the spreadsheet successfully obeys all of the rules for extending a record high (etc.) over a random number of days. (Really. That was an incredible pain ...) It looks reasonable on balance, although the random rolling does sometimes do some weird things. I saw a cold snap followed by a heat wave in the ~Blackmoor latitudes one Coldeven that had 0 degree highs one week followed by 80+ degree highs seven days later. Don't forget to pack your parka and your swimming suit ...

Oh, and one more thing: I seem to recall seeing a thread on this board once upon a time challenging the phasing for Luna and Celene in some Greyhawk supplement or other. My spreadsheet conclusively establishes that the dates Gygax recorded in the 1983 supplement are exactly correct for a 28-day Luna cycle and a 91-day Celene cycle. So there.