You're in charge of D&D's setting! (here's the catch...)

[I'm A Banana]

"What is your personal preference for a standard vanilla D&D campaign setting - FR or GH?"

I think the question is much more interesting than a GH/FR choice. I think it's a question of if you could take your favorite elements from BOTH settings, and put it together, while simultaneously getting rid of your least favorite elements from BOTH settings, what kind of hodge-podge wonderment would result?

It's a D&D campaign world mashup! That sounds like a pretty interesting discussion to me.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

It's a D&D campaign world mashup! That sounds like a pretty interesting discussion to me.

Then ask that. But without the "imagine you're in charge at WotC and you don't have to give a damn whether your decision will kill the game" part attached.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Then ask that. But without the "imagine you're in charge at WotC and you don't have to give a damn whether your decision will kill the game" part attached.

Ah, yes, I believe I already addressed that point.

It seems ENWorld is largely unaware of the term "hypothetical question."

Or "mental exercise"

Much more fun to dismantle the assumption than to just play along. After all, we play D&D, we're far too clever to cleave to someone else's rules.

It's a hypothetical imaginary scenario. It's like if someone asked "which 10 albums would be with you on a desert island" and everybody said "But I'd never bring 10 albums with me on a carribean cruise!"

 

[Slife]

Ah, yes, I believe I already addressed that point.





It's a hypothetical imaginary scenario. It's like if someone asked "which 10 albums would be with you on a desert island" and everybody said "But I'd never bring 10 albums with me on a carribean cruise!"

No, it's more like them saying "It doesn't matter, I still wouldn't have a record player"

 

[the Jester]

...homebrew campaigns will NEVER be as great as those produced and published by the very makers of D&D.

I could never disagree with anything more strongly.

My homebrew is better (for me and my group) than any published world could ever be... unless I tweaked it so much that it became a homebrew, and that takes as much work as building it myself.

 

[Ry]

I think the question is much more interesting than a GH/FR choice. I think it's a question of if you could take your favorite elements from BOTH settings, and put it together, while simultaneously getting rid of your least favorite elements from BOTH settings, what kind of hodge-podge wonderment would result?

It's a D&D campaign world mashup! That sounds like a pretty interesting discussion to me.

Thank you! Finally, someone understands what I'm trying to get at!

Is it too late for this thread?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Is it too late for this thread?

Yes, it is doomed


I also think that, as far as content goes, there can be only one. You can't do a Forgotten Hawk or Grey Realms, where the Circle of Eight marries the Seven Sisters and Kelemvor has dates with Wee Jas.

Right now, we have two settings: One with all the trimmings, very detailed and with lots of background; And the other you can make your own - not a lot of information is available (especially in current books), and what is there is there mainly to serve as inspirations.

So the best of both would probably letting Greyhawk go for good (maybe selling it off so some smaller publisher could do something for its fans - a campaign setting and maybe even some settings) and put FR sample material into the books henceforth.


That would mean that the PHB would still have the races it has now, but the descriptions would be those of the Faerûnan versions (which means, for example, that elves are pale and as tall as humans). There would be a dozen or so FR deities as sample deities, and the Iconic characters could easily be moved into the Realms.

The DMG would have different planes to describe (unless they change back the cosmology), and the MM would no longer list the old subraces like Grey Elf, but the FRCS subraces.

It might also mean that Mordenkainen's Sword, Bigby's Crushing Fist and spells like that would have to be renamed.


Supplements would be more tricky: They'd have to have no more GH stuff, but I guess that's not too hard to do, since there's a lot of overlap. There would probably be two types of supplement, though: FR light supplements and Full-FR supplements. Full-FR would mean that it uses a lot of the concepts that are special to the Realms and only found in the FRCS (and they would require the FRCS): Things like the Weave/Shadow Weave and the organisations and churges found on Faerûn.

Realms-light supplements, on the other hand, would mainly have concepts. They would probably get a short description on how they work in the Realms, but would otherwise be usable in every normal D&D campaign out there.

 

[catsclaw227]

Unless you're being sarcastic, that's extremely condescending -- not to mention flat out wrong.

His delivery may have been a bit heavyhanded, but I must agree that homebrew just can't work for me now. I certainly WISH it could, but I have had to face the realization that my life that doesn't include D&D takes a lot of time. Between my job, my side consulting business, my wife (pregnant), searching for a new home, family, and friends outside of gaming, I don't have much time for homebrewing.

Published settings are more than just neat. They have to be the foundation of my gaming universe if I plan on DMing in a cohesive campaign world.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I must agree that homebrew just can't work for me now.

Different strokes...

If you have the time to completely create a homebrew, it can be better than any pre-made setting. But that doesn't mean that those settings are rubbish - several are extremely good.

And, of course, there's the time factor: Some people just don't have the time to create a campaign setting (they're lucky if they don't have to play modules). Others will want to put their time to better use: Only fine tune the campaign setting to suit your own needs, and put the time saved into the area the heroes will be in...

 

[I'm A Banana]

You can't do a Forgotten Hawk or Grey Realms, where the Circle of Eight marries the Seven Sisters and Kelemvor has dates with Wee Jas.

Why not?