The count so far:
Greyhawk: 24
Forgotten Realms: 15.5
Eberron: 13.5
Other: 11The Realms pulls ahead.
The .5 entries are for WaterdhavianFlapjack, who can't make up his mind.
If this thread is indicitive of the total numbers I'd say aiming to make very generic APs should be the goal. While Greyhawk is in the lead its only about 1/3 of the total. i.e. a significant majority of the people using the AP (and presumably most APs) won't be using Greyhawk. Therefore it follows that APs probably should not normally be to tied in with Greyhawk lore but instead should aim to be more generic.
If this thread is indicitive of the total numbers I'd say aiming to make very generic APs should be the goal. While Greyhawk is in the lead its only about 1/3 of the total. i.e. a significant majority of the people using the AP (and presumably most APs) won't be using Greyhawk. Therefore it follows that APs probably should not normally be to tied in with Greyhawk lore but instead should aim to be more generic.
No don't anyone get upset, but the Greyhawk number may be a little inflated. It kinda sounds like alot of people might normally run this in a different CS or a homebrew, but because (despite the modificatios) AoW is really geared towards GH alot of people decided to go back to it.
I mean I've never played GH and I knew it was geared towards GH within 2 minutes of starting to read, but even I was considering trying to run it in GH
Greyhawk. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it's "geared towards" Greyhawk at all. I simply love the setting and always have. I adapt pretty much everything I like into Greyhawk because that's the only setting I feel comfortable running and it's the only setting I feel truly provides the D&D experience. To be fair, if AoW had been designed to work more easily with the Realms, I may not have even run it, since converting from the Realms to GH is harder than vice versa. When I get a Dungeon with a Forgotten Realms adventure or a Dragon with a Forgotten Realms article, I do read it, but then I say to myself "that's nice," put it on the shelf, and never really bother to look at it again. I have been known to adapt FR adventures to Greyhawk, but the high-power feel of most FR adventures puts them out of the scope of easy adaptability.
The first time I ran SCAP, I adapted it to a homebrew world based around Norse mythology. It turned out to work extremely well with the storyline, using Loki in place of Adimarchus. Followers of Surtur seemed the main villains most of the time, which tied in well with the volcano explosion and provided an excellent distraction. Now I'm also running SCAP online as a GH game, which I would have done the first time around, but my group decided since we play GH all the time we'd try something different.
GH remains one of the most flexible settings of all time. Much of what it written about it is vague or provides only basic details, leaving the DM enormous liberty to expound upon it as he wishes without feeling too constrained to make sure he doesn't violate the historical events of a novel he hasn't read. I think that's why Greyhawk is the most popular answer.
We still need a hardcover though. :)
If this thread is indicitive of the total numbers I'd say aiming to make very generic APs should be the goal. While Greyhawk is in the lead its only about 1/3 of the total. i.e. a significant majority of the people using the AP (and presumably most APs) won't be using Greyhawk. Therefore it follows that APs probably should not normally be to tied in with Greyhawk lore but instead should aim to be more generic.
What jumps out at me is that published CS are getting FAR more numbers than others. So while a generic of greyhawk centric campaign would make a lot of sense, I see that conversion notes should really be a high priority as well.
Of course the notes will never be out fast enough for those who want to play the adventure the second it arrives in their mailbox, but for those who wait the ones being provided for AoW will be invaluable.
Sean Mahoney
Greyhawk. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it's "geared towards" Greyhawk at all. I simply love the setting and always have. I adapt pretty much everything I like into Greyhawk because that's the only setting I feel comfortable running and it's the only setting I feel truly provides the D&D experience. To be fair, if AoW had been designed to work more easily with the Realms, I may not have even run it, since converting from the Realms to GH is harder than vice versa. When I get a Dungeon with a Forgotten Realms adventure or a Dragon with a Forgotten Realms article, I do read it, but then I say to myself "that's nice," put it on the shelf, and never really bother to look at it again. I have been known to adapt FR adventures to Greyhawk, but the high-power feel of most FR adventures puts them out of the scope of easy adaptability.
The first time I ran SCAP, I adapted it to a homebrew world based around Norse mythology. It turned out to work extremely well with the storyline, using Loki in place of Adimarchus. Followers of Surtur seemed the main villains most of the time, which tied in well with the volcano explosion and provided an excellent distraction. Now I'm also running SCAP online as a GH game, which I would have done the first time around, but my group decided since we play GH all the time we'd try something different.
GH remains one of the most flexible settings of all time. Much of what it written about it is vague or provides only basic details, leaving the DM enormous liberty to expound upon it as he wishes without feeling too constrained to make sure he doesn't violate the historical events of a novel he hasn't read. I think that's why Greyhawk is the most popular answer.
We still need a hardcover though. :)
You actually contradict your self, you say you ran it because its in GH basically. Which means it has everything to do with it being geared towards GH, for if it was geared towards FR you wouldn't have ran it.
Which supports the reason the next AP should be more generic allowing everyone to easily adapt it. Maybe even super generic like instead of naming the gods just introduce the main plots of all the adventures ahead of time and the key NPCs/God etc... so DM's can plan it out on thier own.
My goodness people, it's not hard to Convert!
I use Dungeon Magazines in a Homebrew World and with a different system (Rolemaster and DragonQuest (SPI))It really isn't that hard!!!
I think it's a good idea to set it in a default world. It appears Greyhawk is the one at the moment. Putting it in a world gives me an idea of the authors intentions rather than some 'vaugue generic'. I don't have to use the authors context, but at least I have it. More information to me so I can convert!
I say again, it's not hard to convert!!!
Re-naming Gods is not hard!!! and it gives me a little more information to go on.
I hope the next AP is not some 'Vague Generic' in regards to setting!
Andrew Carter
Which supports the reason the next AP should be more generic allowing everyone to easily adapt it. Maybe even super generic like instead of naming the gods just introduce the main plots of all the adventures ahead of time and the key NPCs/God etc... so DM's can plan it out on thier own.
Considering how heavily the specific plotlines are fleshed out in the 'overload' what might be considered for the next AP is to do it in a very generic format in the magazine. Leave it at that for the homebrews and those using small 3rd party campaigns but use the Overload to flesh it out for each of the main campaign worlds.
The idea is that then no one is then trying to convert it from one campaign world into another - instead eevryone is adding interesting elements from their favourite campaign world to the each adventure.
I also agree that it is beneficial to me having set in a default world. It is very useful because if your familiar with the default world, it gives you little clues from the writers you might not normally have when you try to convert it.
It really isn't all that hard to convert it. I am using this in a homebrew version of FR and while I like Eric's conversion notes and they are very helpful, I am making changes because it suits my world better. Thats what DMs do. I know some of you will use the argument that you want to be able to get the magazine and plop it down into your world with no extra time for conversion, but it really dosn't take that much time( I am currently working 50 hours a week, planning a wedding, and playing in 3 campaigns), and if they did something super-generic, it would limit them in subject matter.
My view is that if you force the authors to firmly plant the adventure path in a pre-existing world, it creates certain parameters but allows them to build on stuff done previously by others.
This is why I think this adventure path is so so much better than the first. All the little things like mentioning the Red death being 19 years ago...its awesome..I wouldn't care if the path was set in Forgotten Realms, or maybe even Eberron, just that it has ties to previous material.
Homebrew can still adapt and ignore what they choose, but for my money the richer storyline comes from being set in a world with already known history and cast of characters.
On a side nite, I am looking for a Greyhawk timeline of sorts that not only details points in GH history, but also has entires for 1st and 2nd edition modules. Does anyone know where I can find a decent one?
You actually contradict your self, you say you ran it because its in GH basically. Which means it has everything to do with it being geared towards GH, for if it was geared towards FR you wouldn't have ran it.
Which supports the...
Looking back at my wording, I can see that. I meant to say that I would be running this in Greyhawk even if it were designed for FR and merely provided GH conversion notes... even if there were no conversion notes.
On a side nite, I am looking for a Greyhawk timeline of sorts that not only details points in GH history, but also has entires for 1st and 2nd edition modules. Does anyone know where I can find a decent one?
www.canonfire.com is a good place to start. I'm sure they have a comprehensive timeline like that but I can't seem to find it atm.
Forgotten Realms all the way...
In my group I have:
Human Male Monk
Human Female Rogue
Human Male Warmage
Halfling Female Druid
The count so far:
Greyhawk: 26
Forgotten Realms: 17.5
Eberron: 13.5
Other: 11
This doesn't count Jarjaxle's second post that says (again) that he's running AoW in The Realms. :)
Let me throw my vote in for Eberron, as soon as my conversions are complete, that is.
Rhen
Forgotten Realms. It's an easy choice, because our modest library of resources are FR. :)
I am going back from 2 complete campaigns of running players from 1st to 20th level in my homebrew to Greyhawk. My imagination for the campaign world has been refired as of late.
I'm personally going to be using a homebrewed setting for AoW, the fact that I can mold the world into my sick and twisted image, combine with the easy way you can fit Diamond Lake into any setting makes this easy as...........something else that's easy.
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By reading this you've given me brief control of your mind.
Eberron.
Greyhawk... I don't mean that castrated version given in the Player's Handbook, I mean the big picture. The home of all those Gord the Rogue books, and Mika the Wolf Nomad! Most of the stuff you can use is plainly given... I use the expanded deities list from old Greyhawk sources, and new domains and favored weapons are given in the Complete Divine sourcebook. For demihumans deities, I use the ones given in the Races of Stone and Races of the Wild books. Got full information on calendars and native vegetation and other natural resources from early Greyhawk materials and gazetteers... one of the best parts is that a human is not just "human": just like in the real world, there are different human races, including Flan, Oeridian, Rhennee, Olman, Suel, and possibly more that I'm not remembering just now.
Ok, I was all set to go with Greyhawk, but then my Wilderlands boxed set showed up yesterday.
Ill be fitting this into a Wilderlands campaign.
Go Wilderlands!!!!
Ok, I was all set to go with Greyhawk, but then my Wilderlands boxed set showed up yesterday.
Ill be fitting this into a Wilderlands campaign.
Go Wilderlands!!!!
Wilderlands???
WaterdhavianFlapjack
The count so far:
Greyhawk: 29
Forgotten Realms: 18.5
Eberron: 15.5
Other: 13
Greyhawk.
Forgotten Realms.
If I were to run it again, I would use Eberron.
Greyhawk.
Greyhawk... I don't mean that castrated version given in the Player's Handbook, I mean the big picture. The home of all those Gord the Rogue books, and Mika the Wolf Nomad...
Incidentally, Gygax's Greyhawk and Estes' Greyhawk are two VERY different things. I don't recall there ever being a cult to an evil sun god in Gygax's Greyhawk for one. Nor do I recall there being any such thing as the Great She Wolf. I had fun reading Estes' novels, but she paid no attention to GH history or canon at all. She just created stories using a bunch of maps and proper nouns that happen to be the same as those used in Greyhawk.
Greyhawk
I cut my gaming teeth on all the old Greyhawk adventures. 25 years later, it's still my favorite.
Greyhawk!
The count so far:
Greyhawk: 33
Forgotten Realms: 20.5
Eberron: 15.5
Other: 13
This doesn't include Beholder's second vote. You're not running two separate groups of players, are you Beholder?
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Top 10 reasons why Age of Worms should be set in Greyhawk:
10) Erik Mona says so!
9) Lazy DM's like me have less work to do.
8) Rod of Seven parts has Greyhawk written all over it.
7) Nearly every NPC is a retired adventurer that won't be intimidated by annoying PC's.
6) Many published adventures set in nearby areas.
5) Greyhawk Deities rock.
4) You get to meet Tenser.
3) History is very Greyhawkish (Princes of Aqaa in FR?)
2) Maps of the Domain/Diamond Lake area are already available.
1) Greyhawk is cool!