Well, I am really excited about Pathfinder and Varisia. Especially the statement that it will be built by adventure; the best way to world build, hands down!
One thing that I've always heard people say about Greyhawk that made it so exciting was that it was "open" enough to make it your own. There was canon and lore, but it was also adaptable to what you wanted to make of it.
And from everything I've heard, it sounds like Varisia will be the same thing. So, Greyhawk is most likely dead. Change happens. But the spirit can be kept alive with things like Varisia, a brave new world full of excitement, exploration, and room for any DM to do whatever he or she wants.
Considering the promise of Pathfinder, I now understand why all the old geezers (kidding...) get nostalgiac at Greyhawk. I've never been able to get into Eberron or the Realms because it just isn't mine. I just don't feel free to play around in the setting however I'd like to. But to think that a whole new world is going to be developed by people I trust so much... and I'll get to run through its forests and climb its mountains and do and make whatever I want in it; it's enough to make me consider actually running that world instead of my homebrew!
Oddly enough, even though it's not going to be "D&D," this new development seems to capture more of the spirit of D&D than any campaign setting book I've read so far. This is full of experimentation, new beginings, and excitement; as opposed to stuffy old canon relating to adventures from years ago that I've only heard of in off-handed references.
Even though this isn't "D&D" in name, it is certainly D&D in spirit, and I will continue to play D&D in it.
So here's to Paizo, and to creating the next generation's "world." May it become as vibrant and long-lived as any other published!
I began playing D&D in the Realms and have done so the first five years. The more I read the more I realized that EVERYTHING has been "fixed" somewhere, be it novel or sourcebook, adventure or online article. There was no room for my own ideas. So I got frustrated and sought for something else.
I finally found Eberron. What a great setting! I wrote some small adventures in it myself, but as I turned older my spare time grew shorter as was the supply of well done modules. I began looking for good adventures and found them, of course in Dungeon! The Eberron modules were good stuff, but I fell in love with Maure Castle, the Adventure Paths and somehow with the world of Greyhawk.
It was this community that talked (or wrote) about it and the adventures that simply felt right. But there was more than that:
Information on this world was somehow hard or harder to come by and my players haven't found an entrance yet. But besides these adventures there was room for my imagination. Perhaps it was the lack of canon, but I never had the feeling of toe tipping like in the Realms or the somewhat artificial taste of some bits of Eberron (whick is still a GREAT setting!!!).
So I haven't started with the pink box or something and never had the experience like "hey Expedition to Castle Ravenloft brings up old memories", but I can second that Varisia has the potential to become my or our Greyhawk.
Gotta say, I'm looking forward to starting at the beginning of this new world. Just like Greyhawk, it's being developed one adventure (or adventure path) at a time.
Wonder how long it will be before we'll all be remeniscing about Varisia?
Stragne that, if things go well, the next phase of D&D isn't going to be official D&D at all! Way to go, WotC!
As a "geezer" at 32 :), I've enjoyed Greyhawk for over 20 years. While I've always enjoyed FR (at least the core part) and like Eberron, there was always something about Greyhawk that appealed to me more than the rest. It always had the feeling of "legendary" to it, but you could go anywhere in the world for a good adventure.
I was always very happy to see the Greyhawk adventures in Dungeon, especially because I knew Erik Mona loved the world and would guide others to do right with it.
I'm excited to see Varisia built in a similar way to Greyhawk, and I hope that down the road it feels the same way.