Got to thinking about this in the "Destruction of the FR thread."
Looks like a lot of people who don't like 4E FR are going to stick with their own FR timeline using 3.5 rules, or pulling Paizo material into their FR setting.
I'm curious why more people don't take the opportunity to simply make the jump to Golarion. I'm very new to Pathfinder and Golarion, so I don't know nearly everything there is to know, but from what I've seen it looks pretty cool. And FR was getting pretty bad by the time 4E came along...
...so why not switch?
Is it nostalgia? Been playing FR for 10 or 15 years and that's that?
and some people just may perfer old FR to Golarian, I for one wasn't terribly impressed.
Logos
With which one?
Some people have a dozen hardcover Forgotten Realms supplements and even more additional information on the side. Golarion is an okay setting, but it is very new and the details for some things are found in adventure modules instead of setting books. The coming hardcover will fix some of that problem and future works will flesh out more, but Golarion as it stands now is a rough pencil sketch compared to the rich oil portrait of the Forgotten Realms.
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I have done quite a bit of work on my new FR campaign, so I don't want that to go to waste, plus I like how Runelords fit into my story, so I am using it.
But I typically run 5-6 games at any one time, so eventually Golarion is going to find a home.
I am very interested in the "ground-floor" mentality, I mean how often can you say that you were there from the birth of a campaign setting?
Just think of how many adventures you can run that will craft the future history of the world!
So yeah, I'm sold on Golarion, but I also love the Realms, and Greyhawk, and my homebrew Otari Lin.
I´ll wait for the Pathfinder Campaign Setting to decide with which I´ll go forward. I have very much affection for the Realms, for El, the Seven Sisters, for Alusair and Jarlaxle... those are great characters which I don´t want to go to waste.
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I am very interested in the "ground-floor" mentality, I mean how often can you say that you were there from the birth of a campaign setting?
This is pretty much why I prefer Golarion. I had some problems with not knowing enough about Greyhawk, and I never even tried to run Forgotten Realms. Too intimidating.
It will be interesting, a decade from now, to say "I have every Pathfinder Chronicles supplement.
but Golarion as it stands now is a rough pencil sketch compared to the rich oil portrait of the Forgotten Realms.
Yeah, Golarion is a sketch at this point, but it has potential.
FR might be an oil painting, but it's a Bosch oil painting (in terms of crowding not subject matter). It's been overdone to the point it has lost a sense of plausibility (and I use that word in the context of a fantasy world).
This is pretty much why I prefer Golarion. I had some problems with not knowing enough about Greyhawk, and I never even tried to run Forgotten Realms. Too intimidating.
It will be interesting, a decade from now, to say "I have every Pathfinder Chronicles supplement.
Yes, there is some allure to being in on it from the beginning.
Yeah, Golarion is a sketch at this point, but it has potential.FR might be an oil painting, but it's a Bosch oil painting (in terms of crowding not subject matter). It's been overdone to the point it has lost a sense of plausibility (and I use that word in the context of a fantasy world).
Golarion certainly has potential. It was designed by a very distinguished group of authors. The recently published overview is quite nice. In time, that potential will become a great thing. People who own a bunch of FR supplements have a well detailed something that they can use now, not months or years from now. Future potential is a great thing, but it does not help (much) when you want to play today.
I'm fervently awaiting the hardcover. I hope it sells well and allows the Paizo crew to add in all sorts of cool things while leaving room for individuals to add their own stuff, but if I want to play in a detailed world with a bunch of maps and supplements, FR is currently the top dog.
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I'm an old FR fan, and I'm certainly interested in Golarion. That doesn't mean I don't like the old FR stuff, by any means, and I may still play/run games set there - after all, I do have all those old books. However, the money that I used to spend on FR, and would have spent on FR products that interested me, is instead going to Pathfinder/Golarion stuff instead.
I will be switching to Golarion - I really like what I've seen so far. I've only played a little in FR, though, so it's not a huge switch in that regard - mostly, I read the novels. I do hope that Golarion novels start coming out before too long, though...there's a lot of potential there, and I'd love to read the stories.
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Im an old time Realms fan, and have the majority of the supplements. My home brew campaign made the transfer from Harn to Toril and and stayed for many many moons....that being said, I am quite happy switching to Golarion. Once I have the Campaign setting, Ill begin the 're-write' of my homebrew town...Bywater, to place it in Golarion, and let the setting breath new life into it...
Ive done it before, and Ill do it again. ;)
I like the map Ive seen, I like what Ive read...It will make it easier to use the modules. So yes, why not?!
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I gave up on 3e/3.5e FR when the rules for using spellfire came out. Coming into FR later in the product line meant a very steep learning curve. Plus, I realized early on that reading the sourcebooks didn't help much. You really had to have read the novels to gel the setting together. Waaay too much information. The only thing that saved FR (in my eyes) was the fact that my players knew even less about it than I did.
Now, I'm Golarion all the way.
-Skeld
Golarion is an okay setting, but it is very new and the details for some things are found in adventure modules instead of setting books.
Whereas with me, I felt that the Realms didn't do this enough. Supplements are like recipes for creating your own adventures, while adventures with select lore are like getting a finished product to sample with said recipe (and whet your appetite even more). Give me a good story to inspire my interest in a setting over pages of dry text any day. Not to mention that said adventures often become part of that world's lore besides.
I am very interested in the "ground-floor" mentality, I mean how often can you say that you were there from the birth of a campaign setting?
Agreed, and another reason I'm investing in this setting.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Forgotten Realms is like your first girlfriend. You remember her fondly and she'll always have a special place in your heart. Even 10 years later, when you're both married to seperate people and see each other only at class reunions.
4gotten Realms is like the home coming queen 20 years later. You still recognize her, but she's had the liposuction, the plastic surgery, and trying to fit in her old cheerleading outfit to attract the younger crowd. She's the mom who's creepy friendly with her son's Highschool classmates.
Golarion is the girl you meet in college. She reminds you of your first girlfriend, but there's an undercurrent of maturity neither of you had back then. You look her up with an appraising eye, and spend some time with her. After a while you discover there's space in your life she fills, and she finds you complete her. She's a campaign setting you can hope to grow old with, settle down and raise a few kids in.
Hmm, I guess that makes Greyhawk the girl you're only friends with, and Ravenloft the girl that stalks you after you dump her.
and Dark Sun.....the girl who stole your wallet and left you tied to the bed
Forgotten Realms is like your first girlfriend. You remember her fondly and she'll always have a special place in your heart. Even 10 years later, when you're both married to seperate people and see each other only at class reunions.
4gotten Realms is like the home coming queen 20 years later. You still recognize her, but she's had the liposuction, the plastic surgery, and trying to fit in her old cheerleading outfit to attract the younger crowd. She's the mom who's creepy friendly with her son's Highschool classmates.
Golarion is the girl you meet in college. She reminds you of your first girlfriend, but there's an undercurrent of maturity neither of you had back then. You look her up with an appraising eye, and spend some time with her. After a while you discover there's space in your life she fills, and she finds you complete her. She's a campaign setting you can hope to grow old with, settle down and raise a few kids in.
Hmm, I guess that makes Greyhawk the girl you're only friends with, and Ravenloft the girl that stalks you after you dump her.
So what does that make Dark Sun, Birthright, Dragonlance, etc.? >_> <_<
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FR might be an oil painting, but it's a Bosch oil painting (in terms of crowding not subject matter).
I'd rather go for Bruegel.
I'll be moving my game over to Golarion once my current game reaches its end probably somewhere in the next few months though I have to admit that after .... what, nearly 20 years of FR DMing it'll be hard getting use to a new world and all its lore especially for two of my players who are serious FR lore nuts but I'm guessing pazio's quality (from what i've seen so far - i'm kinda new to all this, heck I didn't even know pazio existed till recently!) will win 'em over.
Given time and publication of the campaign setting I'd guess you'll see more DM's slowly making the switch, at least those who feel that they have told their stories and feel no need to .... well, shall we politely say upgrade.
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I've been running FR since 3.0 came out, and with the advent of 4.0, I've decided to re-hash my homebrew campaign world from my old university AD&D days, and steal VERY liberally from Golarion. I've ended up with a world that feels like something out of Stardust, or Van Helsing, or Brothers Grimm, and draw on books like Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, or the Black Company.
Golarion is not my perfect world, but it has a LOT of good stuff I'm using, and my world has a lot of parallels to it.
I have to be honest, switching to a homebrew is refreshing -- It's making D&D a new game for me, just based on environment, with my new PC races and where classes come from and equipment.
I gave up on 3e/3.5e FR when the rules for using spellfire came out. Coming into FR later in the product line meant a very steep learning curve. Plus, I realized early on that reading the sourcebooks didn't help much. You really had to have read the novels to gel the setting together. Waaay too much information. The only thing that saved FR (in my eyes) was the fact that my players knew even less about it than I did.
Now, I'm Golarion all the way.
-Skeld
I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm just now running my first serious FR game (3.x, of course). But I'm really regretting not starting one of the Pathfinder APs. I chose not to because I don't like to run APs I haven't read the end of yet, and so far that means Rise of the Runelords. But I wasn't sure how one of my players would handle certain bits (such as the Skinsaw Murders, which, incidently, I found far more disturbing than the oft-maligned Hook Mountain Massacre). I now realized they would have been fine with it, and look forward to putting the next game in Golarion.
The other reason I'm running the Realms currently is that two of my players like it. One has read enough of the novels to understand it (but is otherwise brand new to D&D) and the other (who is the only veteran player in the group besides myself, actually) has played most/all the video games. I'd prefer to play in the Realms in one of his games, actually, but he is only interested in running Eberron at the moment.
Since my meager amount of Realmslore is actually the most possessed by anyone in the group, I don't have a problem running the Realms the way I want to. But I do sometimes feel like I'm "cheating" such a rich setting by not delving more fully into its history. Problem is, I don't really have the time (or, I'll admit, inclination) to start reading Realms novels. Plus, as mentioned, I sometimes feel like I'm running into walls and bumping into barriers when I try to make my stuff fit in the game. I miss the freedom of my homebrew, a freedom I still feel I have in Golarion.
So count me as preparing to make the move when this game wraps up (is it a bad thing to hope for a TPK just so you can switch settings?).
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Never liked FR in any of its incarnations but I intend to use Golarion for both 3.75(pathfinder) and 4.0 D&D games My group plays. We might move to Eberron 4.0 if WotC haven't broken the feel of it. If anybody could point me to a thread that will help me convert the crunch of the Golarion campaign to 4.0 it would be much appreciated.
Golarion is an okay setting, but it is very new and the details for some things are found in adventure modules instead of setting books.Whereas with me, I felt that the Realms didn't do this enough. Supplements are like recipes for creating your own adventures, while adventures with select lore are like getting a finished product to sample with said recipe (and whet your appetite even more). Give me a good story to inspire my interest in a setting over pages of dry text any day. Not to mention that said adventures often become part of that world's lore besides.
You're kind of missing my point. Compare the Desna write up in the Pathfinder adventure path book Skinsaw Murders to the one in the Gazette or the Campaign book. Don't you think that the in depth deity write up should be in a setting book, not an adventure book? What does the worship of Desna have to do with the Skinsaw Man?
Forgotten Realms is like your first girlfriend. You remember her fondly and she'll always have a special place in your heart. Even 10 years later, when you're both married to seperate people and see each other only at class reunions.
4gotten Realms is like the home coming queen 20 years later. You still recognize her, but she's had the liposuction, the plastic surgery, and trying to fit in her old cheerleading outfit to attract the younger crowd. She's the mom who's creepy friendly with her son's Highschool classmates.
Golarion is the girl you meet in college. She reminds you of your first girlfriend, but there's an undercurrent of maturity neither of you had back then. You look her up with an appraising eye, and spend some time with her. After a while you discover there's space in your life she fills, and she finds you complete her. She's a campaign setting you can hope to grow old with, settle down and raise a few kids in.
Hmm, I guess that makes Greyhawk the girl you're only friends with, and Ravenloft the girl that stalks you after you dump her.
And what about those guys that married the first one, mmmmh, I married my second one and don't remember so much the first one. I know a guy who left his wife to go with the first one and she was married to, at the end it did not last, so he came back with the second one, his wife.
Well, I remember a man who doesn't remember how many dated before getting married, but he is not married with the last one any more.Life is complicated, isn't it?
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Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Planescape, were the bomb, and i loved them, then Eberron came out, and I was excited by it, and loved it, and lived/breathed it but honestly, and i've met Keith Baker, have a lot of respect for him, the settings gone to pot, too much of the same thing that eventually happened to the rest.
over saturation. I won't even get into the issues I have with who ever did the world maps and population calculations..
with Pathfinder, it's like they've looked at all the bad stuff people complained about, and made a very nice setting that i personaly love to death. and there is a very deep sense i feel, of being on the ground floor of Golarion, it's like being in a new relationship hehe, lets hope it doesn't turn into a psycho ex like Ravenloft...
Why stick with your previous realms material, which you like so much, or go with 4e "restart" of the realms, which still contains some trace aspects of the things you liked, when you can ditch it all and go with a totally new setting?
Does this question seem strange to anyone else?