If that were to happen, I'd prefer it to be a GOOD campaign setting.Couldn't agree more. I'm still angry at what they did to the realms.With all the news about the declining market share of D&D my hopes would be that one day they sell the Forgotten Realms brand and IP to Paizo. I doubt that will ever happen, but one can dream ;-)
Like Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Birthright, Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft (in its white wolf iterration, which was IMO best version of Ravenloft), Mystara, Spelljammer? Anyone of those but not Greyhawk...
Like Greyhawk.
Decide, Kthulhu, either you want GOOD campaign setting or Greyhawk.
Ok, I admit that for me Greyhawk was most boring, flavorless and unimaginative of (A)D&D major campaign settings.
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I always thought Greyhawk had some of the best names. Oerth is a great name for a planet. No offense to paizo, but it's way better than Golarion (which sounds like a nation to me, not a planet).
The Shield Lands. Bone March. Iuz. Rovers of the Barrens. Those are awesome names.
But yeah, it does come off as kind of dry. I think this is mostly because it was the first campaign setting ever released as a product and the concept of campaign setting fluff was not really developed in the gaming community (I think credit goes to White Wolf for raising fluff to the same level of importance as crunch in gamer's eyes), and TSR never really gave Greyhawk the sort of intense development they gave to settings like Mystara and Faerun. You've got the original Greyhawk Gazetteer folio, the 2E Greyhawk Adventures book, and...that's about it.
But you can't deny Greyhawk's importance. I see a LOT of Greyhawk influence in Golarion. Clearly James and the other contributors are Greyhawk fans.
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I would have to say 1st ed Grayhawk - actually the first booklet (32 page folio) that came with the maps and the World of Greyhawk brown box (1983), also the first edition Forgotten Realms box set based campaigns.
They were not as fleshed out - even the Realms to some degree at that time was open to more detail and expansion by the DM. That was a plus for me.
Both worlds seemed very "points of light"/City-state-ish and I liked that. Of course as time went on Greyhawk became absurd (more so than just Castle Greyhawk) and mismanaged while the Forgotten Realms went from misty and fog covered ancient lands and expanses of wilderness to being more crowded that Times Square on New Years eve.
I'm sure it's just my memories that are affecting my perception, but I am finding that less (when it comes to game worlds) is sometimes better.
I do appreciate the level of detail (and omission) that Paizo has done with Golarion, even if I do not like all of the regions. I think that leaving things open to DM creativity vs. the approach that was taken with the Realms (every square foot written about and over developed) is the way to go.
You know things are bad when your players are telling you how things should be in the world because they read novel A, B and C when you only read A. Yeah, the realms after 1st ed with all their novels, canon bloat and bilge sucked pretty hard.
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You've got the original Greyhawk Gazetteer folio, the 2E Greyhawk Adventures book, and...that's about it.
There wasn't the campaign setting supplement of the month mania that FR had, but there was a bit more than that. 1E had three supplements (Greyhawk Adventures really kinda straddled the line between 1E and 2E, I count it more as 1E), 2E had three plus a player's guide pluce the Greyhawk Wars game, and 3E had the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Also, I kinda LIKE that they didn't detail everywhere in Oerth in great depth.
I see a LOT of Greyhawk influence in Golarion. Clearly James and the other contributors are Greyhawk fans.
Didn't see Dungeon do any Forgotten Realms or Eberron APs. ;)
Either Eberron, or strangely enough, the Mass Effect universe. Change all of the bows to firearms and magic to biotics and you are entirely set.
I would have to say 1st ed Grayhawk - actually the first booklet (32 page folio) that came with the maps and the World of Greyhawk brown box (1983), also the first edition Forgotten Realms box set based campaigns.
Likewise, when I said "Greyhawk" above, I meant the work of Pluffett Smedger the Elder and not whatever might have been published since then.