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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Aug 2009 : 15:34:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Quale
Someone asked in Rich's thread and he said that they don't have any plans for Spelljammer/Planescape in the next few years.
I only recently became familiar with Spelljammer. It is full of unique and interesting ideas. Don't consider the hamsters silly at all. I'd like to use the setting primarily for sailing through the planes, not through space, so it would add a lot of depth to the Planescape campaign material.
To be on topic, imo Dark Sun belongs with settings like Birthright, Council of Wyrms and Maztica. I don't see what's so great about it, space hamsters are more believable than some of the weird stuff in Athas, particularly don't like the extinction wars.
Well, I've always considered the Giant Space Hamsters to be one of the sillier aspects of the setting... I mean, giant hamsters? I can't take something like that seriously -- which was part of why I chose this username!
Adapting Spelljammer to have more planar aspects works readily for me, though. I've thought of it myself... And I've also considered an alternate look at spelljamming helms; with a minor tweak, it would work well for propelling ships thru the Astral, in particular -- and there's already a Dragon article that detailed Astral ships ("Voidjammers", Dragon 159, the same one that was chock full of Spelljammer goodness).
Dark Sun was an interesting setting to me, but a little too heavy on the whole environmental issue -- I'm quite sensitive to being preached to, and the whole desolate landscape and preserver/defiler thing was about as close as you can get to preaching without being overt about it.
I liked Ravenloft, too, but I wasn't a huge fan. In that one, it was the inescapable aspect that bothered me. I realize that that's a huge part of horror, but in an RPG, I want more of a victory than having a character survive and retain his sanity.
I didn't really know too much about the other settings, but I was always interested in Mystara. I'd love to see that one get some love.
I like a bit of silliness in space, I rarely played in Realmspace, but when we did I even used the Hitchiker's Guide stuff for some inspiration, e.g. there was a ''paranoid android'' modron (arcanaloths
from Pluton were behind it).
In the Dark Sun some things just seem weird for the sake of being weird. And I never liked to use bugs, scorpions, lizards and dinosaur-people much. I rather play a ''survivalist'' type of game in Raurin, the Plains of the Purple Dust, parts of Eastern Shaar that I made less grassy and Zakhara which I turned into an undead continent with mummified Jergal's huskreen.
Ravenloft, the only things I borrowed from there are the shadow fey, and dhampyrs, for people that were like the Fremen but conserved blood instead. It's more exciting when you play a horror type of game in a setting where everyone doesn't expect that there will be horror.
Mystara, I think it's less cohesive than the Realms with all the cultures thrown in together. The parts I use is the Five Shires for Luiren and parts of Glantri for Tethyr, cause of the demihumans there. |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2009 : 15:38:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Jakk
[quote]Originally posted by Quale
 Hey! Birthright was the best thing TSR produced setting-wise for late 2E... I realise that's not saying much, but it was different and the world was perfect for political/military-style gaming, which gave D&D its best edge ever against traditional wargames since it was a wargame (the original Chainmail)... the less said about the early 3E-era Chainmail revival, the better... [xx(
For D&D I don't think it's good, for wargames I don't know. I like the idea of spilled divine essences, only that. |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3287 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2010 : 09:44:45
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I see that a new Dark Sun Novel is forth coming.
City under the Sand |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
Edited by - Brimstone on 05 Apr 2010 09:52:12 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31726 Posts |
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Silverblade The Enchanter
Seeker
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2010 : 07:40:50
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I loves me them Giant Space Hamsters, oh yeah! Come back, Boo, all is forgiven! *squeak!* :p
On a more serious note, I loved the humour in Spelljammer, it's needed, you have FLEETS of neogi, beholders and Illithids out there in Wildspace.
Nothing quite says FUBAR quite like encountering "2d4 beholders", does it? hehe.
You have to have ups and downs. I find gnomes hilarious and uplifting, and use them just as I do really dark & nasty stuff with illithids.
Dark Sun and Spelljammer were my fave settigns of all :)
sorry, loved the original boxed set of the Realms but...it got too over done for my tastes, sigh, great setting for books and computer games, just not for me as a DM, I like more space to work and "Wildness", ya know?
However, ALL those settings had awesome imagery and imagination, for all that folk complained TSR put out too much, I disagree, it released a huge load of fertile ideas and wonders, which have stayed with many even now. you have to try and do a lot, to make the gems that folk prize
Hence why my D&D art is mostly about Spelljammer followed by Dark Sun then the Realms. Artwork for them was OUTSTANDING!
Brom, Clyde Caldwell, Jeff Easley, Keith parksin, etc...man-o-man!
oh yeah, on the "cutesy fun factor" many didn't like in Spelljammer, well, Spelljammer had THE nastiest monster ever in D&D history, IMHO:
Witchlight Marauders, 'nuff said ;)
3rd and especially 4th ed works much better with the quirkiness of deisgning characters for Dark Sun and other settings, you always had problems in 2nd ed, with racial limits etc, and the very ugly dual-classing
now it's much better, for example,
templars in Dark Sun are often bureacrats, sages, oversee important community items like fountains and city walls etc, and lead military units
2nd ed made them a form of cleric. which was...lacking
now in 4th ed they can be Warlords (perfect for military leaders especially Hammanu's units)
you can make a NPC templar with almost no combat ability, a "minion" but with good social skills and one or two spells ot avoid harm (Bureaucrat) his threat is his bodyguards, it's dealing with him as a "person" not as a "D&D monster" is what's tricky.
and the 4th ed rules show Warlock templars, now that makes good sense! a pact with the sorceror king, muhaha! ;) |
www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Spelljammer & Dark Sun art, and much more! |
Edited by - Silverblade The Enchanter on 17 Aug 2010 07:50:21 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31726 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2010 : 08:20:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Silverblade The Enchanter
On a more serious note, I loved the humour in Spelljammer, it's needed, you have FLEETS of neogi, beholders and Illithids out there in Wildspace.
It's space pirates. You can't not have humour. 
quote:
You have to have ups and downs. I find gnomes hilarious and uplifting, and use them just as I do really dark & nasty stuff with illithids.
Combining the two concepts works just as well. 
quote:
Dark Sun and Spelljammer were my fave settigns of all :)
sorry, loved the original boxed set of the Realms but...it got too over done for my tastes, sigh, great setting for books and computer games, just not for me as a DM, I like more space to work and "Wildness", ya know?
There's still plenty of "wildness" left in the Realms. 'Twas true in the days of 1e and 2e as well. For everything that was published under the Realms brand in the earlier edition-days, we know from Ed that there was still plenty left to be told -- whole countries and/or continents, even planes and planets, left undiscovered and unexplored.
quote:
oh yeah, on the "cutesy fun factor" many didn't like in Spelljammer, well, Spelljammer had THE nastiest monster ever in D&D history, IMHO:
Witchlight Marauders, 'nuff said ;)
The mark of any truly well-crafted campaign setting is it's ability to not take itself too seriously all the time. SPELLJAMMER succeeded in that regard.
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Silverblade The Enchanter
Seeker
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2010 : 22:45:08
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The Sage
if Spelljammer had come out after Priates of the Caribbean, folk would have "grokked" it AND the humour, too ;)
Giant Space Hamster special attack: Cheeck Pouching, swallow whole and stuffs you in it's cheek pouch...haha how embrassing for an uber adventuter to be "pouched"!! :D
Yeah wish some folks would lighten up and realize you gotta have a laugh at yerself a bit, be it personal or a game or whatever :)
Well I'd say the Realms at initial release had a real rough, frontier feel to all of it outside the cities that appealled to me, also the original boxed set had the most gorgeous art and layout. that set the tone. it was "mysterious", problem is when you fill in too many gaps, the mystery goes and thus, the magic.
the 3rd Ed FRCS book was like wise awesome in quality of product, just by then too "filled in" for me to like DMing, playing is another matter, oddly enough, lol.
the second and third 2nd ed boxed sets sucked, especially the last one, IMHO, ugh found that very shoddy in quality (print layout etc I mean was badly set up, lot of the interior art etc was just diabolical, sigh)
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www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Spelljammer & Dark Sun art, and much more! |
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Dark Sun 2010
