Game would be set in Greyhawk, just wondering if there are changes to the setting in Savage Tide that would make running Age of Worms after the fact more difficult?
I know there are some connections between these and Shackled City- how important is it that they are all run in order?
Recently came across an old Enworld comment from someone who prefers 3.5 and PF1e but struggles with the burden of the mechanics.
How does this affect your campaign and how you run it? I've seen people leave 3e/3.5/PF1e because of this, and have seen just as many say that their campaigns are elevated by the deep mechanics.
I personally feel that those who stuck with it long enough and ended up knowing it very well are able to use it as a very streamlined toolbox, but it takes some spins around the block to get there.
I run a 3e/3.5e/PF1e hybrid with my group who have been together for many years. We have typically played in Greyhawk, the Wilderlands and FR but for the first time I am finally interested in creating my own setting. It is more appealing the older I get (I think it is the other way around for many). So am looking for some inspiration.
My version of Greyhawk takes a lot of inspiration from the following sources:
- The typical Sword and Sorcery sources one might expect, but particularly Elric, Chronicles of Amber and Zothique.
- Mid 90's JRPGs like the Mana series as well as the Dragon Quest series and early Final Fantasy titles (these games, along with early western RPGs such as Ultima and Wizardry, aimed to replicate the D&D experience, almost to the point of plagiarism in some cases).
- 1980s-90s Warhammer Fantasy art.
- French Dark Fantasy comics such as Black Moon Chronicles (a comic chronicling the author’s own Greyhawk campaign during the time he worked with Gary Gygax at TSR)
- Japanese comics and animation such Record of Lodoss War (also based on the writer’s own 80s D&D campaign).
- D&D settings such as The Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Dark Sun and Scarred Lands.
I am not sure how all that will collide into my own flavor of setting, but the gears are turning. I will start with all that I have created for my Greyhawk and morph it into a separate map. I do a lot to portray my image of D&D and Greyhawk through the art I present in my documents, the way I portray various races, character options we use and so forth, but this is far from a homebrew setting. Although, like anyone running Greyhawk, I have to make up a lot of the locations.
To answer the why this ruleset for a homebrew setting: To me, contrary to what some in the OSR world might conclude, I believe 3e style D&D actually does a much better job at emulating many of the Sword and Sorcery aesthetics and assumptions than AD&D did and believe that this ruleset works well for many of the above sources I list. Many knew this when 3.0 was released, but it has been lost to time as that ruleset evolved and the internet got ahold of it.
I am still a 2e AD&D fan, but 3e (and then 3.5e and PF1e) came along and just felt weirder, more experimental, more evocative and easier to do less mundane things with. And, imo, the sources D&D was modeled after do not strive for mundane fantasy. Further, the older I get, the more I seem to gravitate towards less conventional approaches to fantasy. The weirder the better.
Anyways, would love to hear from you.