D&D Settings

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-08-16 01:07pm

I remember back then when players weren't supposed to read any DM stuff (even monster manuals) so they'd get surprised by everything and had to learn even what a Kobold was... those were the days

Now every single player reads everything, even if they never plan to DM.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-16 02:00pm

Vendetta wrote: The sourcebooks tend to assume you've read at least one of the three core rulebooks.

The core rulebooks are:

Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual

If you want to learn to play, before jumping into any settings, read the PHB.

I've read all of those, and Forgotten Realms still seems so freakin' elaborate that I hardly can comprehend it...

but I'll probably grow accustomed to that. Somebody who hasn't read much Lovecraft probably doesn't know the difference between Old Ones and Great Old Ones, either...

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-08-16 06:15pm

Slartibartfast wrote:
SirNitram wrote:One, causes any spell cast to misfire rather spectacularly. Another, prevents any magic, even magic-like abilities, from working. The appearance of the Bhaalspawn, the rise and death of Xvim, Cyric in general, and the missing Waukeen are all fairly notable plot points for those who have gone beyond their hometowns.
(snip)
Then we can conclude that these are more similar than they are different. On the other hand there's Krynn with some "special" elements like moon wizards (who get their powers from a red or black moon or something like that) and dragons everywhere... and Ravenloft, Planescape & Spelljammer are even more original. Right?

Okay, since no one else here seems to be addressing the subject of Krynn...

The best way to learn about Krynn is to go to the library and borrow these three books: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning. They are novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There are a host of other novels in the DragonLance saga, but these three started it all and explains the world quite nicely. The novels are the actual events played out in the beta-test of the DragonLance game supplament.

In short (as of these novels):
The land of Ansalon is the typical adventuring world. There are three breeds of Elf, three Dwarf breeds (no dwarf claims the GullyDwarves as relations), TinkerGnomes, Kender (think kleptomaniac tinkergnome on speed), and Humans (Commoners, and the Knights of Solomnia nobles).
These various groups have been putting their world back together for ~2000 yrs after a Great Cataclysm that sank the Most Holy City of Istar under the ocean. The Elves blame the Humans for it. The Humans blame the Elves. The Mountain, Hill, and Dark/Deep Dwarves hate each other (and the GullyDwarves) for not aiding the other clans after the Cataclysm. The Gnomes try to build 'useful things' without having them blow up, and the Kender are banned from nearly everywhere because they pick up anything that catches their fancy and just walk off with it... then get upset when called a theif.
Mages in Krynn are forced to undergo a rite of passage around 2nd level, where their choices determine if their magic is White (Lawful/Good), Red (Chaotic/Neutral), or Black (Evil/Necromantic). Each wizard is then guided by that Moon-goddess and wear robes only of their respective color.

What the races have forgotten in the battle to survive is that there were once Dragons roaming the land. Even worse, the races have also turned away and forgotten the gods of Good, Evil, and Neutrality! After all, according to legend, the gods destroyed Istar, and then abandoned the races to survive on their own. Only the Knights of Solamnia and the Mages keep the ancient traditions, but even there real faith is rare. However, in Dragons of Autumn Twilight, all the things the races have forgotten are coming back to haunt them. The Goddess of Darkness is once again awoken, and a great war is about to start....

Edit: GAH! That was Short?!

lgot · Post by **lgot** » 2003-08-16 07:51pm

Krynn (Dragonlance) setting is just being released for 3th edition and I have not seen (I am angry with the confusion they made with the storyline) but People say it is still cut from Other planes.

On Subject of books: The players do not need to read the books yet. In the group I play there is a lot of experient players and naturally many of us read the stuff - mainly because there is more than one DM's figure there - but not everyone did. When building a character of buying a new feat, etc you can still ask someone for tips and help. A Girlfriend of one the players just joined us and she never read anything and she played very nicely.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-17 03:07am

Okay, I've read a bit more into the Forgotten Realms sourcebook and now it's not THAT hard to comprehend...

Igot wrote:On Subject of books: The players do not need to read the books yet. In the group I play there is a lot of experient players and naturally many of us read the stuff - mainly because there is more than one DM's figure there - but not everyone did. When building a character of buying a new feat, etc you can still ask someone for tips and help. A Girlfriend of one the players just joined us and she never read anything and she played very nicely.

Of course, it rarely hurts to know a bit about the setting.

lgot · Post by **lgot** » 2003-08-17 01:07pm

Oh, yeah. But even so, when the First setting was created for Greyhawk, that was true also. But the information can very specific and handled to the players by the DM. For example, our DMs always ask for the clerics to read about the church of the god the choose, this kind of stuff. You can always surprise your players

(Hey the face is here just because my little twin sisters are asking me to put a face, there is nothing to do with you )

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-08-17 02:51pm

lgot wrote:For example, our DMs always ask for the clerics to read about the church of the god the choose, this kind of stuff.

I can just imagine a situation if the clerics don't read about their gods....

"Whaddya mean, clerics of Tempus can't use crossbows??"

Darth_Shinji · Post by **Darth_Shinji** » 2003-08-17 04:33pm

Birthright was cool.

Too bad I only have some of the novels.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2003-08-17 04:51pm

Whether how much people know about the setting affects how the game goes depend show well they roleplay.

If someone's read sourcebooks about the Underdark, but their character's never been there, you always hope they'll play as if they know nothing if the adventure leads them there..

(some people don't play like that, they're usually both a blessing and a curse on the group, as they usually know all the rules really well, and they can help people who don't, but they're also impossible to surprise and entertain with an adventure.)

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-08-18 11:42pm

Greyhawk was the generic land for the 1st Edition D&D game. It was E. Gary Gygax's personal world, and was where Tenser, Otiluke, Bigby, and most other named wizards are from. Forgotten Realms is the generic 2nd and 3rd edition world.

Other "worlds" not mentioned are Al-Qadim and Kara-Tur. Both are on Toril, the same world as the Forgotten Realms.

Al-Qadim is set south, in a continent called Zakhara. There are no dragons there, and it is an Arabian setting. There are five different types of genie there: the Marid, Djinn, Efreet, Dao, and Jann. The different races all exist together, and the main conflicts are between city alliances and between desert tribes and the cities. All the cities are technically ruled by one man, but the caliphs of each city intrigue against each other.

Kara-Tur is far to the east, and is an Oriental setting. I don't know much about this, except that the religion is apparently based on the Celestial Beauracracy of ancient Chinese religion. The only source I have is an old adventure in which the PCs become students of Monkey.

So, if all the settings I know of were listed, they would be:

Oerth (Greyhawk)
Toril (Forgotten Realms, Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur)
Aebrynis (Birthright)
The Domains of Dread (Ravenloft, Masque of the Red Death)
Mystara
Wildspace (Spelljammer)
Sigil (Planescape)

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-08-19 12:24am

The Dark wrote:Greyhawk was the generic land for the 1st Edition D&D game. It was E. Gary Gygax's personal world, and was where Tenser, Otiluke, Bigby, and most other named wizards are from. Forgotten Realms is the generic 2nd and 3rd edition world.

Was Raal one of those wizards?

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-08-19 04:56pm

Not that I know of. The wizards that I'm fairly sure were PCs are Mordenkainen, Bigby, Otiluke, Tenser, Drawmij, Nystul, possibly Rary (not sure on him), and Otto.

If the so-called "Citadel of Eight" is the original party, than the first eight PCs in D&D were Mordenkainen, Bigby, Riggby, Yrag, Felnorith, Vram, Vim, and Digby.

However, Tenser, Robilar, Merlynd, and Terik were an adventuring party, and were responsible for releasing Iuz.

Basically, every named 2nd edition spell (with the possible exception of Tasha's Hideous Laughter) is named after a PC magic-user from the Greyhawk setting.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2003-08-19 10:06pm

I would remind everyone that the Dragonlance Campaign Setting fr 3rd edition comes out this month...

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-08-20 05:55pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:I would remind everyone that the Dragonlance Campaign Setting fr 3rd edition comes out this month...

.... Okay, so which DL book series does this one follow?