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Inhuman Bot
2008-10-18, 04:42 PM
First off: I can't look at wikipedia, or google, unless I'am given a specific page, as my internet sucks.

So, I've heard of a few settings, and want to know: Does anyone know about them? what are they like?

They (and all the details I know of them) are:

Dark sun: Set in the world of Athas, it's a grim place, ruled by Witch-Kings and epic psion/wizards called "athasian dragons"

Mystara: I got nothing.

Al-Qaidam: It's an arabian magic-technology setting.

Dragonlance: It seems well known.

Planescape: Same with this setting.

Oerth: Again, nothing.

Also, do they have 3.5 rules?

Please and thank you! :smallsmile:

Dhavaer
2008-10-18, 04:52 PM
Oerth is the planet/plane Greyhawk is set on, just as Forgotten Realms in set on Toril.

Dragonlance is a setting with a lot of knights. Much more on the idealistic side of the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Vs Cynicism (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism?)

Planescape is set in Sigil, the City of Doors built on the ring that floats over the infinite spire on the Outlands.

Amiria
2008-10-18, 04:55 PM
http://www.planewalker.com/ is probably the best site for 3.5 Planescape meaterial.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-10-18, 04:56 PM
Dark Sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Sun) - post-magical-apocalypse D&D.

Mystara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystara) - one of the original campaign settings compiled out of individual campaigns, alongside Greyhawk.

Al-Qadim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qadim) - Arabian Nights-themed campaign setting later rolled into Forgotten Realms.

Dragonlance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance) - campaign setting based on a series of bestselling novels based on a campaign some guy ran with his friends and decided to novelize.

Planescape (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape) - Turn A D&D. If that's too obscure, vaguely Victorian setting focusing on interplanar travel, rather than a specific campaign world. Was originally a crossover between pretty much every campaign setting, though with the discontinuation of the product line and the changes made in the planar cosmology, it was sort-of-retconned into just being around Greyhawk's Planes.

Oerth: is the name of the planet that the Greyhawk campaign setting is on.

None of these except Al-Qadim, which was rolled into Forgotten Realms, survived into 3.x. And Oerth, which being Greyhawk, is the 3.x generic setting.

Drascin
2008-10-18, 05:00 PM
Actually, mister Nerdo, given I've personally read Dragonlance's 3.0 manual, I would like to contradict that last paragraph of yours :smalltongue:.

Yes, there is 3.x Dragonlance material. It's just hard to find lately, and not really that good anyway, but it's there.

Magnor Criol
2008-10-18, 05:05 PM
Yeah, I've seen 3.0 Dragonlance and Dark Sun books (and PDF counterparts, which may or may not have been legal).

Satyr
2008-10-18, 05:06 PM
Dark Sun is a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting with more distance to the more classic fantasy stereotypes (for example the common distrust of everything the looks similar to an Elf) and it tends to be a more plausible game from the moral point of view (or a more cynic one if you prefer). It is probably one of the grittiest D&D setting and is far away from romantic chivalry and nice idealism.
But it has cannibalistic halflings and magic that kills the planet.

Everything you need to know about the setting can be found here (http://www.darksunkings.com/) and there is also a semi-official 3rd edition conversion (http://www.athas.org/), but in my opinion the setting is actually too precious for the limiting and too flashy style of D&D and works better with a more 'realistic' system. I personally would suggest All Flesh Must Be Eaten. It works much better than the original AD&D rules or the conversion above.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-10-18, 07:47 PM
Dark Sun / Athas:
Athas is a the world of dark, red sun. Mighty sorcerer-kings (wizard/psions) on their path of transformation into dragons have sucked the life out of the world with their magic, and now rule over city-states in the desert wastelands. All arcane magic is powered by the sun (although all but one magic-user get the energy indirectly, from plants and - in the case of some terrifyingly powerful spellcasters - from living beings), and defilers - wizards who take power from the land without regard for the consequences - leave the land behind them barren, turning life into ash.

The creatures that survive in this age are terribly dangerous and strong, and in most cases - due to the meddling of the ancient psionic halfling flesh-benders - psionic. Iron is the rarest resource, even more precious than water, and the climate is too harsh for most characters to even wear the bone, leather, chitin, and wood armors.

Mystara:
Setting of the old, old Basic Set D&D (although the world was only really introduced in the Expert Set, I think). It's really very cliche. Think of any old D&D tropes, and they're probably there.

Al-Qadim:
One Thousand and One Nights. No technology here, really. It's a world of djinni and magic lamps, desert sands and oases, kalifs and palaces, heroes on flying carpets and bandits on camels.

Dragonlance:
The setting of the Dragonlance novels. The setting is dramatically different in different Ages (editions). Paladine, the paladin god, and Takhisis, the Dark Queen of Dragons, fight epic wars through mortal intermediaries and dragons. Wicked draconians, annoying/hilarious kender, riding dragons into massed battle, flying fortresses, a kick-ass death knight, human/elven/dwarven weakness and arrogance and heroism, endless romantic subplots, and creepy-hunky Raistlin.

Planescape:
The war of Chaos and Law (and, sure, a bit of Good and Evil, but they're very secondary) in the Outer and Inner Planes. In the middle of the vast, endless plains of the Outlands rises an infinitely high mountain, and atop it sits the ring-shaped city of Sigil, built on the ring's inner surface. Ruled by the ineffable Lady of Pain, the City of Portals is the hub of the Planes, with magical portals that lead everywhere. Demons and devils rub shoulders with angels and, more amazingly, each other. The bizarre happens every single moment, and once you step out of Sigil and into the Planes, the really weird crap begins.

The Blood War rages in the the Upper and Lower Planes both, fought primarily between the demons and the devils, but dragging the entire Planes into it. But the conflict of ideologies is not limited there. Sigil is home to numerous - probably countless - factions, most headquartered elsewhere on the Planes, who war not for the souls but for the beliefs and thoughts of followers. If you tilt the balance far enough in one direction, a village in the Outlands can shift into the Abyss or Mount Celestia - that's how powerful thoughts and ideas are.

Oerth:
Greyhawk's setting. Classic D&D; a bit lower-powered than the Forgottean Realms, but otherwise pretty similar. It's pretty similar to almost any D&D setting, in fact, since it's the default and the baseline.


Dragonlance has 3.5 books published. Planescape has Planewalker.com (http://www.planewalker.com/), and Dark Sun has Athas.org (http://athas.org/). For the others, you're out of luck - unless you love having a crapload of AD&D material to use for background and ideas, and just coming up with your own rules where they are really that necessary.


Edit: Are you familiar with Ravenloft and Spelljammer, or have you just not heard of them?

Edit2: Man, describing Dragonlance as idealistic is... whoah. In the original trilogy, almost all of the "good" Knights of Solamnia are either corrupt or terminally arrogant. Humans have long since lost all faith to the gods - good, evil, or neutral - and are, in fact, incredibly embittered toward them. The elves, who still believe in Paladine, are mostly Lawful Stupid (and gleefully and brutally enslave their "dumber" wild elf cousins). The dwarves are isolationist and suspicious. The heroes are all individually flawed and fallible. There's a big undercurrent of hope, and the heroes - being heroes! - eventually pull through and overcome their weaknesses. Except, you know, the ones who die, the one who becomes an overweight depressed alcoholic, the one who goes on to try to conquer and end the world... and so on.

sonofzeal
2008-10-18, 08:19 PM
There's also Eberron that should be in this thread.

Eberron is probably most accurately described as "magepunk". It's an attempt to show a least a bit of what the presence of magic would do to a civilization eventually. It's not particularly "High Magic", in that there's no real mageocracy, and high level spellcasters are exceedingly rare (rarer than most settings I know of short of Dark Sun), but low level magic abounds. Expect streets lit by Continual Flame streetlamps, postoffices which use "Sending" as a sort of telegram service in every major town, and the occasional airship.

Oh, and there's all sorts of stuff about dragons being obsessed with this ancient prophesy which nobody (even they, I think) actually know fully. And there's halflings riding velociraptors. Good times.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-10-18, 08:36 PM
I think the point was that everyone familiar with 3.5 probably knows Forgotten Realms and Eberron. Shem (that's the correct pronoun for Slaaneshi, right? I've got my Middenheim book somewhere around here...) was asking about a bunch of more obscure settings.

sonofzeal
2008-10-18, 08:44 PM
I think the point was that everyone familiar with 3.5 probably knows Forgotten Realms and Eberron. Shem (that's the correct pronoun for Slaaneshi, right? I've got my Middenheim book somewhere around here...) was asking about a bunch of more obscure settings.
....Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Planescape, Greyhawk? I'm not sure "obscure" is the right word. "Ubiquitous" maybe, at least as much so as Forgotten Realms and Eberron. Case in point - I personally know next to nothing about Forgotten Realms, and would be more comfortable talking about Planescape or Greyhawk.

That said, I don't know much about half of those myself, as I generally don't use published settings (mostly just Santhil (http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgmwvmds_53kvq4kcv) these days, which is a work-in-progress by some friends and I). I'd say there's better odds on him simply having forgot them from the list, than being an expert on them. I could be wrong though.

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 09:19 PM
al quriem is an amazing setting, like one of the best, i with they had more detail
from
EE

Fostire
2008-10-18, 11:05 PM
Mystara:
Setting of the old, old Basic Set D&D (although the world was only really introduced in the Expert Set, I think). It's really very cliche. Think of any old D&D tropes, and they're probably there.

I recall seeing ads for this setting in the 2ed books (as well as forgotten realms, ravenloft, dark sun, planescape, and dragonlance)
Also, dark sun is an amazing setting that unfortunately I never got to play in.

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 11:14 PM
is this core D&D settings only or can third party settings be included as well?
from
EE

Nerd-o-rama
2008-10-18, 11:20 PM
I think it's the settings that the OP asked about, EE.

afroakuma
2008-10-18, 11:26 PM
Dark Sun: Nothing more to be said, really. Doesn't participate in Planescape and Spelljammer crossover settings though.

Mystara: Not current, again not compatible (ostensibly) with PS or SJ. Extrapolation of Arneson's Blackmoor setting, also known as the Known World. Unique in that there are no gods, merely Immortals (if I've read it correctly) and probably the least supported of any product line.

Al-Qadim: FR in Arabia. Features more Egyptian themes, and also adds real Arabic flavor to things like genies. Has an odd habit of doing stupid (read: zaratan) things.

Dragonlance: The first developed campaign setting. Probably has more books than the Bible. As was said, flavor varies depending on which Age you're in; originally set to be high heroic fantasy in a war-torn world. And forget the failing heroes; you're most likely to die heroically. It's very important.

Planescape: Much awesomeness; I'm currently doing a series on the Planes over in homebrew. There is a ton of material online for this.

Oerth: As has been said: It's your Greyhawk. Your base D&D setting.

The two you missed:

Spelljammer: Recently covered in another thread, Spalljammer is quite literally D&D in space. Unique flavor, decent design and development, terminal product line. It has potential and is a great counterpart to the Planes.

Ravenloft: D&D's gothic horror, an inescabable demiplane split into fiefdoms ruled by the multiverse's most evil.

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 11:27 PM
I think it's the settings that the OP asked about, EE.

can we ask about other settings then?
from
EE

Nerd-o-rama
2008-10-18, 11:29 PM
can we ask about other settings then?
from
EENo. You will be beaten and jailed by the Thread Police.

sonofzeal
2008-10-18, 11:32 PM
No. You will be beaten and jailed by the Thread Police.
Heed the warning of my example! Tread lightly, lest ye too be smote for bringing up information merely tangential to the OP request!

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 11:32 PM
No. You will be beaten and jailed by the Thread Police.

no, not the box
from
EE

afroakuma
2008-10-18, 11:36 PM
What setting did you want to ask about, EE?

Bear in mind, Kalamar means flensings.

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 11:37 PM
What setting did you want to ask about, EE?

Bear in mind, Kalamar means flensings.

Does anybody know what Birthrite is? Its been bothering me for a while now
from
EE

afroakuma
2008-10-18, 11:39 PM
Birthright: On the world of Cerilia, the old gods' blood has been passed down to mortals. Of the gods of good, their issue has become the nobility, preternatural leaders of the mortal races. Of Azrai, god of darkness, have come the awnsheglien, demonic beasts, once men, who lead the creatures of shadow to devour the bastions of mankind. Kingdoms rise and fall as bloodlines are annexed, giving power to those most pure.

Meat Shield
2008-10-18, 11:44 PM
Birthright: On the world of Cerilia, the old gods' blood has been passed down to mortals. Of the gods of good, their issue has become the nobility, preternatural leaders of the mortal races. Of Azrai, god of darkness, have come the awnsheglien, demonic beasts, once men, who lead the creatures of shadow to devour the bastions of mankind. Kingdoms rise and fall as bloodlines are annexed, giving power to those most pure.

If I remember right, it also used the Battlesystem mechanics for army vs army fighting, in addition to normal PC rules. Battlesystem was something TSR came up with and needed a setting to put it in and I think Birthright got volunteered.

afroakuma
2008-10-18, 11:45 PM
I actually own at least one novel for every major 2.5 setting... except Greyhawk, oddly.

Weird.

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 11:47 PM
Birthright: On the world of Cerilia, the old gods' blood has been passed down to mortals. Of the gods of good, their issue has become the nobility, preternatural leaders of the mortal races. Of Azrai, god of darkness, have come the awnsheglien, demonic beasts, once men, who lead the creatures of shadow to devour the bastions of mankind. Kingdoms rise and fall as bloodlines are annexed, giving power to those most pure.

Can you go into some more detail please?
from
EE

afroakuma
2008-10-18, 11:49 PM
Um... as in...?

What sort of detail?

EvilElitest
2008-10-18, 11:51 PM
Um... as in...?

What sort of detail?

a bit more about what is about in terms of story, back ground, events ect ect
from
EE

afroakuma
2008-10-18, 11:54 PM
That's a fair summation right there - the old gods fought a war on Cerilia alongside their forces against the evil god Azrai. All of the gods were slain in the fighting; the remainder of their power passed down to their mortal servants. The most endowed became the new gods, while lesser servants or those close to the blast acquired divine bloodlines. The power of a divine bloodline is the right to command, among other benefits, and so is eagerly sought by those with the special weapons necessary to extract it. Wars are fought over ideals, bloodlines and territories, while trying to protect humanity/elvenkind/etc. from the predations of awnsheglien such as the Gorgon, the Hydra et. al.

JaxGaret
2008-10-19, 12:15 AM
Since I haven't seen the link yet, here you go: 3e Dark Sun (http://www.athas.org/).

EDIT: Upon closer inspection, these are loafers I see that Tsotha-lanti already posted it.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-10-19, 12:56 AM
I recall seeing ads for this setting in the 2ed books (as well as forgotten realms, ravenloft, dark sun, planescape, and dragonlance)

Pretty sure Mystara did get ported into AD&D, yes. I met it through the Expert Set. The others were mostly AD&D 2nd ed. settings, with piles of sourcebooks.


....Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Planescape, Greyhawk? I'm not sure "obscure" is the right word.

It probably is, if we're talking about people who got into D&D through 3.0 or 3.5.


Dark Sun: Nothing more to be said, really. Doesn't participate in Planescape and Spelljammer crossover settings though.

It kinda does. In theory, Athas is cut off in a planar sense - the Grey and the Black and the other planes of Athas are cut off from the larger subsets; they're isolated demiplanes on the Astral/Ethereal or whatever. The Inner (elemental) Planes are connected indirectly, allowing clerics and druids to use them for divine magic (and the Sorcerer-Kings have forged connections to them and can grant divine magic to their templars)

But at least one Sorcerer-King wanders the Outer Planes (as I recall; Dregoth, was it?), Spelljamming to Athas is probably possible (it's not planar travel), and one city-state was moved into Ravenloft (where it's an isolated domain, probably mostly visited by Athasians; I imagine the Mists would manifest as a siltstorm instead).

It's just that Athas is very poorly connected. It seems likely there are almost no portals there on Sigil, since someone would probably have had to come to Athas to create the other end.

Ascension
2008-10-19, 01:17 AM
I've heard a bit about a setting... can't remember the name... If I remember correctly it's set at the dawn of time, before the gods have come into being, it's really low technology, clerics are replaced with some sort of divine caster unique to the setting, I think I remember that lizardfolk are the primary species, with humans basically just fighting for survival...

I can't remember its name or any other detail beyond that, though. I'm not even sure if it's official, third-party, or online homebrew.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-10-19, 02:18 AM
Chrono Trigger 65000000 BC?

Ascension
2008-10-19, 03:58 AM
Chrono Trigger 65000000 BC?

Nice try, but it was a D&D setting. I think it had "Dawn" in the name somewhere. "Dawnforge," maybe? Yeah, I think it might have been Dawnforge.

Waspinator
2008-10-19, 04:02 AM
This look familiar?
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/dawnforge.html

Ascension
2008-10-19, 04:14 AM
Well, it appears that there are fewer lizards in it than I was led to believe, but that looks about right.

Satyr
2008-10-19, 04:57 AM
Did you perhaps mean Earthdawn? That has at least the Lizardfolk (flamboyant, swashbuckler lizardfolk with vertigo that clobber their enemies with their tails, to be more precise).

bosssmiley
2008-10-19, 05:11 AM
If I remember right, it also used the Battlesystem mechanics for army vs army fighting, in addition to normal PC rules. Battlesystem was something TSR came up with and needed a setting to put it in and I think Birthright got volunteered.

Not quite. Birthright used a card-based battle system. It was simple and quite flavourful, but the stats and combat resolution system had little or no relation to normal D&D. IIRC they also did a boxed set for naval battles called "Seas of Blood".

Battlesystem was the (settingless) 1E/2E mass combat system - D&D statlines meets Warhammer IIRC. Chainmail was a resurrected brand name for the rehashed Battlesystem, and that was based in Ravilia(?), a fallen empire in western Oerth.

afroakuma
2008-10-19, 07:29 AM
Spelljamming to Athas is probably possible

I seem to recall (I'll do some wading in a bit) that Athas' cystal sphere was permeated by something... a crimson forg or suchlike, that was near-fatal to most ships that tried. It was also off the normal charts and paths.

And yes, I was referring more to its being less connected as a whole to the Planes. There's still a way or two to do it, it's just that most wouldn't think twice and it would be tricky heading there.

That said, plane shift from an Outer Plane or what have you could easily do it.

Inhuman Bot
2008-10-19, 07:44 AM
For those who provided information, I know what ravenloft is, and have played in it.

I knew little about spelljammer.

Also, feel free to ask about other settings, first or third party.

afroakuma
2008-10-19, 08:17 AM
Any other questions, Slaanesh?

EvilElitest
2008-10-19, 04:06 PM
Nice try, but it was a D&D setting. I think it had "Dawn" in the name somewhere. "Dawnforge," maybe? Yeah, I think it might have been Dawnforge.

yeah that is another one that i know very little about, i just have one book on it

About Birthrite, is there anything about the game itself
from
EE
edit
what is earth dawn?
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EE

afroakuma
2008-10-19, 04:33 PM
About Birthrite, is there anything about the game itself


Again, I'm not sure what you're asking... are you looking for major mechanical differences, like Dark Sun, or...?

EvilElitest
2008-10-19, 04:36 PM
Again, I'm not sure what you're asking... are you looking for major mechanical differences, like Dark Sun, or...?

well you've given me the basic description, but i want some more detail. Like is it about in some more detail. What you told me just the basic intro, but not much about the setting itself. How are the races in this game? How has the lack of gods effect the setting. What is the basic theme
from
EE

Swordguy
2008-10-19, 05:37 PM
yeah that is another one that i know very little about, i just have one book on it

About Birthrite, is there anything about the game itself
from
EE
edit
what is earth dawn?
from
EE

Earthdawn is a fantasy RPG originally published by FASA, set in the same universe as their Shadowrun game (just 6000 prior to SR), picked up after FASA's closure by Living Room Games, and now produced by RedBrick Limited.

It's kind of post-apocalyptic. Rising levels of magic brought creature of pure magic (called Horrors) into the world. To survive them, the sentient races built Kaers - basically dungeons) to function as bomb-shelters, allowing them to ride out the tide of magic. After, IIRC about 1000 years of high magic levels, the magic has faded enough that most of the Horrors are gone, and the races are venturing back out into the world to reclaim it. Unfortunately, there's LOTS of Kaers that fell during the hiding, and are filled with traps to keep the Horrors out, Horrors, and the loot that the people who lived there had.

(Amusingly, the tide of magic falls so far eventually (outside the scope of Earthdawn) that we get the "modern" age of no magic, and then when magic starts coming back in the early 2020's in Shadowrun we can see where the SR setting is going to end up.)

Pyramid magazine named Earthdawn as one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games at one point - it's a massively flavorful setting with some really innovative mechanics - especially when dealing with magic (raw magic will burn out casters, but they can weave threads of magic (sort of Robert Jordan-style) into a "spell matrix" of a limited number of individual spells. A spell matrix can hold about six spells, and a caster can have 2-3 matricies, so they're limited in the number of spells they can cast).

The playable races are Dwarves (predominant race - very Classical Roman), Elves (jackasses in the woods), Humans, Orks (They are tribal, nomadic and often barbaric humanoids, but NOT evil at all), Trolls, (notable for their airships) Obsidiman (living rock people), Windlings (Tinkerbell with a bad attitude), and T'Skrang (swashbuckling lizardmen made of awesome). EVERYONE has magic - most people channel magic to generate their abilities, while spellscasters pull magic directly.

Finally, the extra coolness is all about names and your legacy. There's a copse of tree out back, and you think of it as "the trees out back". No big deal. But once the might hero Jardine is corned by his enemies and dies there, the grove might become "Jardine's End", and the Naming of the copse gives the location powers. Ditto for weapons, armor, etc. Part of getting a magical item is learning its legacy to unlock its power, and then adding to it's legacy with your own deeds.

Seriously, it's an amazing setting. Go check it out. It's on a VERY SHORT list of games that I'll play regardless of the people or houserules involved. The mechanics are a little unintuitive at times, but the setting more than makes up for it.

Ascension
2008-10-19, 05:52 PM
Trolls with airships, living rock people, and swashbuckling lizardmen?!?!?!?

The naming stuff sounds awesome too.

I'm definitely investigating this game!

potatocubed
2008-10-19, 06:04 PM
And yes, I was referring more to its being less connected as a whole to the Planes. There's still a way or two to do it, it's just that most wouldn't think twice and it would be tricky heading there.

I own a box set adventure that deals with a party of Athasians taking a (largely inadvertent) trip to the planes. It's pretty interesting, since there are plenty of reminders that a party native to Athas has no idea what, say, kobolds or chimerae are.

afroakuma
2008-10-19, 06:54 PM
well you've given me the basic description, but i want some more detail. Like is it about in some more detail. What you told me just the basic intro, but not much about the setting itself. How are the races in this game? How has the lack of gods effect the setting. What is the basic theme


There are gods; new gods for the human races. Races are humans (six nations), elves (chaotic neutral), dwarves, halflings and goblins (not so evil). No orcs or half-orcs, no gnomes. Half-elves are treated well in elven communities but shunned in human lands. Human kingdoms are based on Middle Ages/Renaissance Europe.

The basic theme is rulership. Your players are assumed to have a divine bloodline and to use it to rule over a town, a duchy, a province etc. They work to protect their land and their people from internal and external threats, increase the strength of their bloodline and deal diplomatically with other factions. It's probably the most starkly optimistic of the D&D settings.

Kaiyanwang
2008-10-20, 03:33 AM
In 3-4 Dungeon and Dragon magazines there is a 3.x version of dark sun too. Don't remember issues, sorry.

And rules about magic on Athas could be useful in other settings if you want to limit magic...

Satyr
2008-10-20, 05:15 AM
If I remember correctly, there will be a D&D 4 version of Earthdawn. I don't know if this is a better version than the original rules.


EVERYONE has magic - most people channel magic to generate their abilities, while spellscasters pull magic directly.

I always thaught that only Adepts like the Player characters had magical powers while the majority of the population are just mundane characters without any magic - that is a part of the greatness of the game - every PC is a larger than life hero with an intuitive understanding of their specific niche.

Swordguy
2008-10-20, 11:50 AM
If I remember correctly, there will be a D&D 4 version of Earthdawn. I don't know if this is a better version than the original rules.



I always thaught that only Adepts like the Player characters had magical powers while the majority of the population are just mundane characters without any magic - that is a part of the greatness of the game - every PC is a larger than life hero with an intuitive understanding of their specific niche.


Sorry - yeah. Everyone referred to all the PCs.

Waspinator
2008-10-20, 05:26 PM
One setting I've heard of and am curious about is Ghostwalk. I know it's a "city of the dead" type world, but does anyone have any opinions and/or details that they think would be useful?

afroakuma
2008-10-20, 09:36 PM
I've always wondered about that one.

Waspinator
2008-10-20, 11:53 PM
Yeah. Is it just an excuse to dodge character death or something more?

afroakuma
2008-10-21, 12:23 AM
From what I understood it was more than that.

horseboy
2008-10-21, 02:16 AM
If I remember correctly, there will be a D&D 4 version of Earthdawn. I don't know if this is a better version than the original rules.I haven't heard that it's been released (http://www.ageoflegend4e.com/). Given Redbrick's motto of "It's done when it's done," and both people there trying to get the Cathay source book out for ED, getting the Blue Planet line back into print, God only knows what with Fading Suns, and finalizing Equinox, I'm really surprised James took on another new project.

RTGoodman
2008-10-21, 02:29 AM
One setting I've heard of and am curious about is Ghostwalk. I know it's a "city of the dead" type world, but does anyone have any opinions and/or details that they think would be useful?

Well, basically that's the whole thing, as far as I know - Ghostwalk (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/885660000) is a setting (by Monte Cook, I believe) where you're basically a human or demi-human ghost in this big ghost-city in a sort of second life, but you can go back and forth to the land of the living. I think most of the material is mostly just for ghost-type PCs, though there's a bit of other stuff (feats, spells, etc.) that work elsewhere (I know I've seen people use some feats from it for normal PCs).

EDIT: Wikipedia has a Ghostwalk article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwalk), and a Google search for "Ghostwalk + D&D" or similar yields several results you might take a look at.

Waspinator
2008-10-24, 01:21 AM
Also, did anyone mention Midnight? It's a world that started out as a fairly standard fantasy setting and then took a nasty turn. You know the standard LOTOR "save your wonderful world from being conquered and enslaved by the evil god-spirit-king-thing" plot? Well, this world failed that one a few years back and now it's being ground under the heels of the shadow's army. Makes for an interesting dynamic for there to be basically no authorities that a good-aligned hero can trust. At all. Anyone noticeable has pretty much already been crushed.