Current state of LG [Archive] - Wizards Community

Current state of LG [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ajs
02-15-05, 01:20 PM Hello all,

I'm new to both LG and 3.5 (heck, 3.0 for that matter). I cut my teeth on the D&D basic set back in the day like so many others, and after years of AD&D 1st and 2nd edition, it took me a long time to decide to try out the d20 system, but I've taken the plunge. I've set my campaign in the area of Verbobonc with plans to run a variant of RTToEE with some side-trips to various points once my players advance a few levels.

In getting set up and writing my first session, I've found the online resources of the various LG sites amazingly useful. Verbobonc has better online maps than my home town! :)

However, I do see a few stumbling blocks:

1. I don't want to set my campaign in Bissel (as that makes RTToEE kind of difficult), but being from New England that's where my local Triad is.

2. I can't seem to sign up for RPGA from the Wizards' site (lots of text telling me why to sign up, but no "sign up here" link that I can find, and the GM test is all "internal server errors" when I try to use it).

3. Some of the things I'd like to do with my campaign probably affect too much of the world to fit into a regulation game anyway.

4. As I look around this message board, it kind of seems like WoTC's attention is elsewhere (not shocking, given the lack of product focus on Greyhawk/Oerth). Is Greyhawk essentially stalled? Would I be better just taking over locally for my campaign and ignoring continuity with the larger LG world?

5. I know I should be able to find this, but what year is it exactly? Nothing I can find seems to map our timeline to the LG timeline exactly. It would seem that it's 59x CY... anyone have the "x" handy?

Any help on these points would be much appreciated, thanks!

PS: Anyone else notice that in mapping Oerth onto a sphere for the DMG cover, several mountain ranges and forests were turned into ocean? I sense a Photoshop over-select ;-)

PPS: The message board software is telling me, "The system does shows that you've never made a post?" -- Someone should really fix that.
Simpi
02-15-05, 01:41 PM 1. I don't want to set my campaign in Bissel (as that makes RTToEE kind of difficult), but being from New England that's where my local Triad is..

Unfortunately you don't have choice in this matter unless you want to move around.

2. I can't seem to sign up for RPGA from the Wizards' site (lots of text telling me why to sign up, but no "sign up here" link that I can find, and the GM test is all "internal server errors" when I try to use it)..

It's probably down just temporarily. And you can only join RPGA through wizards site by taking the DM test. In other cases you would need to get a membership card by taking part in a RPGA event.

3. Some of the things I'd like to do with my campaign probably affect too much of the world to fit into a regulation game anyway..

4. As I look around this message board, it kind of seems like WoTC's attention is elsewhere (not shocking, given the lack of product focus on Greyhawk/Oerth). Is Greyhawk essentially stalled? Would I be better just taking over locally for my campaign and ignoring continuity with the larger LG world?.

Uuumm....I think you misunderstand the concept of Living Greyhawk. Living Greyhawk is not a home campaign or vice versa. There is a limited amount of scenario available at any given time which are either produced by different triads (regional/meta-regional scenarios) or by Circle (Core modules).

You affect your regional plotline by playing scenarios or writing scenarios for it (max. 8/year). Your home campaign cannot affect Living Greyhawk.

Likewise, your home campaign can ignore Living Greyhawk entirely (or any other bits of canon as you see fit) because the two are not the same thing.

Greyhawk is not stalled (well, Living Greyhawk aint) and continues to be alive and well.

5. I know I should be able to find this, but what year is it exactly? Nothing I can find seems to map our timeline to the LG timeline exactly. It would seem that it's 59x CY... anyone have the "x" handy?.

595 CY currently.

S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
ajs
02-15-05, 02:02 PM Ok, thank you much for the clarification. I was under the impression that LG was more of a superstructure for home campaigns set in Greyhawk with modules acting as a bridge, not the sole focus.

Since that's the case, and since there's the regional restriction (and RTToEE is at least a large part of my campaign), I'm just going to continue forward. At some point, I'll put my campaign materials up on the Web for others to benefit from. But since each module right now is tightly linked to future plot, it will be a while before I can do that without revealing things to my players.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the LG world in the next few years, but for now I guess I'll just leech off of the existing materials and run my game stand-alone.
mage189
02-16-05, 11:25 AM Yeah, he's right about all that. LG is something different from a home game. It's all prewritten mods and character tracking and things like that. Everyone would need to have RPGA numbers and LG characters with Adventure Records and fun things like that.

Only RPGA related LG mods count for anything experiance, item or anything else in the campain. The general idea is that it's a world spanning game of D&D set in Greyhawk, so everyone is kind of operating out of thier region.
SteveMND
02-16-05, 01:47 PM "As I look around this message board, it kind of seems like WoTC's attention is elsewhere (not shocking, given the lack of product focus on Greyhawk/Oerth). Is Greyhawk essentially stalled?"

Yes, it's effectively a defunct campaign setting for WotC anymore, along with Spelljammer, Mystara, Dark Sun, etc. It's been referred to as a 'legacy setting' by several people at WotC (including the brand guys). In fact, this abandonment of forward momentum by the company is probably the main reason why it was able to be given over to the RPGA in such a stroing way for LG to use -- since they won't be interfering with any future published Greyhawk material (there won't be any), they can go nuts and be as creative as they wish. That, of course, is a good point or a bad point, depending on who you talk to. ;-D

"Greyhawk" is technically the default world for the D&D fantasy game, in as much as when they need a name to put on a god or town, they tend to use Greyhawk-specific ones, but even then, it's pretty loose with the setting. For all intents and purposes, GH exists only as a fan-based setting anymore (which is just fine by me). Do with it as you will! ;-)

"PS: Anyone else notice that in mapping Oerth onto a sphere for the DMG cover, several mountain ranges and forests were turned into ocean? I sense a Photoshop over-select ;-)"

The cover of the Core books are actually photos of painted scultures, not photoshop creations. :-) That said, I suspect the artist used the maps of Oerth as a base but but only as a base. i don't think it was supposed to be a true representation...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ajs 02-15-05, 01:20 PM	Hello all, I'm new to both LG and 3.5 (heck, 3.0 for that matter). I cut my teeth on the D&D basic set back in the day like so many others, and after years of AD&D 1st and 2nd edition, it took me a long time to decide to try out the d20 system, but I've taken the plunge. I've set my campaign in the area of Verbobonc with plans to run a variant of RTToEE with some side-trips to various points once my players advance a few levels. In getting set up and writing my first session, I've found the online resources of the various LG sites amazingly useful. Verbobonc has better online maps than my home town! :) However, I do see a few stumbling blocks: 1. I don't want to set my campaign in Bissel (as that makes RTToEE kind of difficult), but being from New England that's where my local Triad is. 2. I can't seem to sign up for RPGA from the Wizards' site (lots of text telling me why to sign up, but no "sign up here" link that I can find, and the GM test is all "internal server errors" when I try to use it). 3. Some of the things I'd like to do with my campaign probably affect too much of the world to fit into a regulation game anyway. 4. As I look around this message board, it kind of seems like WoTC's attention is elsewhere (not shocking, given the lack of product focus on Greyhawk/Oerth). Is Greyhawk essentially stalled? Would I be better just taking over locally for my campaign and ignoring continuity with the larger LG world? 5. I know I should be able to find this, but what year is it exactly? Nothing I can find seems to map our timeline to the LG timeline exactly. It would seem that it's 59x CY... anyone have the "x" handy? Any help on these points would be much appreciated, thanks! PS: Anyone else notice that in mapping Oerth onto a sphere for the DMG cover, several mountain ranges and forests were turned into ocean? I sense a Photoshop over-select ;-) PPS: The message board software is telling me, "The system does shows that you've never made a post?" -- Someone should really fix that.
Simpi 02-15-05, 01:41 PM	1. I don't want to set my campaign in Bissel (as that makes RTToEE kind of difficult), but being from New England that's where my local Triad is.. Unfortunately you don't have choice in this matter unless you want to move around. 2. I can't seem to sign up for RPGA from the Wizards' site (lots of text telling me why to sign up, but no "sign up here" link that I can find, and the GM test is all "internal server errors" when I try to use it).. It's probably down just temporarily. And you can only join RPGA through wizards site by taking the DM test. In other cases you would need to get a membership card by taking part in a RPGA event. 3. Some of the things I'd like to do with my campaign probably affect too much of the world to fit into a regulation game anyway.. 4. As I look around this message board, it kind of seems like WoTC's attention is elsewhere (not shocking, given the lack of product focus on Greyhawk/Oerth). Is Greyhawk essentially stalled? Would I be better just taking over locally for my campaign and ignoring continuity with the larger LG world?. Uuumm....I think you misunderstand the concept of Living Greyhawk. Living Greyhawk is not a home campaign or vice versa. There is a limited amount of scenario available at any given time which are either produced by different triads (regional/meta-regional scenarios) or by Circle (Core modules). You affect your regional plotline by playing scenarios or writing scenarios for it (max. 8/year). Your home campaign cannot affect Living Greyhawk. Likewise, your home campaign can ignore Living Greyhawk entirely (or any other bits of canon as you see fit) because the two are not the same thing. Greyhawk is not stalled (well, Living Greyhawk aint) and continues to be alive and well. 5. I know I should be able to find this, but what year is it exactly? Nothing I can find seems to map our timeline to the LG timeline exactly. It would seem that it's 59x CY... anyone have the "x" handy?. 595 CY currently. S.H, Ahlissa (Naerie) webslave
ajs 02-15-05, 02:02 PM	Ok, thank you much for the clarification. I was under the impression that LG was more of a superstructure for home campaigns set in Greyhawk with modules acting as a bridge, not the sole focus. Since that's the case, and since there's the regional restriction (and RTToEE is at least a large part of my campaign), I'm just going to continue forward. At some point, I'll put my campaign materials up on the Web for others to benefit from. But since each module right now is tightly linked to future plot, it will be a while before I can do that without revealing things to my players. It will be interesting to see what happens to the LG world in the next few years, but for now I guess I'll just leech off of the existing materials and run my game stand-alone.
mage189 02-16-05, 11:25 AM	Yeah, he's right about all that. LG is something different from a home game. It's all prewritten mods and character tracking and things like that. Everyone would need to have RPGA numbers and LG characters with Adventure Records and fun things like that. Only RPGA related LG mods count for anything experiance, item or anything else in the campain. The general idea is that it's a world spanning game of D&D set in Greyhawk, so everyone is kind of operating out of thier region.
SteveMND 02-16-05, 01:47 PM	"As I look around this message board, it kind of seems like WoTC's attention is elsewhere (not shocking, given the lack of product focus on Greyhawk/Oerth). Is Greyhawk essentially stalled?" Yes, it's effectively a defunct campaign setting for WotC anymore, along with Spelljammer, Mystara, Dark Sun, etc. It's been referred to as a 'legacy setting' by several people at WotC (including the brand guys). In fact, this abandonment of forward momentum by the company is probably the main reason why it was able to be given over to the RPGA in such a stroing way for LG to use -- since they won't be interfering with any future published Greyhawk material (there won't be any), they can go nuts and be as creative as they wish. That, of course, is a good point or a bad point, depending on who you talk to. ;-D "Greyhawk" is technically the default world for the D&D fantasy game, in as much as when they need a name to put on a god or town, they tend to use Greyhawk-specific ones, but even then, it's pretty loose with the setting. For all intents and purposes, GH exists only as a fan-based setting anymore (which is just fine by me). Do with it as you will! ;-) "PS: Anyone else notice that in mapping Oerth onto a sphere for the DMG cover, several mountain ranges and forests were turned into ocean? I sense a Photoshop over-select ;-)" The cover of the Core books are actually photos of painted scultures, not photoshop creations. :-) That said, I suspect the artist used the maps of Oerth as a base but but only as a base. i don't think it was supposed to be a true representation...