OK all you Greyhawk fanatics out there. Is it blasphemous for me to say that I'm thinking about using Basic D&D to run a Greyhawk campaign? Should Greyhawk, in your minds, only be run using Advanced D&D? I mean, I know that the most famous D&D modules set on Oerth were for AD&D, right? But weren't at least some of the Basic D&D modules placed originally in Greyhawk (or retconned to be so)?
Keep in mind I'm a poor D&D history scholar when it comes to this stuff. That's due in part to laziness and also because of limited time that I'd rather use for other activities. So, therefore, I'm putting it out to the organic computing hive mind that is the blogosphere!
Anyway, no matter what you all have to say out there, I personally am thinking that Greyhawk could be just fine as a setting for some Basic D&D action. I suppose one could argue that any setting could be a Basic D&D setting...but for some reason, considering the use of, say, Forgotten Realms with Basic D&D seems, well, not so good! I guess that's just me.
In the recent past, I used Greyhawk as a setting for some sessions of a Castles & Crusades campaign I dubbed "Altered Oerth." The "altered" part came in the form of some changes to the setting, such as a trimming down of the pantheon of gods, and other modifications. That campaign, like others I had going, is on an indefinite break, of course. Ultimately, I found Greyhawk to have a lot of potential, even though I've always had more of a liking for Forgotten Realms over the years.
So, I'm looking forward to your thoughts, if you care to share!
A HUGE CAVEAT related to all of the above: I'm still forging ahead with my gaming hiatus in 2014/the foreseeable future, so these "plans" I have for another campaign are sooooo so very theoretical. I just can't stop my mind from running over scenarios for roleplaying. It's the ongoing addiction, people. I'm sure you can relate.
I don't think its blasphemous at all. I freely use a lot of B/X stuff in my AD&D game anyways.
ReplyDeleteThe first four modules (the only ones with which I have experience) would require very little tinkering to be suitable for use in Greyhawk, and might even benefit from some of the greater political complexities (Sea Princes and Scarlet Brotherhood on the Isle of Dread, Cynidicea in the land of the Paynim, the Keep on the Barrier Peaks with aliens and whatnot).
ReplyDeleteI've used all of them, including Keep on the Border Lands (B2) and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. (S3)
ReplyDeleteOf course, the Barrier Peaks are a large mountain range in the World of Greyhawk and the Module (S3) is AD&D and not D&D. Module B2 is D&D.
But who cares?
Run them all, make the adjustments needed and have at it!
I'll cheer for you! And it you check around, I'm one of the biggest Greyhawk fans of all. It's the only world I run games in. I might, occasionally, play in other worlds, but I don't DM them.
By the way, the Module Return to the Keep on the Border Lands (AD&D) suggest the Yeomanry as the Greyhawk location for the Keep.
Enjoy!
We used to mix Basic D&D with AD&D all the time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply, folks. I guess what I was asking was: hey, if you could only be one of the seven Basic D&D character classes in a Greyhawk-based campaign, would you feel it was lacking because you couldn't whip up a ranger, paladin, or some other character with an AD&D class?
ReplyDelete