What Campaign Setting for your Module?

[manikus]

I've always rated Dragonlance as pretty high on the cornymeter. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy reading the books, though.

By far the least corny fantasy setting is the Song of Fire and Ice books by George R.R. Martin.

As for Tolkein, I feel that the Lord of the Rings are pretty low on the cornymeter, but the Hobbit is pretty high (I must admit that part of this is due to the animated movie which I now picture when re-reading the book).

[Uatu]

USA Up All Night with Gilbert Godfry - wow, those were the good days, weren't they? Wasn't there a sexy-yet-not-so-sexy lady there as well? (I don't remember so well, but Gilbert's voice I remember quite clearly.)

I have to admit that Dragonlance got me hooked way back when - the first few books (the first six, to be precise), were pretty well-written (although yeah, cornier than Tolkein, for example). However, Dragonlance always had a "right makes right" kind of thing going for it (i.e. happy endings), which I am not against (I don't like to read about horrible places where everyone dies, etc.). Corniness for me is more related to naming sense, powers and attributes, etc. for me.

One thing about Dragonlance and Greyhawk is that they all had their own unique pantheons - the Realms is a bit weird in that it has a mixmash of pantheons (some from here, others from there, Lolth is cool so take her, etc.), being the "we take all" campaign setting (sort of like a huge sponge ).

...but I will probably blog about that when I get back from Thailand (going on a business trip today, will be back on Friday).

[manikus]

I blame the Realms being a catch-all on the marketing departments at TSR and WotC. Most of the 2e box sets and accessories really should have been stand-alone or at least separate worlds. I actually like the idea of some Gods/Goddesses being in multiple settings, it makes them uber-strong in my book and sets up the possibility for stories that span prime material planes.

Have fun in Thailand, Uatu. I hope you have air conditioning there.

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by Uatu USA Up All Night with Gilbert Godfry - wow, those were the good days, weren't they? Wasn't there a sexy-yet-not-so-sexy lady there as well? (I don't remember so well, but Gilbert's voice I remember quite clearly.)

Yeah Rhonda Shear, she was featured in Playboy once. She was also guest star in many shows from the eighties like Fall Guy, A-Team, Dukes of Hazzard, etc. She didn't actually start hosting USA up all night until 1991 around which time I became more preoccupied with the responsibilities foisted upon me by the cruel hand of young-adulthood. She was a welcome relief from that loud obnoxious Godfrey character thats for sure. I just wish I hadn't had to endure most of my teenage 'wasted-youth' years of late night television watching with him as the only host.

Then again, maybe it was a good thing. Perhaps if she had hosted before 1991 I would have wasted a lot more sleepless nights watching the boob tube [literally - lol]. As it was I spent a good portion of those sleepless nights calling bbs's and working on my own WWIV bbs not to mention playing Bard's Tale and Wasteland over and over again [and sometimes others like Zork, Wizardry, Ultima, King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, etc. - oh and the gold box games of course, but mostly Wasteland and BT over and over again - lol]

[Uatu]

Ah, yes - Rhonda Shear! Wow - good memory I thought both she and Godfrey were interesting, though, in their own way Ha ha ha... Good times those were...

(Thailand was actually cooler than Japan (for now, anyway)! Damn...)

[manikus]

We're having a weird summer. Here it is the first of August, and our high was in the low 70's and we got rain. Many, many people in shorts and flip-flops got soaked while I stood at the train station and at the bus stop. It was great entertainment.

[Uatu]

Weird summers can be good - if they tend toward the more cool and comfortable kind of weirdness, I guess.

[manikus]

No complaints here. Though, I am concerned that a relatively mild, moist summer will lead to many more bugs in the fall. The kind of bugs that fly up an bite me.

[Uatu]

The bugs all used to try to bite me when I first got here (to Japan)... I think my blood was sweeter or nicer than the rest (or maybe just different - variety is good, even for bugs) - but now I think I taste the same as everyone else, so I just get a normal number of bites...

[manikus]

This summer I've been lucky. The bugs have generally found my wife more tasty than they have found me. Last summer, it was totally the other way around.