Canonfire!

Tue May 19, 2009 11:57 pm A little 4E hate

I saw a rumor that the village of Hommlett is slated for a 4E release. I also read in the 4E MM2 that demons are now classed as elementals. That leaves me one conclusion - 4E TEE is on the horizon. Ugh!
<rant/> I hate 4E, not because of the system (though, if I wanted to play WoW or MtG, I'd just play those games) but because it isn't really D&D anymore. The name is there, and some of the concepts, but WotC really just stripped out everything that was Dungeons & Dragons in favor of a new analog MMORPG with the D&D logo. I hate them for this, and I do not want to see one of my favorite adventures of all time get this same treatment. </rant> Evil

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Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!

Wed May 20, 2009 11:29 am

Furthermore, Mike Mearls is running a 4E ToEE campaign! Argh! I really think 2010 is going to see the release of 4E Greyhawk, and if they do to Oerth what they did to the Realms...
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Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!

Wed May 20, 2009 11:47 pm

Editions change. Greyhawk endures. I agree with you in part, but whatever way
the wind blows I stay with GH lore at least.

Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:26 pm

Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:02 pm

My one regret was helping Wizards in their ascent to owning D&D by buying into MtG in its heyday.

Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:42 pm

Bah! That isn't the problem. WotC actually produced Greyhawk to some degree, whereas once it was bought by Hasbro the current folks in control of the IP seem content to dissect it and randomly choose from the bits and pieces.

There could very well have been MtG: Greyhawk Expansion cards, MtG: Forgotten Realms Expansion cards, etc. I'm surprised that there hasn't been.
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Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:44 am

Initially, the WotC folks said there could/would be some crossover of MtG and D&D when they bought out TSR, as well as the possibility of a Dominaria campaign setting for D&D. Whatever may have been, for better or worse, has largely been nixed by the current powers that be...
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Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!

Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:48 pm

The rumors I have been hearing are very much that Greyhawk will NOT be the 2010 campaign setting and that Dragonlance is the frontrunner of the possible worlds.

WotC can do what they want to Dragonlance, it has already been broken for me by the last two 'conversions' with the whole loss of magic and age of mortals thing.

I got The Village of Hommlet for free fortunately, because it was truly terrible and I would have been pretty mad if I'd spent money on it...

The Artwork: First off is the cover art. I'm not sure what they were thinking but I've never visualized Hommlet as a fair sized city with dragons and other monsters constantly flying about and perching on rooftops. Blah! I hate cover art that makes it clear the artist hasn't even researched his/her subject. Second is the interior art, which is alright but not spectacular... which can probably be explained by the fact that it appears to be reprints of the original interior artwork of the T-1 module.

The Maps: Also appear to be reprints of the originals. Not impressive but no complaints except that there seems to be more of them than is really necessary.

Religion: The totally cool chapel of St. Cuthbert (the one with all the cool little Cuthbertian phases on it has been replaces with a bland church of Pelor. Iuz and Zuggtmoy are also not appearing and have been replaced by vanilla/generic 4th edition core pantheon evil folk.

The Villagers: Here the module lost me for good. ALL the villagers have been stripped of any real personality and replaced with boring stat-blocks or removed entirely. Gone is the guy with the loaded dice and the bloaks who think the world is about the end and have loaded their cellar with supplies for the apocalypse. Gone is the gossipy old lady and the inn-keepers intellectually challenged brother.

Overall it appears typical of the trend from 1st edition to 4th. Less substance, weaker descriptions of NPCs and locals, more focus on game mechanics, and poorly edited.

I always thought 1st edition was written for adults and teens with imaginations while 4th edition is focused on preteens and teens, and not very bright or imaginative ones at that. Village of Hommlet further bears this belief out.