I was wondering if anyone has their GH campaign connected to Toril or Krynn and if your GH PCs visit often?
During the 2E era there was a big push to connect worlds via Spelljammer, Ravenloft and Planescape.
I was young then and got caught up in the moment so my GH players did occasionally trek to Toril and Krynn via the Outer Planes (using the Planescape setting). They also had a few trips to Toril and Krynn via Ravenloft.
Now that I'm a more experienced GM, I choose to focus on the richness of GH itself to build a strong campaign. I've severed access to a lot of the old planar links to keep the PCs on Oerth (the PCs were mightly sick of planewalking anyway). Nevertheless, those world-hopping adventures still happened (I never forget the past) . . . so Toril and Krynn do, indeed, share the Outer Planes of my GH campaign. In fact, one of my current GH PCs is from Toril!
This means Toril and Krynn share the Great Wheel cosmology of my Oerth - rather than having their own separate cosmologies as per their 3E revisions.
Last edited by dead on Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
Planescape, at least in the fact that I'm using the planes as described in 3.5 which I believe to essentially be the PlaneScape way (right?), and, were the poll multiple choice, Ravenloft. I also buy into the Gord novel Oerth, Aerth, Earth thing.
Scarn (The Scarred Lands setting); particularly Termana. The distance between the two is so great that though there are some similarities, i.e. magic use, dwarves, eleves, the whole diety thing, etc., the differences are quite significant. I magine being in one world and then being transported into another.
I voted "Other," which explicitly means "None." No other worlds are connected to my Greyhawk campaign. Just the planes articulated in the v.3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide. _________________ Don (Greyson)
I voted "Other," which explicitly means "None." No other worlds are connected to my Greyhawk campaign. Just the planes articulated in the v.3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide.
Exactly the same in mine.
Saludos,
Gabriel _________________ Discord: @GrillWizard
I think there are limited means of travelling between worlds, most notably between Oerth, Toril, Krynn, and Mystara, for starters. However, only the highest-level spellcasters tend to do such things, and only for limited amounts of time-the gods don't like too much cross-world traffic, as each world tends to be a separate and distinct entity, and its gods prefer to keep it that way.
Incidentally, while Elminster has traveled to Oerth, he doesn't like it there. Why? For several reasons:
1) The moral grayness of most of the realms and peoples of the Flanaess, especially when it comes to politics and high-level maneuverings, causes him no small amount of disgust. It's also why Storm Silverhand, after visiting Oerth once, swore she'd never, ever, EVER come back.
2) The fact that most of Elminster's magic items tend to fizzle out when he comes here. Oerth's magical ether can't handle the same amount of strain that Toril's can.
3) The simple fact that Elminster's abilities as a Chosen of Mystra don't function on Oerth. No silver fire, no extra spells, nothing. Boccob may be uncaring about most of the things going on in Oerth, but he's not about to let some upstart, goody-good goddess of magic from another world let her influence run loose on his turf... _________________ <div align="left">Going to war without Keoland is like going to war without a pipe organ. They both make a lot of noise and they're both a lot of dead weight, so what's the point in taking them along? </div>
That is interesting to know, that Oerth's sphere of magik, is on a different wavelength to Toril's...interesting notion indeed.
CruelSummerLord wrote:
I think there are limited means of travelling between worlds, most notably between Oerth, Toril, Krynn, and Mystara, for starters. However, only the highest-level spellcasters tend to do such things, and only for limited amounts of time-the gods don't like too much cross-world traffic, as each world tends to be a separate and distinct entity, and its gods prefer to keep it that way.
Incidentally, while Elminster has traveled to Oerth, he doesn't like it there. Why? For several reasons:
1) The moral grayness of most of the realms and peoples of the Flanaess, especially when it comes to politics and high-level maneuverings, causes him no small amount of disgust. It's also why Storm Silverhand, after visiting Oerth once, swore she'd never, ever, EVER come back.
2) The fact that most of Elminster's magic items tend to fizzle out when he comes here. Oerth's magical ether can't handle the same amount of strain that Toril's can.
3) The simple fact that Elminster's abilities as a Chosen of Mystra don't function on Oerth. No silver fire, no extra spells, nothing. Boccob may be uncaring about most of the things going on in Oerth, but he's not about to let some upstart, goody-good goddess of magic from another world let her influence run loose on his turf...
My Greyhawk is connected to Ravenloft and Toril. I use Planescape as well. The mists of Ravenloft make connectivity with it a no brainer since it can pretty much connect to anywhere, but Toril is more of a open door for that world's influence and magic to enter the Flanaess and vice versa. I have yet to run a FR game (and won't... ever), but at times I have players that like some of the FR material and want to use it for their characters.
As far as my current campaign, though, only Ravenloft has popped up. I've closed all doors on Toril. No more of their influence!
That is interesting to know, that Oerth's sphere of magik, is on a different wavelength to Toril's...interesting notion indeed.
One of my Greyhawk PCs, a Zagygite theurge, has an idiosyncratic theory about the differences in magic between Toril and Oerth. It has two main planks (bear in mind that he is very Chaotic, so there is a definite anti-Mystra slant to his cogitations):
1. The healthy, Oerth view of magic does full justice to all aspects of the Art's nature. The unhealthy, Toril conception of magic obsesses about predictability and control. This is why Oerth has three prominent powers with dominion over magic: one Lawful, one Chaotic, and one overarching one that is Neutral (Wee Jas, Zagyg, and Boccob respectively), whereas Toril only reallly has one, which is Lawful (Mystra; Azuth is too insignificant to count).
2. At some point in the Dreamtime, when the worlds were just taking shape, Mystra's harmful obsesssion with Order spilled over into an act of supreme folly, and she allowed magic in her domain to be conceived of as a Weave. It was idiotic to install the Weave as the root metaphor for magic because
a) it keeps attention fixed upon magic itself, rather than what magic can do. If something is already woven, it is a created, static thing; iit is not creative in its own right. It would have been much healthier to conceive magic as , for example, a spindle.
b) if something is woven and perfect, the only thing you can meaningfully do with it is unweave it, or play between the strands. Static perfection can only be made less perfect.
In my PC's view, this considerations explain an interesting paradox about the differences in magic between Toril and Oerth. On Toril, the goddess who looks after magic is an interventionist control-freak, brooding over creation like a mother-hen, and recruiting Chosen left right and centre. On Oerth, the main god of magic is aloof and uncaring. Yet it is Toril, not Oerth, that has all the trouble with Wild Magic, Dead Magic Zones, the Shadow Weave, and all that gubbins. Oerth magic, more interested in what magic can do than what it is, is a lot healthier than that.
This is why Oerth has three prominent powers with dominion over magic: one Lawful, one Chaotic, and one overarching one that is Neutral (Wee Jas, Zagyg, and Boccob respectively), whereas Toril only reallly has one, which is Lawful (Mystra; Azuth is too insignificant to count).
2. At some point in the Dreamtime, when the worlds were just taking shape, Mystra's harmful obsesssion with Order spilled over into an act of supreme folly, and she allowed magic in her domain to be conceived of as a Weave. .
(Of course, all this had to be retconned when the prehistory of Mystra/Mystryl became apparent and her alignment was switched from LN to NG. Sigh. The bit about self-defeating control-freakery still works, though)
It's only the most recent incarnation of Mystra who is NG (and she still behaves as if she were LN in some respects, as her role requires it). The earlier incarnations of the goddess were all firmly lawful neutral as far as I know (recognizing that my knowledge of the Forgotten Realms is pretty vague in places).
It's only the most recent incarnation of Mystra who is NG (and she still behaves as if she were LN in some respects, as her role requires it). The earlier incarnations of the goddess were all firmly lawful neutral as far as I know (recognizing that my knowledge of the Forgotten Realms is pretty vague in places).
So your theory works excellently.
Many thanks for the correction; I am pretty hazy about the Realms too.
I have not connected any of these settings to Greyhawk Campaign, but I have on occasion included the Redhurst Setting. This has been a great deal of fun for my players and I highly recommend it to anyone who can lay their hands on it.
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