Path: Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-1.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:30:40 +0000 From: Spalls Hurgenson Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: Study: Dungeons and Dragons may improve mental health Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:30:39 -0400 Message-ID: References: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 36 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-PxkLXCG/mdHUfuQyBLAgQh6TzFI2/pMruLcQi2PShMbBTI5pgE1pC6v75TPRr0wftevkJ7KsEoa17L9!9qiyQcy8CdghQNqjYNxZ0rKrh544voYW9cc/5r3y7VNWgY9hoivCqduiAvv4hrNbM0THSgE= X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 2897 On Thu, 18 Apr 2024 01:15:57 +0200, Kyonshi wrote: >On 4/18/2024 12:29 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote: > >> (I just wish I had more to say about frp.dnd... but I'm barely >> involved in the game anymore and completely out of touch with the >> latest trends. I mean, I guess we could rehash old issues, like: who >> would in a fight, Drizzt Duorden or Elminster? ;-) >> >> > >cue to me ranting how the Forgotten Realms are the worst of the DnD >settings and really never should have become as popular as they somehow are I actually quite enjoyed the original "Forgotten Realms" setting, as described in the originally grey-boxed AD&D release. A lot of my own campaign material emulated the style of its 'Cyclopedia of the Realms' sourcebook. It was only later that the setting started to annoy me, as it became ever-more magic-heavy and every corner of it was detailed by TSR/WOTC, leaving no room for exploration or development by players and DMs. Forcing obvious fantasy-equivalents to real-world places (Kara Tur = China! Maztica = Central America! Al Qadim = Mythic Arabia!) didn't help; it just made the entire construct feel all the more disjointed. And once certain characters started gaining undue popularity, the whole thing started feeling weirdly tiny and soap-operaish ("Oh look, Drizzt Duorden is in this adventure too!") The "Forgotten Realms" was never /great/, but in its original form, it was a good 'starting point' - a baseline 'adventure world' - for beginner players, I think. It certainly appealed to me more than the "Mystara" setting of BECMI D&D, or Greyhawk.