Bodo HeyeYou are taken back into the year 1995! Maybe you are a time traveler? Maybe you are your past self for one summer. It doesn’t matter. What matters is
that WEEKS of summer vacation lie ahead of you and your friends ask you if you can launch a new #ADnD2E campaign. Which campaign set do you pick and why?
- #Planescape boxed set + Planes of Chaos
- #DarkSun boxed set + The Ivory Triangle
- #Ravenloft boxed set + Castles Forlorn
- #Forgottenrealms boxed set + Undermountain
Glen Mastodon ☠@HeyeBodo Planescape every time!
@viktorTheBoar the cage will never give me the yawn, cutter!
Dave J@HeyeBodo Probably Castles Forlorn. I loved the poster map that showed how the castle evolved, and the kilted, Scottish goblyns that appeared in the module.
@davej seriously considering bringing it back to the table
Silverlion@HeyeBodo Planescape or Dark Sun for me.
@Silverlion really two of my favorite settings. In 2023 I ran the introductory planescape module „The Eternal Boundary“ using the #shadowdarkrpg rules set. Great fun!
食 Shoku the Umbreon@HeyeBodo I think I'll go with dark sun because I've heard tell tales about the whirling dervish thrikreen.
@TheMNWolf I saw him once, on our way to Fort Iron, deep in the canyon of Gothay
Tintenteufel Mhyr@HeyeBodo Back in the day it was #ForgottenRealms and #Undermountain 🧐
Today it would be #DarkSun 🤘
@tintenteufel #DarkSun = Most Metal dnd setting ever.
Kadomi@HeyeBodo Either Dark Sun or Planescape for me. It's a crime WotC never brought back Dark Sun.
@kadomi agree. On the other hand, I’m really glad that WotC did not give a cute-sy / cozy waterered down version of #DarkSun
Though pulpy and metal and ridiculous af at times, the setting touches on many real world issues such as the climate crisis, the rise of autoritarism, extreme forms of social inequality…. Topics that are even more pressing today compared to 1990s.
Though pulpy and metal and ridiculous af at times, the setting touches on many real world issues such as the climate crisis, the rise of autoritarism, extreme forms of social inequality…. Topics that are even more pressing today compared to 1990s.
@HeyeBodo You're probably right. None of the 5e settings are as good as their TSR Iterations. There was something special about the boxed sets.
GMRaphi@kadomi I actually played the AD&D 2nd version. I own the 4e version but never played it. 😅 And it's not been as ...memorable as the AD&D one. If I remember correctly, the artwork was great!
mhd@HeyeBodo If my '95 self is in control then Dark Sun (I probably read the Prism Pentad around then and played the CRPG). My more mature self would go for Planescape. ;)
Never been interested in any version of Ravenloft (I don't like mixing my Lake Genevas), and let's not even get started with either FR or Undermountain.
Spukhäuser@HeyeBodo
As far as I remember we went for Ravenloft in 1996 when a friend bought the box second hand at our local gaming store. We also improved our English a lot back then because the English language books were usually cheaper.
As far as I remember we went for Ravenloft in 1996 when a friend bought the box second hand at our local gaming store. We also improved our English a lot back then because the English language books were usually cheaper.
@Hauntedhouse same here! #ADnD2E saved my English grades. We wanted to read those splatbooks and setting material so badly, and many of them were not available in German. Raistlin and Stradh gave us extra lessons in English so to say and I got to know the names of many obscure polearms 🙂
⛧ Victor J Merino ⛧@HeyeBodo
Summer screams of Dark Sun! But my punk soul would be really tempted to pick Planescape... Why not both?
Real me tried running Undermountain, I really don't like mega-dungeons, I don't know how to run them in a way that doesn't waste huge amounts of time.
PenPaperDice 
@HeyeBodo Ravenloft because I like my Dark Lords tragic and cruel
@PenPaperDice so cruel! So tragic! I dig #Ravenloft because it really is its own thing. They advertised it as a gothic horror setting, but it really is swords against Stradh & co + a giant bat 🦇 behind every corner (and Frankenstein is also coming for dinner). Soaked in gothic trappings, for sure, but when you take a closer look, the PCs are so different from the brooding cast of gothic novels, who are constantly writing letters to each other
@HeyeBodo exactly and you can extend the Dark Domains to other Genres as well. I really like the concept of it and with Strahd it got a great opener.
There will be a time where I will run a campaign of Swords & Wizardry or something in Ravenloft. That and Dolmenwood are absurdly high on my campaign list for OSR
Alex aka Mumintroll@HeyeBodo back then it would have been #forgottenrealms and nothing else.
Now I would probably start with the Realms and let the players fall through a well/portal/whatever (or dying in a doomed fight against #Halaster) and then reappear in the world of #darksun , just for the fun of it
@Mumintroll world hopping + descending AC!
@HeyeBodo Spelljammer light!
@Mumintroll Spelljammer: Landlubbers‘ version. No ships!
Sören@HeyeBodo Dark Sun, as it has been that one summer in the 90s for us 🤟
dereisenhofer@HeyeBodo FR because it's as cheesy as 2nd. 😁
@dereisenhofer
….you gain the custom tailored non-weapon proficiency „being mean to #ADnD2E and 90s Kids“ (no of slots required: 2, relevant ability: Charisma, check modifier: -2)
….you gain the custom tailored non-weapon proficiency „being mean to #ADnD2E and 90s Kids“ (no of slots required: 2, relevant ability: Charisma, check modifier: -2)
Olupo
Mopsi Dick@Olupo @HeyeBodo I think I'd go Planescape. Weird interdimensional mystery. What does it all mean? Is it even real? The campaign will end in tears. But they will be tears of mercury, chiming like nightmares when they fall. Also, everyone will get TWO +3 longswords with personalities AND a cursed cube of dimension walking.
@nisjasper @Olupo l park my ears, cutter! Sounds a bit bleaknik with all of this ending in tears and stuff, but I think, I’d like that ride. Makes my brain-box rattling.
Colman Reilly@HeyeBodo <checks bookshelves> Everything except Dark Sun, as it turns out. Never appealed to me at all. Possibly because I came to hate psionics in 1e.
@Colman love Dark Sun, but for me, psionics were always the fiddly and least interesting aspect. The next time in run a Dark Sun game, I might leave psionics out or dial it back.
@HeyeBodo I went with Undermountain back in that exact year if I remember correctly.
jackomono@HeyeBodo forgotten realms and a mega dungeon is all i need 😍
FriendlyFiend@HeyeBodo every berk knows it has Planescape.
SandraCastles Forlorn. I love Dark Sun as a setting but so many of the modules were really bad from a gaming perspective, and that goes tenfold for Planescape. Fun to read, not my jam to run.
@Sandra true: #adnd2e settings are the best, but the modules often fall behind: impenetrable walls of text, shitty dm advice for patronizing the PCs. However, there are so many cool ideas buried in 2e era modules. I love to „cut“ them apart, throw some tired tropes over board (the legions of damsels in distress…) and turn them into something gameable 🙃
B4 The Lost City
@Sandra To me that's a good example of both too much and too little in the same module, so if you can reach Goldilocks via a theoretical average…
We found it wonderfully playable out of the box.
There are two “expand here” parts, without giving spoilers:
The lava tubes. If players wanna explore them, you do need to make a dungeon of your own for that. We did and that was great.
The lower levels are written more tersely. It tells you to expand them beforehand so they match the degree of verbosity of the upper levels. But that’s not necessary, they’re runnable as they are, it’s just a different format.
I’ve ran tons of al-Qadim stuff. It requires a lot of work✂️🍯
Bjarne@HeyeBodo
Planescape, I just loved the weirdness.
Planescape, I just loved the weirdness.