tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post4033913738395986348..comments2024-03-28T09:35:24.699-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Retrospective: City State of the World EmperorJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63265823031788018232021-05-13T10:32:10.102-04:002021-05-13T10:32:10.102-04:00(settles in)(settles in)Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09872338936249305301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-47355050742397477692021-05-13T09:46:48.662-04:002021-05-13T09:46:48.662-04:00That's the difference a long campaign can make...That's the difference a long campaign can make. Thanks for sharing that.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32770907145731546422021-05-13T07:24:31.951-04:002021-05-13T07:24:31.951-04:00Interestingly, the City State of World Emperor has...Interestingly, the City State of World Emperor has supplanted the City State of Invincible Overlord as the go to city that players want to adventure. Mostly because of the results of what players have done over the decades.<br /><br />The City State of the Invincible Overlord is now ruled in the "present" (4475 BCCC) by a player who is a Myrmidon of Set a Lawful Evil god of War and Order. It is now viewed as an "evil" city my most novices to my setting.<br /><br />In contrast Viridistan (CSWE) is viewed as a free wheeling place where anything can happen. For three main reasons. <br /><br />The emperor was overthrown decades ago (game and real time) by a player group. <br /><br />Then slightly later another player group took over the city and established an oligarchic council that lasted to the present. <br /><br />Finally players can play Viridians and Half-Viridians which are viewed by players much in the same way Tieflings are in later editions. Demonic or half demonic races with interesting abilities and the whole miltonian anti-hero vibe going on. In my lore there are two dozen surviving Viridians almost none of them of Imperial Blood, and many half-Viridians as a legacy of centuries of their rule over the empire.<br /><br />As for the huge lists, yeah often they don't leap out and make for tedious reading however one aspect of Viridistan is that it is the largest city in the Wilderlands not the City State of the Invincible Overlord. The large lists reinforce this. Scattered amid these seemly boring entries are the seed of many of an intrigue within the city.<br /><br />And uniquely the city is mostly unkeyed so you can place as few or as many of the entries as one likes. <br />Robert Conleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03863009007381185340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-6886477553509257632021-05-12T19:01:43.852-04:002021-05-12T19:01:43.852-04:00Contrarians are always welcome here!Contrarians are always welcome here!James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-85300269818384704242021-05-12T18:02:04.609-04:002021-05-12T18:02:04.609-04:00Being an instinctive contrarian, I find myself wan...Being an instinctive contrarian, I find myself wanting to comment that the list of fifty taverns is one of the reasons I have come to love JG stuff. Whereas most companies publish things assuming that the end-user will use their stuff as-is, JG stuff assumes that the end-user will always make changes. Thus, I don’t see the list of fifty taverns as an all-inclusive list of taverns that exist in CSotWE, but rather a smorgasbord of ideas that the end user can choose from. Once one makes this shift in perception, these endless details become opportunities at inspiration rather than a burdensome amount of information that will never be used in-game.FrDavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00459281821319914530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14275734202611478842021-05-12T13:22:30.936-04:002021-05-12T13:22:30.936-04:00Agreed on all points. It's not utter trash, b...Agreed on all points. It's not utter trash, but it's a long way from good even for its era. The insane number of inns that appear in this fool thing unintentionally reflects one of the most common complaints about JG - they always went for quantity over quality.<br /><br />But even if everything they made was pure gold I'd never buy another thing from the company while Junior Bledsoe is still breathing. My fading nostalgia for the father's work doesn't begin to overcome my disgust for the son's bigotry.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.com