Signup
Welcome to... Canonfire! World of GreyhawK
Features
Postcards from the Flanaess
Adventures
in Greyhawk
Cities of
Oerth
Deadly
Denizens
Jason Zavoda Presents
The Gord Novels
Greyhawk Wiki
#greytalk
JOIN THE CHAT
ON DISCORD
    Canonfire :: View topic - What age are Greyhawk Fans?
    Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion
    What age are Greyhawk Fans?

    What age group are current Greyhawk fans?
    Younger than 20
    0%
     0%  [ 0 ]
    20-30
    5%
     5%  [ 1 ]
    30-40
    94%
     94%  [ 17 ]
    Total Votes : 18

    Author Message
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Apr 18, 2005
    Posts: 97
    From: Adelaide, South Australia

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 01, 2021 12:01 am  
    What age are Greyhawk Fans?

    I was wondering if Greyhawk fans are only older-types who remember the good old days and see Greyhawk through nostalgic eyes like me, or if there are some younger fans who are attracted to the setting? And if so what is the attraction - is it because it is the original D&D setting or some other reason. I've tried to add a poll to this.
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Apr 18, 2005
    Posts: 97
    From: Adelaide, South Australia

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 01, 2021 12:02 am  

    Look like the poll didn't work. I had an option for 'Older than 40' but it does not appear. Perhaps if you are older than forty tick the 30-40 box.
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Nov 22, 2007
    Posts: 77
    From: Denton, Tx

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 01, 2021 3:48 am  

    Had to click the 30-40. Actually 50
    GreySage

    Joined: Jul 26, 2010
    Posts: 2695
    From: LG Dyvers

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 01, 2021 3:14 pm  

    I am 51. Smile

    I have been playing since 1981, when I was 12 years old.

    SirXaris
    _________________
    SirXaris' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SirXaris?ref=hl
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Apr 18, 2005
    Posts: 97
    From: Adelaide, South Australia

    Send private message
    Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:14 am  

    Well I'm 49 and have been playing since I was around 10. I'm seeing a theme in the three ages so far. I think there must be a long of nostalgia tied up in Greyhawk. So I was curious if there are any younger fans out there. Perhaps the question might have been are there any younger people still playing RPGs? I think there must be some, but I assume a lot have been lost to computer games these days.
    GreySage

    Joined: Sep 09, 2009
    Posts: 2470
    From: SW WA state (Highvale)

    Send private message
    Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:02 am  

    Looks I am in good company with SirXaris (hello, 'old' friend!).

    I am in the above 40 bracket as well. I started playing 1st edition when I was about 11 yrs old back in the early 80's. I picked up Greyhawk in middle school (that's when the change to 2e occurred) and never abandoned it (or 2e!) since.

    -Lanthorn
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Apr 26, 2002
    Posts: 538
    From: Canada

    Send private message
    Tue Feb 02, 2021 10:19 am  

    I'm 38, so I might be a kid by Greyhawk standards. I first started contributing to Canonfire when I was 20, so there's that too.

    As to what the attraction of the setting is for me, it may have to do with the 1st Edition books being some of the first RPG materials I read when I was even younger than that. Gary Gygax's words fired my imagination in a way I can't fully describe even today. Greyhawk was also more in line with (and may have shaped) my tastes in RPG settings, having a lot less power creep than the Forgotten Realms.

    I also found the tone of the setting that Gygax's words suggested (often grim and unpleasant in a swords and sorcery genre, but paired with a sense of determination and strength that keeps it from being totally Sargent-style grimdark) immensely appealing. I don't know how much of it was Gygax's intent and how much of it was my reading things into his words (the sci-fi and Western references were certainly not part of that feeling, and ones that I exclude from my version of Greyhawk) but in either case it made me think this was an ideal place to write my own fantasy stories.

    Finally, Greyhawk's being a fantasy North America rather than the traditional fantasy Europe meshed with my non-RPG interests in real world history. You had the fantasy equivalents of the First Nations (the Flan) having to deal with the incursion of the fantasy equivalents of Western and Northern Europeans (the Oeridians and the Suel) into their homelands and the massive social changes that came into their wake.
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Jul 29, 2006
    Posts: 494
    From: Dantredun, MN

    Send private message
    Tue Feb 02, 2021 3:18 pm  

    It's kind of hard to do an online poll because people under forty don't use message boards and people under thirty don't use facebook!

    Most of my players are in their thirties and early forties now. Two are still in their twenties. I'm forty.

    The younger D&D players I know (early-mid twenties) just play whatever Wizards' newest book is at the store. So they know Mordenkainen and Acererak, but those are Forgotten Realms now.

    Hopefully Wizards will revive 4e soon so we can get another OSR surge ;)
    Novice

    Joined: Mar 02, 2020
    Posts: 1


    Send private message
    Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:20 am  

    I'm forty-seven and I am odd because I am new to D&D, and even newer to Greyhawk. D&D was always in the periphery of my childhood but never had a a group of friends to play with in a serious way. I finally started playing 3.5 a few years back and since the "default campaign setting" for 3.5 was Greyhawk, it got me interested in it. Now I am collecting all the Greyhawk stuff I can find and starting to DM a 3.5 Greyhawk campaign soon.
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Jul 17, 2017
    Posts: 59
    From: 41°6'53"N, 73°24'21"W

    Send private message
    Wed Feb 03, 2021 10:13 am  

    I'm 37 and, likewise, got my start with GREYHAWK simply because I started with 3.5e and it was the default setting, making it easier to get into; it also helped that, at the time, I had a custom character I made in SoulCalibur III, Quintessa, who was a fair-skinned human sorceress with platinum-blonde hair, violet eyes, and was vain, conceited, selfish, self-centered, &c. — making her fit in perfectly among the Suloise people when I brought her over to D&D.

    Although since those days Quintessa's exposure to the Soul Gem has left her with snow-white hair, alabaster skin, and ivory eyes alight with the azure glow of a permanent arcane sight, but considering the Suel having a disproportionate amount of albinos… so, in other words, having a pre-existing character that I was able to fit into GREYHAWK really helped, especially when I later came up with unique spells that bare her name and began to study Suloise history to further her motivation — to become the first Suel Mage of Power in a millennium.
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: Jan 05, 2002
    Posts: 1049
    From: Sky Island, So Cal

    Send private message
    Wed Feb 03, 2021 5:20 pm  

    I'm 50...this week...didn't tick the box for 30-40.

    I started with Red Box Basic in 5th grade. When I started making high school friends, two guys said we should play first edition and one of them gave me the Greyhawk Boxed Set. That was 1986.

    I last played with them last night (Curse of Strahd 5e on Roll20).
    _________________
    My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Jun 16, 2019
    Posts: 38


    Send private message
    Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:44 pm  

    SirXaris wrote:
    I am 51. Smile

    I have been playing since 1981, when I was 12 years old.

    SirXaris


    Ha! I started at the same time as Sir Xaris. But I'm older! My players are all mid-twenties to early thirties though.
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Nov 05, 2020
    Posts: 35


    Send private message
    Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:03 pm  

    I can't choose two options Laughing

    (I'm 30, so do I pick "20-30" or "30-40"?)
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Apr 21, 2013
    Posts: 378
    From: Minnesota

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:21 pm  

    Same pattern. 48 yoa; started in early 80s.
    Black Hand of Oblivion

    Joined: Feb 16, 2003
    Posts: 3835
    From: So. Cal

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:54 pm  

    I am told that you have left out a needed "Old AF" option, but then many "Old AF" people might not even know what "Old AF" means...

    So, can somebody help me out by telling me what "Old AF" means? Razz
    _________________
    - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
    Novice

    Joined: Feb 11, 2003
    Posts: 4


    Send private message
    Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:48 am  

    I'm 49 and started in the early 1980's. Old but not as old as that Great Wyrm edmundscott!
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Oct 07, 2008
    Posts: 409


    Send private message
    Wed Feb 10, 2021 4:53 pm  
    1970

    I'll be 51 this year.
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Oct 07, 2008
    Posts: 409


    Send private message
    Wed Feb 10, 2021 4:57 pm  
    I was going to suggest re-doing the poll...

    But it's not necessary, I see there is only one vote for less than 30 here. LOL

    Greybeards endure.
    Journeyman Greytalker

    Joined: Jun 16, 2003
    Posts: 201
    From: Calgary, AB, Canada

    Send private message
    Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:11 pm  

    I'm 47 and have been GMing games set in Greyhawk on and off since 1987 or so (the first campaign setting I ran a few years prior to that was the Known World/Mystara, since I first played through all of the B/X modules).

    Greyhawk is my favourite setting second only to FFG's Midnight (keeping fingers crossed that Edge Studio doesn't mess up the upcoming reboot of Midnight). What keeps bringing me back is Greyhawk's rich geo-political context and history, and how despite that richness there still seems to be plenty of space for DMs and players to make their own mark on the world. Conversely, I don't find the politics/history of the Forgotten Realms nearly as interesting or even believable (yes, I know that we're discussing fantastical worlds). It doesn't hurt that many D&D/AD&D "firsts" also occurred in Greyhawk, before any other TSR/WotC setting.

    And then there is the nostalgia factor, and the fact that I have yet to run the vast collection of Greyhawk adventures I've amassed over the years. While I have not run any post-Wars scenario yet, I absolutely love Carl Sargent's works and think he was one of the best writers to have ever worked on Greyhawk products and D&D more generally... I think the grimdark vision he brought to From the Ashes is what eventually led me to dive into Midnight (which is even darker and more desperate), and hopefully I'll be able to run some Greyhawk war era scenarios someday (life and lockdowns permitting).

    EDIT: I did not tick off a box in the poll.
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Feb 13, 2020
    Posts: 39
    From: Emigre from Mystara

    Send private message
    Sun Feb 14, 2021 6:16 pm  

    Where is the 40+ option you ageist!! :)
    Display posts from previous:   
       Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion All times are GMT - 8 Hours
    Page 1 of 1

    Jump to:  

    You cannot post new topics in this forum
    You cannot reply to topics in this forum
    You cannot edit your posts in this forum
    You cannot delete your posts in this forum
    You cannot vote in polls in this forum




    Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises

    Contact the Webmaster.  Long Live Spidasa!


    Greyhawk Gothic Font by Darlene Pekul is used under the Creative Commons License.

    PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.
    Page Generation: 0.34 Seconds