Recently I contacted one of the Living Greyhawk homepages inquirying about canon NPCs for that region. They were very polite in responding to my inquiry, but I was dissapointed by their answer. I'd like others to weigh in on the response I got. Now I want it understood that I am not bashing anyone by airing this here.
The response was that they could not furnish any game mechanic information regarding these major NPCs of the Flanaess because that would make them too easily abused by PCs. "If they have stats, you'd wanna interact with them and that is a major no-no." They wouldn't even provide me basic descriptions such as height, hair color, age, etc. for the same reason. They said that this was a policy, not established by them, but by those in charge of Living Greyhawk. Really? Hmm?
So the next time a Duchess or King or High Priest wants to send my PCs on a quest, I have to assume that they never meet with them in person for any reason?
I know this may seem minor, but my group likes to stay as canon as possible. Is this the typical response I can expect with all Living Greyhawk sites? Are they only a self-serving engine? I'm not angry, just surprised.
I'm actually stitching together my own gazeteer from all available sources, and Living Greyhawk contains gr8 source material. I was hoping to get some info from the Triads when I'd tracked down all other sources, so if what you say is true, I'm in for a disappointment.
That said, I don't think that you will find no info out there. I recall that the Theocracy of the Pale site has some meticulously detailed npcs. Other sites, like Tusmit and Onnwal have some basic info as well.
In addition, many pre-existing canon sources have information on major npcs to varying degrees. There are also updates in Dungeon occasionally such as those about Hardby and the Knights of Holy Shielding. You can also find lots of clues on the forums if you can be bothered to wade through them.
Finally, official is only as official as you want it to be. I didn't agree with Turrosh Mak being a single-classed fighter in 3e so I modified him to be more in keeping with the 1e and 2e stats. Wilbrem Carrister's stats fluctuate considerably depending on which 'official' source you look at. Other npcs are given levels in prestige classes I have no information about.
In addition, if your characters are interacting with major npcs you cannot avoid departing from canon sooner or later. Our characters rescued Thrommel and I never realised how much his presence could affct the international politics of the Sheldomar (so he disappeared again in the Great northern Crusade). Don't worry about it! Even 'official' history gets revised occasionally (did you know that Countess Bellisica has transformed from a 16th level fighter to a 14th level wizard over time?).
The response was that they could not furnish any game mechanic information regarding these major NPCs of the Flanaess because that would make them too easily abused by PCs.
Sounds more like an excuse than a response. Perhaps they don't know, heh.. _________________ Kneel before me, or you shall be KNELT!
Recently I contacted one of the Living Greyhawk homepages inquirying about canon NPCs for that region. They were very polite in responding to my inquiry, but I was dissapointed by their answer. I'd like others to weigh in on the response I got. Now I want it understood that I am not bashing anyone by airing this here.
The response was that they could not furnish any game mechanic information regarding these major NPCs of the Flanaess because that would make them too easily abused by PCs. "If they have stats, you'd wanna interact with them and that is a major no-no." They wouldn't even provide me basic descriptions such as height, hair color, age, etc. for the same reason. They said that this was a policy, not established by them, but by those in charge of Living Greyhawk. Really? Hmm?
So the next time a Duchess or King or High Priest wants to send my PCs on a quest, I have to assume that they never meet with them in person for any reason?
I know this may seem minor, but my group likes to stay as canon as possible. Is this the typical response I can expect with all Living Greyhawk sites? Are they only a self-serving engine? I'm not angry, just surprised.
I can see your point, but it's not an unreasonable position for the region to take. Here's why.
For whatever reason, the region may have plotlines tied to who the NPC is and who the players THINK the NPC is. It's also possible that the NPC may become an antagonist at some point. Finally, it just may be that the region has not developed the NPC because there may not have been a need to - the players may not be expected to interact with the NPC on a level where knowing their stats is necessary.
Your intentions may have been good, but - as a Triad member myself - I would not want it known that I was handing out stats on our NPCs. Someone could get a hold of them and cause some trouble, especially if it's a situation where - as I mentioned - the NPC becomes an antagonist.
I'm sorry if your experience soured you to Living Greyhawk, as it seems to have done. As I read on these forums - there appear to be a number of people who have bad things to say about the campaign. I can't speak for the other regions, but for those in my region (Verbobonc - Illinois/Indiana) - if you have any issues - let me know. We can't resolve them if we don't know what they are. As I mentioned in another post - LG may not be for everyone and that's okay. But if there's a problem we can address - it makes the game better for everyone.
Yes - I also thought that the Lorgan to Bellisica situation would explain it, but I don't recall Lorgan ever being listed as ruler of Urnst in print, and the early print of Greyhawk listed the ruler of Urnst as a 16th level fighter. I was surprised to see Bellissica listed as a wizard in 3e.
Maybe something got lost in editing... or maybe in my memory; I'll have to dig out my first edition.
For whatever reason, the region may have plotlines tied to who the NPC is and who the players THINK the NPC is. It's also possible that the NPC may become an antagonist at some point. Finally, it just may be that the region has not developed the NPC because there may not have been a need to - the players may not be expected to interact with the NPC on a level where knowing their stats is necessary.
Your intentions may have been good, but - as a Triad member myself - I would not want it known that I was handing out stats on our NPCs. Someone could get a hold of them and cause some trouble, especially if it's a situation where - as I mentioned - the NPC becomes an antagonist.
Sadly for us non-LG DMs this is a valid point! An NPC may be perceived as a benevolent aristocrat but could be an evil archmage as part of an ongoing plot. Triads can't release this kind of info, and if they were to release some info on some npcs but not others, it could raise suspicions among LG players... A classic example would be Turrosh Mak - all and sundry players may know his secret. It makes us feel clever but is a pain for DMs.
Verbobonc is a region that has quite a lot of official background already, with stats and background information known about many major npcs from various modules and a very detailed, interesting website.
Similarly, it might be possible for Triads (in among their other ten million jobs) to produce 'public knowledge' blurb on major npcs to help out with the feel and politics of their local region. If an npc is known publically to be a powerful paladin of Rao, home DMs can determine stats and levels themselves.
I think that some official stats are over the top anyway, and the rules for ageing official npcs are often wholly absent when that npc crosses over an offical age threshold for their race (King Belvor and Viscount Wilfrick were good examples of this - these guys were buff for pensioners and Wilfrick dropped dead with better stats than any of my characters have ever had!).
To summarise: Official blurb/publicly perceived background good
Detailed stats bad
I think there's good and bad things to nearly everything. It's good that some regions pay strict attention to canon while others might ignore it and invent stuff that seems non Greyhawk like.
I've enjoyed playing and DMing LG. I joined the RPGA for the campaign and written a few modules.
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