[EricTheRed]

I didn't know how else to title this thread.

I was recently perusing an article from the article area here that referenced the current ruler of a country as the step daughter of a count. Yet the Greyhawk Gazeteer I read right after that said the same person was the daughter of someone else. (I know, not necessarily mutually exclusive, but, if you could indulge me, please?)

I guess my question is ... Is there some threshold of "canon"? Is there a measurable benchmark?

The impetus for my wanting some discussion on this is that I'm extremely interested in expanding upon a topic with a work of fiction. Perhaps a major work of fiction. But ... I'm not entirely happy with the political situation as is in the geographical area.

How much can I bend the "reality" of canon before I offend? Can I tweak certain personalities alignments to fit my vision? Can I take a storyline that drastically alters the doom and gloom of Greyhawk at present? And, again, how do I benchmark what is "canon?"

[rasgon]

[EricTheRed]

[chaoticprime]

From the various interviews I have read where Gygax and others from the formulative years of GH, the running theme seemed to be that they desired the players to write the history, that, in effect, anything anyone does in GH is the canon and that's how it was supposed to be.

[Cebrion]

You should write what you want to. Some articles are written to stick to all canon sources while adding new material to it. Others are based on canon but diverge slightly from it. Some are written only loosely based on canon and wildy diverge on their own course. All types of articles are welcome at Canonfire! We'd actually like to have some sort of rating system for articles that rates their usage or non-usage of canon material, as determined by the authors themselves. That would just help people to know the basis of what they are reading. What does everyone think of this idea?

[AtomicPope]

[TheocratIssak]

Hi all -
My baseline for canon objectivity is as follows:
If it's written for my home campaign I can muck up canon all I want. If I intend to publish it here on CanonFire! I do my best to at least have a tad bit of canon reference. If I intend to publish it in the Oerth Journal it needs to have as much canon usability as possible. The few articles I've had in the OJ have reference points and list where and why I believe things are as I'm writing.
For example, my Hegemony Wars article reference a new war. With it I referenced other articles from CanonFire! to help facilitate the ability for others to be able to utilize my concepts. Because I want some continutiy in my campaigns - even though the last one took place in Dyvers (using Necromancer Games' Bards Gate sourcebook) and not in the Pale - the effects of the Hegemony Wars were still set.
However, as I wrote it I still attempted to utilize canon-ish references to give a solid base for why I believe things happen the way I declared.
I'm still in the planning stage for my future OJ article on the Churches of Pholtus. With this, I will reference Living Greyhawk - even though I personally hate what they've done to The Pale region, as well as it not being canon. But as enough people played the RPGA system and there are enough resources for the RPGA's concepts, and I do like a few of them. Because some say RPGA's module are canon and some don't it is a toss up as to what you want to use. This then muddy's the waters a bit in terms of what is and what is not canon.
So ultimately, I have to say that you need to determine what baseline you will use as canon for whatever you plan on writing. I think this should also be stated so that when I'm reading it I now what you support and this allows me to understand and accept the changes as "canon-like" or as heretical!
Be Well.
In His Path and Glory We Follow,
Theocrat Issak of the Church of the One True Path of Pholtus
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Theocrat Issak

[EileenProphetofIstus]

Post removed.
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Eileen of Greyhawk, Prophet of Istus, Messenger of the Gods

[GVDammerung]

[Wolfsire]

[Wolfsire]

Proto of the Fine Flingers and the Sting of Doom
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Plar of Poofy Pants

[GVDammerung]

[OleOneEye]

[AtomicPope]

[Cebrion]

The Submit Article system will include a "Credits & Recommended Reading" section too. Most of the details have already been ironed out. There will also be an option to NOT choose a canon rating for your articles- a "Decline to Classify" option. There will likely be a similar set-up for classifying articles that feature rules for a specific rules set. We are still looking into the feasability of some of these options within the PHPnuke format, but they look possible. These added fields would allow people to search for articles using this extra criteria. Ideally, "Decline to Classify" articles would appear in any search of its basic article type. Some people don't want to classify their articles, and that's fine by me. Hopefully we'll be able to do a test run of this system soon.

[Wolfsire]

[Mystic-Scholar]

I think that as long as you aren't trying for outside publication you should "tweak" it as you need too.

I started a work of fantasy many years ago, but WotC has changed the Canon significantly from my time in the late 70's. My book would probably never receive their sanction for publication, and thus, it ends at chapter five, until I decide to change the names and places and make it something else.

But as has been said above, this is Canonfire!, not WotC. Everyhting here (from what I have read) is based upon the various games of the many Dungeon Masters out there. Remember, the Dungeon Master is Ao. You are the Overgod of your WoG. Run with it.

Just my thoughts.
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Servant of Boccob, Tower of Sorcery, Dark Gate, the Yeomanry