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 What other fantasy settings do y’all like?

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T O P I C    R E V I E W
keftiu Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 01:14:57
Super curious to hear. I’m a big fan of Dark Sun and Eberron (and published an Electrum Best-Seller for the latter, to boot!), and Golarion’s really growing on me with Paizo’s explicit dedication to diversity and queer representation.
26   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
Renin Posted - 12 Feb 2020 : 03:03:30
I grew up loving Dragonlance, having bought, for good or for ill, every DL book published. Every. Book. Published. I say 'ugh' to that now, but whatever, they were like $3.99 or $4.99 at the time only!

I loved the White Wolf/Sword & Sorcery 3/3.5 Ravenloft stuff. Such amazing things, such amazing stories; those Gazetteers!!! Such great reads.

Loved Planescape thematically for the reading, the build of the game, diTerrlizzi's art, but I never got to play it much.

With Paizo/Golarion, I get hooked into the long myth/big ramification stories of Tar Baphon the Whispering Tyrant; and all of the Runelord adventure paths and the strong magic history involving Thassilon. Demon centered Cheliax in the region is cool too. But yeah, lots of kitchen-sink stuff together makes a lot of things easy to ignore or just toss out with the bathwater.

Really won't mention books settings.
Zeromaru X Posted - 10 Feb 2020 : 19:08:26
I agree. BfA was a big fumble. I don't know what they wanted to do when they wrote it, but they failed hard. There is a lot of wasted potential there...
Arivia Posted - 10 Feb 2020 : 18:40:50
quote:
Originally posted by Zeromaru X

I guess I have to add to my list the Warcraft setting, even if I don't like what they did in Battle for Azeroth.



It's impressive that Ny'alotha was on my MUST SEE list ever since Cata introduced the Puzzle Box and when they finally got around to doing it I was completely unsubscribed and had completely moved on. It wasn't enough to get me back in.
Zeromaru X Posted - 10 Feb 2020 : 18:32:17
I guess I have to add to my list the Warcraft setting, even if I don't like what they did in Battle for Azeroth.
keftiu Posted - 10 Feb 2020 : 07:42:44
quote:
Originally posted by Diffan

quote:
Originally posted by keftiu

13th Age is the only d20 game I'd ever accept playing anymore. It's also the only one that isn't an absolute chore to run; combat in it makes how clunky every other d20 system's is unbearable. It does have some flaws (my group got rid of Icon Rolls, because there's too many of them to reasonably improv around per session, and I wish your One Unique Thing had a mechanical impact) but it's killer. And that Commander class is a dream come true!



I haven't read up on all the non-core classes yet. I was a bit surprised how little there was to the Paladin class and yet the fighter was really robust. I got the other book in PDF format that has the Druid, Monk, etc and the Monk looks kinda odd and crazy to play. I assume that the Commander is like a Warlord in many aspects.

I thought I'd convert my one 4e characters (who was also converted from 3.5) who's at 17th level (Knight multiclass Cleric) and the conversion was really good. Lots of options and abilities considering how multiclassing in 13A works.



Somewhere in the core it lists the classes in ascending order of mechanical complexity, with Barbarian and Paladin at the bottom. They wanted players uninterested in bookkeeping and system mastery to still have fun, powerful options available, and I think they succeeded admirable.

13 True Ways is an absolutely killer book. I love how modular the Druid is; you can basically make a few wholly distinct classes out of it. Commander is like a Warlord, essentially, but with some really fun tricks.

Diffan Posted - 10 Feb 2020 : 07:13:39
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu

13th Age is the only d20 game I'd ever accept playing anymore. It's also the only one that isn't an absolute chore to run; combat in it makes how clunky every other d20 system's is unbearable. It does have some flaws (my group got rid of Icon Rolls, because there's too many of them to reasonably improv around per session, and I wish your One Unique Thing had a mechanical impact) but it's killer. And that Commander class is a dream come true!



I haven't read up on all the non-core classes yet. I was a bit surprised how little there was to the Paladin class and yet the fighter was really robust. I got the other book in PDF format that has the Druid, Monk, etc and the Monk looks kinda odd and crazy to play. I assume that the Commander is like a Warlord in many aspects.

I thought I'd convert my one 4e characters (who was also converted from 3.5) who's at 17th level (Knight multiclass Cleric) and the conversion was really good. Lots of options and abilities considering how multiclassing in 13A works.
keftiu Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 23:33:22
13th Age is the only d20 game I'd ever accept playing anymore. It's also the only one that isn't an absolute chore to run; combat in it makes how clunky every other d20 system's is unbearable. It does have some flaws (my group got rid of Icon Rolls, because there's too many of them to reasonably improv around per session, and I wish your One Unique Thing had a mechanical impact) but it's killer. And that Commander class is a dream come true!
Diffan Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 23:01:09
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu

quote:
Originally posted by Diffan

Now that I've got the 13th Age book, I'm really liking the setting that system is placed in. It's definitely smaller in scope and thats part of the appeal for me. I can also see this as an extension to the 4E's Nentir Vale (and beyond) map that 4th Edition is set in. That's another setting I wish they did more with. I was collecting ALL the info on the Core 4E world to sort of do my own thing with it and I had a whole eastern part created that brought in "Bending" (as in Avatar: the last Airbender) stuff that was a very Eastern feel as well as a big Undead area concept from Warcraft. This third part might bring the whole thing together.



I appreciate how vaguely defined the Dragon Empire is. Leaves a lot of room for your table to customize it to suit your needs. It's a natural outgrowth of 4e's "points of light design," and a close cousin to Dungeon Worlds "draw maps, leave blank spaces" ethos that I think is an absolute gift to fantasy gaming.

There's the Book of Ages, if you want setting info for the prior Ages of 13th Age's world, and it's a lot of fun.



Apparently I've been hiding under a rock since 13th Age came out. I remember hearing a bit about it and some 'haven' for 4E fans but I was always like "meh, I got 4E and the character builder and on-line tool!" and now....I don't and it's not like i'll ever give up playing 4E anytime soon but this seems to be just an overall awesome system with things I like and stuff to delve into.
Wooly Rupert Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 22:37:32
quote:
Originally posted by keftiu

quote:
Originally posted by Arivia

I liked Planescape, and Eberron was pretty good too. So was the Nentir Vale. Golarion is incredibly hit or miss: some of the big themed areas are fun, like Numeria, but the more mundane countries bore me especially compared to their FR equivalents.



I feel very similarly about Golarion; it's not a great setting (or a coherent one, really), but pieces of it are killer. I think it's best when you pick and choose from it.

Especially excited to see them explore their Africa and Americas equivalents more going forward. Late 1e had a gazetteer to a Mesoamerican culture that blew Maztica out of the water.



That's part of why Golarion hasn't grabbed me more: it's much more of a kitchen sink approach, and a lot of those pieces just don't mesh with each other. There's also the fact that they've not focused enough on NPCs, for my liking.
keftiu Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 22:18:52
quote:
Originally posted by Diffan

Now that I've got the 13th Age book, I'm really liking the setting that system is placed in. It's definitely smaller in scope and thats part of the appeal for me. I can also see this as an extension to the 4E's Nentir Vale (and beyond) map that 4th Edition is set in. That's another setting I wish they did more with. I was collecting ALL the info on the Core 4E world to sort of do my own thing with it and I had a whole eastern part created that brought in "Bending" (as in Avatar: the last Airbender) stuff that was a very Eastern feel as well as a big Undead area concept from Warcraft. This third part might bring the whole thing together.



I appreciate how vaguely defined the Dragon Empire is. Leaves a lot of room for your table to customize it to suit your needs. It's a natural outgrowth of 4e's "points of light design," and a close cousin to Dungeon Worlds "draw maps, leave blank spaces" ethos that I think is an absolute gift to fantasy gaming.

There's the Book of Ages, if you want setting info for the prior Ages of 13th Age's world, and it's a lot of fun.
Diffan Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 22:15:25
Now that I've got the 13th Age book, I'm really liking the setting that system is placed in. It's definitely smaller in scope and thats part of the appeal for me. I can also see this as an extension to the 4E's Nentir Vale (and beyond) map that 4th Edition is set in. That's another setting I wish they did more with. I was collecting ALL the info on the Core 4E world to sort of do my own thing with it and I had a whole eastern part created that brought in "Bending" (as in Avatar: the last Airbender) stuff that was a very Eastern feel as well as a big Undead area concept from Warcraft. This third part might bring the whole thing together.
keftiu Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 22:10:34
quote:
Originally posted by Arivia

I liked Planescape, and Eberron was pretty good too. So was the Nentir Vale. Golarion is incredibly hit or miss: some of the big themed areas are fun, like Numeria, but the more mundane countries bore me especially compared to their FR equivalents.



I feel very similarly about Golarion; it's not a great setting (or a coherent one, really), but pieces of it are killer. I think it's best when you pick and choose from it.

Especially excited to see them explore their Africa and Americas equivalents more going forward. Late 1e had a gazetteer to a Mesoamerican culture that blew Maztica out of the water.
Baltas Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 21:56:35
Well, I like many, many settings.

Out of the TSR/Wizards of the Coast settings, I basically like all of the "main", ie Dark Sun, Birthright (which seems to have inspired a lot of Feywild lore) Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Greyhawk, Mystara, Nethir Vale, Dragonlance, Eberron, Raveloft, Planescape (although it's a special case were attach most D&D settings to it). And Golarion, seeing ts also basically a D&D setting (with it's own variation on rules though.)

From outside of D&D, but on tabletop setting I like the both World of Darkness settings, Shadowrun, The Dark Eye, and of course Warhammer (Fantasy, or the original Warhammer included, Warhammer 40,000, and even Age of Sigmar.)

From literature, but also used for video games and tabletop games, I love the Witcher series. From other videogames, I also love Mundus (aka the The Elder Scrolls setting), and Thedas (ie the Dragon Age setting.)

I also really like the setting of the Moonless Age, as seen in the Drowtales webcomic, which might interest you, as it has a fair number of LGBT representation, including among main characters.
Dalor Darden Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 20:57:15
quote:
Originally posted by Grumpy Hamatula

Dalor,

Might that war game have been the play-by-mail "Hyborian War"? I played that a bit a good many years ago, but I never had much luck. I've also wondered about their Avatar-era Forgotten Realms game many times over the years but have never played.



It was indeed Hyborian War. I got into it when I saw the advertisement in Savage Sword of Conan. It was a flawed game though and I lost interest.
Seravin Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 20:40:41
Dragonlance and the Witcher series are the only other fantasy fiction books that have kept me reading like the Realms.
Arivia Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 19:12:46
I liked Planescape, and Eberron was pretty good too. So was the Nentir Vale. Golarion is incredibly hit or miss: some of the big themed areas are fun, like Numeria, but the more mundane countries bore me especially compared to their FR equivalents.
Wooly Rupert Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 18:07:23
quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr

Anything included in the meta setting. That’s why I love Spelljammer and Planescape so much. Those two really should trump all because they include all the others.



Agreed, but the Spelljammer stuff often seemed like it was made without any connection at all to the individual settings... Realmspace contained info about known places on Toril that has never been backed up in any Realmslore, and Krynnspace flat-out contradicted a major portion of Dragonlance lore. (Plus, Krynnspace had the NPC Little Biggnome, a character concept that still makes me shudder some 20 years later).

I'm a huge Spelljammer fan, but there were a lot of issues with the way they handled it.
Seethyr Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 17:46:53
Anything included in the meta setting. That’s why I love Spelljammer and Planescape so much. Those two really should trump all because they include all the others.
Grumpy Hamatula Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 17:38:10
Dalor,

Might that war game have been the play-by-mail "Hyborian War"? I played that a bit a good many years ago, but I never had much luck. I've also wondered about their Avatar-era Forgotten Realms game many times over the years but have never played.
Dalor Darden Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 17:33:26
I've only ever gamed in Hyboria a couple of times; but I used to play a war game there a little. I really liked Mongoose Publishing's Conan RPG where armor gave damage reduction and spells were handled much differently.
Grumpy Hamatula Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 13:01:06
Within the established D&D settings, Dark Sun is great fun. I also tend to use Spelljammer and Planescape as an overlay for any setting. It makes those high-level excursions off-Prime (or at least off-primary world) more consistent, and my players have enjoyed their excursions out into the unknown. (The time everybody bought a lim-lim in Sigil and brought them back, leading to an inevitable infestation in the Neverwinter sewers when some of the things got loose, is a favorite example of the fun they've made for themselves.)

Outside of TSR/WOTC settings, I enjoyed Feist's Midkemia and a good bit of Moorcock's Eternal Champion stuff when I was younger, and I also enjoyed Robert E. Howard's Conan/Hyborian world stuff in junior high and high school, though I've not done much with any of those in quite some time.
George Krashos Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 12:54:53
There are only the Realms!

-- George Krashos
Ayrik Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 05:49:48
Planescape. As open-ended, reconfigurable, known, and unknown as your imagination (and your time) can allow.

Plus it can interlink with any other established setting. Kinda like Spelljammer but with more freedom to focus on the destination than on the tedious journey. And you don't have to share a cabin with drunk pirates.
Zeromaru X Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 02:39:06
Of TSR, perhaps Dark Sun? I mean, besides the Realms, that's the other one of the "old settings" I've played, though I've only played their WotC incarnations.

Of WotC, the Nentir Vale, obviously.

Beyond TSR/WotC, Thedas, the setting of the Dragon Age videogames.
Wooly Rupert Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 02:16:10
Of TSR settings... Krynn was my introduction to TSR settings, and I'll always love the Chronicles and Legends trilogies. I got bored with it, after a while, though: at the time, they had 5 trilogies -- and of those 5, 3 were busy going either sideways or into the past, and not moving the story forward.

Spelljammer was awesome, and it was my first love of D&D settings. My username is from Spelljammer.

Going beyond TSR/WotC...

For other game settings, Golarion and Midgard are both pretty cool. I'm more into Midgard now than Golarion, but both have some really nifty stuff. And western Immoren, home of the Iron Kingdoms, the setting for the Warmachine and Hordes games -- very cool.

Going beyond game settings... Midkemia and Kelewan. Some of the first fantasy stuff I read was the Riftwar Saga. And I've revisited those books perhaps more than any other series -- especially the first trilogy.

That's pretty much it... There are others, of course, but most of them are only in one trilogy of books, and thus there isn't a full setting there. And a lot of the other stuff I read is some variation on "Earth, but just a little different" -- like steampunk stuff or the Dresden Files.
Dalor Darden Posted - 09 Feb 2020 : 01:29:37
I'm still a fan of Greyhawk because it is where I cut my teeth on D&D. I like that a lot of the spells are "built in" to the setting because of the creators actually being part of the setting. I also like how it is wide open for the DM to pretty much dictate what is what after the barest of "canon" setting facts.

For story setting, I like Krynn/Dragonlance before Dragons of Summer Flame...after that the setting sort of went downhill for me and I didn't care for it any longer.

After that I'm partial to Mystara because of all the games I've played there. It doesn't make much "sense" really how the nations are set up; but it is a fun little sandbox honestly. My favorite parts of Mystara are the Northern Reaches and of course Karameikos.

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