Totally unprecedented seems unlikely, given the volume of stuff published over the past 40 years, but what relatively uncommon things seem due for treatment in a fantasy RPG?

My own off the cuff list:

1. A novel milieu/mythus. The Medieval/Norse/Greek mashup has been done a zillion times, and other Earthly antecedents have received similar treatment (although things such as Arrows of Indra stand out). Various conceits (e.g., "steampunk") have become established genres since the 1970s, in gaming as well as fiction. I'm inclined to draw inspiration from less pawed over works of fantastic literature and my own imaginings.

What comes to your mind?

One thing I think would be unusual these days is a setting with an initial state that's the result of considerable actual play. For one thing, letting players loose on things such as the economy should produce more robust assumptions than making up stuff in a vacuum.

2. Magicians relegated by default to NPC status. This is more in keeping with most classic works of fantasy of my acquaintance, and avoids some game balance issues.

3. Most monsters unique, most magic limited use (like "3 wishes" or a single dose of potion). This makes it less likely that the fantastic will become mundane, or the game become a puzzle with optimal solutions to "rinse and repeat."

4. Characters by default start very competent, and there's little emphasis on gaining "experience levels" or the like. This is another thing that seems more in keeping with at least a large category of literary precedents. I think of Metamorphosis Alpha and Classic Traveller, in which the focus is more on ambitions characters pursue in relation to the world. This also avoids the problem of "level-specific" scenarios.

5. A prominent strategic element. Besides being individually powerful, characters typically command significant economic, military and political resources. Mythical and legendary cycles tend to concern princes and the like.

6. Along with that, clear provision -- not necessarily obligatory -- for conflict among player characters, as opposed to a firm assumption that they must always be allies.

Quote from: Phillip;695813Totally unprecedented seems unlikely, given the volume of stuff published over the past 40 years, but what relatively uncommon things seem due for treatment in a fantasy RPG?

My own off the cuff list:

It occurs to me that Burroughs' Barsoom fits all these criteria.  You could do it with RuneQuest/Legend + RQ Empires.

There have been a couple of Barsoom treatments but they lack the strategic game you're requesting.

Quote from: Phillip;6958134. Characters by default start very competent, and there's little emphasis on gaining "experience levels" or the like.

Yeah this is pretty much all I do.

You know what doesn't get enough airtime? Cunning. Not intelligence, not being able to debate the socioeconomic impact of neokeynesianistic elements on a barter system while playing chess with the fate of your enemies, but sheer animal cunning.

It's a multiplier, an instinct, it's what makes the Aliens of Aliens fame so dangerous, otherwise you could just mow them down or set tripwire claymores for them. One single goblin with that kind of psychotic cunning could be a complete nightmare for the unwary group, physical strength has little to do with it (although it helps). It's a fat guy living in the sewers preying on wanderers for years. I haven't really enunciated that ruleswise yet but I feel there's a deep well of potential fun there.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116409/plotsummary

QuoteIn 1896 Lt. Col. John Paterson was sent to East Africa to build a railway bridge. He had a deadline to meet but was confident he and his large workforce of Africans and Indians can get the job done in time. John's was a man of his word and got things done - which he demonstrated on his first day by killing a lion that had been pestering the workforce. This earned John respect, but it didn't last very long because a few weeks later 2 new lions began visiting and they're man-eaters. The film is based on a true story and during the construction of the bridge, the lions would enter the workers camp to kill. Believing them not to be real lions, the locals name them 'The Ghost' and 'The Darkness'. After losing dozens of workers to the lions, the railroad company brought in Remington, an American 'great white hunter', to kill them, but even his reputation for being the best could not prevent yet more carnage. It is believed that over 130 people were killed by the two lions in just a few months.

Quote from: daniel_ream;695830It occurs to me that Burroughs' Barsoom fits all these criteria.

Yes, and I do love it! I did some preliminary notes years ago when someone else might have secured the license, but I can't see myself doing such a deal. Luigi Castellani's Under the Moons of Zoon combines, per the introduction, Burroughs style sword & planet, weird tales a la C.A. Smith and H.P. Lovecraft, and inspirations from Gene Wolfe (Urth) and M. John Harrison (Viriconium).

Quote from: Phillip;695839Yes, and I do love it! I did some preliminary notes years ago when someone else might have secured the license, but I can't see myself doing such a deal.

Adamant Entertainment has a damn-close-to-official treatment for both d20 and Savage Worlds.

Most of what your criteria would be satisfied by any sword & sorcery setting, really, although Hyborea's polities are awfully close to historical Earth cultures.  John Norman's Gor hits every one of the items if you don't consider alien super-tech to count as magic, but, well...Gor.

There have certainly been a lot of very unusual and unique settings for various FRPGs over the years, but that very uniqueness is what tends to keep them from selling - lack of familiarity creates a barrier to entry.  So they tend not to come to mind as easily as the bog-standard D&D implied setting variants.

Quote from: daniel_ream;695841There have certainly been a lot of very unusual and unique settings for various FRPGs over the years, but that very uniqueness is what tends to keep them from selling - lack of familiarity creates a barrier to entry.

Yes, but that's not a consideration that matters to me at this point.

I'm curious as to what "unusual" stuff might interest various folks here.

The OP sounded like Pendragon to me. Which is in need of an update, an OEF release, and more cohesion to its many, many mechanics. If it were to get those, i would definitely play it.

Quote from: The TravellerYou know what doesn't get enough airtime? Cunning...sheer animal cunning. I haven't really enunciated that ruleswise yet but I feel there's a deep well of potential fun there.

I can't think of how to make general rules for it; it seems to call for an application of actual cunning to scenario design and playing roles.

Quote from: Phillip;695846I can't think of how to make general rules for it; it seems to call for an application of actual cunning to scenario design and playing roles.

Well, off the top of my head, think about how the standard psycho movie plays out, seeming prescience is one of their attributes. So if you run left, they catch up with you at the next junction, purely because they know the area better. They are intimately familiar with their environment and the creatures in it, and are well able to use that knowledge to their advantage. No matter what your brilliant idea is they've got something that works around it.

This kind of creature never really goes away, and above all else are able to hold a grudge. A very personal grudge, and they're able to get into the heads of their enemies, which is an important touch. They might even pose as travellers at the campfire to get a better understanding of their hunters, or something similar.

With that said I wouldn't make them invincible, they can die, they're just crafty enough to avoid putting themselves in situations where that happens. These sorts of beasts whether human or otherwise are far more dangerous than a legion of soldiers because they won't come out and fight fair, or indeed at all until the deck is stacked in their favour.

As far as the rules go, customised traps and cul de sacs ending in dangerous creatures, bonuses to hide and sneak, the ability to get out of there quickly and appear unexpectedly when the group is at its weakest. Fairly quantifiable. I definetely wouldn't wheel them out except on special occasions.

Quote from: Phillip;695842Yes, but that's not a consideration that matters to me at this point.

I'm curious as to what "unusual" stuff might interest various folks here.

I am something of a collector of not-D&D settings; I'll post a list when I've had a chance to go over my collection.

Quote from: Phillip;695813Totally unprecedented seems unlikely, given the volume of stuff published over the past 40 years, but what relatively uncommon things seem due for treatment in a fantasy RPG?

My own off the cuff list:

1. A novel milieu/mythus. The Medieval/Norse/Greek mashup has been done a zillion times, and other Earthly antecedents have received similar treatment (although things such as Arrows of Indra stand out). Various conceits (e.g., "steampunk") have become established genres since the 1970s, in gaming as well as fiction. I'm inclined to draw inspiration from less pawed over works of fantastic literature and my own imaginings.

What comes to your mind?

One thing I think would be unusual these days is a setting with an initial state that's the result of considerable actual play. For one thing, letting players loose on things such as the economy should produce more robust assumptions than making up stuff in a vacuum.

2. Magicians relegated by default to NPC status. This is more in keeping with most classic works of fantasy of my acquaintance, and avoids some game balance issues.

3. Most monsters unique, most magic limited use (like "3 wishes" or a single dose of potion). This makes it less likely that the fantastic will become mundane, or the game become a puzzle with optimal solutions to "rinse and repeat."

4. Characters by default start very competent, and there's little emphasis on gaining "experience levels" or the like. This is another thing that seems more in keeping with at least a large category of literary precedents. I think of Metamorphosis Alpha and Classic Traveller, in which the focus is more on ambitions characters pursue in relation to the world. This also avoids the problem of "level-specific" scenarios.

5. A prominent strategic element. Besides being individually powerful, characters typically command significant economic, military and political resources. Mythical and legendary cycles tend to concern princes and the like.

6. Along with that, clear provision -- not necessarily obligatory -- for conflict among player characters, as opposed to a firm assumption that they must always be allies.

These were the starting points for my heartbreaker. I relented on 2 in the end cos peopel want to play wizards.

As for Milieu or setting options what you describe fits the majority of fantasy novels. Everything from Lock Lamora to Game of Thrones, from Conan to Magician (apart from clause 2 ) fit your parameters.

So from that angle you need to decide if you build a generic system and have a sample of settings (what I have done), if you replicate a setting you really like from a movie or a book or whatever, or if you want to spin up your own in depth setting and try to create something original.
I took the first option and am making some notes about settings along with how to tweak the rules to modify the feel of the game to suit.

Settings I think that deserve a fresh look or whould make interesting gamable places
i) Jack of Shadows - the shadow realms are a lot like Ravenloft mixed with the ideas of domains from Lucifer. Everyone having their own unique power kind of fits with your game paradigms as well
ii) The Ravnica setting from Magic the Gathering - a plane covered in one massive city where warring guilds dominate and vie for power. Endless cities throw up some GMing challenges so some random generation tables would seem in order
iii) The far future fantasy  - you see this in Dying Earth, The Shadow of the Torturer (et al), Lord of Light - The idea that in the far future science turns into magic, then understanding of it lapses and the world takes on a medieval sheen but with this underlying tech. I am sure there have been settings likethis I just don't know about them