I liked the space master 1e setting. Yeah I know it was dune plus star wars plus some traveller but I liked it. The quality ICE put into its products helped.
Traveller. Duh.
Living steel. Great settting, great aliens, horrific system.
Buck Rogers XXVc. :p Easily one of the best science-fiction settings in all of media, period. Semi-hard science-fiction all contained within the solar system, but with rocket ships.
I like 17th Century France, specifically the eras of Louis XIII, Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV. Lots of exciting things to do when playing Flashing Blades.
Traveller isn't a setting; did you mean the Third Imperium?
Blue Planet.
No particular order:
Earlier Shadowrun (I only qualify because I haven't kept up with the new editions)
Judge Dredd
SLA Industries
JAGS Wonderland
Greyhawk
Quote from: Dumarest;988416I like 17th Century France, specifically the eras of Louis XIII, Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV. Lots of exciting things to do when playing Flashing Blades.
Traveller isn't a setting; did you mean the Third Imperium?
Agreed...
For me, not that I use much "setting" stuff other than the map, but Blackmoor would top the list for me.
Wilderlands of High Fantasy is another.
Classic Traveller's implicit setting (NOT "official" Third Imperium setting) is also very interesting to me.
Oh, and Glorantha as expressed in RuneQuest 2 and it's supplements (with a judicious dose of RQ3 and subsequent supplements)
In order of the settings I fell in love with:
Marvel Comics - Up until the mid 80s, my D&D gaming was pretty much just a squad level tactical exercise, without a ton of roleplaying. The Marvel Superheroes RPG changed that - comics have word bubbles, so suddenly our characters spent a lot more time talking - and thus I became a roleplayer and not just a tactical wargamer using the D&D system. For that, the MSHRPG and pre-Iron Age comics setting will likely always have a warm spot in my heart.
Cyberpunk - Cyberpunk shook my world a second time. After high level D&D, and then Marvel Superheroes, I'd sort of settled into a thought that death was something that happened to starting characters, and that otherwise, death was a status condition to be resolved. Cyberpunk said that your high powered, experienced character can have their life ended by a kid with a handgun. I was reading a ton of Cyberpunk books at the time, and while Night City was a more shoot 'em up kind of place than most - more Bubblegum Crisis than Neuromancer - it still was a great place to have many campaigns. It's been years since I've played, now, but back in 2013 I broke out my cyberpunk RPG again to adventure in "dark future".
Shadowrun - Yeah. I'm a big fan of D&D, and a big fan of Cyberpunk. I was the target audience for Shadowrun. You see an orc in a 10' x 10' office guarding a server. :) It took me a while to really notice the metaplot, and in Shadowrun's case, I more enjoyed it than found it intrusive.
Earthdawn - I was drawn to this setting because at that point in my gaming life, I had just accepted dungeons to explore as a thing that just were a part of the setting, even if they each had their own individual histories to explain them. Earthdawn seemed to be a setting that had dungeons as a direct result of a history that meant that there would be many such places to explore.
Exalted, Planescape, and Weapons of the Gods all have settings that I liked enough to run them in another system. And, Shadows of Esteren may fall into that list if I ever want to do anything with it again.
Quote from: ArtemisAlpha;988431Marvel Comics - Up until the mid 80s, my D&D gaming was pretty much just a squad level tactical exercise, without a ton of roleplaying. The Marvel Superheroes RPG changed that - comics have word bubbles, so suddenly our characters spent a lot more time talking - and thus I became a roleplayer and not just a tactical wargamer using the D&D system. For that, the MSHRPG and pre-Iron Age comics setting will likely always have a warm spot in my heart.
I never use DC or Marvel's "universes" as settings, but if I were going to do Marvel the early 1980s is probably when I would set it. The period when Roger Stern was writing Spider-Man and Frank Miller was doing Daredevil would be fun.
Homebrew inventive interesting but not gonzo home-brew ancient/medieval lowish/rareish-magic with tactical combat and mapped world to explore (which PCs don't start with a full or accurate map of).
Which also describes Cidri (the TFT default setting for homebrew).
Quote from: Skarg;988437Homebrew inventive interesting but not gonzo home-brew ancient/medieval lowish/rareish-magic with tactical combat and mapped world to explore (which PCs don't start with a full or accurate map of).
Which also describes Cidri (the TFT default setting for homebrew).
I always thought Cidri was so chock full of everything/anything it was almost not even a setting, aside from the Mechanicians' Guild and stuff like that.
Quote from: Dumarest;988444I always thought Cidri was so chock full of everything/anything it was almost not even a setting, aside from the Mechanicians' Guild and stuff like that.
Yeah, it's sort of a context with helpful baseline stats/situations for making your own settings. What's described is a generic norm that GMs can take or leave, but does most of the work so you can start running a game right away even using the sample regional map and be able to have an economy, job and equipment tables, guilds, that are tuned to work together. It's a simple generic-ish baseline that I still find useful for working in contrast to when I make up a new homebrew setting. But most of my later homebrew settings were not on Cidri and had nothing or almost-nothing borrowed from Cidri, even if some of Cidri's norms are part of my basis for comparison.
For instance, when I make a new setting, I will tend to use the things ITL describes about its Cidri setting as reference points to check in and compare to. Is there anything like a Mechanicians' Guild? A Wizard's Guild? Mercenaries Guilds? Scholarly organizations? Do they have anything like molotails or gunpowder? How do they lock their doors? What jobs are there and what are their requirements, risks and pay rates? What is their legal system like? Etc.
Quote from: Skarg;988473Yeah, it's sort of a context with helpful baseline stats/situations for making your own settings. What's described is a generic norm that GMs can take or leave, but does most of the work so you can start running a game right away even using the sample regional map and be able to have an economy, job and equipment tables, guilds, that are tuned to work together. It's a simple generic-ish baseline that I still find useful for working in contrast to when I make up a new homebrew setting. But most of my later homebrew settings were not on Cidri and had nothing or almost-nothing borrowed from Cidri, even if some of Cidri's norms are part of my basis for comparison.
For instance, when I make a new setting, I will tend to use the things ITL describes about its Cidri setting as reference points to check in and compare to. Is there anything like a Mechanicians' Guild? A Wizard's Guild? Mercenaries Guilds? Scholarly organizations? Do they have anything like molotails or gunpowder? How do they lock their doors? What jobs are there and what are their requirements, risks and pay rates? What is their legal system like? Etc.
It makes for a good checklist of what you want or don't want.
I really am a fan of the kitchen sink of Rifts. I hate the system, but I enjoyed a lot of the random craziness that gets tossed in.
i like ww2 nazis + dinosaurs + aliens + cthulhu. this would be my superheroes one.
I am a big fan of just about anything Norse, from Icelandic sagas to Varangian. Tangentially, I enjoy historical stuff a bunch.
I like Hyborian age a bunch as well. It's sort of related to the historical stuff in my mind.
At one end of the spectrum there is Rifts and at the other is the Thirty Years' War (without supernatural additives, only three ingredients : Blood, Mud and Dark humor).
For straight-up fantasy settings, I like Greyhawk/Oerth. And I also really like near-earth settings like AErth or LEarth. But I prefer to just develop my own near-earth fantasy setting. Typically I base off of ancient Caucasus, Greece, or Babylon in that order of preference.
What are AErth and LEarth?
In no particular order:
A/State.
Kult.
Sla.
Symbaroum.
Vampire (Sabbat only tho').
WFRP (1e).
Lacuna.
Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies.
Kult.
Quote from: Dumarest;988508What are AErth and LEarth?
I know Aerth was Gygax's setting for
Dangerous Journeys: Mythus, and based on the pattern, I suspect LEarth is the setting for
Lejendary Adventure.
The Known World, though all I did was read the supplements and admire the maps.
Greyhawk--I owned that massive map back in the day, and ran a few adventures in it over the years, none too wedded to the history. Again, I liked the map.
I liked the setting for Beasts & Barbarians, but again, never got to run anything there (though I made fruitless plans, as always).
My current setting is homebrew (https://trailstrials.obsidianportal.com/maps/93360), with which I've used a couple of different systems. It's quite new--about 16 months from inception (Felston) to development of the East (the current group's locale).
Kult, much, much more of a horror game than Call of Cthulhu.
Blue Planet
Metamorphosis Alpha, the starship Warden is a great place for post-apocalypse sci-fi-fi adventure.
Certainly Kult. And In Nomine. The various World of Darkness games to a degree.
Dune. Eternal Champion stuff. Judge Dredd and 2000AD stuff.
Low Life. Paranoia.
Calidar by Bruce Heard - very creative! Scratches my Mystara itch.
Eberron by Keith Baker, various - fell in love with the dragon marked houses, the intense religions, the fantastic details and dinosaur riding halflings! Extra points for the undead elves...
Scarred Lands (3.x) - dark, inventive and the underlying horror was delicious. Titans and an evil clown carnival in a bayou FTW!
Jorune by... I don't know off the top of my head... - strange, scientific, Edgar Rice Burrough's inspired, and unique. I will always be intrigued by Jorune.
Shadowrun! by various - The whole enchilada fascinates me. I love the ideas of smashing fantasy and cyberpunk together.
Aihrde by Chenault Publishing (Castles & Crusades) - a very detailed and well thought out fantasy setting. Tickles my Greyhawk button with some flavourful additions.
The Cabal by Kenneth Hite - this group of somewhat evil secret cultists tickles my fancy! I have tossed them in several modern conspiracy games.
The Diamond Throne (Arcana Evolved) by Monte Cook - The whole True Names feats and rituals, the struggle between the Giants and the Dragons, and the rich cultures and races... Monte Cook's imagination has continually inspired me over the years. TDT will remain one of my favs!
Hell Boy, by Mike Mignola - this take on modern fantasy is so superb and fun. I'll always have a soft spot for the BPRD.
I always wondered about Jorune...I seem to recall an ad in Dragon for "the sky realms of Jorune" (?) with an incredible drawing of some alien creature comforting an injured person, or something on that order, almost in the style of a Renaissance oil painting. I seem to also recall seeing a boxed set (?) At the comic book-cum-game store I used to visit for my monthly fix of super hero hijinks. I never did learn what it was all about. No money to buy a game out of curiosity alone...it was hard enough whittling down the list of comic books I wanted into a number I could actually buy... ah, memories... same place I bought my first Dragon magazine and the old Games Workshop Golden Heroes boxed set (which I still have!).
Sky Realms of Jorune has a fascinating setting. A long lost colony world, similar in some respects to Tekumel, a number of alien races, psycho-sensitive energy crystals, and fanastic art.
I was just Googling it...apparently it's "Skyrealms of Jorune" and I've conflated the box cover art with the ad art.
The Third Imperium universe (pre-virus) - Odd how what started as a few pastiche grew though loving designers into a deep, intriguing setting.
Second World - Sort of a love that few knew about, it gave life to a sort of "world next door" fantasy that was popular in literature but nearly ignored in gaming.
Numenera - Ever since Zothique, I was intrigued by the notion of "far future fantasy"
Bard Games' Atlantis - A bit Conanesque, but with lots of other nods to real world lore.
Planescape - I also dug the notion of fantasy in realms of the unreal.
Scarred Lands - Dark high fantasy built around the core assumptions of D&D.
I think that Tekumel, Exalted's Creation, Lemuria, 17th Century France/Spain, 7th/9th/17th/early 19th/late 20th/early 21st century China, Mythic Rome, 9th/13th/19th/late20th/early 21st Century Balkan Peninsula, 21st century Southeast Asia, Sengoku/Edo/Current Age Japan, 2320 AD, Pendragon's Britain, (Mythic) Scandinavia, the setting of Crimson Blades, Blue Planet, Dragon Warrior's Legend, Eclipse Phase, The Known World and Glorantha would be the main ones, but I might be forgetting some stuff;).
Oh, and Ancient Greece.
Space: 1889
I'm probably one of the only people that likes Traveller because of the Third Imperium. The Traveller system itself is Ok, I guess. But the thing I really love about Traveller is the Sword Worlds, the Darrians, the different types of Humaniti, the Solomani Rim, etc.
Fading Suns, minus the Symbiots and the Space Crusade.
Stars Without Number. I love the distinction between Pretech, Postech, and Maltech. Unbraked AI's. Spike drives. The Scream and the Silence. It has a post-apoc feel to it, and that's even before you get into Other Dust.
Again, I'm probably in the minority on this, but I loved the later WEG Star Wars stuff when it got away from Star Wars and started exploring the outer rim. Stuff like the Platt's Guides and Kathol Rim.
Monte Cook's World of Darkness. The mods to the D20 system are way over the top, but the setting is pure gold. Something evil erupted in Milwaukee and turned the place into a spritual post-apocolyptic hellhole. Chicago is livable, but there are creatures of the night lurking in the shadows. The zone outside of Milwaukee is filled with all sorts of altered-reality weirdness. I think this one would work best as a Hunter game.
LankhmarWalking into the Silver Eel on a foggy evening is always a thrill. I've played in and run games there and in the surrounding areas and always enjoyed it.
Compact Space A friend of mine ran sessions in C.J. Cherrhy's setting. He used an early Traveler variant and made up the stats for the alien species.
Arduin The system was just extended D&D but the setting was well worth seeing.
The Black Mountain District It's the only part of the world that I run on that is publicly available but it is free on the website. I may put up Old Meos, the City next or possibly The Ice River Valley. The Lake Country is the first sandbox my players explored. It's pretty tame now. I may put out a version that depicts it when the first player-characters entered it.
Quote from: Aglondir;988597Spike drives.
.
I do, really, but this thread isn't all about me you know.
Fading Suns it's Warhammer 40k lite, and it does it well. Except the system.
Rifts I loved Phaseworld, Wormwood, North America, Japan and the first Underseas book, got a lot of mileage out of them. The system on the other hand, I butchered that so hard it stopped being Palladium and some horrific (and I do mean that, I've taken a look at some of the notes, and I'm genuinely repulsed by just how sloppy my 'fixes' were) mash up Palladium, AD&D 2e and Interlock, both Mekton 2 and Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.
The Known World, Kara Tur and Dark Sun
Quote from: Dumarest;988571I was just Googling it...apparently it's "Skyrealms of Jorune" and I've conflated the box cover art with the ad art.
The box cover art was used in many of the ads, I remember the full-page color ones.
Quote from: CRKrueger;988667The box cover art was used in many of the ads, I remember the full-page color ones.
Ah, maybe I didn't conflate the two then!
Speaking of ads, anybody know if anywhere online has collected some or all of the old Mayfair DC Heroes ads where they used to include a little write-up or update for a super hero?
The Morrow Project. It is a departure from the typical post apocalypse setting where the players are mission oriented to rebuild society. The rules were weak, but the background materials are good and pull from much PA fiction without blatantly ripping any off. Also like the way equipment was handled allowing the focus to remain on the mission rather than turning into one fuel / ammo hunt after another. The gunporn was nice as well.
Some good mentions here that I agree with:
The universe of Kult: Dark, original and interesting
Planet Jorune in Jorune: Utterly unique and wonderful
The universe of Stars Without Number: The perfect sci-fi sandbox
Some others I like:
The Lands of Legend from Dragon Warriors: A very flavorful fantasy reskin of Europe ca. 1200 AD
The Land of One-Thousand Towers from Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Gonzo post-apocalyptic mash-up (Thundarr + Zardoz + ...)
Hot Springs Island in Dark of Hot Springs Island: Kirby-esque fantasy hexcrawl sandbox on an island
The Sixth World, Prax and Sigil.
1st Edition WFRP, duh. is this even a question?
In all seriousness, a great, great game that only needs a few, easy to do tweaks.
I like the setting in The Mutant Epoch a lot. That Crossroads Region setting book is really fun...
Mostly the ones I wrote. For stuff I had nothing to do with, probably Mystara.
In no order with the caveat that these are settings I've run:
Cyberpunk 2020 - Simply wonderful. Needs updating, but damn it's good.
Talislanta - I still maintain it's one of the best original sci-fantasy settings out there. It's swords and super-sorcery, dark and awesome with plenty of elbow-room for people to make it their own by intent. Deep history, filled with ambiguity, and lots of potential to scale to crazy levels.
Darksun - Love it. My favorite D&D setting. I really want to run this with Savage Worlds someday.
Vampire - The original setting was brilliant. The system sucked, but I didn't care.
Deadlands - Goddamn this is a fun setting. Pre-Post Apocalyptic glory. Supernatural Wild West with every western trope ever tossed in. Great great setting.
Spelljammer - Everything I want for a sandbox. Where I can literally use anything and everything under the D&D umbrella as I see fit with a whole lot of its own whacky-cool conceits cooked in.
Quote from: Dumarest;988508What are AErth and LEarth?
It's part of a family of game worlds.
On one extreme, you have Oerth (greyhawk), on the opposite end of the spectrum you have Earth. AErth is the closest fantasy world to Earth. Maybe Yarth is next, then Urth, (not sure, I'm not aware of either of those worlds actually being developed). LEarth I'd say is roughly mid-point between AErth and Oerth. I created my own world, Loerth, as being between half way between LEarth and Oerth on the spectrum, or more specifically very LEarth-like in the western hemisphere, very Oerth-like in the eastern hemisphere--even two completely separate variations of monsters and magical traditions. But currently I'm developing something more along the lines of AErth. Maybe ever so slightly more Earth-like. Who knows, though, as it's a work in progress.
I thought I had already posted here earlier, but couldn't find my post, so here goes.
Judges Guild Wilderlands. The first published setting for D&D and still the largest with eighteen 22"x34 Campaign maps. Doubled, because there are incomplete players map, as well as complete GMs maps that comes in every Wilderlands module. My absolute favorite go-to for any original D&D games.
Greyhawk. This was the first TSR campaign setting that I first bought in 1984. I only ran games in it a few times, But Darlene's map was one of the best I had ever seen. I still much preferred my own homebrew settings, but liked the Chivalric orders and Heraldry that was a part of Greyhawk, so I totally and irrevererently added my own noble houses. I don't own anything from Greyhawk right now, except for all four of the gigantic campaign maps that came in the issues of Dragon Magazine right at the beginning of the 3e era., oh, and because Quag Keep by Andre Norton!!!
Aihrde. Been supporting Stephen and Davis since the day they opened their first booth at GenCon. Airdhe has always been a provocative and untamed setting, with a long history of bloody wars, so it is really easy to add in my own ruins and adventures.
Eberron. Campaign setting designed by a gamer, and published by WOTC. Very good quality with many original ideas. I have the entire setting except for the Eberron Player's Guide (which sucked hard) and Dragons of Eberron, because the basics were good enough for me to extrapolate and I created my own non-canon Dragonmarked houses so didn't need the add-ons provided in either of these books.
Also picked up the Morningstar campaign guide by R. Scott Kennan published by Joe at Goodman Games as of the semi-finalists. I actually wanted to get all three of the WOTC Campaign Setting finalists Campaign Settings but the finalists sold their settings to WOTC and the settings haven't been seen since, because WOTC ...quashing the competition, duh! Of the other semi-finalists two published, and are available, although I wasn't inclined to buy Dawnforge when I saw it at GenCon. Anyone else familiar with these and care to comment?;
Dawnforge: Crucible of Legend, by Greg Benage
https://dragonstrove.com/6114?utm_source=google_shopping (https://dragonstrove.com/6114?utm_source=google_shopping)
Code of Unaris, by Gary Pratt, Originally published by Gold Leaf Games, now available as a free download here;
http://web.archive.org/web/20070103063953/http://www.goldleafgames.com/
There was also
Cappedocio by Alexandre Gélinas and two others (not published)
and Reign of Ashes by MissHappen at EN World (not published)
Three of the semi-finalists chose to forever remain anonymous, which is a shame, because these represent the best ten campaign settings out of over two thousand submitted for consideration.
Forgotten Realms is just really good quality by Ed Greenwood, and I finally got around to getting the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide in 2007, and have been slowly collecting FR books since. Currently have Shining South, Serpent Kingdoms, Silver Marches, and Unapproachable East. I have run about three or four FR games over the last four years.
GURPS: Alpha Centauri. The only time I ever bought an RPG that was originally a videogame. I like to create scenarios and adventures by playing about fifty turns or so of the videogame and then using one of the factions as the base of operations for an adventure. This is an acquired taste, and I don't have many opportunities to run games for this. have not run a game since about 2010.
Mindjammer My current Sci-Fi favorite. Just bought the book this spring, and haven't yet had an opportunity to run a game, but have been spending time setting up for a trans-human campaign in the Fringe Worlds.
App! Almost forgot, Gamma World. Except, what I have for this is not exactly a published setting, just a big collection of homebrew campaign settings, Including Colorado, California, Florida, and the newest region set in Texas, that I just did up today for this game.
Traveller's Third Imperuim and the short lived New Era 1248. Because.
Shadowrun setting.
Stars without Number because favorite sandbox.
Mutant Future because with the right rolls you can be a floating Octopus.
Shadowrun, Spelljammer, Star*Drive.
Not really an RPG setting, but I love the Mushroom Kingdom for RPGs.
Quote from: dungeon crawler;992432Traveller's Third Imperuim and the short lived New Era 1248. Because.
Shadowrun setting.
Stars without Number because favorite sandbox.
Mutant Future because with the right rolls you can be a floating Octopus.
I liked new era OK and even think it needs a reboot.. This time there should be at. Least a few stable, sane AIs willing to work with biological lifeforms.
Quote from: Schwartzwald;992471I liked new era OK and even think it needs a reboot.. This time there should be at. Least a few stable, sane AIs willing to work with biological lifeforms.
Serious Question Time: Why don't you just run a game of New Era and, like, PUT stable, sane AIs into the setting yourself? Why do you need a reboot for something that... small?
Glorantha
Hyborian age
Middle Earth
(in that order)
Quote from: GameDaddyGURPS: Alpha Centauri. The only time I ever bought an RPG that was originally a videogame. I like to create scenarios and adventures by playing about fifty turns or so of the videogame and then using one of the factions as the base of operations for an adventure. This is an acquired taste, and I don't have many opportunities to run games for this. have not run a game since about 2010.
Haha thats neat. I love Sid Meier Alpha Centauri and would love to play in a setup like that. Unfortunately it's hard to find players for it.
I hate sister Miriam with a passion.
Quote from: Itachi;992761Haha thats neat. I love Sid Meier Alpha Centauri and would love to play in a setup like that. Unfortunately it's hard to find players for it.
I hate sister Miriam with a passion.
Is it like Civilization in space? And was it ever a boardgame?
Hmm, let's see.
- Greyhawk - I like the scope of the folio and the original boxed set: broad strokes with enough detail to spur your imagination, but not *too* much detail. Awesome Darlene maps. Yeah, it's "vanilla RPG fantasy world" in some ways, but it's done well and has a cool feel to it that I like.
- Wilderlands - Again, lots of cool maps and bits to spark interest. I also like the whole campaign hex system (which is nicely summarized in the JG Ready Ref sheet book). My biggest gripe with the Wilderlands is that there are too many NPCs with classes and high levels in odd places (and too many powerful monsters in odd places) for my taste. That's easily remedied, though.
- The Fantasy Earth in RMIII - I like to read history, and I like some historical elements in my games, so this was right up my alley. I know a lot of RQ gamers were annoyed by the removal of Glorantha, but I'm one of the minority that liked this approach better.
- Monster Island - I think this is a way cool mini campaign setting with tons of pulp and swords-n-sorcery influence. Again, right up my alley.
- Mythic Iceland - Another "fantasy earth" kind of setting, which I am a sucker for, and a very nice, well done book. My only real complaint is that I'd liked to have seen a small section in more detail, as a starting point to help you get rolling. (In Greyhawk, modules tended to fill this need.)
- The Morrow Project Earth - Post-apocalyptic "after the bombs" Earth. I thought MP had a cool way for the GM to approach this (using a road atlas and marking it up using target and warhead data/tables from the rulebook to determine the setting). I set my game in my home state, of course, after nuking the hell out of it.
- Hyperborea - From Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The setting and modules is cool, with "imported" Earth cultures and a neat setup. The modules for Hyperborea are well done, too.
There're probably others, but those are the ones that popped in my head, first. Honorable mentions go to I.C.E. Middle Earth (I especially liked the Northern Mirkwood and Court of Ardor sourcebooks) and to the Young Kingdoms (Chaosium Stormbringer/Elric/etc), and to the Lankhmar sourcebook released for 1e AD&D. I also thought Empire of the Petal Throne was really cool and interesting, but in my case I mostly liked reading about it, rather than running a game in it.