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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: Zachary The First on January 25, 2023, 04:21:54 AM

Title: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Zachary The First on January 25, 2023, 04:21:54 AM
What are some of the largest or most detailed campaign settings products? There’su obviously stuff like the World Book of Khaas for Arduin (821 pages!), or Monte Cook’s Ptolus (672 p.). For these purposes this is for a single camping setting book or boxed set. I know stuff like Forgotten Realms has decades of sourcebooks and YA Fiction, but that’s more spread out over time, rather than a compiled book or boxed set).
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Melan on January 25, 2023, 05:03:23 AM
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/ae/a2/fcaea23cad3c039650f5ede95047a81e.jpg)

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy boxed set would be one of the most expansive bottom-up ones.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Zachary The First on January 25, 2023, 05:08:05 AM
Yes, that’s another one I was going to mention. Truly expansive!
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Summon666 on January 25, 2023, 10:59:04 AM
I've been reading a lot of RPG Books for a while.. even though I have not played any. I just love the CoC aesthetic, I sorta read them as books... my hope is to one day run these games....

BUT.... the biggest one I have personally read is this...

(https://i.imgur.com/AxeZStl.jpg)
Masks of Nyarlathotep ... it is a beyond epic. The book has 3 entire books in it to make up the quest. It has these awesome sub-scenes.. where you take on characters in a different time zone and live out the events affecting you. So like instead of being told about something that happened, you can choose to actually go and do it yourself. The Slipcase comes with 3 books, hand outs, maps a screen.. to play this out fully is liturally years of your life.

(https://i.imgur.com/K9TeqQi.jpg)
Horror on the Orient Express is the other massive campaign I know of. It is not as big as MoN. Like MoN though, it is a reprint of an old CoC thing for the current edition with a ton of new stuff. It is similar in a scope but this time it it is only 2 massve HC books. I have not played these games myself, only read them and imo they seem like they both are ubr good.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Melichor on January 25, 2023, 09:26:22 PM
World's Largest Dungeon from AEG. Over 1000 pages and a huge map.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Klytus on January 26, 2023, 12:10:07 AM
There's The City of 7 Seraphs, a planar city setting book for Pathfinder. Weighs in at 636 pages.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/269801/The-City-of-7-Seraphs

Then you have The Blight from Frog God Games, which is 834 pages.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/218393/The-Blight-Swords-and-Wizardry

Frog God also has their World of the Lost Lands at 518 pages completely devoid of game mechanics, just setting info.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/304434/World-of-the-Lost-Lands

If you consider megadungeons to be settings, and you can easily make that argument, then you have stuff like Rappan Athuk (673 pages), Halls of Arden Vul (1120), and Grande Temple of Jeng (504).
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Zachary The First on January 26, 2023, 04:21:26 AM
Man, those are some big products! I remember when World’s Largest Dungeon came out. Neat idea, so-so execution.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: rgalex on January 26, 2023, 07:44:01 AM
Monte Cook's Invisible Sun always seemed like a pretty big (fancy) box set.  According to the description it has
Then there are other odds and ends like maps and things too.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: estar on January 26, 2023, 08:06:54 AM
What are some of the largest or most detailed campaign settings products? There’su obviously stuff like the World Book of Khaas for Arduin (821 pages!), or Monte Cook’s Ptolus (672 p.). For these purposes this is for a single camping setting book or boxed set. I know stuff like Forgotten Realms has decades of sourcebooks and YA Fiction, but that’s more spread out over time, rather than a compiled book or boxed set).
Seriously? You have to ask?

Harn of course but you will need a big ass binder in order for it to count. Like the Titan.
https://www.amazon.com/Samsill-16427-Titan-Extra-Binder/dp/B001PMK2Q4?th=1

https://secure.columbiagames.com/ec/process-order.pl?ec_m=cg&ec_c=default&ec_cb=58c063d27b07000a7211
Been continuously developed since the mid 80s and even more remarkable everything remains 100% compatible with each other.

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mFjy4EWzmtg/S61q-I8YyiI/AAAAAAAAAyM/Wf093QiD66k/s1600/harnfolder.jpg)

(https://www.batintheattic.com/images/harn2.jpg)

(https://www.batintheattic.com/images/Harn1.jpg)

Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: David Johansen on January 26, 2023, 09:21:53 AM
Is Traveller's Third Imperium cheating?
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: estar on January 26, 2023, 10:27:36 AM
Is Traveller's Third Imperium cheating?
Not if you are using the Traveller Map which I believe counts as a single source.

https://travellermap.com/?p=-94.487!75.236!6.6&options=58359
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: markmohrfield on January 26, 2023, 02:52:55 PM
The massive two-volume Guide to Glorantha. 800+ pages in the huge 10" x 12" format.



https://www.chaosium.com/the-guide-to-glorantha-slipcase-set/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUL5MJGbT0
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Persimmon on January 26, 2023, 09:15:11 PM
The massive two-volume Guide to Glorantha. 800+ pages in the huge 10" x 12" format.



https://www.chaosium.com/the-guide-to-glorantha-slipcase-set/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUL5MJGbT0

Damn!  Never played RQ and I know nothing about Glorantha, but that looks freaking awesome.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: markmohrfield on January 26, 2023, 10:20:39 PM
Damn!  Never played RQ and I know nothing about Glorantha, but that looks freaking awesome.

The Glorantha Sourcebook provides a cheaper introduction to the setting, if you are interested.
https://www.chaosium.com/the-glorantha-sourcebook-hardcover/
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Persimmon on January 27, 2023, 08:57:02 AM
Damn!  Never played RQ and I know nothing about Glorantha, but that looks freaking awesome.

The Glorantha Sourcebook provides a cheaper introduction to the setting, if you are interested.
https://www.chaosium.com/the-glorantha-sourcebook-hardcover/

No way, man.  Go big or go home.  I'm someone who read Gibbon's Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire in High School.  Okay, it was the 1500 page abridged version, but long setting books don't scare me if they're good. 

However, I'm not so sure I would actually play Runequest.  Could one simply use the setting material, or are the books too tied into the mechanics?  The game itself looks a bit too convoluted and something about duck people has always deterred me from investigating further.  But I'm intrigued by the Bronze Age stuff and how the gods and runes are incorporated into everything.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: markmohrfield on January 27, 2023, 02:33:30 PM
However, I'm not so sure I would actually play Runequest.  Could one simply use the setting material, or are the books too tied into the mechanics?  The game itself looks a bit too convoluted and something about duck people has always deterred me from investigating further.  But I'm intrigued by the Bronze Age stuff and how the gods and runes are incorporated into everything.

Both the Guide and the Sorcebook are entirely background material with no rules material at all. Glorantha is not exclusively bound to the Runequest rules, and actually has other official rule systems:
13th Age Glorantha https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/234486/13th-Age-Glorantha?src=hottest_filtered

and the currently oop Hero Wars/HeroQuest, soon to get another edition under the title Questworlds.

Edit: As for Ducks, they are a very small part the setting and easily ignored if you don’t want them around.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Persimmon on January 27, 2023, 02:35:03 PM
However, I'm not so sure I would actually play Runequest.  Could one simply use the setting material, or are the books too tied into the mechanics?  The game itself looks a bit too convoluted and something about duck people has always deterred me from investigating further.  But I'm intrigued by the Bronze Age stuff and how the gods and runes are incorporated into everything.

Both the Guide and the Sorcebook are entirely background material with no rules material at all. Glorantha is not exclusively bound to the Runequest rules, and actually has other official rule systems:
13th Age Glorantha https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/234486/13th-Age-Glorantha?src=hottest_filtered

and the currently oop Hero Wars/HeroQuest, soon to get another edition under the title Questworlds.

Thanks!  Now I'm even more tempted.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Wrath of God on January 29, 2023, 04:59:46 PM
I thought Runequest mechanics is pretty standard BRP mechanics, like Call of Cthulhu... I mean that doesn't seem landing on convoluted side of RPGs IMHO.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Thor's Nads on January 29, 2023, 05:42:10 PM
Mystara fans have been carrying the torch for that setting for a long time and have amassed an impressive set of world expansion books. I really think this is one of the best under rated settings TSR ever made. They should have gone with this instead of Forgotten Realms IMHO.

(https://i.imgur.com/IGRDT4d.jpg)


http://pandius.com/
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Persimmon on January 29, 2023, 06:17:49 PM
I thought Runequest mechanics is pretty standard BRP mechanics, like Call of Cthulhu... I mean that doesn't seem landing on convoluted side of RPGs IMHO.

A four page character sheet alone is enough to disqualify a game for me.  I've actually played a fair amount of CoC so that base system doesn't bother me.  But hours of creating backstory for my clan, cult, etc.?  That kind of stuff turned me off Modiphius Conan.  So, no thanks.  But the setting of Glorantha seems intriguing.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Persimmon on January 29, 2023, 06:22:07 PM
Mystara fans have been carrying the torch for that setting for a long time and have amassed an impressive set of world expansion books. I really think this is one of the best under rated settings TSR ever made. They should have gone with this instead of Forgotten Realms IMHO.

(https://i.imgur.com/IGRDT4d.jpg)


http://pandius.com/

Agree on Mystara being awesome, but the OP was looking for a single book or boxed set.  By that definition Mystara is too stretched out.  I will say that the fan-made gazetteers available on Vaults of Pandius are generally quite good  for expanding the setting and complement the published stuff (including the Champions of Mystara boxed set) set quite well.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: I on January 29, 2023, 07:36:23 PM
I thought Runequest mechanics is pretty standard BRP mechanics, like Call of Cthulhu... I mean that doesn't seem landing on convoluted side of RPGs IMHO.

A four page character sheet alone is enough to disqualify a game for me.  I've actually played a fair amount of CoC so that base system doesn't bother me.  But hours of creating backstory for my clan, cult, etc.?  That kind of stuff turned me off Modiphius Conan.  So, no thanks.  But the setting of Glorantha seems intriguing.

Is that four-page character sheet something for later editions of RQ?  I've only played RQ2, but in that the basic character sheet is one page.  Sure, you can expand all that background if you want to, and if you're  a high-level character you might want spell descriptions appended to your character sheet instead of looking them up all the time, but it's not necessary.  I like Glorantha, but I don't worry about all the minutia of it.  A PC is probably going to be operating in a pretty small area of the world and will only have to know a little bit about it to be a viable character.  I understand your point about not wanting to get involved in a game with too-complex rules or background (I would be of the same opinion), but Runequest (2nd ed.) is not that game.  And the ducks or most other elements you might not like can easily be left out.
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Thor's Nads on January 29, 2023, 08:20:20 PM
Mystara fans have been carrying the torch for that setting for a long time and have amassed an impressive set of world expansion books. I really think this is one of the best under rated settings TSR ever made. They should have gone with this instead of Forgotten Realms IMHO.

http://pandius.com/

Agree on Mystara being awesome, but the OP was looking for a single book or boxed set.  By that definition Mystara is too stretched out.  I will say that the fan-made gazetteers available on Vaults of Pandius are generally quite good  for expanding the setting and complement the published stuff (including the Champions of Mystara boxed set) set quite well.


Put them all into a box.  ;D

Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: Persimmon on January 29, 2023, 10:33:52 PM
I thought Runequest mechanics is pretty standard BRP mechanics, like Call of Cthulhu... I mean that doesn't seem landing on convoluted side of RPGs IMHO.

A four page character sheet alone is enough to disqualify a game for me.  I've actually played a fair amount of CoC so that base system doesn't bother me.  But hours of creating backstory for my clan, cult, etc.?  That kind of stuff turned me off Modiphius Conan.  So, no thanks.  But the setting of Glorantha seems intriguing.

Is that four-page character sheet something for later editions of RQ?  I've only played RQ2, but in that the basic character sheet is one page.  Sure, you can expand all that background if you want to, and if you're  a high-level character you might want spell descriptions appended to your character sheet instead of looking them up all the time, but it's not necessary.  I like Glorantha, but I don't worry about all the minutia of it.  A PC is probably going to be operating in a pretty small area of the world and will only have to know a little bit about it to be a viable character.  I understand your point about not wanting to get involved in a game with too-complex rules or background (I would be of the same opinion), but Runequest (2nd ed.) is not that game.  And the ducks or most other elements you might not like can easily be left out.

That's the latest one, which I checked out on their website.  Granted, it looks like you could get away with just using the first two pages as the second two are mostly family, clan, and background details, along with space for holdings, mounts and the like. 
Title: Re: The Largest Campaign Setting Product?
Post by: rkhigdon on January 30, 2023, 10:32:45 AM
The Land of NOD is fairly expansive.  I've lost track of how much of the world still needs to be covered, but the 36 issues released so far cover more than I could ever use.

https://landofnod.blog/nod/