This isn't a game rules question.
This is lore. Let's discuss the world of the game you like playing in, even games with shit rules.
Rifts is one such game to me. Gonzo doesn't begin to describe it. As a mecha fan, giant robots are my spirit animal of choice. Or you can be a wizard. Or RoboCop. Or be hopped up on so many drugs you can beat everyone up for a few years until you die of burnout. Or an evil army soldier who thinks they're good. All while fighting literal demons with laser rifles.
Another game that impressed me for the lore was Dragon Lance. I have yet to play a single D&D rules based game, but Dragon Lance novels are well worth reading.
Also, if anyone wants to, this is a good place to list any RPG books that are purely a world book with out without any system specific rules involved. I'm sure people write them. A book about just their home brew fantasy lands, people, and places of interest.
Rifts and Dark Sun are two favorites that I've played a lot in. I love to just read the setting stuff.
Mutant Chronicles is fascinating. 40k meets Film Noir.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tlkAAOSwjqVZNI9y/s-l1200.jpg)
Heavy Gear's world building was extensive and great. It really felt like an Anime series.
I bought nearly everything for the Jovian Chronicles setting just because it was fun. It's a Gundam analog. However, the various nations are from Mercury on out to Jupiter. Jupiter is the top dog, with a militant Earth looking to conquer everyone, despite only controlling half of Earth itself (some of which isn't worth owning due to nuclear fallout).
I've never played Runequest, but I bought the huge coffee-table "Guide to Glorantha" books just for their lore and to mine ideas. I'm also quite fond of Mystara/Known World. And the Old World from Warhammer is cool; some of the novels are fun.
For AD&D, it's Greyhawk. I also still love Middle Earth because of the deep history and back stories. ICE did a better job of capturing that than subsequent RPGs even if some of the game's mechanics made it more "high magic" than the books. L5R had a good setting until recent editions turned it into Wokeugan.
Rifts...the ultimate kitchen sink game universe.
Outside of that, probably Star Wars for obvious reasons.
I like Mystara a lot. I love both Warhammer's setting and 40k. Though in 40k's case i prefer it as a backdrop for wargaming rather than RPGs
Realms of Terrinoth's extensive lore was fantastic to read. I wish the setting wasn't only (officially) adapted to the Genesys system.
Deadlands will always be my favorite setting, particularly for all the different flavors it comes in.... From the Wild West, the Wasted West, The Way out West... and it's mini-settings like Noir and Dark Ages.
Pinnacle was never afraid to put in little homages to popular culture and real history either. Hell on Earth was probably my groups "RIFTS" as it was Deadlands in the Post Apocalpyse with a Gonzo Kitchen Sink setting.
Outside of that, Shadowrun pre 4th edition was a lot of fun. The setting kind of lost it's appeal and everything fun about it when it went from 3rd to 4th edition.
Traveller's Third Imperium is pretty high on the list. There's so much going on.
I'm also a Mutant Chronicles fan. I even wrote a GDW House System / MC hybrid.
The GURPS Fantasy world of Yrth has long appealed to me, even if it does wind up being a bit more like a ren-faire theme park than a more realistic fantasy world.
Dark Conspiracy's five minutes into the future dystopia has always appealed to me more than cyberpunk and other more extreme dystopias.
Space 1889 is so much fun it's like pre-steam punk without the excessive silliness of steampunk.
Okay, so maybe, just maybe, I'm a GDW fan.
I love the Shadowrun setting. Which is a bit out of character as I don't usually like mixing magic and modern technology
I have been looking at the Hostile setting book recently - 320 pages of 1980s futurism, it is Alien with the serial numbers filed off. Corporations, starships, colonies, guns, all of that sweet clunky tech and explanations of why it is that way. There is a separate rulebook, which is an OGL version of Traveller.
Dark Sun for Sword & Sorcery, Golarian (1E) for Fantasy, Star Wars for Science Fantasy, and Charted Space (Traveller) for Science Fiction.
Don't laugh (too much), but for me the XXVc setting from TSR (aka Buck Rogers) is a pretty cool setting.
Sure, it's got two major stikes against it:
1.) It was an obvious money grab for the Dille Family Trust by using the Buck Rogers IP.
2.) Flint Dille is the brother of Lorraine Williams - Tiamat herself to a lot TSR fans.
In my opinion, the best spirit of the setting was captured in - of all places - the TSR Comic Modules of the time (which was a dubious venture and could be argued as a sign of things to come). They are gritty and great fun.
The novels aren't bad, either, although I've only read six of ten (and some material in "Arrival", the first novel, contradicts some of the later lore).
The Countdown to Doomsday game (PC, Sega Genesis) is fantastic fun and I've played it all the way through several times on the Genesis. It was the first game to actually make me feel sad (for those who know the game, when the Lowlanders had been attacked and the mom is holding her crying baby).
The actual RPG boxed set is "ok" and the system (a stripped-down AD&D 2nd Edition with percentile skills) is "ok". The supplements are definitely hit or miss, with at least one of them reading as if the author was slightly mentally incapacitated while actively writing it.
Heck, even the Battle in the 25th Century boardgame gets pretty good reviews.
For years I've been compiling a list of systems to run the setting with (the one and only time I ran it, we used d20 Modern) and I'd love to play it again sometime. It has some paradoxical, conflicting info that a GM would need to iron out to make it work ahead of time.
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The Star*Drive setting for TSR's Alternity is pretty cool, too.
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I love the idea of Ravenloft but some of the fantasy elements irk me.
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I love Al Qadim.
Greyhawk - Gygax's, Carl Sargent's and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer versions, not the new bastardised DMG 2024 version.
Harn
Great maps, great setting, great Fan content.
Of published settings; Rifts is probably my favorite (but not Savage Rifts... I know some like it, but it feels nothing like the Rifts I grew up playing... particularly if you lean to spellcasters).
In general though, depending on mood, I prefer;
- a solid urban fantasy (as long as human/part-human is available).
- superheroes (as long as it's not in an established universe like DC or Marvel).
- post-post-apocalyptic science fantasy (i.e. less gonzo Rifts).
I'll second the Hostile setting. Of course, I'm a huge Amber fan. Fringeworthy is another setting that I like.
Among the settings I at least read about:
Planescape 2E
Mystara for BECMI
Rifts
Shadow World
Coriolis
and the OWOD. I know, I know, but I like reading about the setting, not how it was sadly used.
Dunno if Call of Cthulhu can be called "a setting". If so, it is there at the top.
I have a thing for gonzo settings. Rifts I think is awesome. As well The World Of Synnibarr scratching the definite itch.
Quote from: Darrin Kelley on January 20, 2025, 12:02:20 PMI have a thing for gonzo settings. Rifts I think is awesome. As well The World Of Synnibarr scratching the definite itch.
Have you read SenZar iirc its a sinilar kind of Gonzo to Synnibarr. I love rifts setting too but the rules confound me, i only know Synnibar from the Mr. Welch videos but it sounds like a bonkers setting that could be fun if not for the ruleset.
I like the default setting setting of Earthdawn (Barsaive and neighboring Thera), but I'm far less impressed with their Asia expansion.
I like Coriolis.
The setting for Polaris (the post-apocalyptic submarine-punk version) is awesome. The mechanics are shit.
Iron Kingdoms had a great setting, but the RPG mechanics of various sorts never really fit with it.
Quote from: HappyDaze on January 20, 2025, 12:52:53 PMI like the default setting setting of Earthdawn (Barsaive and neighboring Thera), but I'm far less impressed with their Asia expansion.
I like Coriolis.
The setting for Polaris (the post-apocalyptic submarine-punk version) is awesome. The mechanics are shit.
Iron Kingdoms had a great setting, but the RPG mechanics of various sorts never really fit with it.
I used to play the wargame, wish they didnt shoot themselves in the foot. Iirc their 4th edition of the game essentially remade every army and removed every prior miniature, even ones from factions that were still around.
Quote from: Slambo on January 20, 2025, 01:02:22 PMQuote from: HappyDaze on January 20, 2025, 12:52:53 PMI like the default setting setting of Earthdawn (Barsaive and neighboring Thera), but I'm far less impressed with their Asia expansion.
I like Coriolis.
The setting for Polaris (the post-apocalyptic submarine-punk version) is awesome. The mechanics are shit.
Iron Kingdoms had a great setting, but the RPG mechanics of various sorts never really fit with it.
I used to play the wargame, wish they didnt shoot themselves in the foot. Iirc their 4th edition of the game essentially remade every army and removed every prior miniature, even ones from factions that were still around.
I can't say as I ever saw that edition in stores. Was it direct order only?
Quote from: HappyDaze on January 20, 2025, 01:29:25 PMQuote from: Slambo on January 20, 2025, 01:02:22 PMQuote from: HappyDaze on January 20, 2025, 12:52:53 PMI like the default setting setting of Earthdawn (Barsaive and neighboring Thera), but I'm far less impressed with their Asia expansion.
I like Coriolis.
The setting for Polaris (the post-apocalyptic submarine-punk version) is awesome. The mechanics are shit.
Iron Kingdoms had a great setting, but the RPG mechanics of various sorts never really fit with it.
I used to play the wargame, wish they didnt shoot themselves in the foot. Iirc their 4th edition of the game essentially remade every army and removed every prior miniature, even ones from factions that were still around.
I can't say as I ever saw that edition in stores. Was it direct order only?
AFAIK they basically were already flagging so not many stores ordered the Mk4 kits. I haven't seen any in person either, just older kits.
Not exactly an official setting, but easily built in any of a half-dozen generic/superhero systems, that I think would be fun to explore is Dandadan.
An implied global secret conflict involving ghosts, aliens, cryptids, mediums, and psychics seems like just the sort of stuff you could build whole campaigns out of.
World of Greyhawk
Call of Cthulhu Classic era (20s-30s)
Star Wars
Rifts
Land of a Thousand Towers (Anomalous Subsurface Environment, or ASE for short) by Patrick Wetmore. It's like Rifts, but uses the Labyrinth Lord rules. So it's batshit crazy like Rifts, but very rules light.
The setting that would host the Temple of Elemental Evil, Rappan Athuk, the Tomb of Horrors, and Undermountain.
Somehow make all of those existent, in a single huge setting.
Dinosaurs are present, as well as Dragons.
The Kraken and the Tarrasque, are terrible threats, on rare occasions.
Fighters and Rogues are the most common characters, by far. Other classes exist, but they are not the norm. Every settlement of medium or larger size, has Fighters and Rogues present. Better watch your money.
I'll second Earthdawn's core setting as incredibly evocative.
Greyhawk for AD&D, but Palladium as a close second for fantasy.
Rifts and Shadowrun for more modern stuff. Deadlands created some good memories in my college days so honorable mention here.
Classic Greyhawk, RIFTs Earth and RQ 2&3e Glorantha.
BattleTech is a universe I love. It technically counts as it has an RPG.
However, I've never run an RPG campaign in BattleTech.
I would also run a fantasy game set in Warhammer Old World.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 21, 2025, 05:56:15 PMBattleTech is a universe I love. It technically counts as it has an RPG.
However, I've never run an RPG campaign in BattleTech.
I recommend Mechwarrior Destiny if you ever do.
The reason is that MW1, MW2, MW3 and a Time of War basically tried to emulate the experience of being a random pilot in the board game. You could spend an hour building a PC, but that's moment you step into a Mech you default to the board game rules where it's a 1 in 36 chance of instant death from a head hit.
Even if you do survive, you'll often find your Mech too crippled to be a Mechwarrior for long.
Destiny instead built its rules to reflect a PC being the protagonists of the novels with Mech combat similarly adjusted for theatre of the mind (with board game options) and for players to similarly be less prone to the random lethality of the war game.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 21, 2025, 05:56:15 PMBattleTech is a universe I love. It technically counts as it has an RPG.
I have Mechwarrior Destiny on the to-play list.
I also have almost all of the Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles books from Dream Pod 9, but honestly no plans to play their games.
Greybox Forgotten Realms/2e Realms sans any of the novelization stuff. (This includes Al-Qadim, and Kara-Tur).
Marvel/DC - I'm a supers guy to the bone.
Spelljammer - I can't say enough about a setting I hated on release, then fell in love with. Meta-Gonzo glory.
Star Wars - Specifically the Old Republic era.
Talislanta - It scratches some really weird itches. It's like Flash Gordon fantasy. It's high-and-low fantasy smooshed together and anything is possible.
Rifts - strong runner up. The sheer scope of Rifts is like drinking an ocean. It's been hitting my table a lot lately. I don't draw a distinction between SWADE and original Rifts, as I use the original as lore, and SWADE is simply my engine I run everything on. There is nothing in the normal Palladium Rifts that I can't model in SWADE on the fly with relative accuracy.
All the settings I like are cancelled or have been driven into the ground by successive new editions and writer turnover. It's more or less killed my interest in ttrpgs beyond morbid fascination with the sad pathetic state of the industry. Because of dumb copyright law locking ideas for a century or longer, it's illegal for devs to recycle interesting ideas from the past. So the creative output in ttrpgs becomes progressively worse over time as the good ideas are taken, discarded and locked behind copyright jail. That's why the supermajority of the games/settings worth naming predate Web 2.0.
Of published RPG settings, Warhammer's Old World is the one I spend the most time intaking information about. After that, the Cthulhu Mythos is fascinating, especially if you apply the syncretic approach and read it as if Lovecraft, CAS, Howard, and the others were genuinely all writing in the same timeline. I have a particular love for HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands and will someday use it as a setting for an RPG campaign.
I used to be a huge Dark Souls/Bloodborne lore enthusiast. Still like it, but those four games have been pretty much tapped out for lore and I didn't find Elden Ring as interesting. And of course I love Middle Earth, but I think of it much more as a literary setting than a gaming one.
More recently, the fictional worlds that have really hooked and burrowed into my mind are the ones with the least information about them. The Dying Earth and the unnamed setting of Brian McNaughton's Throne of Bones are fascinating to me precisely because the books just give you a tiny glimpse into them. Same with video games like Skald: Against the Black Priory or Darkest Dungeon.
I usually prefer homebrew, but I like all of these:
- Hyperborea (The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea setting.)
- Monster Island (RQ6/Mythras setting)
- Aerth (Dangerous Journeys: Mythus setting) (I also tend to like "historical earth with fantasy elements" settings, in general.)
- Delta Green spin on modern Cthulhu mythos
- The Morrow Project post-war North America
Honorable mentions:
- I.C.E. Middle Earth - great world maps. Good campaign area source books.
- '81 or '83 World of Greyhawk - great world map, great overview without getting into too much detail.
- Wilderlands - great maps, including smaller scale making them very usable in game. Sometimes too much gonzo or high-level NPCs for my taste, though.
Shadowrun's Sixth World.
The MCU.
Conan's Hyborian Age
Alpha Complex
In no particular order:
Middle Earth (no explanation needed really) from TOR 2e
The Young Kingdoms
Greyhawk (up to 3e)
Hostile (for sci-fi)
Coriolis (have not read the new edition, but loved the original)
Hyperborea (for a S&S game)
Quote from: tenbones on January 23, 2025, 10:38:50 AMGreybox Forgotten Realms/2e Realms sans any of the novelization stuff. (This includes Al-Qadim, and Kara-Tur).
<snip>
I definitely see the merit in that. I remember suggesting using just the FR box set setting info for a campaign once and was almost laughed at.
I'm not a Dark Sun historian by any means, but didn't TSR nose-dive that beloved setting over the course of 5 years by basically writing a series of novels that made previous material moot - and then wrote RPG material to cover that, as if folks wanted to play the novels out (which I never had ANY interest in for FR or Dragonlance, either)? Bless those that want to keep up with that lore, but I can make my own up.
As a huge Ravenloft fan, I ignored the White Wolf 3e stuff because I could make up my own and to me it had just the same validity as that made up by fans who happened to have a license to use the material.
I'm also with you about Spelljammer. I actually hate the idea and love the setting at the same time!
There is something I want to ask.
Do people publish setting books that are system agnostic?
A book about a world, kingdoms, empires, wild lands, mountains, seas, cities, heroes, but nothing about game specific rules and stats because it's meant only as a world book?
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 24, 2025, 03:15:44 PMThere is something I want to ask.
Do people publish setting books that are system agnostic?
A book about a world, kingdoms, empires, wild lands, mountains, seas, cities, heroes, but nothing about game specific rules and stats because it's meant only as a world book?
I don't think I've ever seen one, at least not one being marketed as a game product, and probably never one for an original setting. You get books like that for fictional settings outside of gaming. I have one for Discworld, and I've seen them for Narnia. I'm sure they exist for Middle-Earth, Westeros, etc. too, anything sufficiently famous.
I imagine the commercial logic in game circles is that if the customer has the option of a book with rules in it and a book with no rules, they might as well buy the former even if they don't intend to use the game rules.
It's a pity because I'd buy such a thing if it was interesting and well presented. I've thought about trying to write one, but but there doesn't seem to be a market for it.
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament on January 23, 2025, 06:58:46 PMI usually prefer homebrew, but I like all of these:
- Hyperborea (The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea setting.)
- Monster Island (RQ6/Mythras setting)
- Aerth (Dangerous Journeys: Mythus setting) (I also tend to like "historical earth with fantasy elements" settings, in general.)
- Delta Green spin on modern Cthulhu mythos
- The Morrow Project post-war North America
Honorable mentions:
- I.C.E. Middle Earth - great world maps. Good campaign area source books.
- '81 or '83 World of Greyhawk - great world map, great overview without getting into too much detail.
- Wilderlands - great maps, including smaller scale making them very usable in game. Sometimes too much gonzo or high-level NPCs for my taste, though.
I didn't realize there was a published, "Monster Island"? I've used that name at the table, before. Hmm.....
Hyperborea, Midnight, Greyhawk, Fr 1E.
Quote from: FASAfan on January 24, 2025, 11:25:38 AMI'm not a Dark Sun historian by any means, but didn't TSR nose-dive that beloved setting over the course of 5 years by basically writing a series of novels that made previous material moot - and then wrote RPG material to cover that, as if folks wanted to play the novels out (which I never had ANY interest in for FR or Dragonlance, either)? Bless those that want to keep up with that lore, but I can make my own up.
Yep.
https://darksun.fandom.com/wiki/Prism_Pentad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Sun_Campaign_Setting,_Expanded_and_Revised
I disregard all of the novels and revised stuff. WOTC was smart when they made the 4th edition version of Dark Sun by resetting the timeline to just after the death of King Kalak. (An event that happens right after the launch of the original line.)
I'm on the fence about novels and meta story. Dragonlance was very sucessful for TSR. And a series of novels gives a kind of template for the feel and tone of a setting. But like in Dark Sun, they can go off-road and start "solving" the setting, an activity that should be done with care, as in the case of Dark Sun changing too much and losing a lot of it's charm.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 24, 2025, 03:15:44 PMThere is something I want to ask.
Do people publish setting books that are system agnostic?
A book about a world, kingdoms, empires, wild lands, mountains, seas, cities, heroes, but nothing about game specific rules and stats because it's meant only as a world book?
There have been a few. One I've seen mentioned over the years is Uresia, though I haven't read it. The Keranak Kingdoms book for Barebones Fantasy is also completely system agnostic and would work well for someone who wants a high fantasy setting done in broad strokes. I'd actually planned to run a Savage Worlds game in the Keranak Kingdoms some years ago but we ended up playing something else.
I'd forgotten about Monster Island - definitely one of the best books in the Mythras range.
I thought about writing a Star Wars knockoff setting for Mini-Six Bare Bones.
It would be my own take on a Star Wars style Universe. For example there would be multiple factions, probably four major ones, each with a differing view about the morals of cloning. Star Paladins would hate it because the can feel emotions.
In addition I would put in a few rules for how the Force Powers works.
In the home brew department, I wouldn't mind something Mass Effect themed. I've seen a few home brews and I've had a lot of fun playing Once More into the Void (very inspired by ME2.)
I like the ones in Index Card RPG, of course.
They are rather simple, but do have a fair amount of flavor, enough to spark your own ideas.
In the Master Edition book there are:
Alfiem - fantasy, havent actually played this yet because,
Warp Shell - scifi, nice worlds, several factions, interesting depth of tech. played one, prepping another.
Ghost Mountain - wierd west, meets Supernatural, i am prepping an adventure for this one.
Vigilante City - superheroes, looks fun, havent played one yet.
Blood and Snow - early humans, survival. this one seems the weakest to me in terms of background and imagination, it just seems rather bleak and pointless.
For home brew I am trying to 'port' Gamma World to ICRPG system. Lots to do here.
Quote from: FASAfan on January 24, 2025, 11:25:38 AMI definitely see the merit in that. I remember suggesting using just the FR box set setting info for a campaign once and was almost laughed at.
What's to laugh at? The Greybox Realms for 1e is a magnificent piece of design. It can stand and bang with any setting ever released on its own merit, and is easily to convert to other systems if you have the time. Greybox Realms and Greyhawk remain the highest standard of DnD settings by design. /shrug
Quote from: FASAfan on January 24, 2025, 11:25:38 AMI'm not a Dark Sun historian by any means, but didn't TSR nose-dive that beloved setting over the course of 5 years by basically writing a series of novels that made previous material moot - and then wrote RPG material to cover that, as if folks wanted to play the novels out (which I never had ANY interest in for FR or Dragonlance, either)? Bless those that want to keep up with that lore, but I can make my own up.
TSR nosedived themselves and all their settings, heh. But yeah, just take the boxset and run! Everything else is unnecessary.
Quote from: FASAfan on January 24, 2025, 11:25:38 AMI'm also with you about Spelljammer. I actually hate the idea and love the setting at the same time!
I bought Spelljammer sight unseen when it dropped. When I cracked it open I was like "WTF is this Baron Munchausen shit?" I was really disappointed. It wasn't until I sent to convention like a year later, when I got roped into playtesting an adventure for TSR at like 2AM in the morning, unbeknownst to me with their staff. I had the privilege of being GMed by none other than the Sage, Skip Williams, himself and he single-handedly made me a super-fan of Spelljammer.
Dude was the best GM I've ever played with. I learned more about how far I could go as a GM from that weekend with him, than the previous 15+ years. Spelljammer RULES.
I recently just finished the book "The Discarded Image" By C.S Lewis, one of the few things of his I had not read yet (besides his fiction which I'm not a big fan of compared to his non-fiction, which is often the reverse for me with many authors)
But the book covered the medieval mindset, and it's corresponding cosmology and literature, it has further emboldened my enjoyment of Ars Magica's Mythic Europe as a game setting, while it takes some liberties, those liberties are almost always in service to making it playable. The contrast of historical interlaced with an older cosmological framework being treated as true is quite refreshing and grounds the setting as being quite plausible under the assumption we are accepting the premises of the people of that time period.
Early World Of Darkness basically everything before revised and some of the revised edition lore I found very interesting, even if I didn't much care for the specific details or handling of it. the overall cosmology and making connections across the game books felt like a game in and of itself, which was good because the storyteller system itself is dookie and I could never get a game off the ground using it.
Mystara hands down the best "generic" D&D setting, at least it's the one that extrapolates the game mechanics and lore and creates the best verisimilitude, as the transition from low level, domain level, and Immortal level play is the most seamless of all the game settings.
Though as a counterpoint it suffers one of the problems White Wolf games, which is the setting is so fleshed out it leaves little room to include your own stuff unless your willing to ignore things, one of the reasons I'd rather run my own world inspired by Mystara as opposed to playing directly in it.
Warhammer Fantasy / The Old World (please, don't even mention Age of Sigmarines...)
Middle Earth (these days through TOR2)
Warhammer 40k (mostly in a deep setting like Imperium Maledictum or Rogue Trader, rather than W&G though)
Conan's Hyborian Age (mostly through the soon to be released Monolith TTRPG)
Trudvang (you asked about the setting, not the system, though I like it too)
I think I could easily appreciate Golarion from what I saw in the video game Pathfinder Kingmaker. I could be interested in Forbidden Lands too, still have to fully go through the PDFs. I also think I could appreciate Solomon Kane or any "van Helsing"-like setting (I know Lex Occultum, and I like it). I'm a bit ashamed but I only discovered recently it was possible to buy a print-on-demand Rules Cyclopedia on DTRPG, so Mystara may join my list in the future.
But my forever main and most played/GMed is definitly Warhammer Fantasy / The Old World.
I've enjoyed Doskvol (from Blades in the Dark) enough to port it to D&D for a Doskvol: Dragon Heist remix and it worked pretty well. I really can't stand Forgotten Realms and, although Golarion seemed sparkly and new when I first started looking at Pathfinder (mostly because I'd tired of D&D and I had some players willing to try it), the more I look at it the more kitchen sink and overcrafted it is.
I find I prefer smaller, expandable settings. Just started looking at some of the Free League properties and am liking those for that very reason.
Quote from: Shteve on January 27, 2025, 03:15:48 PMI've enjoyed Doskvol (from Blades in the Dark) enough to port it to D&D for a Doskvol: Dragon Heist remix and it worked pretty well. I really can't stand Forgotten Realms and, although Golarion seemed sparkly and new when I first started looking at Pathfinder (mostly because I'd tired of D&D and I had some players willing to try it), the more I look at it the more kitchen sink and overcrafted it is.
I find I prefer smaller, expandable settings. Just started looking at some of the Free League properties and am liking those for that very reason.
Thank you for your feedback. Any thoughts about Symbaroum?
Symbaroum looks cool - I've been doing the 2025 Character Creation Challenge this month (entries on my blog (http://gypsywagon.com)) and did Symbaroum on Day 7. I like what I read of it, but have only really scratched the surface. I've only just found a handful of local players that are willing to try non-D&D game - our first session is tomorrow - and I have Symbaroum on the list to experiment with, though I think we'll start with Dragonbane.