Favourite or Best Original RPG Fantasy Setting?

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Best or Favourite Original Fantasy Setting

  • Total voters
    69
Edgewise said:
I'm squinting really hard and I still don't see it. I've never heard this before and I'd be curious to hear the reasoning.
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It's not something I'd argue for myself, but I'd guess the basic idea is that this is a setting with humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and goblins/orcs, and the non-humans are treated as 'races' rather than some sort of fairy or supernatural creatures. All that comes out of Tolkien, but after D&D it had become so ubiquitous in RPGs that it's not a very firm connection. Certainly the political setup and basic metaphysics of the Old World are little or nothing like Middle Earth.
 
The poll part feels kind of useless cause there is no option for Other that doesn't have a stipulation on it (OSR/WotC/TSR).

Settings that I'm fond of that wouldn't fit any of the poll options:

Golarion (Pathfinder)
The Ninth World (Numenera)
Doskvol (Blades in the Dark)
Rokugan (Legend of the Five Rings (though technically this was a card game first I suppose))

Of ones that do fit on the poll, probably something like Spelljammer, Eberron, or Dark Sun.
 
Of the choices offered, I'd pick Harn (for detail), then Symbaorum (for flavor/themes), but my real (unavailable on the poll) answer would be good homebrew settings by creative GMs, and/or Cidri (TFT's flavor for homebrew settings).
 
Yeah, if we’re not including more urban fantasy or similar type settings (and based on the poll options, that seems to be the case), then I think I’d have to go with Dark Sun.

It was a definitive setting for me as it was one of the first I came across that actively eschewed a lot of the Tolkienesque elements that had become staples of fantasy.

I wish they’d been allowed to go the route they wanted and just ditch the elves and dwarves entirely, but even with them, it’s a really evocative and different setting that is just chockfull of conflict.
 
EmperorNorton said:
The poll part feels kind of useless cause there is no option for Other that doesn't have a stipulation on it (OSR/WotC/TSR).

Settings that I'm fond of that wouldn't fit any of the poll options:

Golarion (Pathfinder)
The Ninth World (Numenera)
Doskvol (Blades in the Dark)
Rokugan (Legend of the Five Rings (though technically this was a card game first I suppose))

Of ones that do fit on the poll, probably something like Spelljammer, Eberron, or Dark Sun.
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I tried to add Other but seemed to have maxed out the choices and couldn't edit it after posting. I did say in the OP to post below if it wasn't on the listl! I realized that I was inevitably gonna leave something off that would piss someone off, lol.

To me the real value of the poll is just to prompt the discussion.
 
Voros said:
I tried to add Other but seemed to have maxed out the choices and couldn't edit it after posting. I did say in the OP to post below if it wasn't on the listl! I realized that I was inevitably gonna leave something off that would piss someone off, lol.

To me the real value of the poll is just to prompt the discussion.
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...and clearly demonstrate your goose-overlords' favorite settings, admit it!
 
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Rated Aargh said:
If nothing else, this thread has taught me that Tékumel was a roleplaying setting first. I honestly thought it was the other way around.
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Actually, the OP notes that it's the other way around, but he is giving it a pass because "it got popular due to the RPG".
 
AsenRG said:
Actually, the OP notes that it's the other way around, but he is giving it a pass because "it got popular due to the RPG".
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I should have phrased that better and said that I thought the books came first. Some of the "actually" folks should alter the Wikipedia article because it makes no note of fanzine publications that some here are referring to as publications predating the game.
 
There are so many cool settings, but these would be my favorites:
- Glorantha (my vote was RQ). I've grown tired of the setting scholarship, but when it is tuned to gaming it is brilliant.
- Exalted's Creation. I like to go light on the anime influence and turn up the ancient world/homeric epics side of the setting.
- Symbaroum. Both the campaign and the system can be a bit ham-fisted at times, but the setting is soooo good.
- Talislanta (and especially The Midnight Realm). Exotic sword and sorcery.
- Spire. I'm so impressed by the creativity of this setting that I'm a bit intimidated by it. I don't feel cool or smart enough to actuall run this game.
 
I voted for Earthdawn because I remember when it came out how it made all those DnD elements make sense.
Really my favourite fantasy game is Houses of the Blooded (but that wasn't in the list) and they share the same approach in taking what be considered DnD standbys but providing context and rationale to it.
Why are there massive underground complexes full of treasure and monsters? (Abandoned Caern / Sorceror King Experiment) Why is Adventurer a viable career option?
 
Stumpydave said:
I voted for Earthdawn because I remember when it came out how it made all those DnD elements make sense.
Really my favourite fantasy game is Houses of the Blooded (but that wasn't in the list) and they share the same approach in taking what be considered DnD standbys but providing context and rationale to it.
Why are there massive underground complexes full of treasure and monsters? (Abandoned Caern / Sorceror King Experiment) Why is Adventurer a viable career option?
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Houses of the Blooded is fucking awesome.
 
I know, but everytime I've tried to run it my players have retreated from the system like vampires from a crucifix.

Doesn't matter if it's HotB, or one of it's derivatives, or Wushu. Give them control of the narrative and they wilt like slugs hit with salt.
 
Stumpydave said:
I know, but everytime I've tried to run it my players have retreated from the system like vampires from a crucifix.

Doesn't matter if it's HotB, or one of it's derivatives, or Wushu. Give them control of the narrative and they wilt like slugs hit with salt.
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...so maybe, run the setting with a system that doesn't do that:thumbsup:?
 
AsenRG said:
...so maybe, run the setting with a system that doesn't do that:thumbsup:?
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No, it's the players, but not entirely in a bad way. HotB is really far on the Storygame side of the design spectrum and it can be a lot to process for gamers used to more traditional games. It takes some willingness to try something new. Obviously it won't end up being for everyone, but I suspect more people would like it than think they would given a try.
 
Fenris-77 said:
No, it's the players, but not entirely in a bad way. HotB is really far on the Storygame side of the design spectrum and it can be a lot to process for gamers used to more traditional games. It takes some willingness to try something new. Obviously it won't end up being for everyone, but I suspect more people would like it than think they would given a try.
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I know, I've read and liked HotB. The only part I didn't like was the system...:gooseshades:
 
Kardinal Tabbe said:
- Spire. I'm so impressed by the creativity of this setting that I'm a bit intimidated by it. I don't feel cool or smart enough to actuall run this game.
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It's a great example of taking familiar concepts and presenting them in a new way that becomes something new and original. It was among the first settings that popped into my mind when I saw this thread, but I felt it deviates too much from what we consider standard fantasy to really qualify. But really, that's kind of its point.
 
EmperorNorton said:
The poll part feels kind of useless cause there is no option for Other that doesn't have a stipulation on it (OSR/WotC/TSR).

Settings that I'm fond of that wouldn't fit any of the poll options:

Golarion (Pathfinder)
The Ninth World (Numenera)
Doskvol (Blades in the Dark)
Rokugan (Legend of the Five Rings (though technically this was a card game first I suppose))

Of ones that do fit on the poll, probably something like Spelljammer, Eberron, or Dark Sun.
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Yeah, I didn't vote for that reason.
 
If I were to choose a second to Exalted’s Creation, it would be Vimary for Tribe 8. It’s a very original setting concept which is beautifully presented. Given its size, the level of detail is high and combined with the first person style writing, it really comes alive.
 
I voted for Earthdawn, which I do like. However, here are my other choices, since picking one is damn near impossible:

Dragonlance. It might be nostalgia, but I love the lore of the Chronicles-era world of Krynn. Wizards of High Sorcery. Knights of Solamnia. The lost and returning Gods. Draconians. The three elf nations. The many dwarf clans. Kender. Now I want to bust out C&C and write up a conversion.

Arcana Evolved. Cool new races. Evocative classes. A world just freed from domination by the Dramojh. The return of the dragons. Humans not the dominant culture. My dream would be AE converted from 3e D&D to 13th Age. There's about a .00532% chance of that happening, though.
 
Rated Aargh said:
I should have phrased that better and said that I thought the books came first. Some of the "actually" folks should alter the Wikipedia article because it makes no note of fanzine publications that some here are referring to as publications predating the game.
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If you're interested, you can find the earliest surviving story set in Tekumel, titled "The Petal Throne" at Tekumel.com. It apparently dates to c. 1947-50.
 
Lofgeornost said:
If you're interested, you can find the earliest surviving story set in Tekumel, titled "The Petal Throne" at Tekumel.com. It apparently dates to c. 1947-50.
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Did Tekumel ever had a decently playable edition? For all the praise it gets it seems the original OD&D box was significantly arcane and hard to parse.

From the little I've read, it seems as original and ingenious as Glorantha. I'd love to see a modern take on it.
 
Zimzerveran said:
Arcana Evolved. Cool new races. Evocative classes. A world just freed from domination by the Dramojh. The return of the dragons. Humans not the dominant culture. My dream would be AE converted from 3e D&D to 13th Age. There's about a .00532% chance of that happening, though.
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Yes, another interesting setting. I have in the back of my mind to figure out how to run it with OD&D or AD&D or some such, something without feats and all that stuff from D&D 3.x.

Enough stuff to run AE again is what I have kept from my AU/AE 3.x days.
 
Lessa said:
Did Tekumel ever had a decently playable edition? For all the praise it gets it seems the original OD&D box was significantly arcane and hard to parse.

From the little I've read, it seems as original and ingenious as Glorantha. I'd love to see a modern take on it.
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Plenty of people played and still play Empire of the Petal Throne so I'd say yes. There are also newer game systems.
 
I never understood how to play in the Empire of the Petal Throne. It's one of those settings where I'm going, "okay. cool. it's full of lots of really weird ideas. i have no idea how I'd play a game here. What do you actually do in it?" Thinking about it, it elicits about the same reaction from me that I always struggled with when I read Gurps Transhuman Space.
 
Savage Schemer Savage Schemer , yeah, that's my view about it too. And the THS example is spot on. Lots of settings in the 80s and 90s were like that. Great settings, but not so easily acessible as "gaming vehicles", if you know what I mean.
 
Savage Schemer said:
I never understood how to play in the Empire of the Petal Throne. It's one of those settings where I'm going, "okay. cool. it's full of lots of really weird ideas. i have no idea how I'd play a game here. What do you actually do in it?" Thinking about it, it elicits about the same reaction from me that I always struggled with when I read Gurps Transhuman Space.
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Yea, I can't grok Tekumel either. But folks definitely have run EPT with success. One of my early gaming friends was deep into it, though I never played in his game. James Maliszewski has a long running EPT game for sure.
 
Lessa said:
Did Tekumel ever had a decently playable edition? For all the praise it gets it seems the original OD&D box was significantly arcane and hard to parse.

From the little I've read, it seems as original and ingenious as Glorantha. I'd love to see a modern take on it.
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ffilz said:
Plenty of people played and still play Empire of the Petal Throne so I'd say yes. There are also newer game systems.
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Savage Schemer said:
I never understood how to play in the Empire of the Petal Throne. It's one of those settings where I'm going, "okay. cool. it's full of lots of really weird ideas. i have no idea how I'd play a game here. What do you actually do in it?" Thinking about it, it elicits about the same reaction from me that I always struggled with when I read Gurps Transhuman Space.
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I played a decent amount of E.P.T. back in the 1970s and have acquired some of the various reworkings since, though I haven't found a group interested in it in a long time and now despair of doing so. That original game is one of the more approachable takes on the setting, I think, because it leans into things that many players will find accessible (dungeon-crawls and wilderness adventures) rather than focusing on the Byzantine intricacy of Tsolyani culture. E.P.T. is closer to the pulp inspiration for some elements of the setting than, say, the G.o.O. Tri-Stat version of the early 2000s was.

AFAIK, the most recent 'official' set of rules for Tekumel is Bethorm, by Jeff Dee and Barker. There have been a lot of unofficial adaptations for popular systems over the years. Sandy Petersen did a Runequest version and Brett Slocum one for GURPS, and there are a number of D&D adaptations, one for FUDGE, etc. You can find them, or links to them at the unofficial rules page at Tekumel.com. Brett Slocum also at one point was working on The Heroic Age of Tekumel, a kind of retroclonish modernization of E.P.T. It never got beyond the Quickstart version, but that gives you character generation and the magic rules; you could hack it together with the original E.P.T. into a viable game. Brett also produced The Petal Hack, a simple Tekumel game based on The Black Hack. Both The Heroic Age of Tekumel and The Petal Hack are free.
 
Zimzerveran said:
Dragonlance. It might be nostalgia, but I love the lore of the Chronicles-era world of Krynn. Wizards of High Sorcery. Knights of Solamnia. The lost and returning Gods. Draconians. The three elf nations. The many dwarf clans. Kender. Now I want to bust out C&C and write up a conversion.
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I've always had a soft spot for Dragonlance, but my favorite version is 5th age. A post apocalyptic setting where all the tropes from the novels are present, but now the player heroes are the movers and shakers. Recover dragonlances to fight the dragon lords? You can do that! Reform the Knights of Solamnia and bring the order to power again? You can do that! Find the Hammer of Kharas and unite the dwarves? You can do that! (and this is what my character did), Save the elven nations from powerful magic? You can do that!

The brilliant thing about 5th age is that it is still Dragonlance but now it is primarily a rpg setting, and not a setting for books
 
Lessa said:
Did Tekumel ever had a decently playable edition? For all the praise it gets it seems the original OD&D box was significantly arcane and hard to parse.

From the little I've read, it seems as original and ingenious as Glorantha. I'd love to see a modern take on it.
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You have Guardians of Order's tristat Tekumel

Tékumel :: The World of the Petal Throne

Tékumel: The World of the Petal Throne.
www.tekumel.com

I've never played it but my impression from reading it is that it would run ok.
 
Savage Schemer said:
I never understood how to play in the Empire of the Petal Throne. It's one of those settings where I'm going, "okay. cool. it's full of lots of really weird ideas. i have no idea how I'd play a game here. What do you actually do in it?" Thinking about it, it elicits about the same reaction from me that I always struggled with when I read Gurps Transhuman Space.
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I had a similar reaction with Mage: The Awakening. Cool setting, no idea what to do with it.
 
Lessa said:
Did Tekumel ever had a decently playable edition? For all the praise it gets it seems the original OD&D box was significantly arcane and hard to parse.

From the little I've read, it seems as original and ingenious as Glorantha. I'd love to see a modern take on it.
Click to expand...
The Petal Hack manages to boil it down to 92 pages, it's pretty good and it's free.
 
Kardinal Tabbe said:
You have Guardians of Order's tristat Tekumel

Tékumel :: The World of the Petal Throne

Tékumel: The World of the Petal Throne.
www.tekumel.com

I've never played it but my impression from reading it is that it would run ok.
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It was a rushed product with a lot of problems, like missing spells. It also assumed PCs would be Tsolyani and a part of their intricate social system, whereas the original products assumed you were barbarians showing up at port looking for work; the latter is more conducive to easing players into such a unique setting, as well as dodging the incredibly static social conventions of the locals.

I sold my copy a long time ago. It was too thorough and intricate to call a cash grab, but it was not a solidly produced product.
 
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