Mine would be swashbuckling steampunk Firefly in a dark faerie Planescape (Seelie/Unseelie replacing the Blood War/War of Independents). Quests would be personal (like Azure Bonds) instead of Save The World.
I really like the 'anything and everything' world style of Golarion. (including all the planes and other planets).
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A mix of darksun and steampunk.... sort of medieval shadowrun where magic is rare, but supernatural evil is not.
I liked the idea so much that I made the setting, with all of its own new classes and concepts.
I called it Omega, a massive dystopian metropolis, its people segregated and subjugated. Omega survived the great mages war by creating a giant impervious dome to surround the city, powered by a collosal blood red crystaline monolith made of Cinderstone. The stone is kept in a section of the city know as the steamworks, where no human may tread. Each night, the billows of steam trapped at the top of the Dome rain down a sulfurous precipitation. Omega is a city of sweat and hardship.
Cinderstone is a gem-like crystal that multiplies heat and has very strage properties, and the mine that produces it lies at the center of the City. When heated in a fire, cinderstone becomes like a hot coal and it keeps its heat for days, even if doused. For this reason, steampower and clockwork mechanisms have been greatly advanced. Mechanized guards and surveilance bots roam the city keeping an impersonal and cold justice.
And there are no spellcasters... no clerics... no sorcerers. The city is cut off, and all children must pass... the trial. Martial law prevails. The city is fed by farms which surround the city, but the population grows and the food supply diminishes. Less and less jobs are available as the machines take over more and more essential services. The wealthy, who own and operate these walking factories, get wealthier and the poor get poorer. Omega is at a breaking point, and so the players begin. Downtrodden and hopeless until they join with a group of outlaws that believe that they can change things... through crime.
Will you be
A Pugilist? Trained in the bloodsports that amuse the aristocracy.
A Mechanic? A clockwork technician that has learned the secrets of steam and cinder.
A Mastermind? The planner, group leader, doctor, mad bomber and tactitian.
A Chem Brute? A drug addled hulk, both enhanced and beholden to the city's most dangerous drug, mist.
Pugilist replaces Monk, with better durability and a bevy of dirty fighting maneuvers and a challenge ability.
Mechanic replaces ranger, with advanced gadgets instead of spells, a clockwork robot instead of an animal companion, a personalized gadget weapon instead of combat style and advanced engineering/structural knowledge rules instead of favored terrain.
Mastermind is a bit like an alchemist. They also get a healer ability that is much like Lay on Hands with poultices, they can also make a panacea that cures like mercies. They get bombs, and they get advice abilities similar to a bard.
Chem Brute may be my favorite. They are the Barb replacement, and their strength/con bonuses are inherent rather than rage activated. They are addicted to Mist, and they get side effects sort of like an oracle (penalty plus tradeoff) so they might have paranoid delusions or hallucinations or go absolutely berserk in combat. They need to keepa steady supply of mist, and instead of rage powers, they can use other drugs to get all sorts of weird benefits,
EG:
Absinthe
Type: Ingested
Toxicity: 2
Base Duration: 1 round
Lesser Effect: The Mist Brute gains a +1 morale bonus on saving throws.
Enhanced Effect: The Mist Brute’s morale bonus on saving throws increases to +2.
Special: If the Mist Brute has the Hallucinations Side-Effect path, he gains one additional daily usage of his Guidance ability. Any additional uses of this ability that are not used are lost at the end of the day.
Shiver
Type: Injected
Toxicity: 2
Base Duration: 1 hour
Lesser Effect: The Mist Brute gains immunity to fear and fear based effects.
Enhanced Effect: While under the effects of Shiver, the Mist Brute can roll three times and pick the highest result for initiative checks.
Probably a setting akin to The Three Musketeers. If Taldor got a rewrite as a part of a full Campaign Setting treatment, there is potential within Golarion for that sort of setting.
-Matt
Mine would be like a Lovecraftian steampunk Planescape, with a soundtrack by Dragonforce.
A heavily cosmic-based magical setting.
All of the PCs aren't lower-level people, but instead all are incredibly strong and interplanar adventures abound.
Basically something with the material plane being too small for their adventures.
I have been, and always will be, a Ravenloft fan. It's all I need, and honestly the reason I got into PnP RPGs to begin with.
But, if we're trying to make our own fancy-pants place, I've always loved the nothing but Underdark setting. Where every corner could be home to a poisonous mold colony, and finding a way to get all the various races to work together to stop an encroaching force being the driving story motivator.
I'd love to see a post apocalyptic setting where the modern world has been overrun by D&D monsters. I've been thinking of running a campaign with this theme for a while (ever since reading d20 apocalypse), but there's a lot of questions that need to be answered and rules issues that need to be ironed out.
Dot.
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I'm happy with medieval high fantasy with occasional huge shifts in tone due to weird planar/time travel.
Probably a setting akin to The Three Musketeers. If Taldor got a rewrite as a part of a full Campaign Setting treatment, there is potential within Golarion for that sort of setting.
-Matt
There has recently been a roleplaying game that has come out in that setting. Unfortunately for most of the people here, it's in french. Here's the link if anybody is interested:
http://sans-detour.com/index.php/Jeux-de-Role/Les-Lames-du-Cardinal/Voir-to us-les-produits.html
Otherwise, I'm fine with most settings. "traditional fantasy" (god that sounds wrong) is becoming very archetypal.
Edit: I would however avoid many of the "needlessly gritty" kind of setings. Yes, I know that "in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war" and I'M GETTING SICK OF IT. Ahem. Sorry for the outburst.
Since Eberron was already made, I'll say something that further explores the implications of a world full of magic and strangeness with people looking for advances more than status quo.
Also, damn you Sans Detour for being the prettiest game company and not being in English. Why can't they just make all the game books and such.
I'd love to see a post apocalyptic setting where the modern world has been overrun by D&D monsters. I've been thinking of running a campaign with this theme for a while (ever since reading d20 apocalypse), but there's a lot of questions that need to be answered and rules issues that need to be ironed out.
I'd like to see some form of "Fantasy War" game with D&D monsters etc invading the modern world and how both get changed by it.
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My home cs is a high magic, heavily pious world plagued by ancient racial divides, imperial elves, space mages, and Greek style titans. Magitech is present, but not over abundant, steampunk is pretty well out. Primal forces are still around, and devils and demons openly fight on world for the souls of the damned.
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One thing I have always wanted to do was an evolving setting. I would start with a more primitive world that had adventures like Conan. Classes would be limited to natural type classes like druid, barb, sorc, oracle. The players would end the campaign and the world would expand and more classes would be available. The cycle would continue upgrading with each campaign, eventually getting into steampunk or Eberron style. The deeds and achievements of past campaigns would provide a history for the current campaign.
Alas my players don't care enough and all I end up doing is wasting a lot of time and effort :(
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They already made mine. It's called Eberron.
A dragon overlord campaign with lots of dinosaurs and lizardfolk and their ilk would be fun too. Stone Age/Early Bronze age technology.
Norse-Asian Bronze Age E10 with huge unexplored forests dotted by small tribal villages of elves, lizardfolk, and gnomes and some more recent settlements of humans. With a big focus on nature spirits and ancient ruins left behind by fey races, as well as naga ruling powerful domains in the jungles in the south and ambitious spellcasters working with demonic spirits from the Void to gain access to their unique magical powers. PCs are usually part of the elite of one of the numerous clans rather than wandering mercenaries, and their tasks are the protection of their clans from monsters or bandits comming from the wilderness, and to root out any warlocks or cultists of monsters from the underworld within their midst.
It's comming along just fine and I am already planning to run an actual campaign in it.
I would likely go with a branch off of DragonStar.
Possibly before the accord, with the "good" races being lead by the Metallic Dragons and the evil races by the Chromatic Dragons. More "neutral" races, like humans would be caught in the middle.
A pulpy points-of-light setting, with enough islands/continents/regions to cram in Beowulf, Zothique, Iron-age Celts, Mongols, Attila the Hun, Bon-Po Sorcerors, Weird Ziggurats, Hyperborea, and some new religious state with imperial ambition that hates magic (both divine and arcane).
I drew the map but that's as far as I got :(
To many to mention. But my next thing will be with a touch of steampunk and lots of different races in a world similar to what ancient greece and the persian empier might have been like later, if no Alex had turned everything up side down:)
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Frankly, I miss the "Middle Ages" premise of early D&D.
I'd like a rock-solid setting with kings and knights, the occasional court or village wizard, and a whole heap of the unknown both within your own borders and in vague realms off the map.
Magic: the Gathering's multiverse. multiple settings connected by the activity of extraplanar beings.
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I'm partial to something along the lines of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, basically a medieval eastern European style area with feudalism, a mixed population, superstition, a lot of dark wilderness, corrupt nobility, conflicting religions, etc. Toss in some Ravenloft style gothic horror with vampires, ghosts and werewolves. Layer in some ruins of a fallen empire and possibly lost civilization.
I don't think for me there is a lack of setting out there. Basically I just need to take the time to combine things I already own, put a spin on them and go.
Magic: the Gathering's multiverse. multiple settings connected by the activity of extraplanar beings.
Oh I'd LOVE this
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A middle ground between Pathfinder and Lord of the Rings. If only I could fathom out how to do it.
Frankly, I miss the "Middle Ages" premise of early D&D.
I'd like a rock-solid setting with kings and knights, the occasional court or village wizard, and a whole heap of the unknown both within your own borders and in vague realms off the map.
Same here. I think that is part of my problem with modern fantasy RPGs. The idea of a faux-medieval world has been lost in trying to bring the setting up to the level of the rules system.
One where it doesn't end prematurely because of:
The inevitable infighting of player "characters".
The attempts of one of the players to derail the plot/frustrate the gm with base contrary-ness.
The two-episode-because-I've-gotten-bored-with-it GM.
The planned for a month game session that fails because of last minute "previous obligations".
I'd also like to see an alternative-history "Steamgoth" campaign where the Visigoths took over the Roman Empire instead of ending it.
A world with as many different themes as can believably work together, segregated by country borders so it isn't just one big mish-mash. Enough so that different games can be set in the same world for overall continuity and yet still have their own unique feel to them.
The old D&D "Known World" Mystara setting worked great for me. Golarion is working out just as well as that.
A middle ground between Pathfinder and Lord of the Rings. If only I could fathom out how to do it.
Same here. I think that is part of my problem with modern fantasy RPGs. The idea of a faux-medieval world has been lost in trying to bring the setting up to the level of the rules system.Frankly, I miss the "Middle Ages" premise of early D&D.
I'd like a rock-solid setting with kings and knights, the occasional court or village wizard, and a whole heap of the unknown both within your own borders and in vague realms off the map.
I always figured that it got lost because it was trite, cliche, boring, and done-to-freakin'-death.
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I like some of the aspects of those, but the modern image of "the middle ages" is already a completely inacurate fantasy version pretty much entirely divorced from the reality.
Magic: the Gathering's multiverse. multiple settings connected by the activity of extraplanar beings.Oh I'd LOVE this
I'm currently running a homebrew game based on The Brother's War, with clockwork constructs infected with Kytons taking place of the Phyrexians.
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I always figured that it got lost because it was trite, cliche, boring, and done-to-freakin'-death.A middle ground between Pathfinder and Lord of the Rings. If only I could fathom out how to do it.
Same here. I think that is part of my problem with modern fantasy RPGs. The idea of a faux-medieval world has been lost in trying to bring the setting up to the level of the rules system.Frankly, I miss the "Middle Ages" premise of early D&D.
I'd like a rock-solid setting with kings and knights, the occasional court or village wizard, and a whole heap of the unknown both within your own borders and in vague realms off the map.
Maybe but it is certainly what I prefer for my fantasy roleplaying. The new direction of campaign settings is too fantastical (best word I can think of). Either that or too much gets changed from the default game. Spoils it all for me.
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I do find it interesting how setting expectations have progressed through the editions of D&D. It's almost like campaign worlds passed from Middle Ages through Renaissance and are now breaking into a sort of Victorian era.
And I'm not saying I regret that evolution, just that I'm feeling nostalgic enough that a less magic-prevalent, lords & ladies style setting might be my current ideal.
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A Game of Thrones type setting, gritty, combat and role-play based where magic remains on the fringes as supernatural and, well... magical. Somewhere between that and the classic fantasy of Tolkien's world as presented in the films.
If I want psionics, steampunk, guns or robots there are plenty of systems for that and they all do it better.
Some form of Middle Earth and Hyboria blend in an e6 type setting with rare and dangerous magic for good measure, along with plenty of bustling metropolis' filled to the brim with various races for the "Mos Eisely effect".
I much prefer low level games to high level, i'm happy as a clam to be going in and taking the fight to the group of orcs who have been harrying caravans travelling the king's highway etc, once it gets past about eighth level i start to lose interest.
The ideal campaign for me in this setting would be something episodic akin to shows like Hercules: the legendary journeys, or farscape, where while there is an overarching plot that advances, there would also be "monster of the week" sessions for a change of pace.
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In pathfinder, I like 7th level: primary casters get 4th level spells, secondary spellcasters get 3rd level spells, and paladin/rangers get 2nd level spells. Fighter types get 2 attacks. All characters have at least 4 feats, so some interesting builds can still be made. Also, hordes of 1/2 CR monsters can still be threatening, but CR 9s can still be a fun challenge too.
To Play:
I'm thinking something very Metro 2033/12 Monkeys with some World of Darkness mixed in.
To Run:
Generic low fantasy setting where magic and magic items are rare. Spells are almost all complex rituals and a single magic sword is something you go on a big epic adventure to acquire.
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To Play: Huge continental empire now in chaos as the magic has stopped working. (Nothing against magic, just think it would be interesting to see how people reacted.)
To Run: Same as above, only instead of no magic, booze would rot before it ferments. BBEG would be somewhere along the lines of Dr. Doofenshmirtz. (For humor)
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In pathfinder, I like 7th level: primary casters get 4th level spells, secondary spellcasters get 3rd level spells, and paladin/rangers get 2nd level spells. Fighter types get 2 attacks. All characters have at least 4 feats, so some interesting builds can still be made. Also, hordes of 1/2 CR monsters can still be threatening, but CR 9s can still be a fun challenge too.
I tend to agree with this - 2nd to 8th level play is the sweet spot for me. Moreover, on the slow advancement track, this tends to be about as long as most groups can stick together without reality pulling them apart or players getting bored and wanting to try out new characters.
If not for AP's (which I love) thats the range 90% of my play would take place.