Good Obscure Settings? (and some ruminations on classic vs. newer fantasy settings)

Mercurius · Jul 22, 2011

I ran across jdrakeh's blog on Old School Gaming, Front Range Warlock, which pointed me in the direction of an old mid-80s setting from the UK magazine, Imagine, called Pelinore (or here for a nice little present).

Now I'm a bit of a setting junky and have a pretty good knowledge of the range of fantasy settings that have been published over the last four decades, but Pelinore was new to me. It got me thinking - there's got to be a few other obscure gems out there, not to mention the tons of settings on the internet.

So the point of this thread: What are some obscure gems? I'm not just looking for any old fantasy settings online, but the ones that stand out. They don't have to be totally obscure, I'm just not looking for another thread about which TSR/WotC settings are your favorite.

Another that stands out to me that is only a bit obscure, is the recently re-published setting for Fighting Fantasy, Titan. As far as I can tell, the new book is just a re-print, so if you already have [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Titan-Fighting-Fantasy-Steve-Jackson/dp/0140321276/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311343892&sr=8-2"]this[/ame] then you are set. But browsing through my old copy gave me a feeling of "They just don't make 'em like they used to." Sure, you have the fancy modern graphics and layout of, say, a Golarion book or one of the WotC settings, but you don't have to hand-drawn maps and idiosyncratic diagrams like Yaztromo's Tower or the dwarven citadel of Fangthane.

Another quality that appeals to me about Titan is that it has that classic, fantasy feel that seems to have been watered down somewhat in recent years by other elements, namely video games and wuxia, but also an integration of non-classic fantasy elements like steampunk. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a wide variety of campaign settings, and actually like, for instance, the steampunk elements in Eberron, but I have a special place in my heart for the classic, "vanilla" fantasy setting, such as Titan or the grey box version Forgotten Realms or Gygax's Greyhawk or the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

So what are some other, obscure classics? Feel free to discuss the other elements of this post - for instance, what are thoughts on "classic" fantasy vs. newer forms?

TarionzCousin · Jul 22, 2011

I am just posting here to summon [MENTION=13892]jdrakeh[/MENTION] to this thread. He knows all kinds of obscure gaming stuff.

Croesus · Jul 22, 2011

For me, it's Dave Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign (the original published in the late 1970's).

It isn't a "real" campaign setting - no detailed travelogue, lists of NPC's, major religions, etc. that we've come to expect. It's mostly just semi-organized notes from his original campaign. It always felt a bit like looking behind the curtain, and is chock full of ideas, some good, some just strange - much like D&D in those days.

Dannyalcatraz · Jul 22, 2011

It may not be obscure, but I still rank the original Judge's Guild Wilderlands, Portals, and so forth as among the best all time. Those huge sepiatone maps, areas that were inhabited by what should be there as opposed to what the party might find challenging* and other features that just came together to make a nifty fantasy world.

* For instance, "Troll Island" was infested by trolls. If you landed there as a high-level party, you were going to harvest some moderately easy XP. If you landed there as a mid level party, you were challenged. If you landed there as a low-level party, you were dinner.

Mercurius · Jul 22, 2011

Dannyalcatraz said:
It may not be obscure, but I still rank the original Judge's Guild Wilderlands, Portals, and so forth as among the best all time. Those huge sepiatone maps, areas that were inhabited by what should be there as opposed to what the party might find challenging* and other features that just came together to make a nifty fantasy world.

* For instance, "Troll Island" was infested by trolls. If you landed there as a high-level party, you were going to harvest some moderately easy XP. If you landed there as a mid level party, you were challenged. If you landed there as a low-level party, you were dinner.

I've always preferred this approach myself and use it in my 4E game, at least with some moderation. It has resulted a fair amount of character death, at least until the players realized that they couldn't win every fight.

On the other hand, in your example of Troll Island I'd probably throw in a massive Troll chieftain or two to make things interesting. Nothing more boring than an easy fight.

Stormonu · Jul 22, 2011

Shameless self-promotion:

Amberos/Dark Summit

As a document

grodog · Jul 23, 2011

Some of my favorite settings to steal from include:

- Starstone's very small and local starting micro-campaign setting
- Sanctuary (from Chaosium's Thieves World boxed set; complimented nicely by Gamelords' Free City of Haven)
- Midkemia (from the various Midkemia Press books)
- MERP 1e's Court of Ardor, far south of Gondor/Mordor
- Valus (ENWorld's own d20 conversion of [MENTION=12157]Destan[/MENTION]'s 1e setting)
- Medieval Europe from Ars Magica

TarionzCousin · Jul 23, 2011

Stormonu said:
Amberos/Dark Summit

I played Amberos once. It was a Mexican Soap Opera/Amber (Zelazny) Mash up.

Probably not the same. :erm:

Wik · Jul 23, 2011

Jakandor, published late in the lifetime of TSR. The basic gist of the setting was that two human cultures, neither "good" or "evil" were involved in a war. Both hated the other, and the PCs could play a part on either side of the conflict.

The first culture were the Charonti. They were reclaiming their homeland, after it had been destroyed by a magical plague. A Nation of Wizards, with each magical "school" specializing in a different field a bit different from the usual D&D idealogies, the Charonti were ruled by a benevolent queen. They were seeking to reclaim lost spells, and using their teleportation gates and airships to explore the island. They had undead servants, had a mixture of egyptian, mayan, and china to their culture, and were educated and lawful.

Then there were the knorr, barbarian invaders who distrusted magic and believed firmly in a clannish code of honour. They had some magical powers relating to the natural world that, of course, they didn't feel were "magical". They felt that the Charonti were terrible for enslaving the dead and toying with fell magicks, and felt it was their duty as Knorr to wage perpetual war. The Knorr were kind of a mix of Vikings, various Native American groups, and maybe a touch of Samurai thrown in for kicks.

It was a D&D setting that was unlike any other D&D ever published. It was one in which clerical magic was shunted to the side (neither culture received much in the way of healing). There were no non-human playable races. The "monster mix" was very much non core in nature, with no dragons, giants, orcs, goblinoids, kobolds, or any of that. Dungeons were scattered everywhere, but they actually had a reason to be there, and PCs actually had reasons to explore them beyond "loot them for cash!". And PCs had a reason to interact with their culture and become part of something bigger than themselves.

It saddens me that fewer people are aware of the setting. Every now and then I debate running it in 4e, which seems like the ideal system to use for it, now that power sources and roles exist (The Charonti would consist entirely of Power Source: Arcane characters, while the Knorr would be a mix of Martial and Primal characters).

Stormonu · Jul 23, 2011

I suppose Tekumel/Empire of the Petal Throne needs to be mentioned. I believe it was the first campaign published for D&D. It was a little too bizarre for my tastes, but it appears to have a cult following.

Also, Kingdoms of Kalamar - which I think now the default world for Hackmaster? (I have an old copy of Kalamar, back from 2E D&D days, along with their Temple of Flame).