Oathbound - an overlooked setting?

[Citan]

It was by mere coincedence that I got attracted to the Oathbound setting from Bastion Press, but I must admit that in my opinion it's the most original and diverse campaign setting since the good old Planescape and Dark Sun. I really love it but I don't see much fan activity and it seems no one really recognizes the setting.

Perhaps you could share your thoughts on the setting in this thread. If you never heard about it, then please visit oathbound.net, where you can download a decent overview of the setting, especially the tone and style: http://www.oathbound.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?cid=11&lid=22

Happy posting!

 

[Crothian]

Ya, its a bit over looked. The gaming worlkd is largely about what have you done for me lately, and Oathbound just hasn't had a lot of support and none of that were really awesome. I do like the setting and have all the books.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Oathbound never really "clicked" for me. I had the core book for a while, and wound up selling it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming it was a bad setting, or poorly written, or anything like that. It wasn't. It just never managed to appeal to me personally.

 

[HellHound]

I don't think it's -that- overlooked. For example, the book "Secrets of Arena", an Oathbound book, sold out in an incredibly short time.

I use the Forge for my Epic campaign. It's a great way to move nearly Epic characters to another setting without explaining where all the epic critters are coming from now in their old setting that weren't there when they started.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Watch for Wildwood. Thomas Knauss and I wrote it, and you should see it sometime soon.

 

[DMH]

I can't wait for WW, damn it. There are only 2-3 books each year that make me drool and this is one of them. I want to see the domain and its funky ins and outs, the new prestige race rules, the racial levels (finally! OB is the only setting that racial levels makes sense to me), and the new critters.

And some ^%(^$ artist is slowing down production. Sometimes I think art is way overrated

I can't wait for the Player's Guide to OB. I want to see all the new stuff, the reworked channelers, and new PrRs. This is another one that is making my shoes wet.

And I can wait, but still am very interested in the new setting from BP. With no information to go on, I really have no idea what to think.

 

[JoeBlank]

I dig the setting, picked up most of the books during Bastion's big sale in December, and have bought the rest since then.

After attempting to generate discussion on oathbound.net a couple of times, I have pretty much given up. There is just not enough activity there. Maybe I can bring up on of my ideas here and see where it gets. I'm slowly moving the PCs in my online game towards Oathbound. They have recently witnessed a NPC being taken by the Queen, and have learned a little about the Forge. We rotate DMs, and my next time up will be firmly in the Oathbound setting. I'm thinking of converting Banewarrens, and would love suggestions on Oathbound versions of the various factions at work in the adventure.

 

[DaveMage]

I think it's one of, if not THE the best setting in 3E to incorporate all aspects of gaming: dungeon crawl, political role-playing, city-based adventures, and the potential for epic play.

What's hurt the setting (IMO) is:

1. When it came out, epic rules were not open content. Therefore, the top NPCs are all 20th level - when, considering the setting, many of them really should be higher (again, IMO).
2. As Crothian mentioned, lack of product support. There are 7 domains and only 2 have been expanded upon at this time. Sure, you can use the ones that are out there and have a great time with them (and I have), but the setting seems incomplete as is, and at this rate, 4E will be out before the domains are complete. I love Bastion Press, but upon hearing that they were coming out with a new campaign setting, my first thought was, "Shouldn't the old one be finished first?"
3. The original artwork. Personally, I think the artwork was fine. However, reading the reviews and message boards, it clearly turned off a lot of people. If I ever needed convincing that art *does* matter, it's been the reaction people have had to Oathbound. I think many people that dismissed the setting would have embraced it if the art was more to their liking.

I know Wildwood is coming soon, and I am very much looking forward to it so I hope its release will kick-start interest in the Forge.

 

[TBoarder]

What's hurt the setting (IMO) is:

One more thing that hurt it for me hurt it for me, beyond the 3 you mentioned, is the "furry" aspect. Far too many non-human, non-humanoid races that are placed in human/humanoid roles. I don't mind the "alien" races in it (the jellyfish-like Ceptu were really cool), but it's really just too much for me... they'd be cool creature societies, but their integration with all of the "normal" races is just too much for my own preferences. I'd like it much better if Penance was more... human-centric.

 

[DMH]

There are only 3 furries- valco (goats), dover (dog) and frey (cats). Unless you are including scalies as well (nightlings, pickers and cromithians (sp)).

Asherake (skull headed, winged tiger people), slivers (metal eating, humanoid salamanders), lunars (4 eyed shape changers that become something alien), ceptu and haze (humanoids that can see telepathically) all make up for the furries.

The faust is an interesting varient of the goblin. That is something they have done in the other books- interesting varients of humans and other races (I love the scar from Wrack and Ruin).