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What makes a Campaign setting Interesting to You?
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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 2951100" data-attributes="member: 11760"><p>If there's a hook, it depends on the personal preference of folks towards the hook.</p><p></p><p>If there's not a hook -- and I'd say Karameikos has a lack of hooks as its hook (don't get me wrong: I love it and ran a campaign there with a parallel campaign going in the Five Shires) -- I'd say it comes down to how well it's written, how well it's organized, how much detail it provides in the areas that a DM needs detail, how much semi-blank space is left sketchy for DMs to fill in (obviously, those last two also come down to personal preferences), how much/little crunch is added, and so on.</p><p></p><p>For me, I like the Known World gazeteers, Freeport and Ptolus precisely because they give me lots of detail but also leave a lot sketchy for me to fill in later. In Karameikos, I was able to drop a whole village into an empty hex, but had a good framework of culture, politics, a good idea of threats in the area, and so on. In Freeport or Ptolus, I have much the same, but in the case of the urban environments, I can insert my own buildings or individuals in without batting an eye.</p><p></p><p>And no matter how detailed a setting is, I always want to be able to drop in area-appropriate modules, since I sometimes have to do so at the drop of a hat, when the players do something unexpected (i.e. most of the time). So in Karameikos, I want things left fuzzy enough that I could fit in, say, a Goodman Games module (at least, one of the temperate climate ones) without totally altering it. Since Karameikos was designed as just such an environment, it works great. Likewise, I can (and am) doing the same thing in Praemal, the world of Ptolus, and I can set appropriate DCCs (Bloody Jack's Gold and the Return of the Emerald Cobra) near Freeport with no difficulty.</p><p></p><p>In contrast, there are settings that are so detailed and with such a specific flavor that outside content is absolutely unwelcome. While that's fun for the D&D reader sorts, I find it to be a pain in the tuchus for the D&D DMs, like me.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 2951100, member: 11760"] If there's a hook, it depends on the personal preference of folks towards the hook. If there's not a hook -- and I'd say Karameikos has a lack of hooks as its hook (don't get me wrong: I love it and ran a campaign there with a parallel campaign going in the Five Shires) -- I'd say it comes down to how well it's written, how well it's organized, how much detail it provides in the areas that a DM needs detail, how much semi-blank space is left sketchy for DMs to fill in (obviously, those last two also come down to personal preferences), how much/little crunch is added, and so on. For me, I like the Known World gazeteers, Freeport and Ptolus precisely because they give me lots of detail but also leave a lot sketchy for me to fill in later. In Karameikos, I was able to drop a whole village into an empty hex, but had a good framework of culture, politics, a good idea of threats in the area, and so on. In Freeport or Ptolus, I have much the same, but in the case of the urban environments, I can insert my own buildings or individuals in without batting an eye. And no matter how detailed a setting is, I always want to be able to drop in area-appropriate modules, since I sometimes have to do so at the drop of a hat, when the players do something unexpected (i.e. most of the time). So in Karameikos, I want things left fuzzy enough that I could fit in, say, a Goodman Games module (at least, one of the temperate climate ones) without totally altering it. Since Karameikos was designed as just such an environment, it works great. Likewise, I can (and am) doing the same thing in Praemal, the world of Ptolus, and I can set appropriate DCCs (Bloody Jack's Gold and the Return of the Emerald Cobra) near Freeport with no difficulty. In contrast, there are settings that are so detailed and with such a specific flavor that outside content is absolutely unwelcome. While that's fun for the D&D reader sorts, I find it to be a pain in the tuchus for the D&D DMs, like me. [/QUOTE]
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