Your ideal setting

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

In no particular order:
*The existence of fantastic things. [I can't explain this. Take it more like "I don't want to play Realistic the RPG."]
*There is no style limit other than "Is it cool?".
*The existence of special powers. Includes the following:
——Special powers aren't rare.
——Special powers that don't have a cost (other than maybe having to learn how not to shoot your own foot off).
——Special powers aren't feared by the population, except for maybe some fringy group.
——Special powers can be either exceedingly flashy, subtle, or both.
——The mechanics of special powers could be understood even if they aren't.
——Special powers that are a natural part of the universe.
——The special powers do not conform sentient-centric ideas. [i.e. no "mind over matter"]
*Multiple sentient races. Includes the following:
——No assigning of personalities/cultures to races/species unless it's encoded on their DNA or whatever.
——Even then they aren't allowed to be inherently cruel or sadistic or anything like that.
——None of this "because they aren't human they are inscrutable" stuff.
——Racism is at a minimum, if existing at all.
*Humans (and Earth, if the setting includes it as a separate place) aren't "Super-Special Awesome" in any way compared to other species/places.
*No form of objective morality.
*Most of the setting consists of people who live dull to reasonably-fulfilling lives. [i.e. life is, on average, boring or annoying rather than bad or frightening] Includes the following:
——The situation is not likely to get worse without a serious catastrophy.
——There aren't 101 secret groups trying to do just that.
——No 101 obvious groups, either.
*Probably contains at least modern-level technology, if not higher.

 

[danbuter1]

My world looks like the cover of the DnD Companion boxed set.

Or suspiciously like James' worlds.

 

[thundershot]

This is going to start out looking like a joke, but it's not....


Pirates (easy to do in 4E)

Ninjas (easy to do in 4E)

Dinosaurs (not enough in 4E, 3rd parties, I'm looking at you)

Monkeys (I created a simple PC race for 4E with Vanara)

Robots (Warforged fit the role well)

During the War of the Gods over a thousand years ago, the continents were shattered into a multitude of islands. Some islands are mini-nations with some order, most of them are still savage with *cough* point of light *cough* scattered throughout. The core PC races from the PHB are still the main inhabitants of most of the islands, along with Rakasta, who never stay in one spot and move from place to place, Vanara, who reside on the more tropical of the islands, and Warforged, who were used to fight in the last great war, lie scattered with no place to call home, though they're beginning to find solace in their own kind.

The seasons do not change in my world. The far north and south are covered in snow and ice, and the equator is where the tropics and rainforests reside.

I kept most of the fluff history from the Classes and Races book and the PHB. The former empires include the Dragonborn, Tiefling, Dwarf, Rakasta, and Human. I use most of the gods from the PHB with some changes to reflect the changes from the War of the Gods (and to put in a few cameos from my now former 20 year campaign).

Kord was killed and replaced with Thor.
The Raven Queen was killed and replaced with Anubis (much to Orcus' disdain)
Sehanine was killed by Lloth and Vecna and replaced with Phantasia (fey and illusions, a PC from my old campaign) and Aphrodite (love and beauty)
Vecna and Ioun were killed by (with assistance), and replaced by Baba Yaga (was the BBEG from my old campaign, and is god of knowledge, secrets, and undead)

I'm keeping the 20 god rule. If someone wants to become a god, you need to whack one of the big 20. Though Tharizdun is one of the 20, he's not known to the general public...



Chris

 

[Boarstorm]

You know, it's interesting.

If I took every single aspect of what I think would make an "ideal" setting, I'd end up with such a mishmash of ideas that I don't think they'd ever really click together.

Some things I'd steal from various sources:
-Dragonlance:
-- Towers of High Sorcery and associated world-spanning order of magic-users.
-- Evil warlords riding dragons and conquering armies of goblinkin and dragon-men.

-Eberron:
-- The Lightning Rail
-- Airships that follow some form of rules (ie -- elementals) as opposed to "it's just magic"
-- The Mournland (in concept: the mysterious wasteland where nothing lives)
-- Warforged. The idea of a race that hasn't been alive long enough to form a society and is almost childlike in all ways except war has a certain appeal.

-Forgotten Realms:
-- The Zhents are just cool, but they don't mesh particularly well with the Towers of High Sorcery, mentioned above.

-Dark Sun:
-- Cannibal Halflings. Hell yes. But I think they should be worg-riding Hun types.
-- The evil super-mages of the setting who are willing to sacrifice 100,000 people to cast one spell are also kinda neat.

-Planescape:
-- The City of Doors. Yes. Yesyesyes. But no factions! They just annoyed me.

-Spelljammer:
-- Neoghi slavers riding Umber Hulks into battle? Nifty!
-- The spelljammer itself was kind of a neat concept. Essentially a city unto itself that floated randomly from area to area with a mysterious purpose, entire "urban" campaigns could be played without ever setting foot off the ship -- not that you could even if you wanted to.
-- Potentially visiting a new world (Star Trek style) every session.

- Birthright:
-- Princecraft. That was interesting, even if the way it was integrated into the game kind-of made it feel like a third nipple.
-- The Highlander-esque noble blood thing created a really interesting dynamic.

There wasn't much from Greyhawk, Mystara or Red Steel that really caught my interest, so no mention of those.

Outside of published settings, ideas that I'd love to work into a setting include socially acceptable necromancy, a form of innate magic, and maybe a Rifts-like dichotomy with half the world relying on magic and the other half on technology.

But to work all of that into a single setting? I'd end up with space robots fighting dragon highlords on a lightning rail while Queen played the Highlander theme in the background.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

But to work all of that into a single setting? I'd end up with space robots fighting dragon highlords on a lightning rail while Queen played the Highlander theme in the background.

And the problem with that is……? (Just asking.)

 

[Wormwood]

1. Worlds & Monsters.

2. Dragon Magazine.

3. Wordpad.

I'm definitely in the 'less is more' camp. I don't want to write my setting from scratch, but I also donlt want to feel constrained by an over-developed setting either. That's why I love the PoL and new World of Darkness so much.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I switch around a lot on what I like. My overall favorites tend to be Planescape, Eberron, and something steampunk, however.

 

[Boarstorm]

And the problem with that is……? (Just asking.)

You know, after typing all that out, I was actually asking myself the same question.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

You know, after typing all that out, I was actually asking myself the same question.

What I find is that people get into this "I have to be reasonable" mindset as if the whole point of the exercise is to compose a scholarly paper. The point is to have fun! If that means being a little silly, then do it!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My world looks like the cover of the DnD Companion boxed set.

Or suspiciously like James' worlds.

Henry James? How do you stat out the thing in Turn of the Screw?