D&D General Greyhawk Humanocentricism?

[Baron Opal II]

Seriously, though, there have always been attempts to move away from the Tolkien-esque fantasy roots .... Talislanta ("NO ELVES") first appeared in 1987, and there were certainly precursors (I could mention one, but the author ... eh....) but none have really taken off.

Skyrealms of Jorune by Leker is what you're trying to recall, I think.

 

[Epic Meepo]

I suspect that there is some bias going on here. Probably because we have far too many human writers.

Coming soon from ChatGPT: a campaign setting with nothing but AI-majority kingdoms.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Skyrealms of Jorune by Leker is what you're trying to recall, I think.

At this point, I just assume that everyone is a milkshake duck.

But no. It does really suck when you learn that one of the oldest, greatest settings was created by ... well, someone at whom H. P. Lovecraft looks and says, "You think I'm problematic? Hold my beer."

 

[Baron Opal II]

At this point, I just assume that everyone is a milkshake duck.

But no. It does really suck when you learn that one of the oldest, greatest settings was created by ... well, someone at whom H. P. Lovecraft looks and says, "You think I'm problematic? Hold my beer."

I know, my friend. It pains me, too.

Also, I was horrified when I first heard that term. "That's taking the sweet / savory mix just a bit too far!"

 

[Parmandur]

Skyrealms of Jorune by Leker is what you're trying to recall, I think.

Do I even want to know...?

 

[Baron Opal II]

Do I even want to know...?

Actually, it was an inventive science fantasy setting.

Human explorers found a planet with an ecosphere and expanded. Later, Humans sent a recall telling everyone to come home. Many didn't. Supply ships stopped coming with the assumption that Earth was no more. This was a problem as humans hadn't figured out how to properly digest the local flora.

It turns out there was a native species that could manipulate isho, a novel energy generated by the seven moons of the planet. There were a few other intelligent species that were the remnants of previous colonization efforts. One human scientist go lonely and made 3-4 furry races.

A couple thousand years pass, and humans are one species among many. Some have grudges, others are allies. Some humans have learned how to use isho, and usually don't blow themselves up doing so. There are also the floating islands (skyrealms) that usually have something interesting on them. You just have to figure out how to get there.

Okay system, interesting setting.

 

[Hussar]

The Forgotten Realms only appear humanocentric in the 3e FRCS because that book focuses on the human-majority lands of Faerun. Supplemental campaign setting material includes plenty of lands with non-human majorities. For example:

• Dwarf-majority lands like the Dwarfholds of the North, the Glittering Spires, and Siremun
• Elf-majority lands like Cormanthor, Evereska, and the Greycloak Hills
• Gnome-majority lands like Forharn and Songfarla
• Goblinoid-majority lands like the Earthfast Mountains and the Goblin Marches
• Halfling-majority lands like the southern Chondalwood and the historical kingdom of Meirtin
• Lizardfolk-majority lands like Rethild and Surkh
• Orc-majority lands like Many-Arrows and Thar (which previously had an ogre majority)
• Yuan-ti-majority lands like Najara and Serpentes

And that's not counting the dragonborn and genasi lands added in 4e.

But this is exactly what I was talking about. You have the dwarf land and the elf land and etc.

What you almost never have is multi-cultural land. Which makes zero sense when you start to think about it. Every major port should be a huge melting pot unless there is something specific preventing it.

The whole “cantina scene” thing should be the default in a world with a bajillion sentient species. Or if not the default, it should be a helluva lot more common than it is.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Do I even want to know...?

We were dancing around another setting and topic- one of the very oldest, and (arguably) the first "D&D" setting. Which was pretty cool, given that it was a setting that had a lot of depth and was constructed prior to D&D by a linguist, kinda like the other one ... you know, by Tol-keen.

But ... certain recent things have emerged about the author of the setting. On the scale of H. P. Lovecraft to Marion Zimmer Bradley, I'd rate it ... bad.*

*Okay, worse than HP, not nearly Bradley, but I'm not sure you can really rate these kinds of things.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Then you're getting into one of your previous topics: do you let the actions and/or character of the author affect your appreciation of their work? That's always going to be a personal decision, and IMO shouldn't be judged by others either way.

 

[Parmandur]

We were dancing around another setting and topic- one of the very oldest, and (arguably) the first "D&D" setting. Which was pretty cool, given that it was a setting that had a lot of depth and was constructed prior to D&D by a linguist, kinda like the other one ... you know, by Tol-keen.

But ... certain recent things have emerged about the author of the setting. On the scale of H. P. Lovecraft to Marion Zimmer Bradley, I'd rate it ... bad.*

*Okay, worse than HP, not nearly Bradley, but I'm not sure you can really rate these kinds of things.

Ah, yes...that.