The Most Creative TTRPG Settings and Milieus

[jdrakeh]

Arduin, in its many iterations, captures the "rule of cool" aesthetic when it comes to world building. If something sounded/looked cool, the various stewards of Arduin (starting with Dave Hargrave), plunked it down in the setting/rules. Sometimes this results in a wildly incongruous setting and play experience, but it is also wildly original in many regards. My favorite things ever in Arduin are air sharks, which are exactly what they sound like, but have been tamed in some instances to serve as flying mounts. THAT is the kind of thing you find in Arduin. It's absolutely metal!

 

[TiQuinn]

I think the most inventive setting for me has to be 2e Planescape. Prior to that setting, planar adventure just never made sense. It seemed to be hands off, a place characters went to die because they screwed up and didn’t have the right spells to protect them. The idea of Sigil and the different philosophical factions paired with Tony DiTerlizzi’s fantastic artwork created something that felt inspired to me and I haven’t really seen something like that since.

 

[Jdoublep]

In the fantasy genre, the OSR blows everything else out of the water. Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Acid Death Fantasy, Mork Borg, Pirate Borg (you get high and gain psychic powers by snorting dust ground from undead bones), The Stygian Library, Dolmenwood, Dungeon Crawl Classics, etc.

Blades in the Dark has a wildly odd setting.

Over the Edge has always had the most out there setting. Some weird games focus on one or two conspiracies, Over the Edge includes them all. Literally every conspiracy has a place in Over the Edge.

+1 for OTE!

 

[sevenbastard]

Synnibarr. Basically the granddaddy of gonzo gaming. Also, an important example show that "creative" does not necessarily have correlation with "good".

When I bought this back in 90 something as as high school kids I was inspired. I mean if this game could get published I could definitely be a game designer.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

You said Marshall Law? (The comic is strong stuff, because it was meant to be offensive.) Lovely comic though.

Yeah, Underground is in many ways the Marshal Law RPG. But the power levels are a bit lower, and there's an emphasis on characters doing things to help their community, or the world, in an authoritarian, corporate-captured America. It's got the same sort of satirical take as that comic, but sort of aimed in a different direction.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Would 100% agree on The Spire. It's so full of flavor, encourages the PCs from the get-go to engage with its strange world.

For pure creativity of premise and setting, I might put Necronautilus up there. I can't think of another TTRPG like it.

 

[Reynard]

For pure creativity of premise and setting, I might put Necronautilus up there. I can't think of another TTRPG like it.

I had to Google that one. That is definitely something.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

I had to Google that one. That is definitely something.

World Champ makes some really cool stuff, that I just assume I'm too old to fully click with.

 

[zakael19]

I really like His Majesty The Worm's framing for the city -> dungeon/mythical underworld and back. It's probably the most interesting combination of system + setting to do that sort of gameplay, with the species/kith deeply embedded in either the overworld or underworld in really fresh ways.

Dolmenwood has been mentioned, best mashup of classic lower fantasy D&D tropes & British isles folklore (with weird psychedelic mushroom stuff scattered in). All the classic monsters feel new and fresh, and the world exists to facilitate gameplay.

Symbaroum is good, but boy howdy does it suffer from like conventional RPG writing in the book layouts and stuff. Part of me is ruminating on taking the good ideas in there and porting them into a Stonetop setting book level of usable organization.

Ultimately, I like a creative world, but I also want a readily gameable world. Ever since picking up Stonetop and seeing how a good writer can do that I've realized that cool ideas aren't enough for me. Give me the tools to just open the book and play.

 

[Aldarc]

Symbaroum is good, but boy howdy does it suffer from like conventional RPG writing in the book layouts and stuff. Part of me is ruminating on taking the good ideas in there and porting them into a Stonetop setting book level of usable organization.

IMHO, Symbaroum's biggest sin for me is that it hides some pretty major game lore in adventure paths that feel a bit like novels that the creator may have wanted to write. The primary AP is basically the metaplot of the setting. Regardless of how creative the setting may be, I don't necessarily like APs like that or when setting designers do this sort of thing. But I also generally prefer settings that are created with intentional space for gaming groups to come up with their own answers to setting mysteries and questions.