I know there's a lot of love for Al-Qadim in the WotC building, so that's always a possibility. Technically it's part of the Realms, but it's always been treated as its own animal. The 2e version is still one of the most beautiful books ever released for D&D and I wouldn't mind it terribly...
I give 100 experience points per character level for a paragraph of background, and this can be cashed in once per level. If you give me a paragraph at the beginning of a campaign and then another every time you level you can keep racking up those bonus xp.
My own setting follows a lot of the same tropes you seem to be going for. In my setting:
The world before man was ruled by elf and dwarf, but these ancient civilizations more closely mirrored the ancient world than the medieval. Elves not only do not work iron, they are allergic to it (a nod...
In my 2e Nordic campaigns wizards actually owed their power to the more "primitive" Northmen. Southmen (based on Greek, Egyptian, and other ancient civilizations) practiced a more free-form, but ultimately limited (in some ways) form of magic.
In 1e and 2e magic worked much differently, it was...
I understand exactly how hit points work, but the fact that it's absolutely impossible to be struck dead by a single blow from a weapon is ridiculous. You end up with players seeing 6 enemies with crossbows at the end of a hallway, realizing they can't possibly be killed in the first round, and...
If a battle axe hits you right between the eyes and you aren't dead there's something wrong with the damage system. Heroes are still men, and men are fragile mortal beings. No matter how tough you are you can die in an instant, to remove that is to remove heroism.
I give non-thieves the 1st level thief base abilities, except for open locks and remove traps because these should be auto-fails without some training. Give me 10 minutes or 10 hours, doesn't make a difference because I couldn't pick a lock no matter how much time you gave me.