I remembered another example: Kentucky Route Zero. It's the middle of the Great Recession, and Conway, the delivery driver for a troubled antique shop, is lost trying to find a street that doesn't seem to exist. The only way to get there is to take Route Zero, the only road that goes UNDER...
Oh, that cover had lore? Neat. I was actually one of the few people who preferred that cover. The current one just looks so drab. I don't care if it's a magic warbot and a tribal halfling with their pet dinosaur, they look bored and lost and in need of a bath.
But they almost always put out a crossover guide for these books. If it isn't stats on the setting's recursions, it's figuring out how it slots into Numenara.
Slight tangent: Am I the only person who prefers 'Warrior' over 'Fighter'? I know, tradition, but 'Human Warrior' just sounds cooler than 'Human Fighter'.
For anyone wanting to get (back) into MtG because of this set, there is always Arena. Since this set is a black-bordered, Standard-legal, set, it'll be on Arena at release.
Magic: The Gathering Arena | MAGIC: THE GATHERING
Just to add: I was Class of 2015 at Oak Ridge High in Tennessee and I distinctly remember them covering Beowulf at some point. The Oddysee, Gatzby, Things Fall Apart, and Alas, Babylon were also on the list over the years.
This surprisingly didn't get mentioned, there's an alternate path for this idea, but it takes some minor... importation... Remember how 'Xanathar's Guide to Everything' expanded on the idea of Common magic items? Well, there are two from that section that might be of interest to this topic: the...
Edit: 'So, mystical/alternate 1860s-1910s Southeast/mid-West with a tech level sitting right before/at cartridge firearms, candlestick phones, and Model Ts...? I'd play it.'
1880s-1920s is more Victorian/WWI. I was thinking (cherry-picked) Antebellum South to just BEFORE the World War. A solid...
Fate also has a few official supers settings: Venture City: a 'superpunk' setting in the usual Marvel/DC mold, On the Wall, a teen school drama with elements of X-Men mutants, and Spirit of the Century/Atomic Robo for your pulp adventurers fix.
When I think of American Fantasy, there's one recent tale that I come back to: Over the Garden Wall. A dark, but whimsical, world of dangerous backwoods, paddle boats on winding rivers, and small communities of strangers, both mundane and mystical.
So, Scout Rogue + Tracker (+ Sharpshooter, Crossbow Expert, and/or Magic Initiate (Druid)) is probably the best Ranger alternative we've gotten, huh? I NEED to give it a test when I can find a game.
As long as anything new gets added/subbed in on DDB, I'm fine with this. And I got my hard copy of CoS back in 2015. Other than the map being pulled out, it's near-mint... I wish I could find a local buyer for my books. Going as-digital-as-possible doesn't mean I want to chuck these out...