I thought about including that as an example too! It's a common trope of fantasy settings to have lost technology from an fallen empire, but you don't necessarily have to have a dark age. Maybe your not-Europe didn't forget Greek stuff for 1,000 years. Maybe your Rome never fell!
Nearly every D&D setting is some stage of post-post-apocalyptic. There was a high magic civilization somewhere in the past, it blew up for Reasons but left the countryside littered with ruins full of powerful magic items and deadly traps, and rather than dealing with the immediate post-apocalyptic scrabble for survival we're far enough along that things have mostly stabilized and people are delving into those ruins for personal profit.
I like your example better because I didn't know about it priorly.
I for one am glad they did not, that alone might be enough to never get the books
You are right in describing what most settings actually are. But it doesn't have to be. A campaign in ancient Egypt or Sumeria could be about creating those artifacts, traveling to the underworld or Mount Chimera for the raw materials. Or maybe it's in a sort of Ancient Greece, and there may not be much in the way of useful human ruins, but perhaps the dragons have powerful artifacts you need to "borrow." There's no limit to the possibilities, even basing it off real world cultures.
Oh, sure. But RPGs of games of imagination and nearly limitless potential. Saying what you could do for a D&D campaign does nothing to change what the established assumptions of the printed books and most of the players are. It's like saying anything is possible if you start adding house rules to enable it.
Good points. I always check in with my players re tone, themes, and setting. I would love for the "established assumptions" to change. I am starving for new types of settings
It's a bit of a gamble, going against the dominant tropes and established genres of a medium. Most of the time it falls flat on its face because it's not something the audience wanted or understands. Occasionally it becomes a cult classic, as it finds a rather small but underserved audience that's hungry for something to their specific tastes. Once in a very rare while it's an absolute smash hit and establishes a brand new genre and a whole new set of tropes that other people follow for years to come. Your Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or Sailor Moon.
That's what Kickstarter is for!
