Are you put off by "Creative" Campaign Settings?

[Shadowslayer]

One way to approch this is say that the gaming group gets to play exploerers. That way, they still get to keep their elves and dwarves and they can be introduced to the setting slowly. As they explore the area, you give them the details they need.

Heh, I tried that one time...then half my players said they wanted to be natives. Sometimes you can't win.

I understand the delimma though. I think the trick is to invent version of the sort of world you're after, while maintaning the standard trappings of D&D. Just so the players can still make some base assumptions.

 

[Dragonhelm]

To clarify, I want to build a setting without the normal 'medieval' trappings but with Aztec, Mayan, and Incan influences. I am very interested in an mesoamerican type D&D game but I fear that I will only be creating it for my own amusement.

How about Maztica? You should be able to find materials for it fairly cheap. Conversions wouldn't be too hard. I think Atlas Games (?) has a book on the Aztecs as well.

Are most players (D&D) to set in their ways to try something off the beaten path?

It varies from person to person.

 

[carpedavid]

I'm not put off by non-traditional settings in the least. In fact, the setting I'm running right now, the Land of the Crane, is an asian-inspired setting. All of my players bought into it fairly quickly, and it's still going strong nearly two years later.

One thing I'd recommend, though (and I think this is true for any setting). Don't be afraid to revise. It's difficult to create a fully realized world right from the get-go, so when you run into roadblocks, don't be afraid to discuss changing things with your players. If altering something makes the game more fun to play and more fun to run, it's worth the revisionist history that you may have to introduce.

I've just seen a lot of people get caught up on the "facts" of the world or on a setting's "cannon." Your and your players' enjoyment is much more important.

 

[JoeGKushner]

For me, it's about the mechanics. Don't try and sell me a new game setting and then change the mechanics that make D&D well, D&D.

 

[Greg K]

I am not put off by Creative Campaign settings as Dark Sun is my favorite published setting. Furthermore, unlike at least one person here, I don't mind new classes or variant classes and might actually be put off by lack of their inclusion as they help define the archetypes as appropriate for the culture or setting.

 

[deClench]

I'm just starting to get into other games and settings myself -- there's so much out there! I'm currently flitting through different games and settings to find the next interesting campaign. My group is forgiving. I enjoy playing out a setting, but... variety is spicy!

Talk to your players. Hells, have them help in the design -- find out what it is that they're looking for in a game and where they want to go. Working together, you'll surely find a setting/system that makes everyone happy.

 

[sniffles]

I like non-standard settings myself. As long as the setting is internally consistent I'm good with it. But in my experience most players prefer the traditional pseudo-medieval settings because that's what they're familiar with. I haven't even been able to persuade most of my group to develop an interest in a Bronze Age campaign, because they'd have to give up their suits of plate mail and their easy access to roadside inns. I think a lot of players would have real trouble with a Mesoamerican setting, where there are no horses, no metal weapons or tools to speak of, and no wheeled vehicles (unless you're planning to diverge from history and allow those things to exist in your setting). That's a big change in thought processes for a player to make.

 

[Voadam]

How about Maztica? You should be able to find materials for it fairly cheap. Conversions wouldn't be too hard. I think Atlas Games (?) has a book on the Aztecs as well.

Maztica pdfs are free on the WotC site in their older edition downloads section for the mesoarmerican rip offs in Forgotten Realms.

Avalanche press (not Atlas Games) has a short historical mythical d20 aztecs book.

There is also GURPS Aztecs.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Hell no. I like weird settings. My last two homebrews were as follows:

1. A world with no terra firma, in which the only solid substance was huge boulders floating in an endless sky, travelled by flying ships and winged elves. Arcane magic is banned by the gods, after a mysterious blasphemy committed ages ago by the ancient magical civilization whose ruins can be found all over the world. The cataclysm invoked to correct this error erased all traces of arcane magic, and threw the world into a dark age from which it has only recently recovered. Psionic power has filled the void left by the arcanists, but mysterious magical objects from a bygone age turn up from time to time, and the three great cities vie for control of the last remnants of arcane might. Crystal miners grow their materials in the smoggy, toxic region that lies beneath the floating islands, and all manner of avian creatures float among the clouds. Air pirates raid villages and transports, while the few elves who remember the cataclysm weave their secret plots with knowledge long forgotten by the rest of the world.

2. A magical society faces a problem: its borders extend to all parts of its world, and population pressures are mounting. Where to expand? The logical answer: the planes! A great gate is built, and scouts sent through to find other Prime planes to inhabit. A few groups of settlers are sent to habitable worlds, but then the unthinkable occurs. The gate returns to pick up some scouts from a certain world that turns out to be inhabited by a strange and powerful group of creatures: dragons. The dragons had caught the scouts, and were waiting for their chance. Chromatic dragons poured through the gate like a river, destroying and plundering as they came. The wizards who created the gate destroyed it to stop the influx, but it was too late, and they only cut off the bulk of the forces of the metallics, who had discovered the gate too late, and were attempting to follow their foes through to this world rich in magical treasure and unprepared to defend themselves against such an onslaught. Fast-forward 1000 years. The evil dragons have parcelled off the world into small kingdoms, each ruled by a dragon lord. The metallic dragons rule their own corner of the world, almost as oppressive as the chromatics in their pride and self-righteousness. Lesser reptilian creatures have displaced many of the native species, and most people live like slaves to their draconic overlords. But rumours from the east tell of a place that has killed its lord and established a free kingdom. That means that the dragons are mortal after all! But is it a lie, or is there a change in the winds?

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

I also like weird settings, unfortunately many of Chimera's complaints apply to me. So, if you are going to do weird settings, I would suggest one of two courses of action.

One course of action is to make it known up front that the setting is for a short-term campaign and as such, should not be critiqued too closely.

The other course of action is to buckle your chin strap and put the work in. This means four things to me. First, do the up front work to make the setting playable before unleashing it on the players. Second, do the work on the back end to continue improving and growing your setting. Third, ask for and accept feedback/help in creating the setting from the players. Fourth, commit to the setting, even after the "coolness" seems to fade.

My biggest failures come with the first and fourth objectives. I often get a cool idea, throw it together hastely and spring it on the players. I also find myself getting "inspired" by some new idea far too often, which causes me to scrap the previous setting and start a new one. Then the players either get "blinding flash of light and a clap of thunder" transported to the new world or they get to start new characters.

So, I would tread carefully with this sort of thing if your players are not ready for it.