Best D20/OGL Setting I SHOULD Own

[Aus_Snow]

Conan, Slaine and Oathbound here.

Conan, because it's Howardian sword 'n sorcery done well. 'Nuff said. . . .actually, not so much 'Howardian' as The Real Thing (tm)!

Slaine. . . well, it certainly won't appeal to everyone. But if you like Celtic stuff, and especially if you're familiar with the Slaine comics (not a requirement), then I think you'd find this book worth your time and money. I have, anyway.

And Oathbound? Hm, it

has a strange, yet familiar feel to it that's worth every penny. It's high-power, but the setting is top notch and one that doesn't get enough credit.

Couldn't have put it better myself.


Something I'm particularly stoked about at the moment (that isn't on your list) is A Game of Thrones, by Guardians of Order. Seeing things like Conan on your list leads me to think you might be interested in it. Again, especially if you like the material it's based on (but again, that's not a requirement). Gritty sword 'n not-so-much-sorcery-at-all, set in a well-detailed world. Great stuff!

 

[jeffh]

Definitely NOT Everquest, as White Wolf seems to have unceremoniously ceased to support it in any way whatsoever, with no word as to why. The situation is very similar to that with the Star Wars RPG, with the added problem (if you want to use EQII, which I would otherwise recommend as it has some interesting twists on the standard d20 rules) that there isn't even a complete core rulebook available. The Player's Guide for EQII, with NO magic rules, came out in January with the Spell Guide expected to follow shortly; nearly a year later, we're still waiting for it.

 

[MacMathan]

I would add another vote for A Game of Thrones, if I could

Seriously high potential as a setting, at least read the novels if you don't buy the setting.

 

[shadowdemon_lord]

I'm a shameless arcaniac, which happens to be directly linked to Freeport: City of Adventures and Nyambe: African Adventures. Instead of just playing one of these fine settings, you can play all three in the same campaign. These options just add to the huge amount of options you can experience in the world of Arcanis. A number of the places have been mentioned, so I think I'll detail a few more. You can have an adventure set in Ymandragore, a city where arcane might is the only way to get into the ruling class, ruled by a mad creature called The Sorceror King who has agents all over Onara hunting down and abducting arcane casters as part of his scheme to become a god. The only law in this city is not to mess with the ruler and do whatever he tells or his direct agents tell you to. You can also if you want to make up your own stuff go into either Elonbe or The Vastwood, home to the mysterious extremely xenophbic immortal race called the Ellorri. This race used to be slaves to the various intelligent reptilian extremely evil collaboration of races which together are called The Sseth. They however rebeled and overthrew the continent spanning empire the Sseth had and turned from their evil ways. Only vague hints have ever been given about how the Ellorri nations are run, so you can basicaly do whatever you want with their nations in terms of polotical situations, military situation, biases, and nearly everything else.

Another interesting area to run a campaign in would be the Ssethregoran Empire it's self. After the Ellori revolution they were forced into a large tropical swamp. The prevailing alignment here is Lawful Evil. The empire has a very strong caste system determined by race. With the Naga on top, Ssanu (sort of snake people) right below them, Ssressen (lizard men) farther down the line (although they can still hold influential positions). On the bottom are the troglodytes, and below even them are the kobolds. Below even these low castes are the gobliniods and other slave races created by the Ssanu Technomancers (genetic enginners). The official religion of the empire used to the worship of the ancient gods that created them, but recently when their gods felll silent their worship has changed to that of an evil alien race called the Varn, the most powerful of which have risen to demi-god status. The only exception here is that of the worship of Jeggal Sag, which is a true dragon: spawned directly from the mating of the two creators of the Ssethric races, which are the most ancient gods we know about. The true dragons were imprisoned by the Valinor, direct servants of the human gods in a war.

Well, I could go on forever but I'm going to stop here. As you can see, there are many very detailed and vastly different empires and kingdomes in this world, and I didn't come close to getting to everything. I didn't even mention the area behind the gods wall (populated by native infernals and humans), The enlightened republic of Altheria (based off of Middle Eastern culture in the 1100s and 1200s I'm pretty sure), the Western Lands (based off of Feudal Japan), or the Khitani Empire, which rivals the Coryani empire in power, but we know very little else.

 

[Minicol]

Arcanis First, really, though I voted for others as well.
I think this is a really interesting world, with great RPGA support, and for once adventures where you have to think and make choices which matter, as opposed to "kill everything in sight".

Besides, there's the Coryan empire, and this is antiquity-fantasy for a change.

 

[MonsterMash]

Don't really think that Castles & Crusades can be classed as a setting, but still voted for it.

Blackmoor is nicely done in the 3.5 book and has some interesting twists on the usual D&D idioms.

You didn't include the Wilderlands of High Fantasy though.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Kalamar...you'll never find a richer world for heavy role-playing.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

So far, the top 5 are:

Iron Kingdoms
Freeport
Thieves' World
Arcanis
Conan

Iron Kingdoms is leading by 9 votes.

 

[The Cardinal]

I voted Scarred Lands - because C&C is (AFAIK) neither d20 nor OGL, *and* because you forgot to put WILDERLANDS in there!

 

[Wes]

I voted Kalamar

Just look at what some of the fans of Kalamar are saying...

"The best damn campaign setting. Ever."
"Kalamar-a campaign world that makes sense and puts the player characters in the spotlight."
"Kalamar... Real Fantasy, Real Adventure"
"Kalamar...get your geek on!"
"Kalamar...now with 20% more Hobgoblins!"
"Kalamar...no Elminster!"
"Kalamar...a world you can sink your teeth into, er..um..or vice versa..."
"Kalamar...who needs the real world?"
"Kalamar...add credibility to your game."
"Kalamar...so real, you'll wonder..."
"Kalamar...Check your Fiendish Half-Vampire Female Ogre Mage Monk/Psion at the door."
"Kalamar - Play for a day, stay for a lifetime."
"Kalamar - WHOA-DOGGIE! It just doesn't get any better than this!"
"Kalamar - You're still here? Get playing!"
"Kalamar - Only serious gamers need apply."
"Kalamar - By Fans, For Fans."

Visit the friendliest most informative online community centered around a capmaign world...

Kenzer and Company Forums