Best Setting Books?

caudor · Aug 28, 2005

One of my favorites is Thunder Rift (came with a map of the rift; 1 inch = 1 mile). I just love the map.

I DM'ed a couple of the old Challenger series adventures, then adopted the area for my own mini-campaign.

Teflon Billy · Aug 28, 2005

Just_Hal said:
Hi BFG!

yup just checking it out gettin' my feet wet again....

Hal Greenberg?

Now way!

Welcome back man

Heard you had a rough run there for awhile.

Hope things have turned around some

Nightfall · Aug 28, 2005

*cheers for the return of the might Hal Greenburg* It's not been the same without you Hal. Course it wasn't quite right WITH you but still!

catsclaw227 · Aug 28, 2005

Just_Hal said:
Aww thanks......blush

Hey, it's true. I GMed about a year in and around Bluffside, making lots of mini-adventures for it. I should congeal them into something coherent and post some at the Explorer's Guild. I even putting Monte's Demon God's Fane closeby.

catsclaw227 · Aug 28, 2005

Teflon Billy said:
Dawnforge.

Favorite D&D Setting ever.

I have always had a sort of voyeuristic relationship with Dawnforge, always wanting to get it, but never really pulling the trigger because of lack of support.

Angel Tarragon · Aug 28, 2005

tjoneslo said:
I've seen Rifts mentioned almost everytime the setting-fluff discussion comes up. Unfortuantly Rifts now encompasses 50+ books at $15 each and no PDF versions. So all you people who like Rifts, please recommend one to three of the books (beyond the core book) which are the best of the setting, iconic of the ability of the setting to inspire.

How about 5?

Rifts Ultimate Edition ($35)
Rifts Underseas (21)
Rifts England ($17)
TMNT & Other Strangeness ($10)
Heroes Unlimited ($27)
Aliens Unlimited ($20)

Raesene Andu · Aug 28, 2005

My all time favourite setting is Birthright.

I do quite like Eberron though, mainly because it uses a lot of material that is very similar to what I put in my own campaign setting.

Aus_Snow · Aug 28, 2005

tjoneslo said:
One of the other people noted they hate, despise, loath and revile the D20 system (my hat of teh D02 system know no limit), but has a great interest in setting material. So what settings books would you most recommend to this person. Fluff is more important than crunch, but if you think the crunch in the book would bring them around note that too.

OK, I'll throw my dollar down for Warhammer too (this one gets a vote for 'feel', 'atmosphere', whatever). Apparently v2.0 is some good, though I can't confirm or deny that yet.

I have particularly fond memories of Dark Sun and Birthright, for good old 2nd ed settings (never mind that I intensely dislike 1st and 2nd ed AD&D

). Fluff-wise, they were a bit (alright, a lot) cheesy sometimes. Crunch-wise, they had some neat innovations (I thought).

Pendragon has a really.. interesting feel. It's not d20, any more than WFRP is, just to clear that up first (if that's even necessary). I don't know why it is exactly, but I've always found the whole package oddly compelling.

Um.. not all of those are dark :heh:

- honest! Birthright, for example, can be all kinds of things - even a jolly ol' hack n' slash with yer mates.. er, if you want.

Anger of Angels - whether with a fantasy, modern, historical, post-apoc or other backdrop - is something really different (from your usual d20 elves, dwarves et al), and the creators did pretty well here, IMHO.

Some of the GURPS setting / supplement books are great for the fluff, IMO. Examples include some of the historical ones and their take on vampires (again, IMO). Really, very useful and well-written RPG books.

Um.. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head right now. But there are others, to be sure.

edit - well... it's not really a setting, I suppose, but Book of the Righteous (and the Book of Fiends) have some very good fluff, I think (as well as crunch, for that matter).

John Q. Mayhem · Aug 28, 2005

I like WFRP v2 a lot, but I don't think it's a terribly good setting book. Lots of flavour and atmosphere, but not a great deal of info on the setting.

I'm very fond of Iron Kingdoms, as well.