Campaigns based on more obscure geographical regions

[AFGNCAAP]

Well, one I'd like to see is a heroic Finland ala the Kalevala--the PCs are heroes wandering Kaleva, fighting the menaces from the cold Northland, or even searching for the legendary Sampo.

Then again how about a game based around the Inuit/Eskimo cultures of the far north? Or a game set during the mid- to late-1700's/early 1800's?

 

[Agemegos]

Thats also my main 'issue' with non-western settings they often lack depth and the players tend to play straight DnD culture regardless of setting (ie its a lot harder to get the immersion when people haven't quick 'got' the culture)...

Interesting. My experience is rather that nothing shocks players out of the complacent presumption that a fantasy world must be what they are used to like the knowledge that their characters are black, armed with a kopesh and a bow, and naked except for a necklace of tiger's teeth and a smug grin. Make a big basic change and you force their minds open for the subtle stuff.

 

[johnsemlak]

I once saw a fan-created Russia-based setting based on pre-Christian Russia, with some interesting ideas:

Most characters are illiterate, including arcane spellcasters. A redone-wizard type which fits in this setting (i.e. no spellbook) is presented. Ohter classes also modified to fit an animistic setting. Clerics are more like shamens

Two character races: Vikings and Slavs

Can't remember much more. Again, the focus was on pre-Christian Russia

 

[Kesh]

I've been wanting to do a fantasy arctic/sub-arctic campaign, using the Frost & Fur rules. The human regions would have a eastern-Europe flavor, for the most part, with plenty of other cultural aspects borrowed from other real-life and fantasy settings to suit the environment.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I once saw a fan-created Russia-based setting based on pre-Christian Russia, with some interesting ideas:

Most characters are illiterate, including arcane spellcasters. A redone-wizard type which fits in this setting (i.e. no spellbook) is presented. Ohter classes also modified to fit an animistic setting. Clerics are more like shamens

Two character races: Vikings and Slavs

Can't remember much more. Again, the focus was on pre-Christian Russia

If I recall correctly, the Mystara write-ups for the Known World setting of Karameikos was very Slavic w/ a Roman/Byzantine influence thanks to the Empire of Thyatis.

Damn, the Known World was cool!

 

[johnsemlak]

If I recall correctly, the Mystara write-ups for the Known World setting of Karameikos was very Slavic w/ a Roman/Byzantine influence thanks to the Empire of Thyatis.

Damn, the Known World was cool!

I'd call it more Romanian (remember the Radu family in Specularum), though a few slavic names were thrown in.

 

[johnsemlak]

I've been wanting to do a fantasy arctic/sub-arctic campaign, using the Frost & Fur rules. The human regions would have a eastern-Europe flavor, for the most part, with plenty of other cultural aspects borrowed from other real-life and fantasy settings to suit the environment.

I"m really looking forward to that book; Grr, it's on order...

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

oh and I thought Mystara's casting of the Pearl Islands as a fantasy tourist destination was somewhat insulting to Polynesian culture.

That was Ieriendi, not the Pearl Islands. I didn't list Ieriendi for just the same reason... The "Fantasy Island the RPG" setting the Kingdom of Ieriendi accessory showed was a major insult to those who bought it, few but not many, found some way to make use out of it without wholesale re-writing.

The Pearl Islands were colonies of the Thyatian Empire, along the southern "edge" of the Alphatian Empire, near another Thyatian colony Ochalea.

Adding more Mystara-analogues of rarer used cultures:

It has the Azcan Empire in the Hollow World, a easy-to-see take on the Aztecs. There are the Olmec, analogues of the Oltecs.

It has the Nithian Empire, analogues of ancient Egypt. (not so rarely used maybe)

There is the Milenian Empire, an analogue of Greece of myth

There are the Jennites, analogues of the Scythians or maybe the Huns.

There are also the vast numbers of Neathar tribes, analogues most likely of Neanderthals.


Regards,
Eric Anondson

 

[Yair]

There's a chance that Suzi and I will be visiting India again at the end of this year for about 4 months. If we do, we're thinking about taking a digital camera and capturing images to use for A Magical Medieval Society: India. It's far from confirmed, but I think It would be a great product. Now we just have to decide how much work we're willing to do to pull it together.

But hey, a 4 month working vacation?.....

joe b.

I'd love a good book on India. Hmm...
Go on vacation!

There is also Mindshadows, which is a psionics-heavy India-inspired setting by Green Ronnin (IIRC).
About slavic settings, there is the settng of Tzarussia used in the (d20) Tzar Rising adventure, but it isn't really presented anywhere that I know of.

 

[The Baron]

deep jungle

I did a few adventures once in a deep jungle setting. I used the Amazon River as a basis and placed a metropolis in the middle.

I only did a few adventures, but it showed a lot of potential. The jungle made for a very freightening, hostile environment, but the big city allowed for some relative safety. The hot weather restricted armor usage (making monks, barbarians, and rangers much more popular). I always liked the imagery of heavily overgrown ancienct structures hidden deep within the forest, full of traps and beasts and, of course, gold. Think the beginning of Indiana Jones. And it was much more interesting because it didn't fall into the "primitive jungle" archtype. There was definitely civilization - more crossbows than blowguns.