rycanada said:
So, I dealt with some challenges, and ended up designing the setting's races. One more outstanding challenge: If the setting isn't hostile, but still is harsh... what is it? Where do I get a feel for the environment of the campaign?
I'm now taking a look at many, many pictures from the Gobi desert.
Blasted heathland, maybe. Long ago, I ran a campaign (using Runequest 2 rules, to give you an idea how long ago) set a hundred years after a war between the gods. One of the gods had been destroyed, and his remains persisted as a kind of radioactive wind which ebbed and flowed randomly, mutating anyone crazy enough to get caught in it (I had to find a use for my stock of Broo minis).
The armies which had been fighting at ground zero had become crazed, immortal beastmen. The remnant of the high elven civilisation that had occupied the country now lived underground, where they would bolt if the "godwind" swirled in their direction. Defeated demigods lay shackled in deep dungeons.
It gave me what I wanted at the time, basically a chance to reuse my Runequest minis (and runequest, at least then, had a more primitive, bronze age, feel around it) plenty of opportunity for dungeon crawls, a non-D&D feel to the magic, and lots of atmosphere - based around this misty, blasted heath. The general feel for the players was one of furtive freedom fighters, cooperating with the elves in quests for long lost artifacts.
Anyhow, you can do barren without desert; or rather if you combine any terrain with interesting climate you rarely get something dull, I think.