Fantastical RPG Settings of This Millennium

[Reynard]

What settings made since 2000 do you think are thr most fantastical and interesting? They don't have to be "fantasy" per se, but they should be from RPGs.

Go.

 

[gamerprinter]

Well I am the creator, so claiming they are most fantastical or interesting (which I think they are) is heavy bias.

Rite Publishing The Kaidan setting of Japanese Horror (PFRPG) 2010 - 2017

Gamer Printshop Peregrine Binary Star System, which is included content for Arcane Armada Spelljammer ship collection supplement. 2023

Am getting back to a Starfinder Kronusverse setting to publish sometime this or next year...

 

[TwoSix]

The last TTRPG setting I really found interesting was Eberron, back in 2003.

Although, to be fair, my gaming preferences have moved well away from finding a highly detailed campaign setting desirable.

 

[Reynard]

I too think Eberron is a standout. It obviously holds on to a lot of D&D'Souza tropes -- intentionally so -- but I think it remixes a lot of them in a really cool way. Especially for the time it came out, u think it is a great fantastical setting.

And while I don't particularly like the Cypher system, Numenera embraced a gonzo science fantasy post post apocalyptic far future in a way I don't think we had seen in a very long time. I don't know that the 9th World is a setting I car about, but it is a phenomenal milieu. And the art. Soooo good.

 

[Bernese]

lamentations of the flame princess is pretty interesting.

 

[Aldarc]

When I think of settings that have grabbed me by the shoulders and started shaking me in how they got my attention, I tend to break them up in phases. Phase one was my earlier years of gaming:

• Eberron: for reasons previously stated
• Blue Rose: probably remains the go-to gold standard example of romantic fantasy in the TTRPG industry
• Diamond Throne: much like Eberron, it twisted a lot of the conventions I was used to in D&D, and it had some awesome themes
• Iron Kingdoms: mechs, magitech, and somehow interesting faiths and religions

Phase two came a bit later:

• Numenera: I love science-fantasy, and this was such an interesting premise
• Stonetop: Iron Age fantasy is so rare!

 

[Haiku Elvis]

Bastion from Electric Bastionland is probably my favourite. Early 20thC technology level doesn't come up much in fantasy games.
(I'm not counting CoC style games that are actually set in that there real 20th century)

 

[thullgrim]

Coriolis - interesting take on sci-fi
Numenera - It's fantastic
Eberron
Nentir Vale/PoL - a new take on the D&D cosmology that worked

 

[aramis erak]

Due to the ones I want to praise being based upon much older IPs...
I'll go with two I've read but not run...
Coriolis
Numenara.

One of which I'd like to run... Coriolis.

Numenera as a setting is the best adaptation of The Dying Earth I've read.... but the system uses mechanical bits I'm not fond of (atts as metacurrency and damage pool; only three atts).

Both I got in bundles simply for reading value; at $1/hour_of_enjoyment, I got my bundle money out of them.