Good Obscure Settings? (and some ruminations on classic vs. newer fantasy settings)

[pming]

Hiya.

I was going to mention Titan, but someone already did up above.

One world I've always thought was nutty-wierd-fun was Talislanta ( Talislanta | Still No Elves! for that gem). There's just so-o-o-o many cool and interesting cultures, religions, races, etc. in that setting! The biggest problem we had with it was it's size...the continent of Talislanta just wasn't big enough to accomadate all those things and still leave room for "unknowns". Initially we doubled the scale on the map (from 1" = 75 miles to 1" = 150 miles), but if I ever play it again I'm just going to slap a 1" = 500 kilometers (just over 300 miles), and then 'redraw' each country/area that the PC's wander through, filling them with 'empty space', so to speak, for those long-lost ruins, dungeons, etc.

Another one I like is for the Powers & Perils RPG, called Perilous Lands. ( Powers and Perils - Index for all that goodness). The system is very much a "Swords & Sorcery" style, with a more classical take on monsters and such. The world is quite large, and has many countries and empires. The setting has a nice "bronze-age", kinda Conan feel to it. Barter is big, and salt is a common means of payment.

Lastly, I have to mention the Kingdoms of Kalamar (produced by Kenzer & Co.: Kenzer & Company to find it). I bought this boxed set back when it was a boxed set and for "generic" rpg system (re: 1e/2e AD&D, pretty much). I had ordered it, then promptly forgotten I did so. I think it took slightly more than a month for it to get to me, lol! I came home from work and found it sitting there. Nice 'surprise'. Anyway, Kalamar is a pretty damn well thought out world in every way; geography, religions, countries, etc. It's got some odd naming, but that's my problem...others love it saying it gives more 'flavor'. *shrug* At any rate, Kenzer & Co. is a kick-azz company and it's reflected in their stuff.

Mystara. Ok, so it's not really an 'unknown'...but it's such an awesome world I just had to plug it for those newbies who don't know of it. You can get a lot of information about it here: Vaults of Pandius - the Official Mystara Homepage

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Doug McCrae]

Glorantha's not obscure, but it is the best fantasy setting ever created.

Magnamund, from the Lone Wolf books, Skyrealms of Jorune, and Tekumel are all good 'uns.

 

[Tonguez]

I want to give a shout out to En Worlds very own Cressia.
The setting was 'developed' out of Rangerwicketts Fantasy Arms Race thread, and saw developed from an inital stone age culture through paleolithic to three bronze/early iron-age empires (plus some speculation on a future dark age renaisance). I wish someone would collate the whole 20pages into a wiki

Then there was the equally awesome Mors End

Also on En World lets not forget Shark World

 

[Crothian]

Also on En World lets not forget Shark World

Someone actually remembers that let alone thinks it was good enough to post?

My initial though is Thieves World. The old Chasium products are great but the newer Green Ronin ones are much better organized and thorough plus are easier to find.

 

[Argyle King]

It's not a D&D product, but I like the Banestorm setting.

 

[3catcircus]

I'd go with Goodman Games' Gazetteer of the Known Realms boxed set detailing the world of Aereth (the setting that became the default setting for the DCC modules.) Two books (Gazetteer, DM's guide), two adventure modules, 4 maps for the players, 15 more detailed maps for the DM.

Just enough detail to let the DM give the players enough rope to hang themselves with...

AFAIK, it is out of print (but available as a pdf). At present, it is selling on Amazon for $179.99 new, with a similar price on ebay (a while back, someone even had it on Amazon for nearly $1000 asking price.)

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Mystara. Ok, so it's not really an 'unknown'...but it's such an awesome world I just had to plug it for those newbies who don't know of it.

Totally Mystara! Because it is a conglomeration of countless obscure mini settings wrapped around a familiar core.