Help me pick out a setting book to purchase

[Darrell]

Paradigm Concepts' Arcanis setting for 3e/d20 was pretty good at 'interesting twists on standard material,' and had the advantage of being integrated with GR's Freeport setting material from the outset. Rather 'vanilla,' yes, but vanilla is a pretty good flavor.

Regards,
Darrell

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Why not Blackmoor?

 

[greywulf]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ptolus yet. The whole thing is $60 from drive thru, and as funds are limited it might be worth getting the free Players Guide to see if the style suits, then get the individual bits and pieces as requires.

I think that ticks all the boxes you've listed; depends on whether you're a fan of urban adventures or not though.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

If Talislanta is a fave, then why not just use it?

All other settings are a pale comparison.

 

[Mercurius]

Very simply, MrFilthyIke, because I'm not shopping for a setting to run, but one (or many) to read and glean ideas from--as I stated in the original post.

I may, at some point, run a campaign in a setting not my own (something I've never done), but that is not the target of this inquiry.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Ah, from a pillaging viewpoint then -
Midnight, a dark setting, if you are looking at ways to tweak the feel of a D&D world, starting with the tropes (orcs, goblins, elves and dwarfs) then it is great for plundering.

Pathfinder, the Paizo 'not a magazine' setting - twists a lot of the standards around in interesting ways - goblins are nasty, sadistic, crazy little bastiches.

Scarred Lands, less to plunder, perhaps - the world is self consistent, ravaged by a war between the gods and the titans, within the memory of many dwarfs and most elves. Better if you are building your own world along similar lines.


Eberron, a setting that I did not expect to like - I avoided it for a long time. And like a lot of settings that I have avoided it was the negative reviews that caught my eye.... 'Wait, that sounded good. ' I like it better than any official D&D setting since Birthright.

The Auld Grump

 

[TheYeti1775]

We use Dawnforge with sprinklings of Scarred Lands within it. Makes for a fun flavoring.

 

[jdrakeh]

Scarred Lands, less to plunder, perhaps. . .

Actually, because of the way that the setting was published (i.e., across an entire line of books), it's probably more suited for plundering than many other settings mentioned herein. For example, The Divine and The Defeated is essentially a rule book for building a complete pantheon with examples (i.e., Scarred Lands deities).

The fact that the deities are presented with little in the way of substantial setting context makes them perfect for plundering, as you can just file off the proper nouns and - BLAMMO - you have a completely generic pantheon for use in any fantasy setting. To wit, I never picked up Deities & Demigods for 3x because I already had The Divine and The Defeated.

 

[sckeener]

I'd recommend Ptolus and Pathfinder.

Both are good tweaks on the standard D&D setting without ruining the feel and both are very fun to read!

I'd recommend Scarred Lands, but I've never played in it, only read. Still it is fairly good. The material from a writing POV might not be as good though.

 

[Darklone]

I recommend Kalamar. Adaptable to any power levels or grittyness, lots of good setting books and stories that capture me every time I read them.