Here's a list of published settings. Which are good for the PoL style?

[Wisdom Penalty]

Thanks to Mercurius and this thread for the list, which is copy and pasted below.

I trimmed some of the settings I'm familiar with that simply do not seem to mesh with a PoL approach (but feel free to add them back if you disagree). I also marked those I think do best fit. Unfortunately, I'm ignorant of the vast majority.

To be frank, I'd love to find a setting that is little known - a "hidden gem" so to speak. Some dark, realistic, isolated world that my players haven't read about.


The List

Codex of Erde (Troll Lord, 2001)
Dragon Lords of Melniboné (Chaosium, 2001)
Ravenloft Campaign Setting (White Wolf, 2001)
Twin Crowns (Living Imagination, 2001)
Nyambe: African Adventures (Atlas Games, 2002)
Scarred Lands Campaign Setting (Sword and Sorcery Press, 2002)
Sláine (Mongoose, 2002)
Conan the Roleplaying Game: Atlantean Edition (Mongoose Publishing, 2003)
Grimm (Fantasy Flight Games, 2003)
Midnight (Fantasy Flight Publishing, 2003)
Mindshadows (Green Ronin Publishing, 2003)
Players Guide to the Wilderlands (Necromancer/Judges Guild, 2003)
The Black Company Campaign Setting (Green Ronin Publishing, 2004)
Egyptian Adventures - Hamunaptra (Green Ronin Publishing, 2004)
Medieval Player's Manual (Green Ronin Publishing, 2004)
Valus (Different Worlds, 2004)
Dark Legacies Campaign Guide (Red Spire Press, 2005)
Eternal Rome: Roleplaying in the Age of Gods and Emperors (Green Ronin Publishing, 2005)
Wilderlands of High Fantasy (Necromancer Games/Judges Guild, 2005)
Thieves World Gazetteer (Green Ronin, 2006)


I'm not necessarily going to base a 4E campaign in this setting, but I would mine the heck out of it for ideas, geography, etc.

Opinions? Recommendations?

W.P.

 

[malraux]

Gotta add in Eberron. Sure you can travel across Korvaire (sp?) via air ship, but you're doing that to avoid all the scary stuff down below. If you crash halfway to your destination, it's not like you're making a fast landing in Denver, you're in the middle of nowhere and are going to have to take extraordinary steps to get out.

 

[smathis]

Dragon Lords of Melniboné (Chaosium, 2001)

I owned this previously. I didn't care for it. You might be able to tie some of it into a 4e setting. But I wouldn't recommend it. Seems like it would be more work than it's worth -- to me at least.

Ravenloft Campaign Setting (White Wolf, 2001)

I owned this one as well. Not sure how it would work in 4e. Seems like it would be okay with some creative manipulation of the 4e races. I'm hoping the DMG has some sort of Fear and Taint/Corruption mechanic in it. But I think that would be fairly easy to figure out after reading the rules in any case.

Personally, I'd only run Ravenloft with the FFG Darkness & Dread book (by Mearls no less). It seems perfect for the setting. 4e may be a bit high-powered for at least how I conceive of Ravenloft. But I think it would be pretty simple to up the challenge that the monsters present.

Doable and probably worth the effort.

Scarred Lands Campaign Setting (Sword and Sorcery Press, 2002)

I've read a number of people who think this would be a great setting for 4e. I have no experience with it, though, outside of the Creature Collection books. I'd be interested in hearing more opinions on this setting.

Conan the Roleplaying Game: Atlantean Edition (Mongoose Publishing, 2003)

I love REH. I love the setting material in this line. Awesome stuff. But I'm reluctant to use it for 4e. First off, it's a setting that most people are casually familiar with. So it would be hard to add in things like Elves and Dwarves. So, you're either stuck with just humans or some kludge to make the other races more human.

Second, I've always had a hard time gaming in Hyboria. I mean, it's an awesome setting. But I always feel like I have to put everything back in its place before I leave the room.

And magic is very different in Conan. Not sure how 4e would translate, if at all. I'd say wait until Martial Power comes out and then make all spellcasters NPCs. That would save a lot of trouble.

Grimm (Fantasy Flight Games, 2003)

A great, creepy setting. But you'd have to convert all the kids to classes. I think that would be a pain. I guess you could just run the setting with normal 4e classes/races. I don't know how that would work out in the long run, though. Without the kids-fairytales angle, I'm not sure this setting has a lot of staying power.

I guess if you were really creative or campy about it you could redo classic fairytales, like the "Troll Under the Bridge and the three Dragonborn Gruff" or something.

Magic is different in this setting too. But I don't think it would be as big of a deal to have 4e style magic in the setting as it would in Conan.

Midnight (Fantasy Flight Publishing, 2003)

I think this setting would be a no-brainer to use in 4e. Make spellcasting a little tougher (or not). No divine casters. And you're pretty much done.

As long as you're not married to the roles of the races in Midnight (which are cool by the way -- go Ice Elves!), I think you could carry over the main premise of the setting fairly easily.

Eladrin become Caransil. All other Elves are some take on the 4e Elf. Gnomes become Halflings. Midnight Halflings go away (or become 4e Gnomes). Dwarves stay the same. Tweak Humans a bit by race. Get rid of the Heroic Paths. Make the Legates Shadar-Kai and BOOM! Game on.

Players Guide to the Wilderlands (Necromancer/Judges Guild, 2003)
Wilderlands of High Fantasy (Necromancer Games/Judges Guild, 2005)
City State of the Imperial Overlord (ditto)

These three books are all different sides of the same coin. For my money, the WoHF is the route I'd take. Players Guide has lots of races and stuff in it. But the WoHF boxed set is just this huge bulk of story hooks and adventure ideas -- practically system independent.

This is where I plan to base my campaign.

Dark Legacies Campaign Guide (Red Spire Press, 2005)

From my understanding, sorta Steampunk with really nasty magic. There'd probably need to be rules for the Steampunk stuff -- not sure if we're getting vehicles in DMG1 (I'd bet not). Magic would have to be tweaked a bit (or turned into an all-Martial campaign). And maybe some new races/classes/paragon paths built.

But it might be worth it.

 

[Hussar]

Yeah, Scarred Lands fits PoL to a T. Small city states scattered around the edges of a continent filled with nasty stuff that wants to eat you. I would love to see SL redone for 4e.

 

[Remathilis]

I'd love to throw a vote to Aerth from DCC #35: Gazetteer of the Known World (Goodman Games) as a great PoL world that would need minimum tweaking to run.

The best setting I'll never get to run.

 

[Starman]

Scarred Lands Campaign Setting (Sword and Sorcery Press, 2002)
Midnight (Fantasy Flight Publishing, 2003)

These are two that I am very familiar with. Both are great settings in and of themselves and would serve as great inspiration for a PoL setting.

Medieval Player's Manual (Green Ronin Publishing, 2004)

Not a setting, of course, but a great resource for any setting that is not high fantasy and is a little darker than say FR or Greyhawk.

 

[Nytmare]

Yeah, the Scarred Lands was what my normal 3.5+ campaign had been. I will almost definitely be hammering 4th into the setting as well.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with any of the others.

 

[jaldaen]

Are you limited to strictly d20 system campaign settings, because if you are not, then I think the Nevermore campaign setting for True20 works for a POL setting where "realms" ruled by dreamlords are your POLs (or POADs... Points of Absolute Darkness ;-) within an ever-changing and dangerous dreamland.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yeah, Scarred Lands fits PoL to a T. Small city states scattered around the edges of a continent filled with nasty stuff that wants to eat you. I would love to see SL redone for 4e.

This.

I'm of the opinion that SL is actually a better fit for a 4E setting than it was a 3E one.

 

[breschau]

Thanks to Mercurius and this thread for the list, which is copy and pasted below.

I trimmed some of the settings I'm familiar with that simply do not seem to mesh with a PoL approach (but feel free to add them back if you disagree). I also marked those I think do best fit. Unfortunately, I'm ignorant of the vast majority.

To be frank, I'd love to find a setting that is little known - a "hidden gem" so to speak. Some dark, realistic, isolated world that my players haven't read about...

Opinions? Recommendations?

W.P.

Dark Sun. I don't know how well it will translate to 4E, but it's the perfect points of light / realistic setting AFAIK.

No gods, elemental priests instead, perfect for the changes to alignment.

Deal with psionics by giving everyone the half-elf "multi-class" ability (one free at-will power that they use as a per encounter power) call is a mental effect, and you're set.

The cities that stand are ruled by tyrants of pure evil and cunning. They slaughter their own subjects to fuel a ritual that grants them more power. Evil bastards. Some of the backstory is that they chose a race and eradicated it from the face of Athas. All of them, gone. Genocide. Evil bastards.

To make it even better, simply fast forward a few centuries, use the maps for the locations of ancient ruins, and off you go.

EDIT: further, it's also largely unexplored. Only the valley of Tyr was detailed in the setting / novels. A bit outside of that was detailed in the later expansions, but the majority of the planet / plane / whatever are open.

Best setting ever produced.