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

[Mistwell]

Baba Yaga, the First Setting In Rassiya. You can read Crothian's fine review here.

It has that "tiny enclaves of civilization surrounded by vast stretches of uncivilized lands" feel to it that I think would adapt well to 4e's Points of Light.

 

[pukunui]

I still maintain that Dragonlance, circa the War of the Lance Classic modules, is the original Points of Light campaign from TSR. It's a post-apocalyptic western dressed up as a medieval adventure story. The gods are gone, dragons are scary legends, no town knows what the next one is doing, mages are feared by the general population, and magic in general is rarely in the hands of the commonfolk.

I'll second this. I just finished re-reading the Chronicles. I would not be at all surprised if the WotC designers were channeling their memories (consciously or subconsciously) of those books when they came up with 4e's Points of Light concept.

I stopped having anything to do with the series after Dragons of Summer Flame, but what little I've seen of the 3e stuff didn't interest me in the least. I will admit to being one of those people who thinks of DL as a "one story" setting, though. Actually, I think it's a great setting for novels ... but not a great setting for actually roleplaying in. My main beef with the setting has always been one of size. Ansalon just seems too small and too empty.

Anyway, I digress. DL is definitely the original official PoL setting.

 

[der_kluge]

Wilderlands!

(PoL since 1976!)

What he said. You really can not get more PoL than the Wilderlands. I defy anyone to try.

 

[Cmarco]

The Shattered Lands? With the dead Sky God and the gnolls and necromancers and communist dwarves? Yes, I'd love more on that setting.

Cheers,
Cam

Yeah! The way I see it, to make it really "points of light", you'd have to finish off the wars between all the factions. The high elves (eladrin) would retreat back to their mountain strongholds (which are shielded from the world with massive invisibility spells and other such "beneath-notice" magic), and their elven cousins would eventually draw back to their woodland homes. A similar situation would probably happen in the case of the dwarves of Mordengard. The human nation of Thalos remains on it's island, which makes forays into the wilds of the mainland a dangerous prospect.

Drazen, the hobgoblin ruler over Drazen's Horde (lots of hobgoblins, goblins, bugbears, orcs, giants, ogres, trolls and whatnot) fractured after the death of Drazen. These creatures eventually went their own way, taking up residence in the territories left open after the Godwar.

Demon-worshipping gnolls abound within the setting, slavishly serving under the will of Yeenoghu. Their goals are to locate gates to the Abyss, typically guarded by the eladrin folk, and to unleash demonic hordes upon the land.

The undead also run rampant in the setting. The undead warlord Ahmut raised thousands of undead using the powers given him by Stratis (the brother of Hextor and Heironeous), and even more undead were created by the Cult of the Red Scythe, a group of Nerull cultists who believe Ahmut is the emissary of Nerull. Whether Ahmut is still around is really up to DM discretion, but he would make an interesting epic-tier threat.

The drow only recently appeared in the Western Oerik, and, in the time after the war, have conquered several cities and outposts of the ancient underground gith kingdom of Zarum. Kuo-toa and mindflayers are allied with these drow, and the drow also control several displacer beasts.

The lands are filled with unexplored locales, like Scalebane (a dragon graveyard) and the Ghostwind Plateau (an area haunted by the ghosts of dead giants)...

I know this is a long post, but it really seems to me that the setting of Chainmail would make a great Points of Light setting.

 

[Cam Banks]

What's the best source of Chainmail/Shattered Lands information? Was it ever collected anywhere as some kind of gazetteer? My searches always turn up the minis rules and so forth, but I have a feeling this is all spread out through issues of Dragon circa 2002.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[AstroCat]

I'd like to also give a vote for Aereth (Goodman Games). It is practically PoL by default.

 

[Cmarco]

What's the best source of Chainmail/Shattered Lands information? Was it ever collected anywhere as some kind of gazetteer? My searches always turn up the minis rules and so forth, but I have a feeling this is all spread out through issues of Dragon circa 2002.

Cheers,
Cam

I downloaded the Chainmail core book from Paizo.com for about $4. I also have every issue of Dragon magazine with information on the setting. Additionally, the extra rulebooks for other parts of the Chainmail setting can be tracked down on Amazon.com for really cheap.

I have also written a lot about the Sundered Empire here . A few of us have been collaborating to discuss bringing back the Sundered Empire, if only as a setting in our home games.

 

[Cam Banks]

I have also written a lot about the Sundered Empire here . A few of us have been collaborating to discuss bringing back the Sundered Empire, if only as a setting in our home games.

Sundered Empire! Yes, sorry. I always get them mixed up with the Scarred Lands and the result is neither.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Cmarco]

Sundered Empire! Yes, sorry. I always get them mixed up with the Scarred Lands and the result is neither.

Cheers,
Cam

Hey, it's all good. Scarred, Sundered, Shattered... all "S" words that mean similar things. But, yeah, I really liked the Sundered Empire as a setting (ran a 3e campaign during the war, as an evil group unrelated to the factions attempted to use the war to further their own ends). I think the setting holds a lot of PoL potential, especially in a recently post-war context.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I think Creation, the setting for the Exalted game, is a pretty great PoL setting.

You'd have to decide how much of the actual Exalted - humans with demi-god like powers who run around mucking things up - you'd like to include, but with two exceptions you can pretty much ignore them.

1.) The Realm - Creations continent spanning super power: Keep it. Replace it's corrupt elementally empowered aristocracy with the nearest DnD equivalent to flavor. It's a great PoL element since its super soldiers can save your village with one hand and take all the lovely youths for tribute on the other. Going to the realm is even worse for PCs since with all its order the countryside is all tightly controlled peasant villages in the middle of hunting preserves.

2.) The Thousand Streams Alliance - a secret conspiracy of shapechanging demi-gods dedicated to keeping the borders of the world safe/encourage humanity to never rise above/evolve into glorious barbarism. When the last great civilization fell they decided it was a bum deal and now work to create weirdly diverse little barbarian cultures to see if one of them can come up with something better. I think you should could keep them because they're fun and probably won't interfere in any annoying way with your adventure.

There is a ton of extremely well written fluff material for the setting, and its extremely easy to see where you would substitute your DnD equivalents.