Kitchen Sink Settings

[Scotley]

I tend to be pretty kitchen sink. With my most recent game I didn't allow elves for reasons of history and plot. I don't usually just open it up completely, but rather discuss things with a player before hand. If he wants to play some exotic race and together we can make it fit then I'm all for it. That said, for an upcoming game with a very some specific story goals in mind I'm planning to use a rather short list of races. In this game gnomes and orcs are out though a half-orc is possible it wouldn't be desirable. However, we'll be letting in Goblins (again not desirable, but if the player is foolish enough to try it...), hobgoblins (better) and a few others in to replace them. I do tend to draw the line at regional feats unless I've taken the time to put together a set of regions. Generally, feats from Book of Exalted Deed are out as well, because I don't really run exalted style games.

 

[Psion]

I think the flavor of a good setting should be defined as much by what isn't there as by what is.

True, but if you just use core rules, you are just as bad of if you used everything. There is no contribution of the rules materials to the flavor of the game.

AFAIAC, Core + 5-10 "central" supplements defining the flavor of the setting, with occasional "guest supplements" as needed, are the way to go.

Examples:

Planar Campaign:
Core books
Planar Handbook
Portals & Planes
Classic Play: Book of the Planes
Fiend Folio
Book of Fiends
Savage Species (racial classes for outsiders)
Aasimar & Tiefling

Seafaring Campaign:
Core Books
Stormwrack
Freeport
Seas of Blood
Out of the Boundless Blue
Creatures of Freeport

Demon Hunting Campaign
Core Books
Demon Hunters Handbook
Fiend Folio
Book of Fiends
Holy Warrior's Handbook
Unholy Warrior's Handbook
Fiendish Codex I

Asian Fantasy Campaign
Core Books
Oriental Adventures
Complete Arcane
Legends of the Samurai
Kitsunemori
Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts
Creatures of Rokugan

Psionic Campaign
Core Books
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Hyperconscious
Complete Psionic
Monsters of the Mind
Mindshadows Campaign Setting
Minds Eye Articles @wizards.com

Desert Campaign
Core Books
Sandstorm
Unearthed Arcana (for desert Races)
Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra
Coils of Set adventure
Desert Heroes
Necropolis
Perhaps Libris Mortis

Horror Campaign:
Core Books
Heroes of Horror
Darkness & Dread
Lords of Madness
Call of Cthulhu D20
Unearthed Arcana (grittier campaign variants)
Book of Vile Darkness
Darkwalkers

Undead Campaign:
Core Book
Lords of the Night: Liches
Savage Species
Libris Mortis
Undead
Necromancer's Legacy


You get the idea.

 

[klofft]

Psion,

Those are some helpful lists! I normally shy away from 3rd party products myself, but as my campaign qualifies as "demon hunting," "horror," and "undead," I may have to check out some of those other books (I have all the WotC stuff).

Thanks!
C

 

[The Human Target]

No, I equate not playing in a campaign because it doesn't have what they want in it as wanting more power. My games are good and fun. I can understand not likeing my style, but when they refuse to play because I don't allow things outside the core books they are looking for more power.

Ever since 3E came out the "same ol-same ol" excuse went out the window. Unless people now want to claim the core 3E is "cookie cutter" etc....

So if I wanna play a swashbuckler I'm on a quest for more power?

Thats just silly.

 

[The Human Target]

I generally run a "kitchen sink plus" style of game when running most campaigns, and generally prefer playing in them as well.

If I'm running a game in the FR, and a player wants to be a goliath or a warforged or a warlock, I'm more than likely gonna let them.

And bear in mind, I don't personally like Goliaths or warlocks. But I'm not gonna rain on someone else's parade based on my own likes/dislikes.

I'll also throw in curveballs in terms of bringing in stuff from other books. It adds another element of suprise to the game, especially when most of my players have been playing D&D a lot longer than I have.

Now, where I to play a game in the MIDNIGHT setting or somesuch, I'd make it more restrictive by far. Because the game world itself is much smaller in terms of options, and it would be a change of pace for a while.

There are a few things that solicit a banning from me, based on proven game balance. But If someone has there heart set on a certain spell or PRC, I'm willing to retool it.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

For me, "kitchen sink" isn't exactly how I approach my settings, but it's closer to the way I design than "core or the door".

I don't include everything in my games, but what I do exclude tends to be material I personally dislike rather than excluded because of the book it appears in.

For instance, I don't like halflings. Never liked Tolkien, disliked the Tolkienesque Second Edition treatment, don't have much more interest in the core Third Edition version of them, et cetera. I haven't come up with a setting that includes halflings, ever.

Anyone who came to my table and wanted to play a halfling would have to come up with an alternative treatment of them that's as interesting and fun as the Eberron reworking of them. At that point, though . . . is someone who wants to play "a halfling" going to want to play something that's a halfling only in name and game statistics, like Eberron halflings are?

Other game elements are sort of "out by default but not banned", like for instance the bard class. I don't like bards as written - I think they've got a muddy concept, poor mechanical execution, and so on. I wouldn't include a bard in my games unless I had a really good reason to do so. Bards won't show up as NPCs, that sort of thing. However, if a player wanted a bard PC I'd have no problem with it - if they want to waste their time, that's their prerogative!

I tend to include a lot of game material except when I get on a jag about a specific setting with a specific culture. That's not usually the case, though.

 

[Thurbane]

At the risk of flying in the face of popular opinion, I do not run a "kitchen sink" campaign. My campaign is basically core only, with the only the odd addition (1/2 ogres, for example).

There is no right or wrong approach to a campaign, but IMHO a campaign that has EVERYTHING published by WotC included lacks somewhat for uniqueness. Not to mention that the ecology would be completely nuts.

 

[schporto]

EDIT:Aw, hell. Beaten to it. So what kind of world have you ended up with, through this method? I'm really curious.

Generally we stick Core, Complete, about to add PHB2, DMG2. We've used races book for a few things. The DM can use whatever book unless it crosses a boundry. We didn't say no to Expanded Psionics, but no to psionics. Therefore the DM gets no psionics either.

Right now though - we running a 3 week interlude - that IS a kitchen sink. And part of it is me 'showcasing' some stuff, so folks get to see if they want to use certain things.

[Edit] Oh and its worked well because the players have a hand in deciding what to use.[/Edit]
-cpd

 

[The Lost Muse]

My players use Core, Original Completes, Eberron Books (except races) that I have, and I make use of various other supplements depending on what's going on.

 

[Brimshack]

I've never run anything but a Kitchen Sink setting myself. In fact, if a player wants to do somethign for which we have no rules, I am usually willing to try generatinng a house rule for it.

...if necessary, we make the kitchen sink in order to put it in the setting.