Looking for a "Middle" sized campaign setting.

[Hussar]

Sorry for the scare quotes in the title, but, I'm not really sure how to phrase this. Looking at D&D settings, there's a metric butt load of them out there, but, one thing I've noticed is this: Many settings are ginormous. The bog standards, FR, Greyhawk, Eberron, whatever, are all complete worlds. They're huge. And that's great.

But, that's not what I want.

OTOH, there are many campaign settings which encompass a single city - Freeport, Thieves World, Bluffside. They might have a bit of countryside around them, but, for the most part, they are urban campaign settings.

Again, not what I want.

What I want is a campaign setting that encompasses, more or less, a single nation state (although that's a bit of a misnomer). Outside of this single state, there might exist other stuff, but, by and large, it's ignored. It's not meant to be part of the setting. I'm looking for something kind of isolated, like Dark Ages England or Japan, at least geographically. Something that takes a couple of weeks to ride across, but isn't this huge sprawling land.

However, I want more than just a single culture too. England was comprised of all sorts of different little kingdoms, all pretty different from each other, but, more or less, sharing a fair number of traits as well - religion for example. Edo Japan was hardly homogenous. Each area was, more or less, fairly independent and culturally pretty distinct - linguistic differences (it was the enforcement of education in Edo of the noble classes which forced linguistic standards) for example, although religion remained fairly similar. But, you still had the Ainu in the north and various other groups as well.

That's the kind of thing I'm looking for. A detailed treatment of a fairly isolated region that is not part of a larger campaign setting.

Anything out there fit the bill?

 

[delericho]

Nothing immediately springs to mind. However, have you considered an "area" sourcebook for an existing setting? For example, you could get the "Silver Marches" supplement for (3e) Forgotten Realms and just ignore everything that happens outside of that area. That would seem to do roughly what you're requesting.

(Another example of this sort of thing were the old Gazeteers for the "Known World" setting for BECM D&D.)

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Your answer is in this very website...

Check out the War of the Burning Sky series of adventures.

They are all set within the same area, which is a peninsula with about 6-8 nations total, all about to plunge into a huge war.

Its very well written and I am having a blast playing in it.

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

Not D&D, but what about Harn?

 

[Hussar]

Nothing immediately springs to mind. However, have you considered an "area" sourcebook for an existing setting? For example, you could get the "Silver Marches" supplement for (3e) Forgotten Realms and just ignore everything that happens outside of that area. That would seem to do roughly what you're requesting.

(Another example of this sort of thing were the old Gazeteers for the "Known World" setting for BECM D&D.)

I had thought of this, but, the problem is, all those area sourcebooks are linked to larger settings. All the history, culture, religion stuff is still in some other book.

Sure, something like the Calastia sourcebook for Scarred Lands covers me geographically, but, it's still a Scarred Lands sourcebook, which means it ties into Relics and Rituals, Divine and Defeated etc.

Hrm, Harn.... Haven't looked at that in ages. I forgot that it's not that geographically big. Thanks cwfrizzell, might just do the trick.

 

[amerigoV]

Your description brings to mind the book Stormreach Eberron. Yes, its set in a bigger game world, but hear me out. Stormreach is a mid-sized city on the tip of Xen'Drik. They way they set it up was that the key aspects of the broader contentent (Khorvaire-nations and dragonmark families) is represented in the city. Outside the city was a land of ruins (giants). So in the city (which is NOT one of the mega-cities like Sharn/Ptolus/Waterdeep) you have all the intrigue of multiple cultures and politics plus a land of adventure if you need it.

Just a thought.

 

[Mercurius]

There aren't a lot of settings that fit your criteria of size and diversity of cultures. If you want the latter you probably have to get a bit larger. But there are some interesting options at the next size range up, say a micro-continent less than half the size of the United States. I was going to recommend Harn as well. But it also depends upon what flavor you want - Harn is very much Medieval Europe (England) with orcs, elves, dwarves and a bit of magic thrown in.

Some other settings:

Talislanta - It is on the other end of the fantastical spectrum from Harn. It is not as small as you want but not nearly as large as the FR, Greyhawk, etc. And it has TONS of different cultures and races, but may be a bit too large (I think it is a small continent about a thousand miles at its longest point).

Cyradon - Similar size to Talislanta, although not as exotic. It is set in Gryphon World for the HARP setting and could be easily cut off from the rest of the world.

Valus - I believe this is about the right size and was created by someone on this board, I believe.

Earthdawn - Perfect for the "Points of Light" style of play, although again, a bit big for what you are looking for.

Nentir Vale - Not very diverse, but fits your criteria of size and isolation.

If you can't find anything that fits your criteria, and if you don't have the time or inclination to design your own, what I would do is find a region of an existing published setting that fits the flavor and tone that you are looking for, then adapt the setting to accommodate the other things. Someone used the Silver Marches from the Forgotten Realms, which would be a good example. You can easily find a way to create a greater sense of isolation; let's say a huge apocalypse happened and most of the Realms was destroyed, with tiny pockets of civilization cut off from each other here and there, including the Silver Marches. Etc.

 

[Mercurius]

Your description brings to mind the book Stormreach Eberron. Yes, its set in a bigger game world, but hear me out. Stormreach is a mid-sized city on the tip of Xen'Drik. They way they set it up was that the key aspects of the broader contentent (Khorvaire-nations and dragonmark families) is represented in the city. Outside the city was a land of ruins (giants). So in the city (which is NOT one of the mega-cities like Sharn/Ptolus/Waterdeep) you have all the intrigue of multiple cultures and politics plus a land of adventure if you need it.

Just a thought.

That's a good idea, although again it depends upon what Hussar is looking for in terms of flavor, what sort of campaign he wants to run. Stormreach would be great for an exploration-based campaign.

 

[S'mon]

I think GAZ1 Grand Duchy of Karameikos is a good bet, it's really not much tied into the rest of Mystara and can be easily used in a different campaign world, eg replace off-stage Thyatis with off-stage Byzantium and have Karameikos be the western Balkans of your world.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Wilderlands of High Fantasy possibly, might be a bit too big. But it's more than a city, and a lot less than a planet.

Pathfinder APs tend to be set in roughly the size of area you're describing, I think.

You make an interesting point, that for a campaign, one doesn't need a whole planet. For the D&D game I've just started running, I have an area the size of Britain mapped out, which happens to be very similar in size to Japan.