I for one am sick of all these high fantasy munchkin settings and adventures coming out from just about every d20 publisher. I am dying to see something gritty, like Lankhmar for d20.
***** I understand where you are coming from and I've been begging for a setting like this for quite some time. Our campaign Violet Dawn offers a lot for what you are looking for.
No races except humans! No stupid elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, etc.! Maybe some orcs.
***** OK. We don't have gnomes, dwarves, halflings, orcs, or any of those other typical races, but we do have a somewhat different twist on elves, the sulwynarii.
No cities that float through the clouds, the sea or outer space!
***** No floating cities, no crazy magic communication devices, no flying ships (I really hate those), and absolutely no magic teleportation system.
No dragons or other giant uber-monsters! Very few monsters of any kind, if any. Perhaps a few unique creatures.
***** We do have some uber monsters, but they are extremely rare. If your party ever did come across one it would be like coming across Shub-Niggurath in CoC. Our first release is Denizens of Avadnu due out in September and it will introduce a host of new creatures. To date we haven't used monsters from any other setting, but our own.
No easy access to magic spells or items!
***** Items of up to +2 enchantment aren't magical in our world. They are just finely crafted. Of course every campaign setting needs magic, but we use a new system which is a mix between CoC and WOT.
No polytheistic pantheons of billions of gods!
***** We only have 13 gods and the biggest difference is that we have no healing magic and no priests or divine spells whatsoever. This is our greatest departure and I think one of the best things we decided on.
A place where you can get by with mundane armor and equipment your whole life. No DR/+1 monsters or better... or your PC is pretty much dead!
***** Well, this is where our views differ. Violet Dawn is a VERY harsh world. And while you would be able to make it for some time with mundane equipment and items eventually everything will be way beyond your characters power level. However, all of the magic items that we have are very different and very rare.
A place where you cannot come back from the dead without selling your soul to the Devil or some such evil power!
***** Hehehehe, I don't want to spoil it, but resurrection is extremely difficult.
A place where you cannot get magical healing and combat is deadly and to be avoided!
***** Magical healing does not exist on our world and I think that this is the best part about it. Combat is deadly, but I really hope that it isn't avoided. I love hack and slash after all.
Where, oh where, are the settings, sourcebooks, and adventures like this? Am I the only one tired of FR style games? I'm not saying don't make the other kind, but for gosh sakes, how about giving us a choice? As it is, I have to go through everything I buy and cross out every reference to "legions of gnomes" and "Happy Hairfoot the halfling thief" and "I'll raise you from the dead for 500 gold pieces!" Some company please help me...
***** To be fair to other companies like Hal Greenberg from Thunder Head Games said it is all marketing. Our world and setting is so different that we had to shuffle our product line around several times. When we went to GAMA I thought we were set, but we had to change it all again. We were also warned that it might not sell because it isn't mainstream enough. Personally I'm tired of mainstream fantasy. I think there needs to be an evolution of fantasy and hopefully we can get gamers like you to make that possible. Check us out and let me now what you think. Here's some links for info on our world:
For our official company website, visit www.icirclegames.com
For Violet Dawn, check out www.violetdawn.com
