RangerWickett
Legend
Look at the settings Magic has deployed in the past xx years. They're not that different conceptually from various classic D&D settings, but they've got their own twists of flavor because the designers aren't constrained by having to always make humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings the main races.
Innistrad. Ravenloft-esque world where the angelic being that protected mankind from the walking dead, werewolves, vampires, and ghosts has disappeared. Okay, not too novel.
Zendikar. Strange gravitation causes huge swaths of land to occasionally tear free of the ground and float in the sky for a few centuries, then fall back to earth. There are tons of ancient ruins in the heavens, perfect for adventurers. And in three deadly tombs lie the source of the strange physics: elder gods lie trapped for aeons, struggling to break free.
Alara. Five planes with strong philosophical identities -- one world ruled by massive beasts and the wild energy of nature, another the domain of cruel warlords and their dragon minions, another an exalted beacon of civilization, and so on. Vaguely planescape-esque, in that you can walk between the worlds and after you cross a border the nature of reality changes. The metaplot is that someone is trying to merge the worlds into one, leading to strange upheavals and alliances.
Mirrodin. A world created by a golem (who was originally created by men). Creatures are all naturally infused with living metal, the oceans are quicksilver, the forests oxidized copper tangles, the fields are waving spines of shining steel. Five suns surround the world, but a corruption from another plane is slowly twisting the golem's creations into H.R. Giger-esque monsters, and a few mortals are being born without metallic skin, prompting expeditions to find their creator and understand his purpose.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. Two sides of a coin. Imagine adventures entirely in the Feywild, where the world is in perpetual day. And then the world shifts to endless night, and all that was pure and innocent turns capricious and callous. No humans, but halflings, giants, goblins, pixies, merfolk, treefolk, trolls, and fiery humanoids are the main races.
Ravnica. A planet that is a huge city, ruled by 10 guilds with an Eastern European vibe, including the grave-harvesting Golgari, the crazy architect-wizards of Izzet, the anarchist collective Gruul, and the ghost-ruled priests of Orzhov. It'd be a great setting to use as the backdrop for a city adventure supplement.
The wasteland of Dominaria. What do you get when the world is dominated by plane-hopping super-wizards? You get a series of horrendous apocalypses. Sort of like Dark Sun, if time was tearing itself apart and occasionally beings from ages past appeared and got in on the action.
Innistrad. Ravenloft-esque world where the angelic being that protected mankind from the walking dead, werewolves, vampires, and ghosts has disappeared. Okay, not too novel.
Zendikar. Strange gravitation causes huge swaths of land to occasionally tear free of the ground and float in the sky for a few centuries, then fall back to earth. There are tons of ancient ruins in the heavens, perfect for adventurers. And in three deadly tombs lie the source of the strange physics: elder gods lie trapped for aeons, struggling to break free.
Alara. Five planes with strong philosophical identities -- one world ruled by massive beasts and the wild energy of nature, another the domain of cruel warlords and their dragon minions, another an exalted beacon of civilization, and so on. Vaguely planescape-esque, in that you can walk between the worlds and after you cross a border the nature of reality changes. The metaplot is that someone is trying to merge the worlds into one, leading to strange upheavals and alliances.
Mirrodin. A world created by a golem (who was originally created by men). Creatures are all naturally infused with living metal, the oceans are quicksilver, the forests oxidized copper tangles, the fields are waving spines of shining steel. Five suns surround the world, but a corruption from another plane is slowly twisting the golem's creations into H.R. Giger-esque monsters, and a few mortals are being born without metallic skin, prompting expeditions to find their creator and understand his purpose.
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. Two sides of a coin. Imagine adventures entirely in the Feywild, where the world is in perpetual day. And then the world shifts to endless night, and all that was pure and innocent turns capricious and callous. No humans, but halflings, giants, goblins, pixies, merfolk, treefolk, trolls, and fiery humanoids are the main races.
Ravnica. A planet that is a huge city, ruled by 10 guilds with an Eastern European vibe, including the grave-harvesting Golgari, the crazy architect-wizards of Izzet, the anarchist collective Gruul, and the ghost-ruled priests of Orzhov. It'd be a great setting to use as the backdrop for a city adventure supplement.
The wasteland of Dominaria. What do you get when the world is dominated by plane-hopping super-wizards? You get a series of horrendous apocalypses. Sort of like Dark Sun, if time was tearing itself apart and occasionally beings from ages past appeared and got in on the action.
I was able to make that campaign feel like D&D, I converted Forgotten Realm fans into Eberron.
