Settings you want to like

[Mark Plemmons]

There are a lot of reasons to like Kalamar, which is why I am sorry that I didn't. Like I said, I can't really put a finger on 'why'. It certainly wasn't because it was generic. It isn't dull, it has a great deal of history, the map is gorgeous... the list goes on. But it never ignited a fire in my soul.

No worries. It's just a matter of taste.

I've found that quite a few Kalamar "converts" come from the Forgotten Realms because they're looking for something on a lower magic scale or something more realistic, or they're Greyhawk fans who are looking for a supported setting with a similar "gritty" or low-magic feel.

Others just started flipping through the book (or the 2e boxed set in my case) and spot some little tidbit that ignites that fire and makes them want to delve deeper.

For me, the hook was twofold. First, the legends and mysteries that AREN'T defined - so I can use them however I want in my own campaign - caught my eye. An ancient culture preceding mankind that is rumored to exist in the Awhom Forest, rumors of an undead kingdom deep in the Khydoban Desert, and so on. Second, so many of the nations/people/places are poised on the edge of great changes, and the PCs' interactions can easily sway them and thereby, the world.

As I got further into it, I saw how the setting details are rich and the campaign possibilities are endless, and I slowly fell more and more in love with the peoples and places of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Dragonlance and Ravenloft. I keep hearing about people that love the DL books and settings, but I don't see the appeal. I look at all the new releases, but I end up only picking up the game books that are full of new races or monsters. Therefore, I only have the setting book and the bestiary.

Ravenloft was my first AD&D campaign setting. When it was fresh to me it was interesting, but as time wore on and the timeline advanced I liked it less and less. Too many of the new ideas were done seemingly willy-nilly and it left me wishing it was left alone. I stuck with the original setting for a long time before I got out of it altogether due to simply losing interest even in original setting.

Kane

 

[Wraith Form]

First, the legends and mysteries that AREN'T defined - so I can use them however I want in my own campaign - caught my eye. An ancient culture preceding mankind that is rumored to exist in the Awhom Forest, rumors of an undead kingdom deep in the Khydoban Desert, and so on. Second, so many of the nations/people/places are poised on the edge of great changes, and the PCs' interactions can easily sway them and thereby, the world.

OK, OK, I submit....those do sound cool. I'll get out my Kalamar book and give it another look.

As for a setting I want to like, I'll join the Eberron camp. I've been around since the red box days, and I just don't see the appeal--it's got, essentially, nothing that previous editions don't have (except munchkin warforged).

I could write a book about Flopsy the Fluffy Bunny's adventures in the Fairy World of Yhipei and slap a blurb on the back that says it's got "noir and pulp influences"; does that make Flopsy a noir(-ish) character? Does it make the Fairy World a pulp-inspired wonderland? I think the power of suggestion shouldn't be underestimated ("It's pulp because I say it's pulp, and everyone will buy it and call it pulp! Because I say so!").

 

[Ravellion]

Kalamar didn't hook me because of the deities. Because of the six languages, the main heading for the deities is a title, not a name. The group I played in coulnd't find anything interesting about any of the deities. I liked everything else about the setting, but deities are really important to me, and Kalamar's deities are just... meh... a bit bland.

Now, deities that have been gone for a while and form a perfect triangle of balance (DL), deities that haven been in Mortal form for a while (FR), liches that ascend to godhood but leave half of their body on the prime material (GH)... all with cool sounding names that invoke (to me) what the god stands for, those are cool. "Takhisis"... "Lathander"... "Hextor".

Also, there's just too many deities on Kalamar (Granted, FR, and GH to a lesser extent, has the same problem).

Rav

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

EDIT:

None, really. I homebrew my own setting with liberal borrowing from "established" settings. Ghostwalk fascinated me, but it seemed to lack something. Eberron doesn't interest me in the least, and I've never found anything appealing setting wise in Forgotten Realms. So there really aren't any I "want to like". I just don't care for most of the published settings at all, except Birthright and Al-Qadim.

EDIT:
When Birthright premiered, I fell head over heels in love with it. One of the guys in my group then bought EVERYTHING available, and we played one session. ONE. Then he put it away; eventually giving it to me where it still resides among my collection. I also loved Al-Qadim, but no one in my group had any interest in it. I still go to www.birthright.net for the 3.x conversions, and wistfully thumb through my Al-Qadim books, wishing on what might have been.......

 

[fuindordm]

I could write a book about Flopsy the Fluffy Bunny's adventures in the Fairy World of Yhipei and slap a blurb on the back that says it's got "noir and pulp influences"; does that make Flopsy a noir(-ish) character? Does it make the Fairy World a pulp-inspired wonderland? I think the power of suggestion shouldn't be underestimated ("It's pulp because I say it's pulp, and everyone will buy it and call it pulp! Because I say so!").

Of course; you can't run a pulp/noir game if the DM and players aren't willing to act in the genre. The point is that Eberron supports that style of game much better than FR, GH or the other 'vaguely medieval Europe' kinds of setting.

Eberron supports that style of campaign because it has
1) scads of interrelated power groups. With 13-odd nations, 12 dragonmarked houses, and a handful of cults and religions it's easy to keep the player's heads spinning and wondering just who is on their side.
2) codified moral ambiguity--undead need not be evil, priests of the soverign host need not be good, etc.
3) action points, so you can raise the stakes a little more even at low levels.

BUT, you have to be playing with a group that enjoys not knowing exactly what's going on, doesn't mind being betrayed from time to time by someone they thought was an ally, or struggling to gain enough leverage not to be used as pawns by the various power groups.

If you've got the kind of group that just wants to gain levels and go after bigger and better monsters, then there's not much point to playing Eberron over another setting aside from the cool new character options and richly detailed setting.

And as for the BBEG phenomena, there are lots of BBEG out there... the Lord of Blades, the Lords of Dust, the Dreaming Dark, the Daughters of Sora Kell (who apparently are running magicallly active drugs into Sharn for nefarious purposes), the Aurum, and the Emerald Claw to name a few. The BBEGs are more like monsters and terrorists than evil overlords, as befits a setting created in the current global environment. But if you want a cold war analog, there's always the continent of Sarlona, and the Cannith-driven arms race during the last war...

It's true that the rulers of the principle civilized nations all have a vested interest in maintaining the peace, but that doesn't make them good--and every last one of them would dearly like to see the Empire reunited under their personal rule. The reason they may seem 'good' is that
a) None of them have a gosh-durn idea how to go about doing that outside of spying, the occasional assassination, and hoping for something to turn up that will shift the advantage in their favor
b) All of the nations have been thoroughly tapped out and will probably need another few years of economic recovery before military action becomes feasible.

I do agree, however, that the Trust is a cool idea that should really be more sinister than it is presented to be.
Ben

 

[MaxKaladin]

Kalamar. I think it's the names. Oh those names. So many of them sound like just so much nonsense. Names are everywhere, so its hard for me to get around that.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Kalamar didn't hook me because of the deities. Because of the six languages, the main heading for the deities is a title, not a name. The group I played in coulnd't find anything interesting about any of the deities. I liked everything else about the setting, but deities are really important to me, and Kalamar's deities are just... meh... a bit bland.

Now, deities that have been gone for a while and form a perfect triangle of balance (DL), deities that haven been in Mortal form for a while (FR), liches that ascend to godhood but leave half of their body on the prime material (GH)... all with cool sounding names that invoke (to me) what the god stands for, those are cool. "Takhisis"... "Lathander"... "Hextor".

Well, I would disagree about the "bland" part, but I respect your opinion. C'mon - a god of vice and sloth whose clerics perform services in the nude, whose divine focus is boar testicles wrapped in the hair of a convert, and who perform acts of debauchery in other religions' temples? Bland?

Also, I personally prefer having a deity who's known by a different name in Elven than he is in Kalamaran, or Brandobian, or Dejy, or so on. Otherwise you end up with a god of theives, an elven god of thieves, a gnomish god of thieves, and on and on...

It's certainly true that the gods aren't big movers and shakers on the material plane, with an exception or two. They prefer to manipulate and act through their followers, rather than coming down and hanging out on the planet with people anywhere near as much as in many other campaign settings. They're GODS - further above the human than the human is above the ant. Also, it's completely unheard of for a person to rise to godhood. It just ain't gonna happen on Tellene. The gods will bitch-slap such a person down so fast....

Also, there's just too many deities on Kalamar (Granted, FR, and GH to a lesser extent, has the same problem).

Interestingly, there's been a similar discussion
here on our own forums. Seems out that both Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms have MANY more gods than the KoK setting.

 

[Nightfall]

18 gods and we like em just fine here in the Scarred Lands.

But anyway Mark you have your gods and stuff in Kalamar. I have mine in Scarred Lands.

Just keep on plugging away. They can't ignore you forever. (I know. They've tried and failed with me! )

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Kalamar. I think it's the names. Oh those names. So many of them sound like just so much nonsense. Names are everywhere, so its hard for me to get around that.

Well, that's because they are nonsense - in English. In their own languages, however, they make perfect sense. They also follow the language rules and alphabets detailed in the campaign setting, so the longer you adventure in the world, the more you realize it really does feel like a real world.

For example, if I was playing d20 Modern and I said an NPC's name is "Hans" or "Jacque" or "Miguel," you might immediately assume this person is of Germanic, French, or Spanish origin, respectively.

Likewise, if I told a KoK player that an NPC's name is "Rijani," "Shrokker," or "Vanamir," he might immediately know it as a Dejy, Fhokki or Kalamaran name.

Not many other settings give you that touch of realism.