System-free Settings

[jdrakeh]

Maybe the determination should be a percentile rather than a page count.

After all, you could have a 10-page PDf with only 1 page of rules (10%), or (to use a recent example ) a 500 page book with 8 pages of rules (just over 1%).

Just an idea.

The only problem with this is that using a fluff to mechanics ratio typically results in a list of 'systemless settings' that includes several very system-specific worlds, due to a large page count. I frequently see such lists that include a myriad of settings stuffed full of GURPS-specific rules, Hero stats, or d20 System stats.

I've personally been burned more than a few times when making purchases based on such lists (i.e., I ended up with 'settings' that included entire chapters worth of rules I would never use, but chapters that I paid money for all the same). I mentioned already the tendency of fans and publishers to try to sneak some fairly system-heavy setting supplements onto these 'systemless' threads in the past

Stretching the definition of 'systemless' to include settings that merely have less pages devoted to rules than fluff is counter-productive given my stated goals. If I were looking to compile a list of easily adapatable settings or settings that merely contained more fluff than rules, however, looking at percentages would definitely be the way to go.

 

[Voadam]

Glorantha the Second Age

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=16169&it=1&filters=0_2120_0

Glorantha is a world permeated by magic and shaped by myth. Its heroes achieve power by questing for runes, physical manifestations of the eternal abstract forces that shape its destiny. Eventually they graduate to even more powerful magics, learning to gain power by emulating the deeds of the gods, mastering the arcane formulae of the sorcerous arts, allying with spirits, or achieving meditative awareness of life’s unknowable secrets. In doing so, they draw on one or more of the mythic Otherworlds surrounding their everyday material world. With the right magic, they can travel to the realms of the gods, become participants in their ancestral myths, and return with wondrous new abilities. Those who fail these daunting tests may be diminished, destroyed, or eternally lost in the mythic realms.

Explorers, adventurers and kings aren’t the only ones who wield magical power here. Ordinary people practice their own spells and charms, helping them to feed, clothe and shelter themselves in what would otherwise be a hostile environment.

Glorantha is a world of clashing cultures, where good and evil aren’t always easy to sort out. Though cursed with more than its share of tyrants, monsters, and villains, no single one of its cultures maintains a monopoly on virtue. Two warring cultures can be, from their own point of view, equally right — or equally ruthless and brutal. Cultures differ on the right way to live, the true events of myth and history, and the very purpose of existence. And that’s just the humans: its inhuman races follow their own alien agendas, as laid out at the beginning of time.

In its glorious Second Age, Glorantha is the prize of warring empires. Two empires, more similar than they’d like to admit, vie for ultimate dominance. The God Learner Empire seeks to crack open and the very secrets of the gods, manipulating them to their own ends. The Empire of Wyrm’s Friends works to transform its land and people into a gigantic, mystical dragon, which will take flight and reshape the entire world.

The Second Age is a time of unprecedented discovery and exploration. For the first time, trade and travel allows the interaction of far-flung cultures. Both Empires innovate feverishly, unveiling new forms of magic, new devices, new modes of perception.

Against this backdrop of unfettered progress, dark omens gather. Men have pushed the Glorantha’s eternal laws of myth and magic to the breaking point. How long will it be before the world strikes back at them, punishing their unprecedented hubris?

Although designed to be used with the RuneQuest roleplaying game, Glorantha: The Second Age contains no rules-specific information, allowing you to use it with any fantasy roleplaying system.

 

[Voadam]

I expect the Ptolus World of Praemal pdf by Malhavok Press will not have many rules, I don't remember anything like NPC or monster stats from those chapters of the big book.

 

[jdrakeh]

Glorantha the Second Age[/I]

Already on the list as "Glorantha" but I will expand the title appropriately. Thanks!

 

[jdrakeh]

I expect the Ptolus World of Praemal pdf by Malhavok Press will not have many rules, I don't remember anything like NPC or monster stats from those chapters of the big book.

There are a few references to racial stats for PCs, but if the content is identical to the big PDF, it weighs in at just less than one page worth of rules. That said. . .

The listed page count on Drive Thrue for the Praemal PDF doesn't jibe with the page count for the same section in the compiled PDF (that I own), so it appears to be slightly different.

I'll add it to the list for now, but if somebody confirms that the standalone Praemal PDF contains additional rules, I'll have to remove it from the list.

 

[jdrakeh]

After thinking about it, I plan to let this thread run for a few more days, after which I will add the compiled list of settings to the ENWorld wiki. I'll also back it up over on my own site, in the event that we lose the wiki at any time in the future.