Tired of traditional Fantasy Campaigns?

[Alebrije]

Just wondering pepole, how many of you run campaigns not tolkien-type, but the ones like Talislanta, where you dont have the "classic" races like halfings, dwarves, etc?

Do you know if there are more campaign books with no-tolkien content?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

They're out there and they range from good to bad. For example -- and I'm only choosing this as an example because the publisher has closed its doors so no harm done -- is Diomin. Non-tolkien, but really crummy. A non-d20 example of a good non-Tolkien game would be Exalted which is currently available for free at DriveThruRPG.

I like the weirder games, but my players unfortunately do not. Alas.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot about Arcana Unearthed. I was just at the site, too.

 

[Alebrije]

Thanks Biggus, so which ones are the "good" form d20, and non-d20?
I´ve heard about a campaign named "talislanta", do you know it?

 

[Desdichado]

In the d20 realm, published non-Tolkien fantasy (and I use that somewhat loosely) games include (off the top of my head):

• Wheel of Time
• Conan
• Call of Cthulhu
• Star Wars
• Diamond Throne
• Black Company (later this year)

I'm a bit tired of "traditional" fantasy myself; but I tend to homebrew.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Thanks Biggus, so which ones are the "good" form d20, and non-d20?

I like Arcana Unearthed and there's a lot of support for it. Getting it on PDF is a point of serious controversy right now (there are about a half dozen threads on this forum realting to it) but it's cheaper than print.

I don't have much other info for you. But here are some leads:

Ysgarth: http://www.fontcraft.com/ragnarok/ysgarth/
Talisanta: http://www.talislanta.com/talislanta/index.html
Glorantha: http://www.glorantha.com/

The only one I've had any practical experience with is Glorantha and that was back when it was called RuneQuest. I dug it, but the core rules have long since changed.

I´ve heard about a campaign named "talislanta", do you know it?

Linked above. Never played it. "No elves". That's all I know.

 

[NewLifeForm]

Traditional...With a Twist!

I've been playing so long, I guess I've played almost everything once. Talislanta is really cool and deserves a conversion to D20, but requires work on the GM's part if your going to stick to it's "canon". Empire of the Petal Throne, Glorantha/Hero Quest and Gamma World (believe it or not) can be excellent variations on the medieval social and technological settings, each with it's own unique brand of "magic".

My campaigns in the fantasy genre (albeit my second favorite to SF) tend to resemble traditonal medieval fantasy, with some kind of odd spin. My most successful was and is a DnD meets Super Heroes campaign, currently in it's 5th or 6th incarnation (same world, some 20 years of real time history now). Another one that went well and I'd like to start up again was an anime/manga inspired Magic & Mecha game.

Eberron looks interesting, but I doubt I'll run it so much as add stuff in it to my other campaigns. Almost everything I've seen in it reminds me of something that already exists in my "Medieval Supers" universe.

AD

 

[takyris]

In the d20 realm, published non-Tolkien fantasy (and I use that somewhat loosely) games include (off the top of my head):

• Wheel of Time

While understanding that you're using it loosely, I still feel that Wheel of Time is pretty firmly in the Tolkienian world. The tone is different from Tolkien's tone, and the magical level is higher, but it uses so many of the old tropes that I'd have a hard time saying it wasn't Tolkienian.

I'm a bit tired of "traditional" fantasy myself; but I tend to homebrew.

Ditto and ditto.

Current game I'm getting together is going to involve the PCs acting as part of the government of a floating city, trying to keep the peace with the nations over which they pass -- sort of swashbuckling with low magic, and a number of non-normal races (including talking floating jellyfish). We'll see if the players go for it, or if they'd rather do something more normal.

 

[Wombat]

I could come on all pedantic and say that I am more upset by not finding many traditional fantasty campaigns, but that would get into an unnecessary definition-war

If you want something truly outside the common, there is Mechanical Dream, put out by SteamLogic. No humans, much less no elves, dwarves, etc. The world is composed of giant tree-cities, strange creatures, and the ability to run almost anything from film noir to cyberpunk to New Age spiritual to semi-traditional Fantasy adventures. I have the rules, but have never put a game together.

Tekumel/Empire of the Petal Throne has gone through at least three different systems (it was the second TSR rpg, if I remember a-right) and people still are confused by it. It melds an ancient Meso-American feel with very early Indian culture with a whole bunch of other stuff. Many people are both attracted and repelled by its social complexity. I ran briefly in a GURPS rendition of it and still own the original edition, much beaten upon.

The point is that there are such games out there, but they don't sell well. Why? Well, mainly because most people want what they already know about, what the feel comfortable with. In most cases this means setting, but for others it means system; for several it means both, thus the proliferation of D20 fantasy settings with at least half-a-dozen standard fantasy races as playable races, spells books and magic shops, etc. For a non-traditional setting to make a serious mark on this market would be difficult.

Ultimately, I would say that homebrew would take care of the problem, but that is my standard option with most of my gaming desires

 

[Alebrije]

Have you heard about Violent Dwan? form innercircle, i havent heard too much buzz about it, just that is...... different

 

[d4]

Nyambe, Mindshadows, Testament, heck even Rokugan and Oriental Adventures.

there's actually quite a few campaign settings out there that depart from the pseudo-medieval pseudo-Europe that seems common in much of D&D.