Tired of traditional Fantasy Campaigns?

[CaffeineBoy]

Oh! Me! Me!

I love non-Tolkienian fantasy. My personal fave was Skyrealms of Jorune (still available at my FLGS, though I have no idea of its actual print status).

I tend to homebrew, myself. I feel free to mix in non-standard races/classes. My current homebrew is a jungle setting, so I use lizardfolk, grippli and cat-people for my non-humans. 'Course, I have been browbeaten by my players to include dwarves/elves/etc., but I draw the line at halflings and gnomes. Halflings are sooooo canon that I feel bad about using them, and gnomes... gnomes should wear little read coats and pointy hats.

But I digress. It seems that, for every GM out there willing to run a non-standard non-Tolkien world, there are players bent on dragging them back to the center. I have never found enough players willing to step outside the comfort zone of the Tolkien Four to make it worthwhile. I wish you better luck.

 

[hellbender]

Why is Tolkien always the measuring stick? Do many people look into the sources that influenced and paved the way for Middle Earth?

Such as, but not limited to:
E.R. Eddison
the Elder and Prose Edda
Lord Dunsany
William Morris

For example, the works of Dunsany and Morris are excellent for campaign material. Tolkien merely expounded upon the notion of a medieval world that was more chivalrous and wondrous than the harsh, stark reality that it was.

hellbender

 

[Turanil]

But I digress. It seems that, for every GM out there willing to run a non-standard non-Tolkien world, there are players bent on dragging them back to the center. I have never found enough players willing to step outside the comfort zone of the Tolkien Four to make it worthwhile. I wish you better luck.

You pointed it out! I have been running for a full year a Tolkien-type campaign. My original intent was much different, I wanted to do a super exotic campaign*, and I still hope I will be able to do it someday. Alas, I asked my players what they wanted to do; I did a poll, and as a result they wanted nothing exotic, only good old Tolkien-style.

(*: My intent was an exotic setting; here is what it would be if I can run it someday: an exotic world mixing Nyambe, Al-qadim (with the Internet conversion 3e), Dark Sun (with the Internet conversion 3e), and including the soon to be released Mesopotamia Cities of the Sand. Then: races and classes being that of Arcana Unearthed; I would allow a few PHB classes as well, but NO elves, dwarves, halflings, and hobbits.)

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Interesting. I'd love to play a truly Tolkeinesque game but I don't think the usual assumptions of traditional D&D fit that bill. It's much more like Fritz Lieber wearing Tolkein's clothes.

I'd be interested to play with the assumptions of the game and go for unadulterated Fritz Lieberesque sword and sorcery, unadulterated Tolkein, Lewis, Wheel of Time (strongly disagree with the person who called it Tolkeinesque, BTW, the setting bears very little resemblance to middle earth except for possibly the trollocs being similar to orcs), Testament, Arcanis, Ancient Rome, Mythic Greece, or Britannia. Settings like Talislanta which (at least from the advertising years ago in Dragon) always struck me as normal D&D with a reskin and some new models but retaining most of the same social assumptions are less interesting.

 

[Sir Elton]

OF all the books I got over the years, I learned that I can make non-tolkienesque fantasy. Check the .sig, give me an idea or two. I pick the coolest and make a campaign out of it.

 

[Zimri]

Vampire
Mage
Rifts
Robotech
Clay-o-rama
Shadowrun
woof meow
battletech
Mechwarrior

 

[PJ-Mason]

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?

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game. It actually does have elves, dwarves, and halflings by default. But trust me, if you want to blow your players out of their comfort zones....this is it, baby! The old book can be found here and there and is a lot of fun. Green Ronin is doing a remake (non D20) soon and that should be a real boost to the game.

 

[Agemegos]

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?

I do. In 1988 I knocked up a homebrew called 'Gehennum' that had a tropical and maritime (as opposed to cool-temperate and continental) geography and biome, flyers, divers, leshy, giants, and sprites (instead of the usual races), an animist pantheon, cultural features inspired by Classical, New Guinean, and Inndo-Malay (as opposed to mediaeval French and English) models, and a few other non-standard bits and pieces. It has been a great success, and I am starting (by request) a new campaign with a new group on Sunday.

 

[SinisterMinister]

The campaign I currently play in is a fantasy world based on Afghanistan circa 20-30 years after the death of Alexander the Great. There is an Alexander analog whose legacy can still be felt throughout our section of the continent, which is populated by analogs of Afghani tribes, Indians, Mongols, Persians and Greeks.

http://rpg.hive-brain.com/tiki/tiki-index.php

 

[Kormydigar]

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.

Black Company? Oh........do tell. More details if you please.