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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6064741" data-attributes="member: 59082">This is going to be a broad question, but I'm happy to see where it goes. I'm in the early processes of designing a new campaign setting that I'd like to use for the next campaign I run; my group has been on hiatus for about six months because of my busy schedule (I'm the DM) and I'd like to run one final adventure to finish off Paragon tier and then start something new after that, either in late spring or summer. Hopefully Next will be out by GenCon and then I'll use that, but I might just run 4E again.Anyhow, editions aside, I'm wanting to design a setting that is, at its core, an archetypal fantasy world with all (or many/most) of the iconic D&D themes and tropes, yet with some specific and distinct flavorings thrown in. Think vanilla, but with tones of cardamon and nutmeg and just a hint of salt thrown in (or something like that). I designed my last setting with the "points of light" approach at its core, yet I ended up missing a lot of the classic fantasy elements of "kitchen sink" settings. I felt that the setting worked fine as more of a region than an entire world. In other words, it wasn't varied enough.Some key elements and examples that I want to include are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A world with a rich, deep, and mysterious history - with many lost civilizations and, of course, the ruins left over</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A somewhat plausible reason for the diversity of D&D creatures to exist</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A "kitchen sink" that also has a kind of internal logic to it and isn't haphazardly thrown together</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">No or few clear Earth analogs (in other words, I don't want "fantasy Egypt" but am fine with a desert nation with Egyptian flavors among others...more Dark Sun than Mulhorand, in other words)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A world with Big Fantasy Ideas - truly fantastical locations that bring the world to life as a true fantasy world and not just a pseudo-medieval world - stuff like mile-high towers, floating sky islands, and cities built around tarrasques (after an RPGnet thread)...but not so much that this sort of thing becomes the norm. In other words, a middle ground between Talislanta and Harn, but veering more towards Talislanta</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Incorporates many of the classic fantasy setting ideas, but with new flavors. For example, I'd like to include a massive cosmopolitan city with numerous factions and that is a center for adventurers ala Waterdeep or Greyhawk, but I want it to have something new or unique about it (e.g. it is actually on a small sub-plane that is accessible from different parts of the world - each gate from the city actually exits into a different region...so imagine Waterdeep, but it is in the North, the Dalelands, the Unapproachable East all at once...or something like that).</li> </ul>In other words, I'd like to "get back to the roots" of what D&D is, but with a fresh new approach. I don't want to simply re-create yet another vanilla fantasy world, but I also want to include those key elements that are iconic, even archetypal and thus of universal and lasting appeal. So my question to you is: what are your favorite, archetypal or iconic elements and qualities in D&D settings? And what new takes have you enjoyed or employed to great effect? List one or two or as many as you like. I'm not afraid to steal your ideas or the ideas of published settings, both because this isn't meant for publication and because I'll probably "re-skin" any ideas I steal anyhow!</blockquote>

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