What is the most detailed setting available?

[Voadam]

I'll agree on Forgotten Realms: it has great maps and a lot of fiction, but very little political detail, and political detail there is, is piecemeal.

Thay invades Rashemon, inflicts some damage, and is repulsed by the berserkers and witches. Thay has some plans to do so again in the future.

The Zhentarim has some nefarious political scheme.

That covers a lot of it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

But for a few places, yeah, the kingdoms are fairly self-contained and don't interact with each other that much.

But it has more than just maps and fiction - the level of detail and history is vast. Depending on the location, I can grab a sourcebook and find details about multiple alleys, shops, or ruins that in turn can inspire countless adventures.

I'll agree on Forgotten Realms: it has great maps and a lot of fiction, but very little political detail, and political detail there is, is piecemeal.

 

[RangerWickett]

I would find it hard to believe that the Forgotten Realms does not have the most written about it. It does not have every noble bloodline, but the volume of setting material would be hard to match.

Novels might put the Realms over the top, but you should look at Paizo's catalog when it comes to Golarion. Something like 3 books a month for 12 years, not counting shorter adventures for organized play? There's an incredibly detailed wiki about the setting too. It's honestly fascinating.

 

[MGibster]

My vote is Middle Earth (for The One Ring) or Star Wars. Both are RPG settings and both have decades of detail and history.

I remember a friend of mine voicing his preference for the West End Games version of the gate in the late 1980s. "I like Star Wars because, unlike Star Trek, the universe is wide open and you can do whatever you want." My, my. How times have changed.

Sometimes I think the line is a bit blurred when it comes to multi-media intellectual properties. Battletech has a rich and highly detailed setting, but when it comes to the Mechwarrior RPG, most of the setting material is actually found in the 200+ novels and various splat books for the table top war game rather than the role playing game. I don't know if it's fair to compare Star Wars, Battletech or Dune (it's an RPG now) to Harn.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

GURPS Imperial Rome had thousands of people writing theses about the setting.

 

[Voadam]

Novels might put the Realms over the top, but you should look at Paizo's catalog when it comes to Golarion. Something like 3 books a month for 12 years, not counting shorter adventures for organized play? There's an incredibly detailed wiki about the setting too. It's honestly fascinating.

That is a good contender. My gut would say FR, but they have dropped off significantly in production since 3e and Paizo has been cranking out regular setting material for over a decade.

 

[Blue]

Ptolus? 672 pages for a single city (city-state?) with attached spire/dungeon has to be the most written by area. And supposedly you can run a full campaign without ever leaving it so that sounds like a setting.

 

[overgeeked]

If we're going outside established RPG settings, then definitely Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, and DC. Each of those would likely blow any RPG setting out of the water in terms of detail. And there are games for each.

 

[Deset Gled]

If we consider non-gaming materials in the calculation, I think Call of Cthulhu may be the biggest. Lots of IPs are limited by licensing. But Cthulhu is public domain, so almost anything could be considered "setting details", from the Evil Dead movies to creepypasta.

 

[Morrus]

I remember a friend of mine voicing his preference for the West End Games version of the gate in the late 1980s. "I like Star Wars because, unlike Star Trek, the universe is wide open and you can do whatever you want." My, my. How times have changed.

Sometimes I think the line is a bit blurred when it comes to multi-media intellectual properties. Battletech has a rich and highly detailed setting, but when it comes to the Mechwarrior RPG, most of the setting material is actually found in the 200+ novels and various splat books for the table top war game rather than the role playing game. I don't know if it's fair to compare Star Wars, Battletech or Dune (it's an RPG now) to Harn.

I"m not sure what 'fairness' has to do with anything. It's just a factual question. I don't think Harn's feelings are going to get hurt.