What makes a Campaign setting Interesting to You?

[Shemeska]

I like non-standard settings, ones that are happily willing to break away from the notions of pseudo-medievil Tolkein/Leiber/Howard orthodoxy.

My two favorite settings, regardless of system? Planescape and Shadowrun/Earthdawn. Yes they both have undercurrents of metaplot, riptides of such, but they're so incredibly open to absolutely crazy stuff being added. I adore it. The inclusion of the absolutely fantastic is what gets me going, and the exploration of themes beyond 'kill things, take their stuff', tops it all off.

You don't absolutely have to use the planes for me to like a setting, but you have to have something off of the beaten path of what has become, at least to me, over time a bit cliche. I'll take Dark Sun over something more generic, and while I really like FR, I tend to gravitate towards regions of that world which are less standard (Utter East versus Cormyr, Calimshan versus Sword Coast, Rauryn/Mulhorand/Unther versus the Dales).

 

[ssampier]

interesting or meta-game 'needed'?

wants:

Interesting Locales (examples):

Wall of Bones in Scarred Lands
Hallowfaust " "
Anaroch in Forgotten Realms

Myth and Legend (nice collection of gods and/or heroic stories, plus ancient places to plunder)

Interesting NPCs (more interesting than "Joe the Fighter" in sub-section b.25)


needs:

easy to integrate into campaign (races and classes are similar)
standard D&D "core story" so I do not wonder, "What kind of adventurers can I run in this?"

Interesting NPCs aren't totally necessary, as my current campaign has little to none.

 

[howandwhy99]

This may seem a bit general, but... I like settings full of adventure. All types of adventures. Multitudes to be found or caught up in. Boring should be the exception, not the rule.

When the PCs seek out adventure, it should be there. On occasion it should even bite them in the rear when they try and settle down for awhile.

If they create their own, so much the better.

A really great setting would be one that inspires this last in spades.

 

[seskis281]

Wraith - Sometimes minds think alike - I just spent most of last week working on defining routes of commerce, collecting of certain resources to one nation or region and denying them to others, and tying in how organizations (thieves' guilds, various Knights that are contracted to provide protection for merchants a la the Templars) are affected and effect this.

Whiz - Your comments have been very helpful so far (as have all - keep 'em coming!) - the bulk of what I've written so far (about 130 pages of material) is the larger aspects of the setting (general world notes, the specific locating of races to my world, history, gazetteer of nations and regions, topography, section on Gods) and I'm working on the last two sections which are "adventuring" in the setting (which is where I'm trying to include the kernels of Sites of Interest, possible hooks, rumors & legends, etc.) and a last section which picks one city and really develops it as one possible area to start, with some specific area encounters both in and around the city.

The earlier comment about illustrations I think is good but that'll have to wait till I find someone good to help - I'm good at cartographic art but I'm not illustrator - but I agree that well-illustrated RPG material makes it interesting, as long as the reader likes the style - I get turned off by the anime, dungeon- and mage-punk art. I really like what Peter Bradley's doing with C&C.

Vrainor - What you said about the original Greyhawk set is prophetic - it's one of the things that started me on this endeavor. Since Greyhawk 1st came out I've never picked up a setting that really hit my fascination the way that did. I never liked FR (although I think it's perfect for Computer Game setup), Dragonlance I've already discussed, and I always felt limited by the specific "hooks" of Ravenloft, Planescape, etc. Kalamar has come closest for me, but Whiz got it right - it's attention to realism in the world makes it necessary to start from virtual scratch on the campaign story line. For me this was never a problem - I'm a playwright so I prefer the generic macro settings I can write in, but I know many players prefer more concrete direction (hooks, if you will) or simply don't have the time needed to prepare elaborate campaigns.

I also just plain love the visual cartography of a good setting - certainly not that important in some settings. When you have two big maps just sitting before you opening the possibilities of adventure in the world.

It sounds like the DCC release of Aerth might be doing a world similar to what I'm working on, and C&C is bringing Airdhe out anew soon, but I really like what I'm on to so far here (if nothing else I'm designing the world I want to play in - and I guess that's what matters).

I gave thought to what is the "hook" that separates mine from others and I think it falls into three parts:

The Lands of Exile are just that - the humans here were forced from lands and empires of great achievement thousands of years ago by dire evil brought on by their own folly, and have brought that evil with them. The demi-humans (Elves, Dwarves, etc.) were the original inhabitants of the continent and view humans as "bringers of evil."

The second hook is the devaluation of religion - far more secularism, and the "Gods" of my pantheon are completely removed - zero direct interaction, and in some cases the power of the gods has either waned and vanished or been withheld, so that there is "ordinary" religion abundant (no divine magic involved)

The final hook is me just wanting to apply my own geekdom of being a Star Wars fan - I always loved the Sith mythology, so I am creating the most dangerous evil not as an overt Sauron/Iuz (although I have one of those, fairly contained) but as a legacy of Dark Lords who brought down a Draconic apocalypse on lands across the sea, forcing exile. I am making psionics the equivilent of "force" use under this setting, and having the Sythgar (as I call them - hope it's different enough) be devious manipulators of dark magic, creating Sythgar artifacts that are enticing to use but dangerous (i.e. a Sythgar healing device that can heal completely or even restore life at any time, but must drain the lifeforce from another being to do so).

Anyway, my thanks again to all who are posting - I do appreciate the advice and it is helping me greatly!

Cheers!

John Maddog Wright

 

[The Shaman]

I am currently developing my own campaign setting and after reading various threads I wanted to put a call for ideas as to what different people like in their campaign settings - both published and home-grown.

I like a diverse environment - windswept plains, snowy mountains, parched deserts, dark forests, darker jungles, lonely islands, small villages, sprawling cities, and so on.

I like the feeling that the world is alive, that things are happening around my character that may or may not have anything to do with our adventures.

I like lots of deities and places to worship them, from simple household shrines to roadside altars to huge temples. I like the presence of the divine in the everyday - spirits, minor deities that exist on the Prime Material, and so forth.

I like history to discover.

As far as feeling like a published setting can have too much information, I agree, but at the same time, when I'm behind the screen I choose what's in and what's out, and once the dice hit the table you're playing in your own version of that setting no matter what's published - you've created your own variant as soon as the characters are introduced, so feel free to go off the written page.

 

[seskis281]

Shaman - sounds like I'm on same page with you except for the place of religion, but that's cool by me.... I think one way of underpowering and extending the challenge of adventuring is by lessening the influence of the gods.... especially if it makes it harder to simply heal or even resurrect - I like a world where injury and threat of death become more real.

But as I said it's a matter of tastes - certainly I'm not getting rid of clerical magic, just making it less prevelant and adding religious practice that is just that, practice of devotion rather than implementation of divine powers.

I agree with the statement "I want history to discover." I think that's one of the key statements in any response so far.

Cheers!

John Maddog Wright

 

[The Shaman]

I think one way of underpowering and extending the challenge of adventuring is by lessening the influence of the gods.... especially if it makes it harder to simply heal or even resurrect - I like a world where injury and threat of death become more real.

Actually, I mentioned the sense of the divine without regard for D&D-style clerical magic - I would hold the same principle to be true in a setting in which there was no divine magic at all.

There was an article in Dragon a few years back about minor deities, and one bit of fluff from the article describes perfectly my approach to the divine - to paraphrase: An adventurer is seeking a divine oracle and a villager directs him to a peach tree in an orchard on the outside of town. "The oracle is at the tree?" the adventurer asks. The villager smiles and says, "The tree is the oracle!"

In my settings you may find a deific lake - represented by a water elemental with the spirit subtype, if I was to play in the setting using 3.x D&D rules - or a spirit stag that is the leader of a herd of elk - represented by a dire elk with a ghost template - and so on.

For me, the divine provides a powerful sense of "otherness" that is at the same time familiar and believable to most players. Rather than resort to the the "It's MAGIC!" handwave to explain something like a valley in perpetual springtime deep in a frozen mountain range, I use "It's OF THE GODS!"

Please note that this doesn't mean that the gods are rushing to the adventurers aid all the time - in fact, most of my deities have better things to do than muck around with mortals. A trip to that oracular peach tree may not bear fruit...(pun intended)...

Good luck with your setting!

 

[seskis281]

Much thanks Shaman - it looks like we were on the same page after all. As example I have one group of human islanders who "worship" a "God" that's actually a cloud giant who pops by once a year to collect tribute.

John Maddog Wright

 

[Darrin Drader]

This thread has gone in a dozen different directions, so I'll just give you my short dissertation on what I think makes a good setting.

First, if you're going to diverge from generic fantasy, then go all the way. We're talking a setting that is psionics only, or arcanum only. Maybe you limit demihumans, or eliminate them entirely. But that isn't really the direction you're wanting to go in this, so I won't go any further in that direction.

In a sword and sorcery style D&D setting, I like to see a few things:

1) I want there to be some large hooks. They don't have to be setting-wide hooks, as in Izrador ruling the world (Midnight), but I do like to have some notable villains or struggles that define specific regions.

2) I like a lot of empty space interspersed with areas (mini-settings) that are well developed. In other words, in FR, I love Waterdeep, but I'd like it if there was so little information about some of the surrounding towns and regions that I could do anything with them I want. In one case I tried to do exactly that, but after taking on a new player, I learned that the city where I set my game was the same place where the Green Regent campaign was taking place, and that my campaign didn't work because of it. My response to that, of course, was that we aren't playing Green Regent, so I don't care what the RPGA put there, but that kind of gets back to the fact that I don't want every little thing mapped out.

3) A good sense of history. The history doesn't have to be so incredibly detailed that we know every major house from the past five thousand years, but it is nice to know when the major civilizations rose and fell. It's also nice to attach some notes describing things like dress style and architecture type since the PCs will undoubtedly be pillaging through the ruins of said civilizations.

4) Room for the PCs to have a major influence on the setting. Do they aspire to carve out a kingdom of their own? What areas are unstable enough that this might be a possibility?

5) Organizations are key. They really help set the tone of the settings. Is there one that hates magic and is bent on destroying it all? Is there a group that hates one of the demi-human races? What about a thives guild that is so large that it spans multiple cities or kingdoms. The cool thing about organizations is that you can create one from just about any hairbrained idea you come up with, and it stands a reasonable chance of inspiring someone (trust me on this one, I speak from experience).

6) Fantastic locations. These don't have to be super detailed, but it you should include some notes on areas that are just cool because they don't or can't exist in the real world (or maybe they do and they're cool, like the pyramids). I'm talking castles made of obsidion, Crystal towers that rise out of icy lakes on certain days of the year, floating cities, subterranean cities.

7) Monsters having a place in the setting other than opponents for the PCs to kill and take their stuff.

 

[seskis281]

Whisper - thanks for the comments, they are very helpful.

Must think somewhat alike because I am, as I pause to respond, in the middle of my section on "organizations" in the world, and I am highlighting that whether gamers use the ones I am providing or develop their own there should always be an "aim" for the group in question, sometimes beneficial, sometimes nefarious, sometimes just plain strange.

I also agree strongly as to making the monsters and creatures of any world have history and purpose themselves.

One of the key twists (elaborating on what I said above) is how I am dealing with psionics in my setting. As I've said before, I am tying it to the rules-lite C&C system but trying to make it as generic as possible. C&C doesn't do psionics, and many gamers don't use them at all, while others love their inclusion.

My thought was that I'd make psionics separate from classes - that any character or NPC with extraordinarily high intelligence might discover and manipulate psionic energy, and that this will be an Energy Point system based on intelligence and level, with extraordinary time and meditation (5-6 months to a even a year) needed to gain and utilized a specific psionic power (i.e. psionic blast, mind suggestion, etc.) Naturally certain classes and characters with lower intelligences could never gain these abilities, and those who could would have to change focus from leveling in their class to the study and practice of mind arts.

Comments on this idea are certainly sought here.

John Maddog Wright