What setting would grab your attention?

[Haltherrion]

There have been a few folks asking people what they think of an idea for a campaign. To turn the question around, what sort of campaign pitch would grab your attention? What would make you say "oh! I really want to try that!"

For me, I've always had a thing for flying mounts and flying castles (thus my avatar ). Pitch a campaign with both of those in the game and I might have a hard time resisting it.

Anyone else have a weakness for certain setting elements?

 

[Haltherrion]

And a big 'oops' on the thread title...

 

[Dice4Hire]

Hit edit and then advanced and you can change it.

As for the meat of your comment, I want something new, but usable.

Which means

Not a lot of new rules

Not many new mechanics

A new take on old mechanics and rules

An overall difference from all other campaign worlds

Organized and small-scale.

 

[kaomera]

Anyone else have a weakness for certain setting elements?

Not really specific ones, but I want them done right (my subjective value of "right", of course...).

I'm more of a sucker for limitations, really. I kind of hate being told I can play "anything I want" - I have tons of character ideas and I really want something with a strong connection to the campaign and/or the other characters...

 

[JakeJekel37]

Pirate/nautical

I'm a sucker for a good coastal/island setting with a bent toward the fantastic. Wouldn't have to be a Caribbean setting, could be Mediterranean, south Pacific, whatever. Combat with balanced melee and ranged. Fair rules for firearms (not always easy, but plenty do-able). Ghosts, zombies, monsters all welcome and have a place. Even dragons, be they of the European or Asian variety (though I think in this setting I might lean more toward the Asian). And rules for ship to ship, ship to land and land to ship combat as well.

 

[Stormonu]

mix the flying thing with an island/pirate setting, and you could probably hook me. And it'd have to have animorphs. So,...

"Welcome to the realm of Arroxa, a once-mighty world shattered in a cataclysmic magical apocalypse. The very world has cracked, leaving islands of solid earth to float in a vast expanse that drops thousands of feet between the hovering earth motes. While some civilizations have escaped the cataclysm in intact fortress-cities across various islands, skyboats have become the primary method of traversing the void between islands. Yet, these skyways are treacherous, for not only are they scoured by pirates, but magic has created and twisted much of that which survived, creating dangerous abominations that make reclaiming the earth motes dangerous. Magic has even raised mere animals into new, sentient races that are often at odds with the races they claim that tore apart the old world."

<edit: dammit, now I AM going to have to make this world. It sounds way too cool to pass up.>

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't have anything particular in mind. Beyond the list above, I'd just want something that felt new and imaginative. At least for an RPG...mimicking or even licensing someone's as-yet-undone stories or novels would be cool.

In another thread, I mentioned Imajica and Neverwhere. Other good ones would include fantasy versions of a Dyson Sphere, Larry Niven's Ringworld or Integral Trees settings, an archipelago or even Waterworld setting, etc.

There are hundreds of great fantasy settings from the minds of writers like Tanith Lee, Leigh Brackett, C.J. Cherryh, Alan Dean Foster, Mary Gentle, Charles De Lint...

Or artists like Frazetta, Brom, Dean...

Or bands like Yes, Hawkwind, and so forth.

 

[kitsune9]

I'm a big fan of settings that merge steampunk with high-level magic. Iron Kingdoms does this for me, but I would like to see a more updated treatment or different take on it.

 

[thejc]

Im a fan of lower magic setting. Conan, Warhammer RPG, grim and gritty. But lately I have really wanted to play a supers game, in medieval times. Everyones various powers making them targets of the church for heresy and witchcraft. Persecuted and hounded by the scientific community to be used as "research". A "superman" came but could not save us because we did not understand we needed to be saved. He now lives as a hermit. Super powered knights, monks and peasants. Has strong story elements I think.


All that being said I like a good intellectual game too, though I can never pull it off. I've always wanted to do like a Sherlock Holmes type deal. I however am not into Cthulu, and the ones we have played seems to have a hard going when their are 4 "Holmes" in the room. But I digress.

 

[steeldragons]

I'm a high magic-fan. Doesn't have to be omnipresent...but magic should be available and usable to great effect...even if only through items.

That and/or psychic powers. But something should be usable for me outside of swords and arrows.

Technology, in general, is not a draw. "Modern day" isn't really a draw. I want fantasy and escapism.

But a dichotomy works. Long as the magic is there and understandable. Kitsune's suggestion of a mix of steampunk and high magic would interest me. But pitch me a straight "steampunk" with no magic or psionics (available for the players, I mean) and I'm likely to take a pass.

I can get down with pretty much anything terrain-wise, climate-wise, monsters/enemies-wise, races-wise. I'm apt to choose a fairly standard race for myself, but I'm not likely to turn down a setting based on available races unless you tell me what I have to be. i.e. "All PCs in this campaign must be human...or dwarves or whatever" Don't like that much for a setting I'll be spending a lot of time in/on. For a one-shot or limited run "all halfling group", for example, is fine...but not if we're going to really work/explore a major campaign setting. I dunno...I'm a sucker for diversity, I guess.

An' I does likes me role-playing. So if it's going to be a straight combat-fest, then again, no thanks. One-shot...or the occasional "hack-n-slash" dungeon delve is good/nostalgic/fun from time to time. But for a prolonged campaign setting, I'm going to need/want some NPC interactions, political and/or international intrigue, mysteries, something to work my brain along with my sword-arm is definitely preferable.

And Details! Details! Details! Immerse me in the world. Engage my imagination that I don't see my character existing anywhere else.

Annnnd...eh...I guess that's it. It can be done a million different ways...but make sure there's magic.

--Steel Dragons