D&D General what stranger stuff is there for settings?

[Mind of tempest]

as a hypothetical what is there that could be taken for inspiration that has not been worn into the ground yet for setting design?
as we fear more sameyness but figuring out what we can take inspiration from and in what ways could show us what else a setting could be?

old wired fiction gave us dark sun, eberron is fantasy 1920's with everything in dnd reshuffled what can we look in to build things new ideally multi sources things get more original if they draw from more things.

 

[humble minion]

It may not be terribly popular on here, but one very large fantasy genre that D&D has always skirted around or ignored is romantic fantasy. Soul bonds between destined lovers, shapeshifters, bonded mind-linked companion animals/monsters, sneering aristocrats with great cheekbones and hidden tortured backstories, ancient academies where you get sent to learn to control your powers among backbiting student cliques, love-triangles, mysterious absent parents who were not what you assumed, being the Last Inheritor of [something], ancient curses, unicorns, dragons, half-vampires, big destinies, secret monster-hunting societies, crystal castles in the sky. There's a lot of basic D&D assumptions that don't fit very comfortably with this sort of story, and of course WotC would want to keep everything PG-rated, but the genre is massive.

Green Ronin's Blue Rose covered some of this ground. I think there was going to be a 5e version, not sure what happened to it. I was kinda hoping that SotDQ would lean into supporting the whole romance/destiny type story, because Dragonlance has always been very big on that, but (probably predictably) WotC leaned into the war story side of things instead.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It may not be terribly popular on here, but one very large fantasy genre that D&D has always skirted around or ignored is romantic fantasy. Soul bonds between destined lovers, shapeshifters, bonded mind-linked companion animals/monsters, sneering aristocrats with great cheekbones and hidden tortured backstories, ancient academies where you get sent to learn to control your powers among backbiting student cliques, love-triangles, mysterious absent parents who were not what you assumed, being the Last Inheritor of [something], ancient curses, unicorns, dragons, half-vampires, big destinies, secret monster-hunting societies, crystal castles in the sky. There's a lot of basic D&D assumptions that don't fit very comfortably with this sort of story, and of course WotC would want to keep everything PG-rated, but the genre is massive.

Green Ronin's Blue Rose covered some of this ground. I think there was going to be a 5e version, not sure what happened to it. I was kinda hoping that SotDQ would lean into supporting the whole romance/destiny type story, because Dragonlance has always been very big on that, but (probably predictably) WotC leaned into the war story side of things instead.

workable but needs more to bulk it up.
would also help if I could see the elements processed down to the lowest point to help with building.

 

[fuindordm]

It's not really a genre, but one game design element that I haven't seen much since Palladium and Rifts is support for combat on many different scales, like person / animal vs giant robot / kaiju. I would be interested in a game that proposed good mechanics for crossing between different technology levels and combat scales, and an interesting campaign setting that promotes using these mechanics.

 

[Weiley31]

It may not be terribly popular on here, but one very large fantasy genre that D&D has always skirted around or ignored is romantic fantasy. Soul bonds between destined lovers, shapeshifters, bonded mind-linked companion animals/monsters, sneering aristocrats with great cheekbones and hidden tortured backstories, ancient academies where you get sent to learn to control your powers among backbiting student cliques, love-triangles, mysterious absent parents who were not what you assumed, being the Last Inheritor of [something], ancient curses, unicorns, dragons, half-vampires, big destinies, secret monster-hunting societies, crystal castles in the sky. There's a lot of basic D&D assumptions that don't fit very comfortably with this sort of story, and of course WotC would want to keep everything PG-rated, but the genre is massive.

Green Ronin's Blue Rose covered some of this ground. I think there was going to be a 5e version, not sure what happened to it. I was kinda hoping that SotDQ would lean into supporting the whole romance/destiny type story, because Dragonlance has always been very big on that, but (probably predictably) WotC leaned into the war story side of things instead.

Blue Rose 5E has actually been out for quite awhile.

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[Lakesidefantasy]

How about modern-characters-get-transported-to-a-different-time/world/reality-and-must-find-their-way-back-home.

You could literally play yourself as a knight, wizard, or a hexblade warlock storm herald barbarian.

 

[The Glen]

Red Steel. Everybody has a super power, curse and mutation that you can only keep at bay with a magical metal that you have to replace. And everything is Iberian themed.

 

[Blue Orange]

There was also Monsterhearts and its queer-centric spinoff Advanced Lovers & Lesbians.

Might be easier to list the existing inspirations so we can see what's missing:
Epic fantasy: Dragonlance
High fantasy: Forgotten realms
Urban fantasy (Leiber): Lankhmar
Arabian: Al-Qadim
East Asian: OA
Japan: Rokugan
Scifi/???: Spelljammer (they seemed genuinely creative with this one)
Post-apocalyptic/Dune/Barsoom: Dark Sun
Gothic horror: Ravenloft
Victorian/steampunk/???lanescape (focuses on the planes, again I thought they put a lot of real creativity into this one)
Pulp/steampunk: Eberron
Pirates: Red Steel
Tarzan?: Jakandor

There's no real Lovecraftian setting, because Call of Cthulhu nabbed that (though Sandy Petersen made a nice go of it), and sci-fi tends to be underrepresented because the rules don't really work that well.

 

[DeviousQuail]

Entirely in the afterlife. You could have characters moving between different afterlifes, incapable of dying, but defeat is very real. Sent on quests by the gods for glory or as payment for eternity in their divine realms.

Piggy-backing on the idea of finding your way home; shows like Stargate Universe, Sliders, and Star Trek Voyager have a wealth of ideas to draw from. A setting all about a single journey across strange and expansive worlds with variable paths, shortcuts, and setbacks sounds fun to me.

A junk-world. Sakaar from Thor Ragnarok being a sci-fi example of this. What is life like in a world full of the trash from other worlds? Is more junk coming in or is this a trash world that has been left behind?

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Maybe add Mythical Middle Ages ala Ars Magica to the list.

What about Historical Fantasy, that takes real history as a basis for the campaign?

Or, Alien Fantasy, where humans and even hominins like elves and dwarves don't exist?

Or, one of my favorites, Anthropomorphic Animal Fantasy, ala Redwall and the Secret of Nimh.

 

[humble minion]

Actually, one that’s genuinely missing, and that D&D just isn’t set up to do without major surgery, is low-magic fantasy, where magic is largely a plot device and is the purview or rare and mysterious people (/NPCs), places, and creatures rather than a fairly common toolkit that is learnable or usable by almost anyone.

Of course this still leaves a lot of thematic options, it can run anywhere on the grittiness spectrum from Lord of the Rings to Locke Lamora to Game of Thrones. I don’t think WotC will be pursuing it though, they’ve made it clear that their vision of D&D doesn’t involve limiting options or having setting-specific special rules that rewrite or fundamentally modify the base system.

 

[Minigiant]

I think D&D, a game typically based around powerful deities molding the world and supporting those who make or delve dungeons, is perfect for an actual Pantheon War setting.

Either in a Trojar War style (Single Pantheon split into sides), Dawn War style (Divine Vs Elemental or Divine vs Primal), or an Age of Mythology Style (Different Pantheons battle over the Faith of the Mortals)

 

[humble minion]

I think D&D, a game typically based around powerful deities molding the world and supporting those who make or delve dungeons, is perfect for an actual Pantheon War setting.

Either in a Trojar War style (Single Pantheon split into sides), Dawn War style (Divine Vs Elemental or Divine vs Primal), or an Age of Mythology Style (Different Pantheons battle over the Faith of the Mortals)

Theros covers a lot of that ground

 

[Minigiant]

Theros covers a lot of that ground

Theros "covers" a lot but it also doesn't scratch the surface because it was built around MTG and not for D&D rules.

And again Theros really doesn't go into Pantheon War. A god is suggested as a possible villian. But it isn't based around the setting's gods opening and actively supporting mortals to a proxy war to take each others domains. A setting where the main draping over the setting and the reason why your adventurers are adventuring is to weaken gods. When replica of divine artifacts are floating around like candy as Not-Odin and Not-Zeus are throwing +2 weapons at any warrior above 5th level who picks a side.

 

[Tonguez]

Sword and Planet - from Barsoom to Master of the Universe
Fantastique - Alice in Wonderland and similar

 

[Vaalingrade]

workable but needs more to bulk it up.
would also help if I could see the elements processed down to the lowest point to help with building.

Let me take a crack.

Points of light and dark in a morass of grey.

The great and powerful monsters are dead. The external threats have been extinguished. The Empires have taken everything and there is now little if any new horizons remain to be discovered save for what's been hidden again. The common folk toil in something approaching comfort and happiness as far as they're allowed to consider while the aristocracy have grown complacent and bored, using skilled folk as game pieces against their friends and foes alike, or finding other distractions like tournaments and contests; bets to circle the world or reach long forbidden spaces.

Moments of excitement and genuine passion are rare and precious... and that is the impetuous of what comes next. The stakes have become stale for the nobles and even the gods playing their games. Death is a meaningless frivolity; and endless passage of faceless victims. So why not examine and put at risk something more precious than life?

And so were born Companion Games; elaborate, sometimes world-spanning competitions designed to be undertaken by boon-mates; friends, lovers, siblings, parents, beast tamers, etc with the express intent to put those bonds to the test. This has caused a slew of new techniques and magics to come into being to strengthen, enhance or utilize these bonds, which has spilled over into the world outside the Games.

 

[aco175]

I could see some sort of dinosaurs. Maybe a dino-planet or a Jurassic Park outbreak. Maybe people from one world left or portaled to a new planet and now need to survive in the dino lands. Something not just jungle Chult, but all over dinos and things like wooly mammoths and such. Maybe add an older civilization to be able to add old items and tombs and such.

 

[DeviousQuail]

I could see some sort of dinosaurs. Maybe a dino-planet or a Jurassic Park outbreak. Maybe people from one world left or portaled to a new planet and now need to survive in the dino lands. Something not just jungle Chult, but all over dinos and things like wooly mammoths and such. Maybe add an older civilization to be able to add old items and tombs and such.

Dinotopia, but with way more violence!

 

[MichaelSomething]

Since there are portals, you should add an industrial world too. That way people will have the proper tools to deal with the dinosaurs. Like bikes or helicopters; but mainly cars. Really fast cars. Like super fast. But don't think it's an excuse to skimp on role-playing though. You should ensures the PCs develop bonds to each other as strong as... family.

I could see some sort of dinosaurs. Maybe a dino-planet or a Jurassic Park outbreak. Maybe people from one world left or portaled to a new planet and now need to survive in the dino lands. Something not just jungle Chult, but all over dinos and things like wooly mammoths and such. Maybe add an older civilization to be able to add old items and tombs and such.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Since there are portals, you should add an industrial world too. That way people will have the proper tools to deal with the dinosaurs. Like bikes or helicopters; but mainly cars. Really fast cars. Like super fast. But don't think it's an excuse to skimp on role-playing though. You should ensures the PCs develop bonds to each other as strong as... family.