Calico_Jack73
First Post
Midnight is great... probably my absolute favorite. The only snag I ran into recently was that it is SO different from core D&D that several people in the group need to have copies of the campaign setting book just to make character creation somewhat more effiicient. The alternative is taking your players aside to spin them up on the changes to the Races and Classes, the new spellcasting system, and some of the new systems such as the Heroic Path. This can be time consuming. In fact it is so time consuming that I recently decided to forgo running a Midnight campaign and start a Greyhawk campaign.
Arcana Evolved is also one of my favorites but it has some of the same problems as Midnight. All of the old races are thrown out as are all of the old classes and they are replaced with new races and classes. Everyone has an idea on how to play a typical Elf and and understanding of what Elvish culture would be like. Nobody has any idea about the Verrik, Mojh, Litorians, or any of the other new races. One of the things I love about it is that the Arcana Evolved book is a fully functioning PHB AND has plenty of setting information in it. It really is the only book a player needs.
Rokugan. I just recently picked up several Rokugan books off of EBay. They are actually written for 3.0E and make use of the Oriental Adventures book. It is a well thought out setting and is extremely fertile for games involving political intrigue. If your players enjoy shadow conspiracies and imperial court plots then Rokugan is a great setting.
Edit: Sorry, didn't see your need for "Grim and Gritty". While Midnight is all that any setting can be made to be "Grim and Gritty", it is all about how you run it. I'll use Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms as examples since they are considered the WOTC "Happy" settings. If the party is a group of resistence fighters in the Kingdom of Iuz in Greyhawk or are the same in the Kingdom of Thay fighting against the Red Wizards then both of those games could be just as gritty as Midnight. In both cases the party is a small force of good in a land of overwhelming evil just like in Midnight.
Arcana Evolved is also one of my favorites but it has some of the same problems as Midnight. All of the old races are thrown out as are all of the old classes and they are replaced with new races and classes. Everyone has an idea on how to play a typical Elf and and understanding of what Elvish culture would be like. Nobody has any idea about the Verrik, Mojh, Litorians, or any of the other new races. One of the things I love about it is that the Arcana Evolved book is a fully functioning PHB AND has plenty of setting information in it. It really is the only book a player needs.
Rokugan. I just recently picked up several Rokugan books off of EBay. They are actually written for 3.0E and make use of the Oriental Adventures book. It is a well thought out setting and is extremely fertile for games involving political intrigue. If your players enjoy shadow conspiracies and imperial court plots then Rokugan is a great setting.
Edit: Sorry, didn't see your need for "Grim and Gritty". While Midnight is all that any setting can be made to be "Grim and Gritty", it is all about how you run it. I'll use Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms as examples since they are considered the WOTC "Happy" settings. If the party is a group of resistence fighters in the Kingdom of Iuz in Greyhawk or are the same in the Kingdom of Thay fighting against the Red Wizards then both of those games could be just as gritty as Midnight. In both cases the party is a small force of good in a land of overwhelming evil just like in Midnight.
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