what type of "fantasy" campaign do you play?

[Gez]

My campaign world is somewhat standard. I tried to make it simple enough to enter it without too much trouble, but on the other hand, I dislike copying cultures from the real world and try to create ones that don't really look like anything we know.

It's hard to mix the proper dose of exotism and familiarity.

Otherwise, I play in several campaigns. One in the Realms, another in the Realms but also in a hiatus, and one with Oriental Adventures characters that have been exiled from their homeland due to political intrigue, and are now in a rough European-like archipelago, slowly trying to gain money and troops, in order to make a muscled come-back to the country, and seize the throne !

 

[Xyros]

Both of my campaign settings are non-standard, by the definitions provided above. Both are of the "planetary romance" type, that is, both are more or less inspired by the adventures of Lin Carter ("The Green Star" or "Callisto" works) and Edgar Rice Burroughs ("Mars" series), among others. The setting we usually use has two suns, twenty-two moons, and trees that are both golden and shivering, and the horse, among other terrestrial creatures, is an unknown.

 

[Kareyev]

Someone I know put this together

http://www.bjhark.com/tallin/home.htm

D&D with a Gamma World feel thanks to the background. Nice mythology.

 

[Ace]

assume that the standard "fantasy" type campaign would be along the lines of greyhawk, fr, dragonlance, etc. birthright would be included also since it has the "european" fantasy feel to it as well.

based on the above, oriental campaigns (such as types covered in Oriental Adventures) would not be considered non-standard. in my opinion, Oriental Adventures is somewhat the "eastern" equivalent of a "western" campaign. something akin to just crossing a geographical border.

my opinion of non-standard fantasy would be something that does not conform to the "european" feel of fantasy (the "european" or "western" feel of fantasy such as the "arthurian" or "lord of the rings" images of knights and kings) or the stereotypical "oriental" campaign.

from the top of my head, examples would be something along the lines of dark sun, or a campaign based on the world of the old cartoons "pirates of dark water" (although in my opinion, it has a strong oriental feel to it) or "thundercats" (minus the technological science or with a bare minimum of it).

so based on the above what type of fantasy campaign do you play?

MY campaign is a very dark apoclyptic cuthuliod indo european oriented game with a hindu/quabaalistic cosmology and modern trappings

 

[Norfleet]

I prefer the type where it outwardly appears to be a classical quest for glory and treasure, but is actually about the characters' struggle for survival in a universe that hates them and wants them dead.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm currently thinking about a new campaign world, tenatively titled "Athanatos", which I'd loosely describe as "transhumanist fantasy".

I *love* the name!

Well, I used a Latin name for Urbis. And since this new setting touches a lot of philosophical questions, I decided to go with something Greek this time.

So I went to a Greek online dictionary and had "immortal" translated into Greek - after all, it's pretty hard to kill someone off permanently in this setting unless you directly assault his sould.

And "Athanatos" was what came out...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Have you read China Mieville's Bas-Lag novels {Perdido and The Scar}? Might find some useful stuff in them.

"Perdido Street Station" was brilliant, and while I don't intend to have any nonhuman sapients in the setting beyond those humans have created (though there are lots of those...), New Crobuzon could be representative of a large and vibrant city in the setting...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally posted by Jürgen Hubert
Actually, I was mostly inspired by Steve Jackson Games' brilliant Transhuman Space, which everyone who's interested in SF gaming should check out.

This book had the absolute worst timing for me. I'd already written my own future timeline and then Transhuman Space got published. I almost cried.

I mean, I would have written my own version anyway, but a lot of the research I did was already in the book, and I could have saved myself somewhere around a month's worth of work.

How about using the rest of your research and write a few Pyramid articles about it? There could be some money in it for you - plus bragging rights.

 

[seasong]

So I went to a Greek online dictionary and had "immortal" translated into Greek - after all, it's pretty hard to kill someone off permanently in this setting unless you directly assault his sould.

And "Athanatos" was what came out...

IANAG (I Am Not A Greek), nor do I speak/read the language, but I've been going through a lot of greek words the past six months because of my Light Against the Dark campaign. So take this with a grain of salt, but not too big of one.

Athanatos means "undying" or, rather, something which by its nature is incapable of becoming dead. It can also be used to refer to something which is everlasting. That is, it doesn't mean "immortality" so much as it does "an immortal".

The Persian troops fought by the Spartans were also called athanatos in some texts, because (IIRC) as one would die another would step smoothly into place, making the troop seem less like a mass of humans and more like a hydra.

Immortality as a state (rather than immortal as an object) is, I believe, athanasia.

Edit: If you haven't used the Perseus Tool, I heartily recommend it, incidentally. It's pretty thorough, and usually draws from multiple sources, which you can dig down into.

How about using the rest of your research and write a few Pyramid articles about it? There could be some money in it for you - plus bragging rights.

A few reasons .

1) Most of my research is in the form of a timeline.
2) It's not technically transhuman - it just has some transhuman elements, because extropians usually have a good idea what they're talking about.
3) It's not compatible with Transhuman Space without work.
4) It's not GURPS.

 

[seasong]

Oops, I'm hijacking. Time to answer the question!

assume that the standard "fantasy" type campaign would be along the lines of greyhawk, fr, dragonlance, etc. birthright would be included also since it has the "european" fantasy feel to it as well.

If you are including places like Dragonlance... I'd have to be pretty strange to be non-standard . On the other hand, my Light Against the Dark campaign is based loosely on pre-spartan Sparta of Greek infamy, where swords are typically made of iron, and the most common weapon is the spear... and no one wears armor (although tower shields are part of the mass tactics of Theralis). Would that count?

I've also run campaigns which were set in Ell'jaret, a super-high-magic + wuxia setting, with the magic accounted for in the design of the cultures, and everything is designed with the motto in mind, "Only bigger!"

On the other hand, I enjoy a lot of standard fantasy, particularly if it is fresh and creative.