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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6098640" data-attributes="member: 4937">That sounds alright as a setting within the campaign world, but hardly enough of a trope for a whole world.   In general, I dislike 'world as trope' settings as principle settings.  You can always set a Moorish themed campaign in a subsection of the setting, but if it is the whole setting then you are stuck with one theme.For that reason I prefer a generally generic fantasy world to a 'hook as world' or 'trope as world' setting.   If you can describe what is interesting about your world in 5 sentences or less, then your world isn't generic enough to serve as a stage for the variaty of tables that would want to use it.   Some of those settings might be really interesting - Ravenloft, Planescape, etc. - but you don't want to offer that up as the setting that is default for your generic fantasy rules set.For me, the things that would be really important to see about a world is really thoughtful world building using the most modern standards.  I should be able to tell just by looking at it that all the following is true:a) They used a climate simulator to place the ecosystems of the world.  And they've provided maps that explain climate, rainfall, ocean currents, prevailing winds, ect. b) They've put some serious thoughts into the world's demographics.  City sizes and placements make sense.  Villages cluster around population centers.  c) They've built up a many layered global history of the world that helps me understand what people might believe about themselves.d) They've put some serious thought into the world's cosmology.   The world's cosmology needs to not only meet the game needs and address questions like, "Who might my ranger worship?", but they've addressed religion on something other than a gamist level so that I know why people might venerate these beings and that they are meeting basic human needs and aren't just relevant to some guy down in a dungeon.  Frankly, to this point only 'The Book of the Righteous' has ever attempted that among any of the 'Dieties and Demigods' style supplements I've seen.  e) Almost immediately as an outgrowth of this examination in 'c' and 'd', the world needs to have a detailed calendar and suggestions about how to localize the calendar for different regions.f) We've got the outline of something like cooherent economics for the world.  I don't really need to know what NPC's you think should exist in a city when getting this world level overview, and I sure as heck don't want statblocks.  We can have modules for that. But I'd like to know what the major imports and exports of a city or region are, and who their major trading partners are.  I'd like to know what customs or laws make this city or region unique.  What is the city famous for?  Who are they friends with?  Who is vying for their friendship?  Who do they hate and why?g) I'd like to see real exploration of the consequences of magic on the politics and sociology of the world.  Make me believe in your setting.In other words, I want to see work and craftmanship, not tropes and cheap hooks.  Ideas are a dime a dozen.   Sell me on your setting because it will save me countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears.</blockquote>

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