I'll admit I'm not big on crunch. I usually play bastardized rules (pick and choose stuff from various systems) for games anyway, so all the competition between the various systems doesn't mean a whole lot to me. That being said, what's your favorite stuff....campaigns, adventures etc. from a pure fluff standpoint? What have you found the most immersive, cool, mind-blowing, different etc. I really like the Iron Kingdom stuff. I like Oathbound a lot too. So, let's hear it. What's your favorite fluff stuff?
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What's Your Favorite Fluff...Stuff?
- Thread starter Ulric
- Start date
Coolest fluff:
Fantasy-esque -
- Tribe 8 (Dream Pod 9)
- Planescape (AD&D 2E)
- Cadwallon/Confrontation/Rag-Narok (Rackham)
Not Fantasy-esque -
- Deliria (Laughing Pan)
- Jovian Chronicles (Dream Pod 9)
- Heavy Gear (Dream Pod 9)...prolly the best Sci-Fi mech fluff out there
- Vampire: The Whatever it is/was (White Wolf)...at least when they weren't too over the top
- Paranoia XP
- Tales from the Floating Vagabond
As for strictly D&D, I'd say Planescape, Ravenloft and Iron Kingdoms seem the best, with Midnight coming up close.
Hands down my personal favorites out of the whole bunch are Rackham's world (Cadwallon/Confrontation/etc.) and Paranoia.
Fantasy-esque -
- Tribe 8 (Dream Pod 9)
- Planescape (AD&D 2E)
- Cadwallon/Confrontation/Rag-Narok (Rackham)
Not Fantasy-esque -
- Deliria (Laughing Pan)
- Jovian Chronicles (Dream Pod 9)
- Heavy Gear (Dream Pod 9)...prolly the best Sci-Fi mech fluff out there
- Vampire: The Whatever it is/was (White Wolf)...at least when they weren't too over the top
- Paranoia XP
- Tales from the Floating Vagabond
As for strictly D&D, I'd say Planescape, Ravenloft and Iron Kingdoms seem the best, with Midnight coming up close.
Hands down my personal favorites out of the whole bunch are Rackham's world (Cadwallon/Confrontation/etc.) and Paranoia.
Aus_Snow
First Post
Earthdawn would be on the list for fantasy setting material. So would Runequest.
Several GURPS supplements read well and are amazingly useful (for the 'fluff') - GURPS Faerie is a good example from a recent thread on EN World.
I'm struggling here. . . :\ Reason being, the majority of the 'fluff' that has truly impressed me is found in fiction (and non-fiction) books, that also happen not to be gaming books.
Several GURPS supplements read well and are amazingly useful (for the 'fluff') - GURPS Faerie is a good example from a recent thread on EN World.
I'm struggling here. . . :\ Reason being, the majority of the 'fluff' that has truly impressed me is found in fiction (and non-fiction) books, that also happen not to be gaming books.
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Psion
Adventurer
My favorite fluff for D20/D&D
Necromancer Games Book of Taverns
Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous
WotC Fiendish Codex I&II
Planescape boxed sets & blood war
Various concept snippets from Mongoose's Classic Play: Book of Dragons
Concept stuff from FFG's Portals & Planes
Concept stuff from FFG's Sorcery & Steam (too bad about the rules...)
Etherscope
Plane descriptions from Beyond Countless Doorways
Necromancer Games Book of Taverns
Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous
WotC Fiendish Codex I&II
Planescape boxed sets & blood war
Various concept snippets from Mongoose's Classic Play: Book of Dragons
Concept stuff from FFG's Portals & Planes
Concept stuff from FFG's Sorcery & Steam (too bad about the rules...)
Etherscope
Plane descriptions from Beyond Countless Doorways
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
Aus_Snow said:
Agreed. Also like Green Ronin's Mythic Vista line. (GR actually has great balance between fluff and crunch).
Going in another direction entirely, I like old, nostalgic stuff. Issues of Dragon before 100, the OD&D books and supplements, those classic ADD modules, some of the BECMI stuff.
And of course, the original DMG. I can still get ideas from that.
Croesus
Adventurer
For me, the best fluff comes from non-game related material. The book Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu is chock full of great stories, most fanciful, that he recorded during his travels. Michio Kaku's Physics of the Impossible has a ton of useful ideas for space adventures, such as baby universes, or time machines that allow you to only go forward or back to when the machines were built. File off the serial numbers and you can use these in fantasy campaigns.
The Balkans by Dennis Hupchick is a history of the Balkans and includes detailed information on how the Ottomans organized their empire, including the recruitment of non-Muslims as the sultan's slaves, called devsirme. To modern eyes this seems barbarous, but in practice it offered significant opportunities for social mobility that were otherwise denied to the sultan's Christian subjects. Some parents would bribe officials to select their sons - even some Muslims tried to get in on the action. This was because such slaves were given opportunities based on individual merit and performance, the best rising to the highest levels of government.
You just can't make up stuff like this.
The Balkans by Dennis Hupchick is a history of the Balkans and includes detailed information on how the Ottomans organized their empire, including the recruitment of non-Muslims as the sultan's slaves, called devsirme. To modern eyes this seems barbarous, but in practice it offered significant opportunities for social mobility that were otherwise denied to the sultan's Christian subjects. Some parents would bribe officials to select their sons - even some Muslims tried to get in on the action. This was because such slaves were given opportunities based on individual merit and performance, the best rising to the highest levels of government.
You just can't make up stuff like this.
Fallen Seraph
First Post
-Planescape (all the Sigil books)
-WoD (both new and old, and especially Promethean: The Created and Changeling: The Lost)
-CthulhuTech
Rest would come from novels, movies, games, etc.
-WoD (both new and old, and especially Promethean: The Created and Changeling: The Lost)
-CthulhuTech
Rest would come from novels, movies, games, etc.
DrunkonDuty
he/him
I'm with Croesus: the real world provides the best fluff stuff. I plunder liberally from everywhen when I'm after inspiration. Can't think of any specific examples but, hey, everyone out there knows some history.
Published Game stuff:
Shadowrun. SHame the sytem never really worked.
GURPS source books. Pretty much all of them.
Pendragon
Ars Magica
Can't think of any DnD fluff that's really jumped out at me. Never played Planescape or Dark Sun (didn't have the money back then to buy every game supplement that came out) but they always struck me as interesting. Would have liked to have tried them. Been flipping through a couple of Al-Qadim pdfs I bought recently and there's some cool stuff there.
Published Game stuff:
Shadowrun. SHame the sytem never really worked.
GURPS source books. Pretty much all of them.
Pendragon
Ars Magica
Can't think of any DnD fluff that's really jumped out at me. Never played Planescape or Dark Sun (didn't have the money back then to buy every game supplement that came out) but they always struck me as interesting. Would have liked to have tried them. Been flipping through a couple of Al-Qadim pdfs I bought recently and there's some cool stuff there.
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