Glade Riven
Adventurer
One main issue is that Forgotten Realms starts out as a Tolkien knock-off and then adds on every fantasy trope out there (and is probably responsible for developing a few new ones).
Eberron - Sure, some of it works well and some of it doesn't, but it really works hard to do something different with everything. I'm also a fan of pulp-noir when done right. The "New World" of Xendric is cool. The psionic flavoring in the setting is weak, though.
Iron Kingdoms - It's a brutal world, with a magical industrial revolution going on. The elves are still slightly Tolkien-esq, but they take it in a different direction.
Dawnforge - Hyborian Age meets Similrilion. I don't mind a dash of Tolkien when it isn't the same part of Tolkien that's being ripped off all the time. It sticks to it's theme.
Homebrew - Right now I'm working on a campaign setting that mixes and matches various bits of historical cultures. For instance, the Elves have a caste system with a nobility somewhat like ancient china (mostly a bunch of buerocrats trying to one-up each other), a warrior caste loosly based off Samurai, and a peasant class that works all day and parties half the night. The elves recently (in their time) built an empire based off of a human notion. The humans built themselves an empire which largly collapsed under it's own weight and fragmented. The dwarves are looking to build an Empire, but are only just starting on it.
I'm focusing on building an interesting world, with each region essentually it's own "themed" campaign setting. There is also a lot of empty space intentionally left for anyone (as I am going to be web-publishing it) to add what they want into it.
