Desdichado
Hero
One of the first statements always makes me shake my head in confusion. You don't have time to design a campaign setting? That doesn't take nearly as much time as reading, researching, collating, taking notes, and all the rest of the work required to run one that you buy.
In any case, you still haven't clarified exactly what you're looking for in a setting, but I'll just answer the question straight up anyway.
In no particular order:
Iron Kingdoms: People make a big deal outta this setting being steampunk. It's not really. It does have a bit of an industrial revolution vibe, but that's much more understated that folks make it. Rather; I like it because it's dripping with great atmosphere and opportunities for playing up some of my favorite themes: war, invasion, politics, intrigue, horror, and crime. It's got a very sword & sorcery feel to it, as opposed to high fantasy, and I like that.
Eberron: People sometimes call this steampunk too, but such people are probably clinically insane; there's nothing steampunkish about this setting at all except the very weak link of the lightning rail, a magical transport that resembles a train but it powered by magically bound elementals. Rather, this is D&D with a few filters over it that give it a bit of the tone of Indiana Jones, Casablanca and noir detective novels. In fact, if anything, it's weakness is that it's too D&D which causes it to lose some of that filter flavor.
Golarion, i.e. the Pathfinder Setting: A very late entry into the 3.x settings (did it come out after 4e was released? I think so. Certainly it was way after 4e was announced.) This is the setting that managed to get me excited about iconic D&D again; something I thought no setting could ever do. It's like a modern re-imagining of the Hyborian Age in a lot of ways; namely in that many of its countries are very recognizeably based on an actual Earth culture. There's the Golarion version of Byzantium, revolutionary France, the Vikings, the Chinese, the Persians, Egypt, "darkest Africa", and even a slightly tongue in cheek version of immediately post revolutionary America. Among others. This doesn't sound particular compelling stated like that, but this setting really works; served up with a heaping helping of the pulp aesthetic, I feel like Conan, Fafhrd, the Gray Mouser, Tarzan or even John Carter could walk right out of the pages of this setting. Lately, I'm digging this more than almost anything else.
Freeport: More of a mini-setting than really a full-blown one, but one that's sufficient to house several entire campaigns without really ever leaving the city, this is the iconic fantasy wretched hive of scum and villainy, like Haven of Hawk & Fisher fame, or Sanctuary of Thieves World fame. It occasionally suffers from a bit too much camp, but the recent systemless Pirate's Guide to Freeport toned that way down. I'm actually currently using Freeport, although I've grafted a ton of Five Fingers stuff into the city for a slightly darker feel. Despite my attempts at darkness, the game feels quite a bit like a fantasy version of The Hangover... but actually, that's really awesome.
In any case, you still haven't clarified exactly what you're looking for in a setting, but I'll just answer the question straight up anyway.
In no particular order:
Iron Kingdoms: People make a big deal outta this setting being steampunk. It's not really. It does have a bit of an industrial revolution vibe, but that's much more understated that folks make it. Rather; I like it because it's dripping with great atmosphere and opportunities for playing up some of my favorite themes: war, invasion, politics, intrigue, horror, and crime. It's got a very sword & sorcery feel to it, as opposed to high fantasy, and I like that.
Eberron: People sometimes call this steampunk too, but such people are probably clinically insane; there's nothing steampunkish about this setting at all except the very weak link of the lightning rail, a magical transport that resembles a train but it powered by magically bound elementals. Rather, this is D&D with a few filters over it that give it a bit of the tone of Indiana Jones, Casablanca and noir detective novels. In fact, if anything, it's weakness is that it's too D&D which causes it to lose some of that filter flavor.
Golarion, i.e. the Pathfinder Setting: A very late entry into the 3.x settings (did it come out after 4e was released? I think so. Certainly it was way after 4e was announced.) This is the setting that managed to get me excited about iconic D&D again; something I thought no setting could ever do. It's like a modern re-imagining of the Hyborian Age in a lot of ways; namely in that many of its countries are very recognizeably based on an actual Earth culture. There's the Golarion version of Byzantium, revolutionary France, the Vikings, the Chinese, the Persians, Egypt, "darkest Africa", and even a slightly tongue in cheek version of immediately post revolutionary America. Among others. This doesn't sound particular compelling stated like that, but this setting really works; served up with a heaping helping of the pulp aesthetic, I feel like Conan, Fafhrd, the Gray Mouser, Tarzan or even John Carter could walk right out of the pages of this setting. Lately, I'm digging this more than almost anything else.
Freeport: More of a mini-setting than really a full-blown one, but one that's sufficient to house several entire campaigns without really ever leaving the city, this is the iconic fantasy wretched hive of scum and villainy, like Haven of Hawk & Fisher fame, or Sanctuary of Thieves World fame. It occasionally suffers from a bit too much camp, but the recent systemless Pirate's Guide to Freeport toned that way down. I'm actually currently using Freeport, although I've grafted a ton of Five Fingers stuff into the city for a slightly darker feel. Despite my attempts at darkness, the game feels quite a bit like a fantasy version of The Hangover... but actually, that's really awesome.
. The stuff that is already written in the setting is stuff I don't have to write myself. I read faster than I can compose so picking a published setting will save me time. ymmv.
