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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mhacdebhandia" data-source="post: 4363211" data-attributes="member: 18832">I only have a short wishlist:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As little Tolkien as possible. Elves, dwarves, halflings, et cetera are acceptable only if they have their own separate identity. You might ask "What, then, is the point of having them?" and I would agree with you: if you don't have something awesome to do with them, forget it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">More sword-and-sorcery/contemporary/exotic fantasy, less high fantasy/pseudo-medieval Extruded Fantasy Product. The empires of China, Egypt, Rome, and Mexico are better inspirations for D&D than the 13th-century kingdoms of France, Germany, England, and Denmark.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The setting should be heavily flavoured with the Weird. I don't necessarily want extraterrestrial elements, but alternate realms of existence, strange heavens and hells, ancient horrors and forgotten terrors are all fine things, even if they're not found all over the place.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Technological and social development is not a slavish copy of medieval equivalents. Plate armour doesn't have to follow the Milanese, Gothic, or any other historical styles (which look like garbage, if you ask me, no matter how effective they are - "A Paladin in Hell" just makes me snicker), people don't wear hose or slashed doublets, maybe there's some actual form of democracy or something other than absolute monarchy in the world.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Non-human but human-like races exhibit non-human features beyond the usual. Dwarves should have earthy skin tones never found in real life, for instance.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Human cultures should not be monoracial. If the world is filled with white humans for no other reason than that's what you imagine when you think "medieval fantasy" or "D&D", then you're welcome to enjoy it alone: I want no part of it. I like ahistorical fantasy and that goes double for ethnicity - this isn't 13th-century Germany, so not everyone has to look like they could fit in amongst the citizens of Mainz or Vienna.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Despite my affection for Eberron, I don't necessarily require that magic be put to industrial uses - that's a sometimes food. I do want something more interesting than "uh, adventurers use magic, and I guess some other guys, but otherwise this world is pretty historical" a la the long-standing D&D stereotype.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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