Your least favourite setting

[Ibram]

Its hard to pick a "Least Favoret" but there are a few that I have not cared for

FR: Standard Issue Fantasy.... on PCP. As a general rule I dont care for settings where magic is overly common, or where nearly everything has been codified.

Ebberon: Does not appeal to me in the least, its just to far down the "magic as technology" track.

Dragonlance: Regardless of what the PCs did they would always be 2nd string to the plot from the books (this is not a criticism of the books, which are not... that bad)

Planescape: the Ebberon of its day, the whole plains hoping bit has never appealed to me

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Myself, I try not to have an opinion on settings unless I have owned material for it. I'm not saying that everyone should have this standard, but it is mine.

I was once a big FR fan right from the start. I bought everything. But up until a certain point it felt like it got out of control and I began to dislike it. It was never my least favorite, but it was once my favorite... long ago...

Of the TSR/WotC published settings, that honor goes to Planescape. I bought the first three boxed sets but the jargon and slang just chased me away. Maybe that's my failing, but it was so pervasive it wasn't worth my effort to ignore it. It took me three boxes because I was giving it the benefit of my doubts hoping it would improve. If it was just limited to bits of actual spoken "excerpts" I might have been able to stand it, but it was everywhere. *shrug* I wanted to like it, but it made it too difficult.

A close second would be Jakandor. I don't know what more to say.

Of all the other WotC settings, Mystara (+Hollow World/Savage Coast/Blackmoor), Ravenloft, Birthright, Al-Qadim, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Dragonlance (+Taladas), [never owned Chainmail so I have no opinion on the default setting that came with this mini's game] etc. I have good things (some really good like Mystara, some just a little bit like Dragonlance) to remember about them which prevent me from putting it as my least favorite.


That said...

My least favorite setting, regardess of publisher, probably falls to either Dungeon World or Sundered Reaches. A toss-up.


Regards,
Eric Anondson

 

[Nisarg]

The default Blue Rose setting is just plain silly IMO.

Good lord yes. I can't believe I forgot to put this one on the list.

I guess I overlooked it because I've been dazzled by how absolutely awesome the Blue Rose SYSTEM actually is. I've been running it in the Port Blacksand setting (yes, the one from the old Fighting Fantasy novels), and my players are having the time of their lives.

Nisarg

 

[Nisarg]

Taladas pretty much sucks, since its whole appeal is EXTREEM DRAGONLANCE LOL!1!!! YER CONTINENT SUXX0Rs and has little else to be said for it.

That was never my feeling from it. I liked the alienness of it, the way the whole setting was about the very real and ongoing impact (pardon the pun) that a meteor strike had on the entire continent. Mind you, you have to dig the Roman Minotaurs in order to really enjoy the setting; and while setting-wise its fascinating, it is difficult to run effectively.

Mind you, since Ed Greenwood's "House" Realms has rampant polyamorous sexuality at the core of the setting and gods that are never anthropomorphic and may not even exist, I don't blame him.*

*Yes, this is straight from him.

Great Googley Moogley, how I wish the published Realms were like that!! Damn it, someone has got to publish Ed's Real Realms on a website or something.... can you give any more details about this? Like, in what way rampant polyamourous sexuality is at the "core" of the setting? Or what other elements have been changed from the published version?

Nisarg

 

[Mystery Man]

Damn it, someone has got to publish Ed's Real Realms on a website or something....

...or something

 

[Teflon Billy]

...For me it's Dawnforge. I can see why WoTC turned this setting down. I mean I get the idea behind the setting, however the characters just get gross as the game progresses. The party I'm playing in are still in the lower level and I have to say that we're pretty gross (power wise), I can imagine that when we reach higher levels we will be nie-unstoppable. We used the standar character creation process, it's not like we were stated out the wazoo to begin with.

That isn't really fair comment. I've spoken with Wil Upchurch about Dawnforge (which I, admittedly, love) nd he says that it was "what he felt the Epic Level Handbook should've been". And I agree, the Epic Level Handbook did exactly zero for me. Dawnforge, by contrast, blew me away.

I know I'm going to get "it's the DM" responses, and this its true to a respect...I guess as a player I hate power gaming and I feel like I'm power gaming with DF.

Your hatred of power gaming is not Dawnforge's fault.

It's ike complaining that Traveller sucks because you don't like games set in outer space.

It's a feature, not a bug.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Wraeththu.

LOL

Nice. Did you ever read the "Questions about Wraethu" thread at RPG.net.

Untintentional Comedy gold

 

[Teflon Billy]

Forgotten Realms.
It made me feel like the player characters were just along for the ride.

True.

I did like the standard they set for production values though with the 3.0 setting.

 

[teitan]

Depends on which edition...

1e I hated Greyhawk. It wasn't that it was boring etc but because I was a Dragonlance player and it seemed so "low concept". I got over this and saw Greyhawk for what it is though, a real Sword & Sorcery setting of various shades of grey where evil kind of tips the scales in its favour. I also loved the Realms from the first boxed set and through the FR series (DWARVES DEEP ROCKS!) in 1e so Greyhawk had to go... also, the boxed set just sucked so much butt compared to the DL Adventures or Forgotten Realms box.

In 2e it went two ways with a third finally overtaking the 2... I hated Dark Sun and Spelljammer. Spelljammer I see now for the hokey fun it could be, kind of like Disney's Treasure Planet and a GREAT way to do the Pirate thing with a twist. Dark Sun was just odd and I didn't like Psionics with the attack/defense modes, manifestations etc. It just reeked. Dark Sun had a LOT of neat concepts but poor execution killed it and the lack of variety. I think I could get a few years out of it now, but back then...ugh. Finally both of these were eclipsed by the dreadnought of the Forgotten Realms.

MY GOD what happened? TSR's poor design sense aside (where were the spheres etc. information for priests in the boxed set?) and a few excellent products out there, what really happened?

Dragonlance kind of fell to the side at this time. The Time of the Dragon boxed set rocked and I used it for a couple years and I liked a few of the adventures like the one that introduced the Kirath kit (Tree Lords?). I was extremely disappointed in the Tales of the Lance boxed set though. It contained a LOT of goodies like the character standees and the card game and the screen etc. but the map (Great Wall of China?WTF?) and what happened to the cool classes for the Knights of Solamnia and Wizards of High Sorcery? That was cool stuff and this would have been a GREAT time to canonize the Knights of Takhisis in a gaming product instead of a short story collection.

3e...

Midnight. Tired of hearing about it.

Kalamar felt like Greyhawk without the history.

Scarred Lands caught my interest for a year or so but the haphazard method that S&S released products and the incohesiveness of the setting information really hurt it. I got tired of chasing down products to get the full feel for the Scarred Lands. This is a GREAT setting with crap for presentation. If White Wolf and S&S were to release a product like the FRCS for the Scarred Lands then I think the line might have thrived. Take the best parts of Relics & Rituals and Ghelspad and the race information from the screen and you have possibly THE BEST 3e setting released to date. This setting deserved a better presentation.

Strangely, FR in 3e really captures my interest. It seems like the older days of late 1e and early 2 FR and I like it. I also have rekindled my flame for Dragonlance recently...

 

[BiggusGeekus]

so what was the thing with Spelljammer? was it space? Spaceships? Lots of people mentioned that they didn't like it but havn't said why.

At a guess:

1) The Greyhawk-Krynn-Toril connect-o-rama
2) The spelljamming helm means your cleric or wizard doesn't get to play
3) the first couple of modules were hack-n-slash. Not a great way to launch.

I dug it. I thought it was groovy.

I'm surprised about the lack of love for Eberron though. I don't think that the NPCs being mid as opposed to high level means much though. That's all on the newbie continient. The contienet with the G'ould psonic possesor thingies and the dragon contient look like they'll be harder.