Your least favourite setting

[cmanos]

I have always hated Forgotten Realms for the simple reason is it is so overpowered. Sure if you are a powerghamer and like the powerful characters, thqat s all fine, but I prefer games and settings where the underdogs have to struggle for things.

 

[Ryltar]

Greyhawk is just plain boring. It is now, where it is provided with no background whatsoever, and it was then, when every adventure and book was set in GH. I guess it's just too black'n'white and too "standard fantasy"-esque for my taste, as I only seem to like the "different" settings: PS, Midnight, Dark Sun, Oathbound, Dark Legacies et al.

FR are part thumbs up, part thumbs down: You can have exciting adventures there, for example in the Silver Marches or the Heartlands, but to do so, you have to ignore 50% of the FRCS. Pity.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Thanks Fredramsey! That certainly does clear things up for me. Thanks!

 

[Methos]

Forgotten Realms isn't that bad - it is what you make of it

I have had that experience with FR as well. It soured me on the world for a long time but I have also had GMs who essentially 'de-npced' the Realms and y'know, they aren't half bad. Still far from my favourite but at least you have tons of places well detaild that you can explore.

I couldn't agree with this statement more. While I can understand people not wanting to have a campaign in a world that is so incredibly detailed with supplement upon supplement, the Realms aren't that bad. I personally prefer a good "home - grown" campaign myself as either a player or DM. Having said that, when you allow the players take a more active "role" in the area of the Realms that you base your campaign in, it is much like any other world. Besides, it is such a big place, that there are huge areas that have not really been highly detailed. Just adventure/base a campaign in those places!!

As for me, I never could see the point of Dragonlance.................

Cheers

Methos

 

[Desdichado]

Hope this clears things up.

I only take exception to the claim that anime is a medium, as it most certainly is not. Animation is perhaps a medium, or at least a significantly different subset of the medium of "motion picture" to pass muster as one, but anime is a style (or more accurately, a family of related styles) of animation, not a medium.

For the most part, the only people that put forward that fallacy are those who believe that nobody could not like anime, because it's very diverse. Which is also a bit of a straw man; despite it's diversity, there are some obvious linkages; you ask Joe Blow non-fan guy what's anime and what's not, and assuming he knows that word (and you don't have to clarify by calling it Japanimation or something like that) he will almost certainly correctly pick out the anime from any other offering every single time. There are certain conventions of anime that mark it out as different from Western animation, and there are some people who simply don't like it.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Al-Qadim must have a pretty loyal following, as being that it has not yet been metioned.

 

[Rackhir]

Spelljammer always struck me as the silliest setting, very "High-Concept"-ish. Dragonlance, I thought the first novel was one of the worst things I've ever read. FR, my only experience was through the Baldur's gate games and you don't seem to encounter the Uber NPCs everyone always complains about.

Though I have to say that I've never actually run in any of those settings.

Don't quite understand the hate for Greyhawk though. People who complain that it's "bland" and such obviously haven't read much of the history and background for the setting.

I have had a number of my favorite characters and adventures in that setting though. I suspect that is what it comes down to for a lot of the Hate/Love for the various settings. Good campaign - love setting. Bad Campaign - Hate setting.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I gotta voice my opinion on FR as well. It's an insanely detailed setting with hundreds of campaigns worth of ideas and place to explore. However, it does have to ran correctly or the players will feel like second fiddles to the Elminsters and Drizzts of the world. In the first FR campaign I played in, this happened. Everytime we fought a BBEG, some major NPC was there to steal our thunder. It made the campaign a total waste of time and nearly soured me on the setting. That's the only time this has happened, and I've had a great time playing in the Realms each time after.

The two settings that I've found myself playing second fiddle in the most are Dragonlance and Star Wars. I think this stems mostly from the books always being tailored around certain characters. Sure, there's some great background information in the novels and such for each series, but the timeline is only advanced by a certain, small selection of characters. Plus, it seems like fans of these two settings seem to be more slavish to canon than most. (That's not to say that all fans of DL or SW are canon slaves, but it does seem to happen a lot more frequently than with other settings, from my POV.) This leads to GM's forcing the players into more of a side role than anything else. I've played in some fun "side-role" campaigns, but most of the time I simply feel like I'm watching the world move on than really playing any part in it.

Kane

 

[fredramsey]

I only take exception to the claim that anime is a medium, as it most certainly is not. Animation is perhaps a medium, or at least a significantly different subset of the medium of "motion picture" to pass muster as one, but anime is a style (or more accurately, a family of related styles) of animation, not a medium.

Watch Grave of the Fireflies, followed by Cosplay Complex.

Then come back.

 

[Desdichado]

Watch Grave of the Fireflies, followed by Cosplay Complex.

Then come back.

And you ignore my points. I'm actually familiar with both of those, and yet I still make the statement I made above, and I still stand by them. You haven't said anything about them yet.

Nor have you addressed your mis-use of the word medium.

In the sports world, that's what we call a forfeit.