A GURPS Fantasy setting

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by (E)

I don't have the same cultural(?) background so this makes any setting with this feature slightly grating. I like my fantasy worlds distinct and separated.

Me too.

Originally Posted by Frost

I have as profound and growing dislike for 'conventional' fantasy I.e. most D&D worlds, Banestorm etc.

I won't judge your perception but to me, Banestorm is mostly "weird", hardly "conventional" and very different to "D&D worlds", if only because its strong degree of weirdness coming from its frame of contemporary science and sci-fi for harboring a sort of fantasy setting with historical, real world themes and tropes mixed in a shambolic way (and I'm talking about the basic foundation of this setting, not specifically about the work done for its later edition).

[kracht]

Originally Posted by demonsbane

to me, Banestorm is mostly "weird", hardly "conventional" and very different to "D&D worlds"

These days I could not say for sure, but in the early Nineties my friends and I felt that Yrth was very different from the fantasy settings we were most used to (various newish (A)D&D settings, WFRP, MERP etc.). The trans-dimensional gimmick and the real world history and cultures made a lot of difference back then.

[Highland_Piper]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

I really enjoyed Shining Force, so a Shining Force seeming setting would be cool

I only played Shining Force I & II on my old Sega. Loved them!

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Roma Arcana is pretty cool, I think were it expanded to be a setting with some actual heft to it then I might actually consider giving it a shot

Agreed. I'd love more of Roma Arcana.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Also, Faux Fantasy Asia is pretty cool, a GURPS version of Not Lo5R or such could be pretty cool

GURPS Wuxia would be pretty amazing.

I've never really enjoyed other people's settings (with the exception of Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Palladium) but even then I had issues with them. I like to make up my own worlds and go as whacky or as realistic as I feel like. It's what drew me to GURPS in the first place.

My current Fantasy world is very High Fantasy, High Magic, High Chi. But beneath the planet is "Dungeon World" for a lack of a better name. The Architects keep building an infinite underground complex throughout the planet and that is where I run my Dungeon Fantasy. Now we switch between them, when we have time, depending on how much hack and slash they want. Although right now we are playing GURPS Fallout in the Mojave. Pretty much DF in a post apocalyptic setting.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by demonsbane

I won't judge your perception but to me, Banestorm is mostly "weird", hardly "conventional" and very different to "D&D worlds", if only because its strong degree of weirdness coming from its frame of contemporary science and sci-fi for harboring a sort of fantasy setting with historical, real world themes and tropes mixed in a shambolic way (and I'm talking about the basic foundation of this setting, not specifically about the work done for its later edition).

It always seemed like fairly thin window dressing dumped on top of otherwise fairly straight forward vanilla fantasy. It also wasn't particularly new window dressing various novels and settings had played those kind of tricks before if not in quite that way. Going back to my first experiences pre 4e it seemed that the similarities were more pronounced than the differences.

[OldSam]

Banestorm is not actually bad, but I don't really like it either. The main point for that is the mix of historical religion and culture into the fictional setting. It always felt a little wrong for me, I definitely prefer a clear orientation - a real historical setting or a completely fictional setting.

For me any popular fantasy setting, with a few existing novels (!), would work as long as there is enough room for the typical things like some magic, a few different races, some mythical creatures/monsters etc.

[hal]

For me to invest in a fantasy world, the game system's magic implications can not violate the world's narrative history. YRTH violates that, primarily due to the evolution of GURPS MAGIC and the inability to separate out the GURPS GRIMOIRE from the classic magic system.

This is largely why my gaming crew since 1986 onwards has largely used either ATLANTIS: THE SECOND AGE background, or HARNWORLD. All other game worlds save that of TRAVELLER or ARMAGEDDON have been home brews. Even Orcslayer, resulted in my having to detail out more of Castle Defiant that for all intents and purposes, it was a home brew.

Have I ever said how much I loathed GURPS BANESTORM?

[kracht]

Originally Posted by hal

For me to invest in a fantasy world, the game system's magic implications can not violate the world's narrative history. YRTH violates that, primarily due to the evolution of GURPS MAGIC and the inability to separate out the GURPS GRIMOIRE from the classic magic system.

I can definitely see your point. If I ever were to GM a game on Yrth again I would probably opt for a lower magic version, perhaps even a different magic system altogether.

[Kalzazz]

Ptolus is a good example of an actual published setting that had a bit of heft to it

Anyway, to me, a good setting needs to have lots of races, divine and arcane magic, and not modern real world religions, and probably other stuff, and it needs to have some decent heft to it

I'm not to worried about how well it does, or does not, hold together under the covers, I want a 'roll dice and kill things' level of setting, not Fantasy Economics Simulator 5000, I just want pretty covers where I can have a backdrop for the 'roll dice and kill things' and interesting places and critters and things to do

You should have elves, dwarves, centaurs etc, and they should have neat names like elves, dwarves, and centaurs . . . . you can have Flooombergulfets and such as well, but the staples should be covered, and they shouldn't all have weird names for the sake of weird names

Also monsters and such. Plenty of monsters. Gotta have those to. All your favorites like orks, goblins and dragons and demons and such, but also new cool ones (such as Dark Flooombergulfets and Drobozobbles). I enjoy the Fire Emblem games but the 'almost everyone is human and wheres the monsters, don't we get monsters?' is sad

I am generally okay with 'roll your own', where I will make up things when and if they are needed for the plot. So if the quest is to find a missing caravan, then I can make up where its going (Guppy Village), where its going from (Bubble Flats) and where it was going through (The Waffle Woods), and that it was carrying Sacred Chiles from the Temple of Vulcan in Bubble Flats needed for the Fall Fire Fest in Guppy Village, and that the Fall Fire Fest takes place in fall to celebrate fires and people who work with fires (such as smiths) so that noone freezes to death during the winter. And that Bubble Flats is occupied mainly by halflings and riding dogs, most of the houses look like Geodesic dome igloos, and that they export pepper infused pipeweed, and their town guards use slings and grenades

So as a DM I can and will just make up stuff. But it could be nice to have stuff already made up so I didn't have to

[Phantasm]

I'm curious as to what people think of my own fantasy setting: Ranoc, linked in my .sig. It started as a D&D world but shifted to GURPS when I realized that D&D couldn't handle my vision of the world, particularly where firearms are concerned. Since then, I've tried to trim the D&D-isms as best I could.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

You should have elves, dwarves, centaurs etc, and they should have neat names like elves, dwarves, and centaurs . . . .

I strongly dislike this personally. I can't remember the last book that I read that had D&D races straight up that I enjoyed. Meanwhile I really liked the races (and their origins) in the The Dagger and The Coin, as well as the alternate take on elves in The Malazan Book of the Fallen. My last new weird/pulp fantasy campaign Desolation Road, had five unique races (one with several subraces) and was very successful.