Forgotten Realms gray box was pretty decent in my opinion, but most of the stuff that came later was just not to my liking. A little too far afield for my tastes. Dark Sun kinda got old for me too. Yes, it's a dry dusty corner of hell, I get it. Cool initial idea and some interesting variations on races, but it kinda always stuck in my mind as a "Roman Empire at it's worst on the Sun's Anvil" sorta place. I like some trees and green shit on occasion!

Ravenloft. Boring. If I want horror in my fantasy - this ain't it.

Ravenloft as well...loved the concept of Gothic horror and got a lot of inspiration while reading through the books. Bought the first adventure Feast of Goblyns as well...and that was kind of a let down...too much hack&slash for my taste...I ran it and we had fun with it, but as an example of Gothic horror it was quite the disappointment IMO.
I know that there is a lot of love for this module among some forum members, but I just gotta disagree...

Due to Feast of Goblyns my interest in Ravenloft dwindled away to nothing...alas...

Quote from: Kiero;803177Simple as that, the other threads are system/mechanics focused, this is about the other stuff. What settings/milieus/genres did you initially like, but found over time you grew to dislike?

Was there a cause or specific event you can identify that brought about this change (new book coming out, comment from a developer, mainstreaming of a fad/trend, etc)?

Probably The Morrow Project or SPI's Universe. Their settings wore off kinda quick.

Politics of game writers will turn me off of their game setting for sure.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;804420Probably The Morrow Project or SPI's Universe. Their settings wore off kinda quick.

Politics of game writers will turn me off of their game setting for sure.

Much as I like Universe... er... WHAT setting?

As for Morrow Project. The base setting is interesting if spartan. It really comes alive with the modules though. Those flesh out the areas.

For some that sort of super blank slate is a boon rather than a hinderance. One of the reasons I like BX D&D so much. Like a few others posting, it was the filling in of the blanks that cause the problem.

Though yes. Universe could have done with at least a little fleshing out. We learn more of the setting from the two Pandora games than the RPG!

Quote from: Omega;804445Much as I like Universe... er... WHAT setting?

The ARES Magazine setting. I kid.
It was the psionic navigators. The gravity web implants. The stutter warp drives. The science of the setting.

Quote from: Omega;804445As for Morrow Project. The base setting is interesting if spartan. It really comes alive with the modules though. Those flesh out the areas.

True.

I still have both games from the '80s. And look through them once in a blue moon.

Unfortunately I'll have to say that about Shadowrun. The initial setting back when I read it in the 1990's was uber-cool. But being cyberpunk, it relied on 1980's trends and technologies, which haven't aged well, and which would be problematic unless you want a vintage/retro-future 1980's, especially with younger players. The attempt to update the technological and cultural assumptions in SR 4E made a lot of things bland IMHO, not to mention all the cool metaplot being finished up and the newer metaplot not being as fun.

I think the best way to run it is as intentional retro-future, unabashed 1980's vintage game using the SR2 2050's setting and metaplot and maybe even the SR2 ruleset. Otherwise you either lose the flavour or end up needing to justify 1980's cyberpunk tech expectations to people accustomed to smartphones, Google and wikipedia and who have never used a BBS.

I can't say that there's any setting I initially liked that I've completely soured upon.  I would say that there were a few settings that I got disillusioned with:  The FR during all the setting-bloat of 2e, Dark Sun being somewhat ruined by the metaplot, etc.

But in their original formats I still like these.

Quote from: Akrasia;803402Greyhawk.  The (little) post-Gygax stuff of which I'm aware seemed to suck the flavour out of the setting.

As I've admitted before, I actually like the "From the Ashes" version of Greyhawk more than the Gygax version.

Quote from: Vonn;804395Ravenloft as well...loved the concept of Gothic horror and got a lot of inspiration while reading through the books. Bought the first adventure Feast of Goblyns as well...and that was kind of a let down...too much hack&slash for my taste...I ran it and we had fun with it, but as an example of Gothic horror it was quite the disappointment IMO.

Ravenloft is more an urban fantasy setting than a horror one. Yes it has all the horror trappings, vampires and so on. But the supernatural mystery investigation element and the idea of a hidden world in plain sight aren't the focus of that setting.

Quote from: Bren;803216Glorantha. I loved it starting when White Bear Red Moon came out in 1975. I played and GMed the heck out of Runequest 2 and 3 in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Then Hero Wars /Hero Quest came out and I found those systems utterly useless and opaque to me. And the volume of new information coming out was overwhelming and seemed intended to overturn much of what was known previously. That and the whole attitude of nothing is really known about Glorantha because everything is subjective but despite everything being subjective we'll present it from the perspective of multiple erroneously objective single culture viewpoints combined with a certain cliquish hero worship just leaves me wanting to stab someone in the eye. Fortunately I have all the RQ2 and RQ3 material I would ever need to run a Gloranthan setting that would interest me for 20 years or more of weekly play. So I have what I need. But the new stuff just leaves me totally underwhelmed.

That didn't turn me off Glorantha, just the Hero Wars line. I'm happiest letting my own imagination run wild on Bill Church's maps, drawing from old material whatever bits suit me and ignoring the rest. (A lot of the AH ed. stuff in Genertela, Gods, Elder Secrets, etc., ended up gathering dust, too.)

Also, Unhallowed Metropolis. Weird-science Victoriana during an undead apocalypse sounded interesting but somehow the whole alternate future "Neo-Victorian" goth fetish angle turned me off of the setting even before I ever got to run or play the game.

Quote from: golan2072;804474Unfortunately I'll have to say that about Shadowrun. The initial setting back when I read it in the 1990's was uber-cool. But being cyberpunk, it relied on 1980's trends and technologies, which haven't aged well, and which would be problematic unless you want a vintage/retro-future 1980's, especially with younger players. The attempt to update the technological and cultural assumptions in SR 4E made a lot of things bland IMHO, not to mention all the cool metaplot being finished up and the newer metaplot not being as fun.

I think the best way to run it is as intentional retro-future, unabashed 1980's vintage game using the SR2 2050's setting and metaplot and maybe even the SR2 ruleset. Otherwise you either lose the flavour or end up needing to justify 1980's cyberpunk tech expectations to people accustomed to smartphones, Google and wikipedia and who have never used a BBS.

Not that I recall the details, but it seems to me that SR (like CP, except as applied to the Hardwired world) assumed a 'cyberspace' that was far more of a virtual reality than the present one. Unless I am mistaken on that point, I don't see how current gadgets change anything significant. Surely the futuristic stuff is about as fantastic as ever - never mind the unabashedly magical?

Quote from: Phillip;805104Not that I recall the details, but it seems to me that SR (like CP, except as applied to the Hardwired world) assumed a 'cyberspace' that was far more of a virtual reality than the present one. Unless I am mistaken on that point, I don't see how current gadgets change anything significant. Surely the futuristic stuff is about as fantastic as ever - never mind the unabashedly magical?

Exactly.  Google Glass and Twitter...who cares?  In Shadowrun my Street Samurai has a cellular phone/wireless connection in his head controlled by mental command or voice activation that can show anything on the Matrix in my cybereyes - audio, video, live news/cable shows, anything I want.  If I'm stuck in traffic on the I-5, I just have the autonav and GridGuide control the car while I hook up to a porn simsense feed and get a Full Sensory blowjob from my starlet of choice streamed directly into my nervous system.  BBS?  Shadowland looks more like a G+ hangout crossed with wikipedia then a BBS (minus the stupid picture icons which no real runner is going to post anyway).  If a couple gangs start a dustup on I-5, no worries, my internal combat system makes the one Arnie had in the Terminator look like cartoon  hour.  Neo?  Too slow.  Who needs a vehicle rig when you have a combat computer in your brain making the calculated angles and targets from Robocop look like an Atari 2600.

This is all with Shadowrun Second Edition technology.  The only thing evolved or modern about the later editions was the higher art budget.

Shadowrun being "quaint 80's futuretech" is one of those "common wisdom facts" that's really unanalyzed bullshit put forward by the colored hair transhumanist crowd.

Even then their consumer-oriented "advanced tech" world is just AR overlay bullshit.  Window Dressing.  You try and hack Mitsuhama with that crap, your brain is Ragu running out of your ears.  You're hacking it the way your grandpappy did, with a datajack and full Virtual Reality.

Quote from: Phillip;805095That didn't turn me off Glorantha, just the Hero Wars line. I'm happiest letting my own imagination run wild on Bill Church's maps, drawing from old material whatever bits suit me and ignoring the rest. (A lot of the AH ed. stuff in Genertela, Gods, Elder Secrets, etc., ended up gathering dust, too.)

I think that is by far the best approach.