Games these days seem to be more toolkit than a setting proposition. Whether it's an OSR toolkit, or something like Stars Without Number.

Or am I wrong?

Have people had their fill of new settings?

I've never been likely to use any published setting as-is, but rather to mine them for ideas and flavor. I have no love of Glorantha but made liberal use of Broo and Ducks and other stuff from it.
So these days I find I prefer toolbox settings like Vornheim, Yoon-suin, and Veins of the Earth... which remind me a bit of the old Chaosium Cities book.
I'd still buy a straight up setting sourcebook though, if I thought it had good bits to steal.

They are with me.

I enjoy reading them and I'm not above shamelessly mining them for ideas or mechanics for my own settings.

You are wrong. Ever since people started publishing setting information there have been games published with and without specific settings. Sometimes even with licensed settings e.g. Star Wars.

I've bought a lot of RPGs of late. And honestly, I wouldn't use a setting right out of the box. I'd have to chop it to bits and use my version of it. But I think that's the point of most RPGs - It's your game now use the bits you like and discard the rest. Unfortunately, I find I'm disregarding more than I should.

There's definitely a set of OSR(ish) games that are designed to be used as kits. I like these a lot.

This might sound a bit 'back in my day', but I found the settings in the early nineties were a whole lot better (for my taste at any rate...) And I'd have been happy to use most of their material as is. Games like SLA Industries, A/State or Kult, etc.

The original Sabbat book for Vampire gave me everything! Happy days. However, when some of these games because popular like Vampire. The endless splat books ruined the original flavor of the game. And simply created an unplayable messy boring meta-plot.

Sorry back to my original point. Take what you need and drop the rest.

Quote from: Biscuitician;981891Games these days seem to be more toolkit than a setting proposition. Whether it's an OSR toolkit, or something like Stars Without Number.

I think you're looking at a rather focused subset of Rpgs.

Look at all the Rpgs that Modiphius produces. All focused on setting. Or Cubicle 7's game lines.

There's an entire gaming world that exists outside of the OSR.

Quote from: BiscuiticianGames these days seem to be more toolkit than a setting proposition. Whether it's an OSR toolkit, or something like Stars Without Number.

Or am I wrong?

Have people had their fill of new settings?

Yeah, I have this feeling too. It seems there is an influx of games focused on a set of rules and an intended experience through "implicit" settings or themes than actual exploration of full blown structured settings like we had in the past. A huge amount of OSR & PbtA games are like that. Not that new settings doesn't exist (as mentioned, see Modiphius), but it's definitely a trend. At least from my angle of the hobby.

Were they ever? The 2e boxed sets didn't sell very well.

I've never used a published setting. None that I have seen have been to my taste. I find it easier to make up my own. But also a lot of the games I play take place in the real world, historical or modern.

I'm unlikely to purchase a new setting, though a setting toolkit like Yoon-suin (which I did in fact purchase) may get my attention. Ok, I also purchased Middermark for Torchbearer.

On the other hand, I have several purchased settings in my "keeper" box: Glorantha (to be used with RuneQuest 2), Blackmoor, Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Talislanta, and Tekumel.

I have others lying around, that may or may not ever see any use. I won't be getting rid of my Classic Traveller Third Imperium materials, but I will likely never use the setting (but most of the materials are either adventures which I can modify to use in other settings, or on the Classic Traveller CD-ROM).

Frank

D&D when first published did not have a setting. Even the implicit setting was pretty nebulous.
Metamorphosis Alpha had the setting of the Starship Warden, but it was about a page of text and two maps.
Traveller began without a setting and gradually became consumed by the setting of the Third Imperium.

I am currently backing Paladin, in part for its setting, although also because I love the KAP mechanics.

I would venture to say that game with and games without settings have been a part of this hobby from the begining and will continue to be until the end.
There are also plenty of third party settings being published for various RPGs.

Actually... I like Symbaroum. I wouldn't have to do too much to that setting at all.

Just going to answer the thread title- I think that established settings are doing just fine, but new settings?  Those don't seem to hold much interest past a brief fling.

Quote from: fearsomepirate;982023Were they ever? The 2e boxed sets didn't sell very well.

Did they not?  Seems anyone I know that played 2e a lot (which is the edition I started with) owned the Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, and Planescape box sets.

Quote from: The Exploited.;982085Actually... I like Symbaroum. I wouldn't have to do too much to that setting at all.

Ooorah!