In this thread (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=34294), AndrewSFTSN brought up an excellent discussion regarding the concerns regarding campaign starting exposition dumps.
I know AndrewSFTSN's not alone. I love unusual settings and its sometimes rough getting players to read background material, or even listen to exposition. I thought it would be great fun for us to generate a thread full of 100 word examples of presenting a setting to a table of noobs.
So here's the rules:
Step 1) Describe either a Homebrew setting or a Published setting in 100 words (or less).
Step 2) If someone posts about a Published setting you like, feel free to do your own take. It will be fun to see how different people present the same setting.
Step 3) Profit!
CARCOSA
Carcosa blends Science-Fantasy, Swords & Sorcery and Cosmic Horror. Ages ago, inhuman and merciless beings created 13 Races of Man as vibrantly colored ritual components. Skin colors span the visual spectrum, including alien colors of dolm, jale, and ulfire. Bloody human sacrifices were mixed and matched in alchemical occult sorceries to Cthulhuoid gods in exchange for unearthly power.
But that was ages ago. Today, your planet and her moons are a dying ruin. Man's cruel alien masters crawled away into seclusion, and the few Humans left scramble against unleashed monsters and each other...because the terrible old rituals still work.
Characters are regular guys through-hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Campaign starts when leaving trail to resupply near trail end (Baxter State Park), party finds a body with throat cut in woods. Obligated to report to town police, party sees a mysterious glow in sky and everyone has vanished - half eaten food on tables, etc. and power is out. Investigating crash site yields glowing, radioactive, incredibly hot rock-actually an alien entity. Hermit, seemingly much older than his appearance, in house nearby fortold of its coming. Why did he and party not disappear? What's next?
Had great fun with this. Took probably 15 three hour sessions to complete.
Sign
Tékumel. A fantasy setting divided between ancient, stagnant civilizations (with elements cribbed from historical Mesoamerican and South Asian empires), built on the ruins of a technologically advanced civilization. A strict, clannish society hires outsiders to do dirty jobs, including retrieving ancient treasures and secrets from underground ruins, and said outsiders get to buy citizenship, clan adoption and political, military or religious office.
The Old World (WFRP). 16th Century Germany with Tolkienesque races, besieged by a Satanic-looking take on Moorcock's Chaos, seasoned with a dash of British black humor that wouldn't look out if place in an AD2000 comic.
Rifts Earth. World War III acts as a mass sacrifice, opens "rifts" to other worlds and floods the Earth with magic, psychic phenomena, demons of myth and weird aliens; 300 years later, humanity crawls back to something resembling civilization, with a league of high-tech, totalitarian, human supremacist city-states ruling most of North America, vampires holding Mexico and an alien colony in resurfaced Atlantis raids the coasts for slaves. You get to play all sorts of characters, from mecha pilots to baby dragons to a hobo.
Godbound. Golden Age magitech civilizations storm Heaven, Tower of Babylon style, to find God's throne empty, and proceed to build their own golem-gods and tear up the inner workings of the Universe in the process. As the celestial machinery falters and the world become crappier and grimdarker, people from all walks of life start manifesting divine power. You're one of them.
Between this and the other thread, I find it amusing that no one's noticed that we're gnawing on a solved problem. This is called the elevator pitch, and any author talking to an editor or showrunner taking to a network producer has done it.
As for the other thread - there's a reason that pretty much every secondary world fantasy ever begins with a protagonist very similar to the intended reader, either from our world or a chunk of the secondary world very similar to our own, being introduced gradually into the more exotic parts of the setting.
CRKrueger has the right of it, though, there's a profound culture shock problem with a lot of RPG worlds. It's one thing to get your head around an expat from Earth tossed into your DM's homebrew setting; it's another to think like a native who's internalized an entire culture full of mores and folkways.
Star Wars, minus The Force, with I Robot thrown in.
Over the Edge - Earth, very 80s-90s feel, a secluded island governed by a benevolent tyrannical despot. It's a haven for pretty much every impossible freak and conspiracy you might think about. So, there are Satanists, ghost-things, androids, mad scientists, drug dealers, dirty coppers, aliens, ancient races. It's quite fun.
Lords of Gossamer & Shadow - there's a limitless labyrinth of stairs, all leading to an infinite amount of door, each opening to one of countless worlds. So, it's pretty much "anything and everything". Yes, it's entirely possible to find NeverNeverLand, Earth ravaged by Skynet's Terminators, or biomechanical landscapes of H.R.Giger. Go wild.
Freeport - Pirate port, along the lines of Tortuga + fantasy races & creatures, magic, etc. It's a work of love, so expect plenty of details (arguably surpassing every similar setting), good history (including bigger-than-life characters) and a world that feels truly alive. It's also ported to a few different mechanics including d20 and FATE.
Engine Heart - Mankind is no more, but its legacy survives: robots roam the world and attempt to follow their directives, even if there's no point to do so anymore. Yeah.
Wallyyyyy.
Kuro - Near future, cyberpunk. China wanted to nuke Japan, but its rockets disappeared while on the way. Suspecting a new superweapon all major superpowers demand for Japan to share the technology. Japan refuses, because it has no clue what it's about, so it faces a total seclusion from the rest of the world. Expect cyberpunk-lite + supernatural horror, ghosts, demons & such. The former is prevalent, the latter, optional.
Abandon all Hopes - Earth's government puts all criminals, rebels and unwanted citizens on board of an enormous star vessel "Gehenna" and kicks them into the space. "Gehenna" accidentally does
Event Horizon and is now infested with demons and other creatures from beyond. Expect gangs, cults, supernatural enemies... Heck, it's Riddick+Event Horizon+Dead Space.
Blue Planet - the Mankind discovered an Eden-like planet and is now in the process of harvesting it for resources (what a surprise!) and you're part of that process. Expect a world full of oceans, animal-like player characters, hard SF, a little space western, a little cyberpunk.
Heaven & Earth - it's Twin Peaks.
Ryuutama - there's no set setting, because what matters in this game is
the vouage, traditional pilgrimage every inhabitant of this world is supposed to undertake at least once in his lifetime. So, friends & strangers alike band together and travel, meet adventures, solve or create problems and thus create a story (that works as a source of power for a god-like dragons guarding this world). Very peaceful, very anime-like experience.
Rotted Capes - near future, Z-virus turned helluva people into zombies... So it happens that it affected superheroes and super villains alike. Yeah, it's Marvel Zombies, alright. Oh, and it's quite well done game, really.
Unhallowed Metropolis - Alternate Earth, fallen London. Zombie Apocalypse happened, mankind was decimated, there's high air pollution. Think: steampunk Victorian Britain + zombies. Oh, Player Characters are cursed individuals who are always one step short from becoming corrupted monsters no better than those hungry undead roaming the wasteland. It's a game for mature players.
Degenesis - post-apocalypse. It's part Mad-Max, part Fallout, only there's hardly any space for the element of "weird" and definitely no "humor". Europe is now a ravaged place infected by awful, fungi-like pestilence, people became savage, brutal, unforgiving, there are cults (faith is very important element in this setting) and order-like organizations, there's a constant threat from Northern Africa. Much cruel, much sirius. Yummy.
Kingdom of Nothing - modern day Earth. You're a beggar seeking... You know what? Remember "Fisher King" featuring awesome duo of Robin Williams & Jeff Bridges? Yeah, this is "Fisher King": the RPG.
Pathfinder - ....
Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/QtSWsA6.jpg)
...oh, it's fantasy, high magic, so expect truckloads of magical equipment and ninjas shooting fireball.
Dark Albion: Gritty "Medieval-Authentic" OSR gaming in the quasi-historical setting that inspired Game of Thrones and the largest number of Shakespeare's plays.