To go along with the thread on mechanics, what piece of game/setting fluff turned you completely off to what otherwise was a good setting?  What little thing, no matter how ridiculously insignificant, ruined the gameworld for you?

For me, the first thing that comes to mind is the Catfish River in Allansia from the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan.  When I hear the word "Catfish", a good fantasy setting is NOT what comes to mind. In fact, the word Catfish actively evicts thoughts of fantasy from my mind. To me, the word "catfish" is evocative of hillbillies in overalls and straw hats playing banjos and, well, skinning catfish on their back porch.  Probably because fishing in general, and catfish in particular, appear in a disproportionate number of country songs.  Not that there's anything wrong with hillbillies or straw hats or banjos-it is just the last thing I want to think about when I'm trying to enjoy a fantasy setting.

What's your most hated fluff?

I skip fluff text, so I have no hate-favourite.

Hey, Hillbilly fantasy just might work - what if a Shadowrun sort of event happened in Louisiana or some other rural location?  Imagine cookin up grays and crawdads or hearing elves told they have "a real purty mouth."

Rather than pick one item, I'm going to go with a class of items - bad vignettes.  Damn game designers who obviously would rather be novelists but who can't get published as such dumping in extra pages in every chapter of prose that they obviously love but no one else does.  

It's tricky, a short scene can really communicate what a game is about.  But it's easy for it to become its own thing that doesn't really help the book.  If you really want to add such a thing, think twice and get two strangers to read it first.

Catgirls.

Quote from: NicephorusHey, Hillbilly fantasy just might work

Try to find Manly Wade Wellman's "Silver John" stories. The setting is Appalachia back in the 40s and 50s, when Wellman first began writing the stories. They deal with all manner of Appalachian folklore and legend, and include a lot of magic and monsters from those sources.

The OWoD had TONS of it.
 
* The Tzimitze were Space Aliens
* The Rogue Ghoul Werewolf Mage Samuel Haight
* The OG Malkavian Clanbook (look we'ree KerAZyyy Knarf!)
* The whole Ravnos Antedeluvian awakens, eats the ENTIRE clan , then gets Nuked by Mages after burning in the sun for Seven Days, which consequently turns Samuel Haight (Mr. Mary Sue) into an Ashtray (literally).

Quote from: ColonelHardissonTry to find Manly Wade Wellman's "Silver John" stories. The setting is Appalachia back in the 40s and 50s, when Wellman first began writing the stories. They deal with all manner of Appalachian folklore and legend, and include a lot of magic and monsters from those sources.

Seconded, Mein Colonel! I read a lot of his stories growing up. He was a favorite of my dad.

-clash

Quote from: ColonelHardissonTry to find Manly Wade Wellman's "Silver John" stories.

Thanks for the tip.  I checked him out on Wiki and it sounds worth a look.

Quote from: KrakaJakThe OWoD had TONS of it.

I'll just add the Avatar Storm to that.

Quote from: SosthenesCatgirls.

You are dead to me, Sosthenes.

Well, I despised all the stupid lingo and punk-posturing in Planescape.  Thank god that the new Planes for D&D 3.x don't have any of that nonsense.

The fact that Eberron makes no sense, but claims to.

The anti-masonry in Deadlands was one of the many things that I despised about that setting's fluff.

RPGPundit

Blue Rose. D20 Modern. Yes, I do know there's people out here who love it, but I really think it blows. Eberron. Many parts of FR. Many etc, but gotta run.

I hate the new age drivel and gender discrimination of Blue Rose that drags down what has the potential to be a good fantasy-horror/dark fantasy setting.

Eberron demographics. Do they really think 20 million or so people is going to fill up a continent the size of Asia? And the Lightning Rail makes no bloody sense whatsoever.

nWoD Mage - lets throw out all the really good stuff about the old game! That sounds like a faaaabulous idea!
oWoD Demon - Nah, we were just kidding, its all Judeo-Christian bullshit after all.