Its got all of the Known world plus the Savage Coast plus Alphatia detailed, as well as some of the peripheral areas; plus a huge space inside the Hollow World. It even has detailed information about the moon and its pre-history (Blackmoor).
Is there any fantasy setting that covers a larger area of territory and actually details that territory? Much less hex-by-hex?
RPGPundit
Hex-by-hex, no, but let's see:
According to the Vault of Pandius:
QuoteMeasurements
MYSTARA is 6,190 miles in diameter. Its circumference at the equator is just over 19,400 miles. The planet's crust is about 1,200 miles thick, and its two tubular polar openings measure 1,500 miles in diameter at MYSTARA's outer surface. Their curvature toward the HOLLOW WORLD is so gradual as to be unnoticeable except from high in the air. The total surface area of the planet's outer world, minus the polar openings, is just over 105 million square miles. Water covers 60% of the planet's surface.
The interior diameter of MYSTARA is this 3,790 miles (measured from any point on the HOLLOW WORLD's surface through the centre of its floating sun and to the corresponding point on the opposite side of the HOLLOW WORLD). The interior circumference of the HOLLOW WORLD at the equator is 11,908 miles. The two polar openings are only 1,000 miles in diameter where they open into the HOLLOW WORLD. The HOLLOW WORLD has a surface area of just over 38 million miles (minus the two polar openings) and 70 percent of the world is covered by water.
vs. Forgotten Realms (http://www.defragsrealms.com/custom/frl_faq3.html#1-3):
Quote[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] 1.3.5. How large is Toril/Faerun/the Heartlands?
Let's get our terminology straight first. Toril (Abeir-Toril) is the
planet the Realms are found on. It's roughly Earth-sized, according to
the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.
Faerun is the continent on which most Realms adventures take place. It
stretches from Waterdeep and the Sword Coast in the west to the edge of
the Hordelands in the east. The map in the old Grey Box clearly shows
that Faerun is larger than North America by quite a bit. A quick
calculation using the FR ATLAS reveals that Faerun has an area of ~ 14
million square miles. The areas of North America, Africa, and Asia are
9, 12, and 17 million square miles, respectively.
The Heartlands (3.5 million square miles) are the central portion of
Faerun, centered around Cormyr, the Dales, and the northern Sea of
Fallen Stars. They cover roughly the same area as the United States
(3.6 million square miles).
It would appear to beat the Realms, in any case.
I wish they'd re-do the Mystara Gazetteers. Or license them out, better yet.
Exalted's Creation is probably the largest most detailed setting.
With the 5 regions (North, South, East, West and the Blessed Isle) of Creation, The Wyld, the Underworld, Malfeas, and Yu Shan (heaven).
Most regions have their own splat books as well as write ups in the Core/Fat-Splats. Each splat books details major cities, their governments, major players, significant wildlife etc.
I don't know if it's the largest detailed gameworld but I think it's the coolest in terms of diversity of cultures and possibility of adventure.
Regards,
David R
The realms doesn't have nearly as vast an area covered as Mystara; and Exalted's setting is supposed to be gigantic, but it actually has very very little detail to all these areas, compared to what Mystara has, when you count all the GAZ series, the Princess Ark series, the Hollow World, Dawn of the Emperors, and the additional material.
RPGPundit
does Harn come close? What with all the Encyclopedias?
How about Glorantha?
ICE's Middle-earth campaign modules (each similar in scope and detail to the Gazetteers) covered a lot of territory, including some areas outside of the northwest region that Tolkien's writings focused on.
Glorantha has more details for about the same area as is detailed for the surface, and that detail is reworked for three different eras (RQ 1-3 is a one, Hero Wars/ Hero Quest is another era, and MRQ is yet another era).
Talislanta has as much written in word count, and to about the same detail level, and better organized and a smaller font, but has the issue of race/class limits and its own system. It is rules light, FWIW, but it has some crunch in odd places (and different places by edition). It covers a single continent, but that continent is about asia-sized.
City-State of the Invincible Overlord has a lot of material, but that material is presented in maps and schematics, mostly. The detail level of the maps is higher... but the setting is smaller overall.
Note that only about 1/2 of the surface of Mystara and 1/4 of the hollow world is mapped out to the 24mile hex level., and about 2/3 of that to the 8-mile hex.
Toril has a lot of stuff. All the base Realms materials, plus the Kara-Tur/OA stuff, Myth Drannor, Maztica, & Menzoberanzen, all these are on Toril. Plus the 3E rehashes. maybe less area overall, but more is detailed, albeit in localized areas. More written overall. Most of it AD&D2E.
Quote from: Lawbag;334471does Harn come close? What with all the Encyclopedias?
Yeah!!
What about Harn,
Harn World?
Over the last 20 years I'veseen a ton of stuff published that is set in Harn or compatible with it.
- Ed C.
Quote from: Koltar;334613Yeah!!
What about Harn, Harn World?
Over the last 20 years I'veseen a ton of stuff published that is set in Harn or compatible with it.
- Ed C.
Harn is easily the most detailed
island in fantasy gaming, but the world itself (Kethira) and the nearest continent (Lythia) are almost completely unexplored in supplements as of the present time. A lot of people don't realize that Harn is only a very tiny part of a much larger setting.
Quote from: Lawbag;334471does Harn come close? What with all the Encyclopedias?
Not by the strict definition that Pundit is asking.
Basically Harnworld covers the Island of Harn in extreme detail more than any other locale in any other setting. Then Ivina (Scandinavia) has one regional module with a handful of articles. Shorkyne (Germany) has a regional article with with a handful of articles focusings on Harbaal and Chembly.
Everything else is loosely detailed in the Lythia article (Columbia Games) and the Kethira article (Kelestia).
The only other setting that approaches Harn is the Boxed set of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. That focuses on one or two paragraphs locale at the expense of the detail that Harn has.
Both Harn and the Wilderlands products cover an area about the size of western europe.
Mystara in contrast covers a huge area with a little less detail compared to the Wilderlands. Mystara has less written for the same number of hexes compared to the Wilderlands. But unlike Wilderlands and like Harn it has a wealth of support products that grealtly detail specific locales and regions. These products span across many regions. I can't think of a major Mystara region that doesn't have at least a handful of products to support it.