So I was digging through some of my game crap I still have lying around and of course got distracted by the shit and started flipping through books.  I was struck by the various presentations of settings in different products.  The number of game books I have has been dwindling over the years as I use less and less of it, but I noticed a trend where I save setting shit that I really like the presentation/format of.

For instance I love the domain books for Birthright.  They are really well designed.

So my question is, what books struck you with their presentation of setting material?

Keith Senkowski

The Book of Worlds for Mage: The Ascension -- little crunch and more ideas than you'll ever be able to use.

Quote from: KeithSo my question is, what books struck you with their presentation of setting material?

Keith Senkowski

Harn, simple, detailed, to the point, and consistent.

Rob Conley

Interesting.  Birthright, Mage, and Harn all have a ton of information to digest--setting material, terminology, game concepts, etc.  So, what is it about the presentation of these games that makes them stand out most?  The art?  Setting organization?  Rules placement?  I'm just curious because I'll be doing the layout for Dreamwalker d20 Revised (which also contains a lot of information to digest) in the near future and I'd like to make it as user-friendly as possible.  

Pete

I was recently impressed by the setting presentation for RIFTS Chaos Earth. As opposed to RIFTS' usual kick-ass with big guns feel, it presented itself as heavy and dark with big tones of action movie doomed heroism. It clues you to the best way to run it and I plan to follow it if/when I do:

Run until the party TPKs in the most awesome way possible.

Quote from: pspahnInteresting.  Birthright, Mage, and Harn all have a ton of information to digest--setting material, terminology, game concepts, etc.  So, what is it about the presentation of these games that makes them stand out most?  The art?  Setting organization?  Rules placement?  I'm just curious because I'll be doing the layout for Dreamwalker d20 Revised (which also contains a lot of information to digest) in the near future and I'd like to make it as user-friendly as possible.  

Pete

Harn does it via a standardize encyclopedia format that is designed to be placed in a three ring binder. Short of a wiki probably the best way of organizing a large amount of information on a setting.

You can browse here to see some fan made articles done in the same style

http://www.lythia.com.

Quote from: pspahnBirthright, Mage, and Harn all have a ton of information to digest--setting material, terminology, game concepts, etc.  So, what is it about the presentation of these games that makes them stand out most?  The art?  Setting organization?  Rules placement?

The Book of Worlds is essentially a comprehensive in-character travelogue on the Umbra, written from various points of view, with a brief introduction to the basic terminology in the beginning and all the mechanics in a short appendix at the end. It's just the thing for a campaign about a bunch of scruffy mages hitch-hiking around the universe.

Warhammer, definitely.  The main book has precious little actual "Setting" detailed in it, and yet you get a crystal-clear idea of what kind of adventures you're going to be having; from the classes, from the art, from the whole presentation.

RPGPundit

Quote from: pspahnInteresting.  Birthright, Mage, and Harn all have a ton of information to digest--setting material, terminology, game concepts, etc.  So, what is it about the presentation of these games that makes them stand out most?  The art?  Setting organization?  Rules placement?  I'm just curious because I'll be doing the layout for Dreamwalker d20 Revised (which also contains a lot of information to digest) in the near future and I'd like to make it as user-friendly as possible.  

Pete

Well I can speak to Birthright...

The Domain books in particular presented the information as a report from the steward to the new ruler.  You get a low down of geography, factions, NPCs, history, and so on in short hits (they were only 32 pages). The maps were detailed, but the book didn't cover it all. Combined together they gave you enough hooks to suck you in and invent the rest for yourself.

Back in the day we played a lot of 2E Birthright (drifted the shit out of the broken domain rules) and those books worked as great primers for the Players and the G/DM.

I feel I should mention that even back then we moved away from the traditional GM is responsible for everything else.  Domains were too fucking big for that with too much going on, so in essense each player was his own cast of characters from his Domain with the G/DM stepping into various roles to facilitate conflict and situation.

Keith Senkowski

SkyRealms of Jorune the original boxed set. A couple of thin books but a whole world of adventure. The writing and art complemented each other something I don't see much of these days.

Regards,
David R

classic traveller, the LBBs.  pure simplicity.  

Castle Falkenstein sets the setting aside from the rules, and has a contrived narrative running through the presentation that sets up the flavor of the material. I thought that was an excellent way to go about it. It's a little too precious to work for everything, but it was a great match to the material.

Quote from: estarHarn, simple, detailed, to the point, and consistent.

Rob Conley

I second. Harn has incredible detail that is presented in a clear and consistent manner, and is well thought out. If I were to have any complaint at all about Harn it would be that it's social and political structures are so well researched and modeled that it can be difficult to allow for the existence of "adventurers" for those that like a more typical fantasy game.

While not quite as detailed, Birthright is a fantastic setting that feels epic, is presented consistently, and provides loads of reasons to adventure (even without using the realm rules). The history and interaction between Scions and Awnsheigh, and the plethora of enmities/rivalries, is a buffet of gaming goodness.

I have finally recently begun collecting and planning to use Dark Sun material, and I'm very happy with it so far. While I'll probably alter some things from the setting as presented, the idea of a post apocalyptic fantasy world is just Fucking Cool.

Quote from: KeithSo my question is, what books struck you with their presentation of setting material?

They Dying Earth's Scaum Valley Gazetteer.

It's gorgeous: glossy paper; classy use of old zoological images; wonderfully atmospheric period illustrations; handrawn maps that evoke the setting; use of full-scale map along with smaller regional maps; adventure notes clearly marked and located within setting contents. And of course, wickedly eloquent text.

The front half of the Eberron Campaign Setting does an awesome job of weaving setting info into the chargen rules.  I love it when fluff is well integrated with crunch.