Simple as that, the other threads are system/mechanics focused, this is about the other stuff. What settings/milieus/genres did you initially like, but found over time you grew to dislike?

Was there a cause or specific event you can identify that brought about this change (new book coming out, comment from a developer, mainstreaming of a fad/trend, etc)?

Interesting distinction... I generally don't use established settings, with a few exceptions.

One of them, that helped sour me on a game, was Feng Shui.

I started working out the details of the Architect 2056 juncture, about how people lived and civilization and so on.

I ended up so fucking depressed about it that, combined with other dissatisfaction, killed my interest in the game.

FORGOTTEN REALMS

When I first got the grey campaign box, I was in love.  As time went by, I began to severely dislike the realms.

Fantasy, as in loose, Tolkieneque wizards, elfs and orc as well as any all other magical per-industrial settings are dead to me. It never was my favourite genre but it didn't use to be an issue. I played it plenty, even enjoyed it. But at some point something just snapped and I just can't bring myself to play in a fantasy game any more. I just can't. I'd blame it on over-exposure.

I've been detoxing for a good few years now, seems like it may take a few more. But I'd like to think I'll get over this hang up as in practical terms fantasy games are by far the most popular.

Oh, in a general sense, high fantasy.

I've always preferred what I call 'typical book fantasy,' which is the somewhat grubby magic as amazing occasional bits in an otherwise adventure novel. Fafhyrd and the Grey Mouser, classic Sword and Sorcery.

And, well, most of the folks I've gamed with prefer D&D to the gills. meh.

"oh, ok, let's scry-teleport ambush the beholder lord in that flying castle."

Ravenloft for me. I think most of the TSR books I ever bought/owned are Ravenloft related but we used CoC to play in it. I loved the idea but less and less the execution... the creeping D&D flavor. I kept wanting to make it weirder and official products seemed to get less weird as time went on.
I still like the concept/theme though... the whole gothic horror thing, just not so much the official incarnation.

Quote from: Will;803199"oh, ok, let's scry-teleport ambush the beholder lord in that flying castle."

Oh yeah, ick! But that never was my taste in fantasy.

I found it amusing in small doses.

Not 15+ years of play. bah

(Of course, I showed them! Now I'm barely playing anything)

Forgotten realms for reason listed above. Give me the grey box and ignore everything else afterward.

Glorantha. I loved it starting when White Bear Red Moon came out in 1975. I played and GMed the heck out of Runequest 2 and 3 in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Then Hero Wars /Hero Quest came out and I found those systems utterly useless and opaque to me. And the volume of new information coming out was overwhelming and seemed intended to overturn much of what was known previously. That and the whole attitude of nothing is really known about Glorantha because everything is subjective but despite everything being subjective we'll present it from the perspective of multiple erroneously objective single culture viewpoints combined with a certain cliquish hero worship just leaves me wanting to stab someone in the eye. Fortunately I have all the RQ2 and RQ3 material I would ever need to run a Gloranthan setting that would interest me for 20 years or more of weekly play. So I have what I need. But the new stuff just leaves me totally underwhelmed.

Dragonlance - when I first read the original 3 books (at the age of 12) I  thought it was the bee's knees. By about the time DL: Saga came out I thouught it was a pile of horse manure.

Ravenloft - good initial concept, but just too wildly inconsistent. I don't think it ever knew what it wanted to be, so tried to be everything over the years.

World of Darkness - Anyone part of the hobby in the 90s knows why.

Warhammer Fantasy - I loved (and still love) the world presented in the 1st edition/Hogshead RPG and 3rd edition of the Wargame. What its become since is a fanfic/special snowflake/'extended universe' nightmare of retardation.

Star Wars - not the RPG's fault. I hear people talk about the new trailer these days and...nothing. What love I once had for the setting has long since been flogged to death.

Star Trek - just bores me to death these days, and I don't like the Federation as an adult. A bunch of paramilitary facists.

I'm trying to think of an ongoing commercial setting that hasn't at some point moved on from what attracted me to it initially... Dr. Who maybe? Not that I've been watching to see if it still appeals to me (too many friends yammering about it has kept me off).

I can happily ignore the changes to WFRP and 40K settings... holding them in stasis near their original incarnations (same with World of Warcraft if I ever run a game in that setting).

I don't really see Call of Cthulhu as a setting... but given the omnipresence of the Mythos these days I'd be loathe to name-drop any of those entities. Try to keep the mood/flavor without the brand names.

The same goes for Star Wars/Trek... I want that mood/theme/style without the baggage of canon and fanboys and OOC chat about the show/movie/books.

I never liked Forgotten Realms from nearly the start. It just felt like an ersatz Known World/The Realm that just got more and more absurd and overblown over time. Early stuff is ok though.

Came close with Dragonlance. I had enough good sense to stick to the RPG book and the first 6 novels and have only strayed into the mess that was later only once. Friend of mine got into Dragonlance at the later retelling version and it totally ruined him on the setting.

Came close with BXs Karameikos/Known World. Was lucky enough to miss the gradual bloat that would become Mystara. I just treat the two as seperate settings.

3rd ed Gamma Worlds setting was one that eventually turned me off. The whole crystal tech and gradual slapstick leanings.

4th ed Gamma World eventually turned me off with the naming convention of all things. They took the odd names of 1st and 2nd and turned it into a language and then started applying it to EVERYTHING! Every time I see Meriga, for example I just walk away and go back to 2nd ed.

Came close with Star Frontiers. Luckily I missed the whole Zebulons Guide mess and so dodged the bullet. Treat them as two seperate settings and systems.

About everything from Games Workshop. By 2000 the settings were becoming less and less interesting. As it got more grim and ugly it lost its original charm. Especially 40k. That on top of the unpleasantness of the company, their store managers, and the cultist fans.

Recently lost any interest in Car Wars and Gurps due to ongoing problems with SJGs attitude problems and some of the stunts theyve pulled. And I was never a big fan of Gurps anyhow. (Well ok. Gurps doesnt really have a setting.)

And that is a recurring theme for me. Loosing interest in a setting due to the decay of the parent company.

A recent irk, though so far a minor one is the proliferation and over-emphasis on demonic elements in the 5e DMG. I dont mind them on their own. I DO mind them overwriting several creatures now to be created by demons/devils/whatevers. Its needlessly intrusive. Luckily its just meaningless fluff text so easy to jettison.

Maybee some day will return to some of those.

Which brings up the question. Any settings youve soured on that you think might get back to eventually?

Dragonlance. I too thought it was the coolest thing when I read TSR was producing a huge campaign to run on a unique world. No clerics with spells! Dragons in every module! Halflings with personality! Different as hell. The first adventure was pretty good too. Then the cleric angle was dropped, the adventures became a strict railroad, if you dared to kill any character the campaign was disrupted, pages were wasted with junk like songs, repetitive character sheets, pictures that didn't really help. One adventure had big maps of a Dwarven city but then you didn't really do anything with it, so why include it? One module was nothing but a recap of the previous 6. Huge disappointment overall.

Star Frontiers. I still like the game and the original setting wasn't terrible. But like everyone else I wonder where the homeworlds are. I would like to see someone put out a whole new environment for that game.

This is the second time I've heard this obliquely referenced, but what exactly did SJG do recently? All I hear is "attitude" and "stunts pulled", but outside of this forum I've never seen anything from them since GURPs 4th limpdicked onto the scene then disappeared, taking with it 3rd's exceptional library of supplements.

Dragonlance ... but not for the typical reasons. I actually love the Fifth Age and the SAGA Rules System; it was the War of Souls and the aftermath, combined with delving into the setting's philosophical and religious foundations and finding them wanting, that burnt me out.