Not counting anything from TSR or WoTC, or the settings from the actual old-school period.
I'm talking about settings that have come out now, with the OSR.
The setting for Northland Saga by For God Games is nice. But not that D&D goes viking is something really new. But I like it.
I have a soft spot for Carcosa. Even though it does not feel that playable as written. And works best like a plug-in thing. Like suddenly an adventuring party from the Hyborian Age or Nehwon might end up trapped there.
Blackmarsh and Points of Light 1&2. But I prefer Blackmarch over the other.
I am not a big fan of LotfP, but I like the idea of putting D&D adventures in historical times. And as such I like the idea of Dark Albion but I have never read it.
Isle of the Unknown does have a bit of charm as in a strange wonderland sense. I does have some lovecraftian weird Dreamlands quality without being too dreary.
My favourite was Yggsburgh for C&C, but it got taken off the market when Gygax died in 2008. :(
I've also enjoyed running Rob Conley's Points of Light - Southland & Wildland.
Generally I don't think the OSR has been big on memorable campaign settings.
I ran Paizo's Golarion in 1e AD&D but I guess that doesn't count. :D
Yeah the OSR has not been very big on traditional campaign settings. I am bit curious about the C&C world of Aihrde and the Borderlands Provinces by FGG.
None.
While I do appreciate the OSR's "implied setting" design philosophy, the movement really needs a campaign product along the lines of the Greyhawk Gazetteer.
Beautiful and gameable at the same time.
Can't just somebody pair ZakS's approach to product design with a generic Fantasy Setting already?
Quote from: Nerzenjäger;1029097Can't just somebody pair ZakS's approach to product design with a generic Fantasy Setting already?
This.
Well, I've only read it and not had a chance to play it yet. but Glynn Seal's Midderlands setting is probably the best setting book I've read, just for its location descriptions. Every town, forest, and stream is laced with adventure ideas and there are interesting connections between most locations, giving it a living feeling that most settings don't have. It also helps that the region is based on a real region of England, so the cartography looks like a place that could actually exist.
Aside from that, I'm also a fan of C&C's Aihrde setting. While the history as found in the Codex of Aihrde is terribly boring Silmarillion fanfic that's almost entirely about the gods and gives way too little information about the world on the ground, so to speak. However, the A series of modules presents a very interesting setting with respectably tangled factions, a large cast of important characters, minimal magic (I once went through and counted only nine named magic-users in the 10 or 11 first modules), and a lot of interconnections between its dungeons. If the Codex had been more of that and less of the whole All-Father created the Moon and the Moon chased after the Sun and the Dragon ate the Sky and whatever the fuck, how does that lead to any kind of adventure?
I liked Qelong enough to run it, so that's the first that comes to mind. Although if Yoon-Suin had come out sooner it might have edged it out. YS is a commitment though, it's got a number of features where you roll or pick from a chart to build your version of it, rather than being a simple writeup.
What I really want to do when I get the time though is roll my own. I have a few notes towards one, but set it aside when I started Qelong, and now I'm regretting not plugging away at it anyway. Probably that would edge out any western setting I could find published now.
Quote from: Teodrik;1029087Blackmarsh and Points of Light 1&2. But I prefer Blackmarch over the other.
Curious as to the reasons why? The format, content, etc? Feedback helps when I do more of these.
Hmm, Blackmarsh and Points of Light for me too?
For me though, my old school (fantasy) setting itch is pretty well satisfied by Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Blackmoor, and Glorantha. For SF, I do home grown setting, I have little to no interest in The Third Imperium and have really ignored all of the OSR SF settings.
For fantasy, I would also look at Yuin Soon and if I really wanted to get deep into OSR, I might check out LotFP and it's setting.
I guess Blackmarsh wins by default of being the first well publicized attempt to look back to Wilderlands and Blackmoor and suss out what was good about them and recreate that in a fresh setting.
Melan's Formalhaut is another good pick and another one that looks back to Wilderlands.
Frank
Yoon-Suin, although now I'm reading Hubris and I like it a lot.
Does the Scarlet Heroes, Red Tide setting count? Cuz I like it. Most of the other stuff I got like Micro74 doesn't actually have a setting.
Quote from: ffilz;1029147Hmm, Blackmarsh and Points of Light for me too?
For me though, my old school (fantasy) setting itch is pretty well satisfied by Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Blackmoor, and Glorantha. For SF, I do home grown setting, I have little to no interest in The Third Imperium and have really ignored all of the OSR SF settings.
For fantasy, I would also look at Yuin Soon and if I really wanted to get deep into OSR, I might check out LotFP and it's setting.
I guess Blackmarsh wins by default of being the first well publicized attempt to look back to Wilderlands and Blackmoor and suss out what was good about them and recreate that in a fresh setting.
Melan's Formalhaut is another good pick and another one that looks back to Wilderlands.
Frank
Yeah, I've been using the Wilderlands of High Fantasy (3e version); I don't think any specifically OSR material matches it - or if it does it's too off the wall for me. It took me from 2006 to 2013 to find the perfect Wilderlands spot for my campaign, but my Ghinarian Hills game has been going strong ever since.
The three that immediately come to mind are:
- Yoon-Suin: imaginative, exotic but very adventureable setting, supported by a lot of procedural generation (although weak on actual written adventure content)
- Anomalous Subsurface Environment: gonzo science-fantasy done right. The lynchpin is the dungeon, but ASE1 has a completely functional gazetteer in it.
- Dolmenwood: this is the best old-school setting developed in the last few years - and probably the first published "deep woods" setting that has really inspired me. Published in the Wormskin fanzine series, it is comfortably modular.
Kinda missing a well-made vanilla setting.
The Phoenix Barony is not bad for a rough gazetteer, but it is more of a BXCM kind of world than an AD&D one if that makes sense.
Quote from: Melan;1029155The Phoenix Barony is not bad for a rough gazetteer, but it is more of a BXCM kind of world than an AD&D one if that makes sense.
It's not great IMO. A BX type setting sketch I like better is the Morgansfort/Western Lands one in
The Morgansfort Campaign for Basic Fantasy RPG. Dwimmermount's setting is also interesting if maybe over specific.
Everything from Frog God was originally for 3e, so that doesn't count as OSR (unless 3e is OSR now)
I have been largely unimpressed by OSR settings. Probably the most ambitious is John Stater's Nod (as revealed in his 'zine), but it's mostly JG hex crawl gibberish that makes little coherent sense.
There's also Usherwood for OSRIC which has had a lot of work put into it
http://www.usherwoodadventures.com/
I take that back, Melan's Fomalhaut setting is pretty neat. But you can only get bits and pieces here and there in various zines and such. Weird without being stupid or silly, more coherent than JG stuff
Quote from: Teodrik;1029087I am not a big fan of LotfP, but I like the idea of putting D&D adventures in historical times. And as such I like the idea of Dark Albion but I have never read it.
You should get it! If you want a setting that melds real history with D&D, Dark Albion would be perfect for you!