Magic so ancient and mysterious that folks are afraid to use it.

Cities riddled with secrets.

Cultures struggling to achieve their destinies.

Cults scheming with malevolent forces.

Landscapes tinged with a cruel beauty.

Regards,
David R

I love it when being a hero means that you really might die, but you have to do it anyway.

I love impossible situations solved by ingenuity, tenacity and blind luck.

I love Tyrion Lannister and Quick Ben.

Names: Algoris of the Waters, The Azure Drupe, Balfunc of the Savory Blades, The Lark, Pip.

I like sneaking around in nonsensical, deadly underground mazes and punching orcs for beer money.

Castles, fortresses and dungeons (etc.) to storm.  Demons, orcs, bandits and other villains to hack apart and cut down like axes through trees or hot knives through butter.  Blood spraying everywhere.  Bones crunching when I smash then with a mace or hammer.  The screams of the dying as they suffer that fatal blow.  BIG FUCKING EXPLOSIONS!  Throwing people off fatally-long drops.  Going one-on-one with the big one at the end of the raid and making him squeal like a pig when I finally shank his ass.  THUD! THUMP! SPOK! SPLURT! WHACK! "Alas, I am slain!"  Holding up the severed head of my foe and roaring in triumph.  That's why I play fantasy.  Hell, that's why I play at all.  Taking the hot babe home and hauling off the treasure horde pales in comparison to being there, in that ecstatic moment of pure red-eyed joy, but I surely won't turn it down.

This is actually harder to put into words than it is for me to think about...

The best way to put it is that I want my fantasy to be fantastic. I want it to be internally consistent, but not necessarily logical. I want the concepts to be familiar, but with enough of a twist to make them interesting.

Probably the best way to illustrate this with examples. Most D&D settings do nothing for me...the Forgotten Realms especially. There are too many inconsistencies and not enough "Wow" factor. I just go, "Meh." However, settings like Jorune or Tekumel are just too much. They're too alien.

Then there is Exalted's Creation, which I love not just for the kitchen sink approach. It's the very nature of the setting. The world really is flat. There's a bureaucracy in Heaven that makes things run, with commuters and offices and in and out boxes and everything. To me that's too cool.

Even more of a favorite than Creation is Tribe 8's Vimary. The whole thing oozes with atmosphere. The picture in my head of Vimary is of a fairytale land - as in Grimm's fairytales. Contrary to many opinions, the setting isn't complicated. There's actually a lot that most people can identify with in there. It is deep however, and it shuffles up different tropes in an interesting manner. The Z'bri are about the best big bad guys I've ever seen.

Hopefully that illustrates what I like in my fantasy games a bit better. It's probably safe to say either completely over the top, or dark and gritty. Stuff in the middle just tends to be really bland to me.

EDIT: I forgot some of the same things that others have put. Mysterious, ancient ruins. Magic that is poorly understood and unpredictable. Mysterious mysteries in general.

Quote from: WilEven more of a favorite than Creation is Tribe 8's Vimary. The whole thing oozes with atmosphere. The picture in my head of Vimary is of a fairytale land - as in Grimm's fairytales. Contrary to many opinions, the setting isn't complicated. There's actually a lot that most people can identify with in there. It is deep however, and it shuffles up different tropes in an interesting manner. The Z'bri are about the best big bad guys I've ever seen.

Very good desciption of the setting. I've been rereading it again, and this time around, it does not seem as unmanagable as before.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RVery good desciption of the setting. I've been rereading it again, and this time around, it does not seem as unmanagable as before.

Regards,
David R

I think the "post-apocalyptic" thing throws people. They go into it expecting The Morrow Project and wind up getting something much more like a combination of Clan of the Cave Bear and The Dark Crystal. Really you can (and I usually do) just ignore all of the "World Before" stuff and concentrate on T8 being a fantasy game.

Quote from: WilReally you can (and I usually do) just ignore all of the "World Before" stuff and concentrate on T8 being a fantasy game.

Interesting. I always thought it would be cool to use all the "World Before"  stuff as a kind of echo for the setting. But I'm just starting to get a feel for the setting, so I may be way off base here.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RInteresting. I always thought it would be cool to use all the "World Before"  stuff as a kind of echo for the setting. But I'm just starting to get a feel for the setting, so I may be way off base here.

Regards,
David R

Certainly you can, I just try to not to concentrate on it too much for its own sake. Edwyn Kumar, who wrote two of the scenario books as well as portions of other books, ran a game that featured playing through vignettes of events in the World Before. It's just that for me I try to pass it through the fantasy lens - so instead of the witches boiling toil and trouble to contact the spirit of a long-dead king, they're doing it to contact the spirit of a long-dead computer programmer.

FWIW, the Year Zero viral marketing campaign for Nine Inch Nail's new album is full of good shit for what the World Before could have been like.

Quote from: WilFWIW, the Year Zero viral marketing campaign for Nine Inch Nail's new album is full of good shit for what the World Before could have been like.

Damn, I never thought of this.

Like so many other folks I'm busy using stuff from the marketting campaign to create a Something Dark This Way Comes-type campaign setting  

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RDamn, I never thought of this.

Like so many other folks I'm busy using stuff from the marketting campaign to create a Something Dark This Way Comes-type campaign setting  

Regards,
David R

Think about it this way: The Presence = Z'bri.

Quote from: WilThink about it this way: The Presence = Z'bri.

Exactly and to refer to them as The Presence...good stuff.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: WilReally you can (and I usually do) just ignore all of the "World Before" stuff and concentrate on T8 being a fantasy game.

Interesting.  I always thought a Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome adventure embracing traditional post apocalyptic archetypes for the PCs, could be an interesting way to shake up the setting and make T8 accessible to people who just want to kick some butt.

Quote from: John MorrowInteresting.  I always thought a Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome adventure embracing traditional post apocalyptic archetypes for the PCs, could be an interesting way to shake up the setting and make T8 accessible to people who just want to kick some butt.

Just make the PCs Joanites and stick them in the Seven Fingers. They kick all of the Z'bri ass they want.

Quote from: WilJust make the PCs Joanites and stick them in the Seven Fingers. They kick all of the Z'bri ass they want.

I wasn't just talking about Z'bri butt.  I was talking about Fatima and even human butt, too.