Good Open Content Books To Use For A Setting?

[tbok1992]

Well, I was planning on coming up with a setting that uses as much of the good d20 Open Content I could find for the purpose of worldbuilding, albeit rejiggered some for balance, and I was wondering which Open Content from which books would be good to use/build off of, more in terms of fluff than mechanics (Which is why this isn't in the 3e-exclusive thread) because I'm wanting to use pre-Pathfinder Open Content too, so I'd have to rejigger it

What I'm planning on using so far is Pathfinder's OGL, Fantasy Flight's Mythic Races*, the unconverted d20 Modern/Epic Level Handbook Open Content, and the three Necromancer Games Tome of Horrors books. Any others I should use?

*Which, might I add, has the Eleti, who are the best race ever. THEY ARE SKELETON PEOPLE WHO ONLY WANT TO BE LOVED!

[Grinner]

Well, the thing to keep in mind here is that OGL does not require writers to release their fluff into Open Content, only the mechanics (class progressions, class features, etc.). Unfortunately, very few publishers put the entirety of their books into Open Content anyway. In fact, many just don't mark what portions of their books are Open Content, defaulting to mechanics only as I understand it.

So, the Grand List of 100% OGL Publishers is as follows:

Bastion Press
Adamant Entertainment
Green Ronin (Prior to 2004/2005. They began publishing more strictly mid 2004. I'm not sure what happened.)
Glenn Taylor Games


I've not read enough of their books to make any real recommendations. Of particular note to you, Adamant Entertainment has a few sourcebooks named Hordes, each of which details a different barbarian tribe. Bastion Press has a bunch of good supplements, each themed on different fantasy tropes. Of them, I've read the alchemy sourcebook demo (available at their website (http://www.bastionpress.com/)) and was impressed. I think they've also got a Norse pantheon sourcebook available freely as well.

What sort of setting are you aiming for? I might be able to make a few further recommendations.

[tbok1992]

Well, I'm not all that concerned about 100% OGL, as (correct me if I'm wrong) while copying the exact text/backstories is verboten, using the general gist of it isn't so much. Like how Pathfinder's Drow have none of the Correlon/Lolth backstory or any of the business with the houses but still have the "backstabbing duplicitous jerks who betrayed the elves" schtick going on. So I can't use the complete backstory of; say; the Mythic Races races, but I can use the basic driving concepts. I'm just looking for some good driving concepts.

My aim is something like Eberron's in that I want to put in as much of the best OGL content as possible (Including homebrew from the forums if its creators give me the okay to). It'd be a relatively traditional fantasy setting, but more fantastical and strange than Golarion. Here's the base details I've got so far:

-The main part of the setting'd be a continent with eight individual countries, each themed after a different school of magic

-The Abjuration-themed country'd be the mountain ranges of the dwarves, filled with all sorts of strange energy-storing crystals and under siege by some type of monster I haven't decided on yet

-The Divination-themed country'd be a decadent; decaying state of intrigue and nobility one-upping another (Thanks to a compromise-that-pleased-no-one agreement between the elves and the humans who both claimed this country as their homeland), with thrummings of coming revolution on the background

-The Transmuatation-themed country would be a lushous area that was formerly nigh-barren before wizards started dumping (And still do, to keep biodiversity up) their failed experiments on plant and animal life there. Weird things live there, and though the unforseen byproducts of these experiments can be very profitable, they're also very dangerous thanks to the various owlbears/monkeybees*/bombadier parrots/sharkaphants/ect. The place is so infused with Transmutation magic that sometimes wild "Changestorms" come through; mutating all in their path.

Also contains a new race deliberately designed to semi-unironically pack as much fetish fuel into one race as possible, because A) I find the idea funny and B)I find the idea of a bunch of nerds with magic creating something like this scarilly plausible.

-The Necromancy-themed continent would be based on all the different variations of Mordor-knockoff, though it isn't an evil land so much as a deadly and savage one, where even the good guys are scary and monstrous. This is the palce where most of the monstrous races come from, more evil out of desperation than anything else, and with plenty of decent folk amongst them.

There are several inter-fighting baronies run by cruel vampires with depraved tastes, and one Lich conqueror trying to unite the monster races of said country and smash the vampire baronies. He says he wants to create peace and stability in the region, but nobody else buys it. But the truth behind it all is the Lich being is completely and totally honest about his intentions. This place is all

-And I must mention that Undead aren't inherently evil in this setting, and a significant part of lore would be about the parasitic being living in the Negative Energy Plane which causes Undead on some worlds to be Always Chaotic Evil.

-There'd be a continent of dragons and significantly-enhanced Kobolds, who were formerly created as pathetic slaves of the dragons before they started demanding equality and; eventually; won it. Tensions have just recently cooled off between the two groups, but they could flare up at any time.. They're far more powerful than the usual Kobolds, with more powerful stats than PFs.

-There'd be a country known as "The Holy Land" filled with semi-permanent portals that any non-God Outer Planes being can enter through (though they cannot leave the bounds of the country), and which the various beings use to meet/grant greater boons to their mortal servants and wage their proxy wars. There's a recurring joke in-setting about the place, with someone saying "Holy for whom?" whenever it's brought up, due to the seemingly eternal and futile fight for dominance over it as a planar beach head

-Planar cosmology would be implied to be the same as PF's, but only the Open Content Demon Lords/Archdevils/Empyreal Lords/Whatever The @#$% Proteans Have/Ect. would be referred to by name, with the rest being referred to by their titles (The King of Demons, The Queen Of Demons/Mother Of Monsters, The Heirophant of the Cockroaches, He-Who-Grips-His-Terrible-Rod-With-The-Large-Head-At-The-End, ect.),and some new stuff (Like the Elemental Emperors of Mud, Ice, Magma and Lightning or The Mystery Monster or Deep Time)

-An Africa-type continent that was ridiculously magically advanced back in its ancient days, but is now empty due to its people deciding to ascend to a higher plane of existence. Their ruins are still there, filled with treasures; magic and artifacts for the taking. But, the reason they still have them is because the people there were very clever about guarding their former stuff against those of future generations unworthy of wielding their power. Also likely the palce where humanity came from in-setting, along with an Illumian-y race of word people (Like, their skin is the color of paper, yellowing as they age, their hair naturally curls into letters of various scripts, text floats about their skin, ect).

-An oceanic psionics-based civilization. They're a race known as Ithuli, who look like purple people with tentacles over their mouths and large craniums with brainlike "wrinkles" mirroring their actual huge brains. They were created as a slave race/warrior race/food source for what is heavily implied to be the Mind-Flayers, who they rebelled against and all killed (Hence why there are none in-setting).

They're sort of like this setting's Scandanavia, decent folks (Mostly Neutral Good) with a near-idylic society but little involvement in larger world affairs. But they are also tormented by the Phrenic Slayers, who they fear may be the old remnants of their former masters evolved into something far more dangerous. They also send out their young as wandering adventurers for (at least) a year of their lives as a rite of passage, though they also send them out en-masse even when they're under/over-age when they see that @#$% is about to hit the fan in the outside world.

And that's all I got for now.

*And yes, I know Howler Wasps aren't open content. That's why I'm going to name mine Monkeybees and make them a whole lot more different.

[Delwugor]

Sometimes the real world is much better than fantasy.


-The Abjuration-themed country'd be the mountain ranges of the dwarves, filled with all sorts of strange energy-storing crystals and under siege by some type of monster I haven't decided on yet
http://dornob.com/underground-cities-3500-years-of-cappadocian-cave-homes/#axzz2XY1K8NWY


-The Divination-themed country'd be a decadent; decaying state of intrigue and nobility one-upping another (Thanks to a compromise-that-pleased-no-one agreement between the elves and the humans who both claimed this country as their homeland), with thrummings of coming revolution on the background
http://www.indiana-expedition.com/English/Places/machupicchu.htm


-The Transmuatation-themed country would be a lushous area that was formerly nigh-barren before wizards started dumping (And still do, to keep biodiversity up) their failed experiments on plant and animal life there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratu_Boko

And then there is Lake Titicaca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Titicaca), America's Stonehenge (http://www.stonehengeusa.com/), Messa Verde (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-mesaverde.html) and other ancient American sites (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text).

After that we can turn to Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and the Yellow and Wei Rivers. Then there is all of India ... don't get me started about what you can find there.

[tbok1992]

I agree that the Real World is a great source for ideas and that your articles are excellent as basises for concepts, thought the politics of the Divination country would much more resemble classical Drow society mixed with pre-revolutionary France than the tense boot-in-face rule, and I don't see what Ratu Boko has to do with my idea for the Transmutation country (I was thinking more like the classic "an insane wizard did it" monsters as its basis).

Hell, I'm trying to think of a good way to put an HH Holmes-y figure in either this or Dungeonworld, something perhaps on the far borders of The Holy Land based on the real "El Dorado" ritual, and maybe a civilization on the setting's moon based on the famous Great Moon Hoax; Bat people and all!

But, since the setting's whole schtick is "Using and repurposing a bunch of the most interesting Open Content to build a world", and that's what I'm looking for resources on, that's what the topic needs to be about. So, back on topic, anybody know of any good Open Content for that setting?

[Grinner]

But, since the setting's whole schtick is "Using and repurposing a bunch of the most interesting Open Content to build a world", and that's what I'm looking for resources on, that's what the topic needs to be about. So, back on topic, anybody know of any good Open Content for that setting?

I'm racking my brain, but I don't know of a whole lot of setting-specific OGL material. Usually, it's just loosely thematic prestige classes, spells, and monsters.

Try these guys (http://www.necromancers-online.com). They've usually got some cool stuff. Be sure to get Liber Vampyr from the Downloads page.

[tbok1992]

I'm racking my brain, but I don't know of a whole lot of setting-specific OGL material. Usually, it's just loosely thematic prestige classes, spells, and monsters.

It doesn't need to be setting-specific at all, just anything open content that that's neat or unique to use to build my own setting. And loosely thematic prestige classes, spells, monsters, races, ect. are good too! Just show me the best you know of!