Need a 3.5/PF Setting

[Thunderfist12]

I suddenly have three campaigns I need to run. At about the same time. I was thinking of using Rokugan or Blackmoor, but I can't find anyone willing to sell the first online and the second doesn't seem to exist in those editions (as far as I'm aware).

I could use Krynn, Kalamar, or Eberron, since I have access to those, but we've already done adventures in those settings, and I wanted to use something new.

So... any suggestions? If not I'm going to have to PC in Kenderland.:smalleek:

[Pesimismrocks]

Dark Sun is different, but a favourite of mine

[Thunderfist12]

Dark Sun is different, but a favourite of mine

I was thinking of that, and I have the PDF. Do you happen to know where i can find the world map for that? The PDF doesn't have one.

[IronFist]

I was thinking of that, and I have the PDF. Do you happen to know where i can find the world map for that? The PDF doesn't have one.

BEHOLD! (http://athas.org/)

[Psyren]

Ravenloft is a great one just because you can justify anything being there. Warforged? Mist! Fey'ri? Mist! Illumians? Mist!

There's also Golarion of course, though in many ways I find it similar to Eberron.

[IronFist]

There's also Golarion of course, though in many ways I find it similar to Eberron.

Really? Golarion is so vanilla, Eberron is anything but that.

[Thunderfist12]

Thanks for the link, Iron Fist.

I've thought of using Ravenloft, but my players would turn back as soon as they saw the castle ("not another dungeon crawl").

And... what is this "Golarion"?

[Xerlith]

Golarion is the default Pathfinder setting. Pretty much generic, vanilla world that can fit almost everything you push into it. A nice start.

[Thunderfist12]

Ah, so it's a generic setting. |*Scratches that idea off list*|.

So I guess I'm using Dark Sun. Unless anybody has another idea?

[Novawurmson]

Golarion is less "generic" as "a combination of most well-known mythologies and D&D tropes." Varisia/Taldor/Andoran are fairly standard D&D settings, but it gets a lot more interesting if you start getting into the different regions: A necrocracy run by an ancient lich and the undead former herald of a dead god (Geb), dead magic wasteland that's a struggle for survival between mutants and dwarven fortresses (Mana Wastes), crumbling devil-worshiping empire (Cheliax), fey-haunted, witch-run eternal winter (Irrisen), etc.

You can run it as a pretty standard D&D setting, but I think it shines most when you use the standard D&D setting as a backdrop for justifying player stories and focus on what makes it unique.

[Thunderfist12]

|*Adds Golarion back onto list*|

Any other good settings out there?

[Plerumque]

I'm fond of Spelljammer, which I believe has a fan update for 3.5.

[afroakuma]

Planescape is an incredible setting and has a total fan conversion available in multiple complied PDFs for free. It can be found at planewalker.com

[Invader]

There's always Faerun, it probably has more support than any other setting out there.

[Roog]

I was thinking of using Rokugan or Blackmoor, but I can't find anyone willing to sell the first online and the second doesn't seem to exist in those editions (as far as I'm aware).

Blackmoor was published for 3.5 by Zeigteist Games as Dave Arneson's Blackmoor.

#Edit
and/or Goodman Games

[Larkas]

There's also Birthright, which I also believe had a semi-official fan conversion to 3.5.

About Ravenloft, you don't need to run it as a dungeon crawl, you know. There's plenty of open spaces there, and just as oppressive as any catacomb. The setting is dark enough that just by adventuring in the night will get you the same feeling as tomb raiding in other settings.

[Thunderfist12]

So, my list of possible settings:

*Dark Sun (one of my PC's doesn't like psionics, but whatever, it's here)
*Blackmoor (don't know much about it, but it's a classic)
*Ravenloft (dark horror fantasy... lucky I'm starting my campaign in October)
*Gollarion (it's a standard setting, so, I don't know)
*Birthright (no idea what this is, but I've heard of it before)
*Forgotten Realms (ironically, I forgot that one)
*Planescape (we never do planar travel, so this is a cool one)
*Spelljammer (I know the basic concept, but I have no idea about the specifics)

And... my fallback list.

*Eberron (meh)
*Krynn (no... more... kenders...)
*Kalamar (I've overused this one)
*Possible Homebrew Setting (I'd never get it done in time)

As opposed to.

*PC-ing in Kenderland (NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

[Psyren]

If you don't want "standard," then FR and Blackmoor will probably be disappointing.

[skyth]

You can always use my homebrew if you want a setting :)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40416842/Campaign.doc (Just ignore the house rules at the beginning :) )

[Larkas]

Relevant link: http://www.birthright.net/

[Psyren]

*Gollarion (it's a standard setting, so, I don't know)


Parts of it are standard fantasy but plenty of it is not. Yeah you've got your good old fashioned roving bands of orcs, dwarven mountain kingdoms, elven magical forest land stuff, but Golarion has plenty that's unique too:

- We already mentioned the UFO crash teeming with robots.
- An isolated island nation where a seemingly benevolent gold dragon is conducting long-term eugenics experiments on the humans that live there.
- A nation run by undead (due to the aftermath of a titanic, centuries-long wizard duel) that has detailed laws and regulations guaranteeing both the rights of undead citizens and the rights of living visitors.
- A neutral city located in a dead magic wasteland that is commonly used by rival factions to negotiate. Due to magic not working there, they defend their borders against monsters with firearms and explosives.
- A sendup of America with heavy overtones of World Police/Liberty For All whether they asked for it or not. (They *mostly* go after slavers.)
- A sendup of France circa the Reign of Terror, complete with magical guillotines that prevent resurrection.
- Wutai Empire with tea, geishas, ninja etc.
- Arabian Nights analogue where slavery is a fact of life, both for mortals and genies.
- A version of 4e's Feywild, reimagined as a mirror universe overlay like the Plane of Shadow, except it reflects the world minus civilization instead of minus light.
- Dinosaur-filled jungle populated with tribesmen/lizardfolk and ruled over by Gorilla Grodd.

The setting's past and deities have unique twists to them too. For example, The Snarl Rovagug being sealed away in the planet's core at the dawn of mortal life by Pelor Sarenrae and Asmodeus working together despite their hatred of one another, with several other gods chipping in. And of course, there were gods who ascended later on like Caydean Cailean and Iomedae, via the Test of the Starstone (Caydean passed drunk and nobody knows how he did it) or Irori, who monked so hard that she became a god without any help from anyone.

[Kioras]

There is also the old d&d world of Mystara/Hollow World/Red Steel.

Another hodge podge setting, limited to d&d, ad&d and 2nd ed. ALso the setting of the old early 90's non TSR video games.

Very old setting, going back to the early 80's, also a very dead setting, have to use online conversion to modern 3.5 play.

[BWR]

All the good ones are listed already, but they bear mentioning again.

Planescape
Explore everything. Belief is as important as firepower. Let your imagination run wild. Good thing is most of the mechanics are easily converted (and already done so by loyal fans), and most of the supplements are fluff anyway.

Ravenloft
Gothic horror in D&D. You are heroes, but if you don't always feel like one. Running scared most of the time, being terrified by creatures that for some reason seem a lot scarier here than they would in e.g. the Realms.

Mystara/Known World (and Hollow World and Red Steel/Savage Coast)
While it's origins as a hodge-podge of places and cultures is evident from its odd geography (basically, it was an attempt to shove all the Basic and Expert modules into one setting without planning it ahead of time), once you start reading the Gazetteers you will understand why people like it. They really nailed the flavor and fun bits. All the places that seem so bland and stereotypical at first sight end up being fascinating and flavorful when you actually read about them in depth.
Also, Blackmoor is an important part of its history (not quite the same as Arneson's Blackmoor, but enough). I also seem to recall PDFs being affordable.

Rokugan
I like the setting, and unlike some people I don't think the d20 version is entirely without merit. However, the designers' grasp of the d20 mechanics was ... varied. Sometimes you got some really powerful stuff (an extra standard action each round? yes please), sometimes you got decent stuff, sometimes you got useless stuff (not just normal useless like +2 to two skills feats, but 'we don't know how d20 works' useless). I actually started out on the d20 stuff and still play a couple of games (on hiatus, sadly) with that system and plenty of house rules and homebrew conversions of the R&K stuff.

Golarion.
My feelings on Golarion went something like this, when I picked up the book when trying to decide what setting to throw at my players:
"Man, what a boring setting. Shove in every sort of culture imaginable. There are the Egyptians, the gypsies, the Vikings - it's just like *realization dawning* Mystara!"
Of course, since I already had a lot of Mystara stuff and liked Mystara already, I promptly ignored Golarion and stuck with Mystara.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Golarion is less "generic" as "a combination of most well-known mythologies and D&D tropes." Varisia/Taldor/Andoran are fairly standard D&D settings, but it gets a lot more interesting if you start getting into the different regions: A necrocracy run by an ancient lich and the undead former herald of a dead god (Geb), dead magic wasteland that's a struggle for survival between mutants and dwarven fortresses (Mana Wastes), crumbling devil-worshiping empire (Cheliax), fey-haunted, witch-run eternal winter (Irrisen), etc.

You can run it as a pretty standard D&D setting, but I think it shines most when you use the standard D&D setting as a backdrop for justifying player stories and focus on what makes it unique.

Varisia's always bothered me: They can't seem to make up their mind as to whether varisian natives are traveling nomads or standard overly-urbanized late medieval england, so they just alternate back and forth. It doesn't make sense to say "Well some varisians are nomads and some are sedentary" because we seldom see how the apparent two sides of the culture interact, everything we hear about one side just seems to pretend the other doesn't exist.

Andoran is... ugh. When I DM Golarion Yog-Sothoth shows up and eats all Andorans, and anyone who acknowledges Andoran ever existed. Michael Bay couldn't have produced something so putrid.

Golarion's a bit like Forgotten Realms, except handled better: It goes for a little bit of everything. You can run any campaign genre you want, depending on where you go. You can even buy space suits and head to the moon!

[Adanedhel]

If you want something vastly different, try Fantasy Flights Midnight setting for 3.5?

It's a break from most roleplaying games, immensly bleak, and magic is a lot more dangerous/rare than in other settings, but it really does get awesome campaigns, even if all your victories are but temporarily.

[BWR]

If you don't mind getting a bit sci-fi, check out Dragonstar. Basically, sci-fi D&D. Unlike Spelljammer which does everything by magic you have 'hard' science stuff like rockets, lasers, computers, advanced surgical techniques etc. and normal magic and combos of the two..

The setting is in short dragons on an ancient world decided they were too smart and powerful to hang around in caves and be killed by lesser beings, so they banded together, took over the world and spread to other worlds, now controlling an empire about 1000 LY across. Dragons rule everything. The setting supports just about any sort of game you want to play. Traditional dungeon crawls or wilderness adventures, Traveller/Firefly free traders, rebellion against the dragons, high-politics and intrigue, espionage and assassination, grunts on the front, domain building; it's all easily doable.
It's based on 3.0 but most stuff should be easily converted, and I believe there was an attempt to update it to 3.5 and PF, but I can't off-hand remember where to find the results.

[Larkas]

Rokugan
I like the setting, and unlike some people I don't think the d20 version is entirely without merit. However, the designers' grasp of the d20 mechanics was ... varied. Sometimes you got some really powerful stuff (an extra standard action each round? yes please), sometimes you got decent stuff, sometimes you got useless stuff (not just normal useless like +2 to two skills feats, but 'we don't know how d20 works' useless). I actually started out on the d20 stuff and still play a couple of games (on hiatus, sadly) with that system and plenty of house rules and homebrew conversions of the R&K stuff.

Remember that Rokugan is based on 3.0, and that was standard fare back in the day, what with haste doing the exact same thing.

[Yawgmoth]

If you want something incredibly high magic and high powered, check out Dawnforge. I haven't personally played it since the game I was set to join never got off the ground, but it has a pretty interesting feel to it. Every race has racial powers that level up as your class does, so tieflings get more demony, elves get more magical, etc. as you grow in power. The setting itself is kind of like faerun with a healthy injection of Eberron's sensibilities regarding a world that has magic in it.

[BWR]

Remember that Rokugan is based on 3.0, and that was standard fare back in the day, what with haste doing the exact same thing.

I remember 3.0 haste but were there Extraordinary class abilities that granted it?

[Psyren]

Andoran is... ugh. When I DM Golarion Yog-Sothoth shows up and eats all Andorans, and anyone who acknowledges Andoran ever existed. Michael Bay couldn't have produced something so putrid.

Honestly, I really like them. Given the sheer number of powerful nations that allow or even actively encourage slavery on a massive scale, I think they are a logical outgrowth of the setting. Plus, Fantasy America is a nice change of pace from all the European/Middle East/Asian analogues every other setting has by the bucket already. Finally, the setting does a good job of showing that even they aren't as benevolent as their mission statement would lead you to believe, nor as effective at their mission as they would like. (In a lot of cases, Andorans cause almost as many problems as they solve.)

[magotter]

In terms of settings that already have 3.P mechanics in place, I've got 3 recommendations: Ravenloft, Planescape, and Theah.

The first two have been discussed, so let me wax a bit on my love of this pseudo-Europe. Originally it was printed by AEG as 7th Sea (and later made into a truly awful d20 conversion), but was converted to d20 as Swashbuckling adventures; in the same way AEG's other flagship Legend of the Five Rings was ported to Oriental Adventures.

This setting is still pretty top notch. It takes place in a Rococo/Elizabethan-era Europe, with expies of powerful nations. Think a blend of The 3 Musketeers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Zorro, Robin Hood, Braveheart, The Princess Bride, any Erol Flynn Movie, or any other media which emphasizes political intrigue and High Adaventure (always in caps).

In the most up-to-date storyline the equivalent of the French Revolution is in full swing, while the Spanish Inquisition is holding their country's Boy King hostage. The Nords are culturally shifting into the Dutch East India company, and the Germans are mining deep enough to be considered Dwarves. The English are secretly ruled by the really creepy/terrifying Fae from grimm's fairy tales, and Baba Yaga rules Russia. The italians are having a big Assassin's Creed backstabbing conga line, the Middle East is ruled by a benevolent Tyrant Sand Wizard (and experiencing a Gold Age of Peace, surprisingly).

Finally, the caribbean is ruled by anarchist Free Men and China is literally surrounded by a wall of flames. For extra campaign fluff, it was long assumed that 7th Sea's Cathay (China) was really Rokugan, which was cut off from the Western Barbarian Hordes and demons in that setting. So get both and combine for maximum effect!

Alas, there's not much in the way of Wikis, but every book in the line was always crammed with enough fluff and story to give you material for decades. And while print runs are gone, you can easily grab the whole series for a few bucks over at DriveThruRPG.

More to the point, there is a d20 version. 7th Sea originally had some notably different and interesting ideas on how magic worked, so it's not a perfect translation, but anything relevant should be able to be ported to d20. As a precaution though I'd suggest using the setting for fluff only and doing the crunch yourself.

[magotter]

Oh and as a bonus if you're keen to take a setting only for its fluff, devoid of crunch, might I highly recommend:

Discworld - takes the satirical aspects of Fantasy cliches (like how a "one in a million chance" succeeds 9 out of 10 times) and plays them completely straight. Setting takes place on a literal disc, a flat world that sits on the back of four elephants, that stand on the back of a giant space turtle, that is floating in space.

Gamma World (sort of) - One man's Post Apocalypse is another man's High Fantasy. Who's to say that all those spells in a wizard's brain aren't just access codes for ananomachine swarms? A bit of a stretch, but I always liked the idea of players in a fantasy setting stumbling upon the knowledge that the "Golden Deific Civilizations That Somehow Disappeared in a Great Cataclysm" were just the cultures of people that invented nuclear bombs and food replicators.

Dinotopia - Druids rejoice! Sapient, albeit still bestial dinosaurs living side by side among fantasy world humans?! Hells to the yeah! My inner child is so happy right now.

Dominaria - I've never actually seen anyone try to make a setting for Magic: The Gathering, but I'm certain you could fill a library with all the crazy canon that goes on via tournaments. Basically godlike wizards reshaping reality at their whim. Unstable, but always interesting.

Hyrule/Termina - especially if you try dresdencodak's Clockwork Empire (http://imgur.com/gallery/DWnBO) setting.

Tyria - Probably more fluff than any other MMO I've ever seen, even WoW (hell, the setting was made by some of the guys who made Azeroth after they left Blizzard).

Ivalice - Final Fantasy? Sure, why not. And with this setting spanning about a half-dozen titles, it's got plenty of things to do.

Edolas (Fairy Tail) - As far as anime goes, if Record of Lodus War is 5th Edition Basic D&D, and Slayers is 2nd Edition Advanced D&D, then this sits somewhere in between 3.P and a fantasy-themed Mutants and Masterminds. Known for, if nothing else, a rainbow variety of interesting Magic and Fighting styles, as if everyone was a sorcerer and a monk gestalt.

[Psyren]

Edolas (Fairy Tail) - As far as anime goes, if Record of Lodus War is 5th Edition Basic D&D, and Slayers is 2nd Edition Advanced D&D, then this sits somewhere in between 3.P and a fantasy-themed Mutants and Masterminds. Known for, if nothing else, a rainbow variety of interesting Magic and Fighting styles, as if everyone was a sorcerer and a monk gestalt.

Edolas is actually the alternate reality where magic only (well, primarily) exists in items. The regular one where there's a ton of sorcerer/monks of varying flavors running around is Earthland.

[Larkas]

I remember 3.0 haste but were there Extraordinary class abilities that granted it?

Was/isn't the choker's ability this? Or was/is it supernatural?

[IronFist]

Was/isn't the choker's ability this? Or was/is it supernatural?

It's supernatural.

[Novawurmson]

Varisia's always bothered me: They can't seem to make up their mind as to whether varisian natives are traveling nomads or standard overly-urbanized late medieval england, so they just alternate back and forth. It doesn't make sense to say "Well some varisians are nomads and some are sedentary" because we seldom see how the apparent two sides of the culture interact, everything we hear about one side just seems to pretend the other doesn't exist.

That's because they're two distinct cultures:

1. Varisians, a culture based fairly heavily on the Roma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_(Romani_subgroup)) people, who are wandering nomads.

2. Descendants of Chelexian settlers, who are urbanized late medieval Europeans, who mostly live in Magnimar, Korvosa, and surrounding communities.

The Chelexians were mostly bloody invaders, and there's still an enormous amount of racism back and forth. The Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path talks about the settling of Varisia. The first couple Rise of the Runelords talk about the founding of Sandpoint, which was not exactly a victory for peace and harmony in its origins.

Your original statement made me think: "This setting called called Colonial South America doesn't make any sense. There's these native groups who ride llamas and build terraced cities, but there's also white people with guns and ships."

[the_david]

There's always the "ask your players" option, as they might have some opinions on this. And then there is the "what would fit the story" option, which is also important.

[Psyren]

It's supernatural.

Yep, and PF nerfed it to a move action (and made it so you couldn't shapeshift into one anymore regardless.)



Your original statement made me think: "This setting called called Colonial South America doesn't make any sense. There's these native groups who ride llamas and build terraced cities, but there's also white people with guns and ships."

Win! :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[etana]

I would recommend checking out Midgard by Wolfgang Baur.
There is political intrigue in the Dornig region, a huge haunted forest (with a living Baba Yaga), some steampunk bits in Zobeck and the Iron Crags, a warped magical desert in the wasted west with time slowed Old Ones and other fun stuff.

[Larkas]

Yep, and PF nerfed it to a move action (and made it so you couldn't shapeshift into one anymore regardless.)

Oh well. Still, it wasn't something unthinkable back in the day.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Your original statement made me think: "This setting called called Colonial South America doesn't make any sense. There's these native groups who ride llamas and build terraced cities, but there's also white people with guns and ships."

This explains a lot, I suppose my confusion is because both groups are called "varisians" so it's easy to get mixed up as to who they're talking about. Like, I knew Korvosa was Chelaxian in origin, but I had no idea Magnimar was.


Honestly, I really like them. Given the sheer number of powerful nations that allow or even actively encourage slavery on a massive scale, I think they are a logical outgrowth of the setting. Plus, Fantasy America is a nice change of pace from all the European/Middle East/Asian analogues every other setting has by the bucket already. Finally, the setting does a good job of showing that even they aren't as benevolent as their mission statement would lead you to believe, nor as effective at their mission as they would like. (In a lot of cases, Andorans cause almost as many problems as they solve.)

Granted, most of what I know about Andoran comes from the player companion, Spirit of Liberty, which I can't read for more than 2 paragraphs at a time before I need to step away from it and detox the mind-numbing stupid. Take a look at crap like this:


Foreigners in Almas

Whatever the truth, most foreigners find the reality of life in Andoran alarming. The freedoms that Andorans regularly accept, the way the citizens speak their mind without fear of reprisal from powerful men, and open and accountable government are truly alien to many of the newcomers, and so they isolate themselves in ghettoes and neighborhoods among others of their race or nationality. Andorens try to encourage the immigrants to integrate, to live among the free people of Andoran, but for many the bonds of fear or blood prove too strong.

Don't worry, even though the capital city is very heavily segregated, it's only because immigrants willingly segregate themselves into slums and choose not to partake in the serene bliss that is being an Andoran citizen. It's not because the Andorans are xenophobic, we promise!


And while the idea of a fantasy version of america isn't a terrible one, it's all the more disgusting that such a blatant mary-sue-topia is also such a blatant expy of AMERICA. My comparison to Michael Bay was quite deliberate.

That said, if you could give me some sources as to some things that paint Andoran in a more interesting light, I'd love to know about them; I've far from read everything on the place.

[Psyren]

Well, first off, Inner Sea World Guide is the latest version of the campaign setting that updated Golarion to PF and superseded all the previous setting material - my impressions are based on that. (ISWG also came out either a year or over a year after the guide you're reading depending on which Spirit of Liberty you mean.)

Second... I think you're either missing the context there or intentionally reading that passage in a very bad light. You have to understand how heavily entrenched racism, noble excess and slavery were (and in many nations still are) in Golarion to really get a feel for why foreigners would come to Andoran and behave that way. Speaking your mind in Cheliax, Nidal, Qadira, Osirion, Katapesh, Razmiran, and Rahadoum can get the crap lashed out of you if you're very lucky. And if you're not lucky, well, you could easily end up on the block yourself, or worse.

As for Andorans - well, they're convinced their way of life is the best way for the whole planet. Certainly it works well for them, but the logistical and practical challenges inherent in effecting such radical levels of change everywhere are something they tend to gloss over. They're idealists, that's all. Of course, if they kept that just to slavery it wouldn't be so bad, but often they are iconoclasts and even anarchists in some locales, and are more than willing to sacrifice some for what they see as the greater good.

[Yawgmoth]

Dominaria - I've never actually seen anyone try to make a setting for Magic: The Gathering, but I'm certain you could fill a library with all the crazy canon that goes on via tournaments. Just FYI, nothing that happens at tournaments is "canon". Every black deck in the world could have beaten every non-black deck in the world during invasion block standard and it would have had exactly the same effect on the storyline as the reverse happening. WotC determines the story, not random chance like in L5R.

That said, I've seen a good dozen attempts at making the MtG setting into a D&D/homebrew setting, with the typical bland-at-best results.

[Psyren]

Dominaria is boring/bland as hell, but settings like Ravnica, Lorwyn, Mirrodin and Kamigawa would be pretty awesome as D&D settings.

Maybe Zendikar and Innistrad too - I sort of quit before those came out so no idea how good they are fluffwise.

The new planeswalkers would be more fun to stat up too, since (a) they know a variety of spells instead of being the typical one-note MTG caster and (b) they aren't running around with divine ranks and epic spells (well, not many of them anyway) like the original set were prone to do.

[BWR]

J. not random chance like in L5R.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

The ST does allow some player input but if they want something to happen, like the Spider winning everything, it happens even if they have to resort to dishonest means to make it happen.