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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Daemon

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jarawara View Post
    I agree. Thieves' World has a good, well developed setting, but plenty of room to expand in any direction.

    I never got all of the books, and as far as I can tell, no bookseller knows how many there actually are. Korvin, could you list off the whole collection? I have the first 12-ish books of the main series, but I remember seeing a book titled Thieves' World 17, so there must be more.
    As a shared world, I'm not sure anyone knows how many books got printed with that label. Sort of the old Star Wars Extended Universe, without the central authority making money off of it, so no one really kept track. Or at least that was my impression.
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  2. - Top - End - #92
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    KorvinStarmast's Avatar

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jarawara View Post
    I agree. Thieves' World has a good, well developed setting, but plenty of room to expand in any direction.

    I never got all of the books, and as far as I can tell, no bookseller knows how many there actually are. Korvin, could you list off the whole collection? I have the first 12-ish books of the main series, but I remember seeing a book titled Thieves' World 17, so there must be more.
    I think that after 11 or 12 (and there was the spin off set of books with Roxanne and Tempus and Niko) I stopped looking for them in book stores since I moved overseas. I'd need to do some research and get back to you. Somewhere in the attic I have boxes and boxes of books that I refuse to throw away, but I think that I lost at least one box of books during a move.

    This may take some doing.
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  3. - Top - End - #93
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    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Some great mentions so far, one that needs to be added....Delta Green

  4. - Top - End - #94
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    DigoDragon's Avatar

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    Shadowrun, especially 1e and 2e, were excellently written, with the first parts of books being primarily in-universe posts, with online comments (and comments from the moderators about how they cleaned up a bunch of garbage replies, etc.). There were characters there, with personalities and backstories.
    That was always the best part of those books for me. It added a lot of world building, flavor, and adventure ideas in one place. The later editions kind of tried to continue it, but felt really scaled down by comparison.

    I kinda like that WotC tried to copy some of that in their 5e books, though with a lot of hit-and-miss. I think the humor with Xanathar's guide was a fun addition.
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  5. - Top - End - #95
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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by DigoDragon View Post
    I kinda like that WotC tried to copy some of that in their 5e books, though with a lot of hit-and-miss. I think the humor with Xanathar's guide was a fun addition.
    I *hated* the commentary in Xanathar's guide. It felt like it was coming from an 8 year old, not an ancient super-genius.
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  6. - Top - End - #96
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    Psyren's Avatar

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    I *hated* the commentary in Xanathar's guide. It felt like it was coming from an 8 year old, not an ancient super-genius.
    He's not actually ancient - "The Xanathar" is a title, assumed by a number of beholders of varying dispositions over the centuries. Its current bearer (Zushaxx) comes off immature in that book's in-universe commentary because he is (i.e. quite young for the role.)

    With that said, I agree with you that not all the jokes landed. I did like the monk one.

    I found Tasha's commentary to be much funnier (as befits the witch best known for making people split their sides), and Mordenkainen did a perfect job of portraying the ultra-paranoid batman wizard in his book. I'm looking forward to more of that in MotM, and it sounds like we'll be getting more Tasha there too.
    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
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  7. - Top - End - #97
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    BardGirl

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    I *hated* the commentary in Xanathar's guide. It felt like it was coming from an 8 year old, not an ancient super-genius.
    I quite liked it, because if you think about it, the Xanathar is an unstable and trigger-happy narcissist who can instantly kill anyone who displeases him. So of course nobody is going to tell him his jokes are lame, they're going to laugh and laugh for minutes on end (because nobody wants to be noted as the one who stopped laughing first).

  8. - Top - End - #98
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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    I *hated* the commentary in Xanathar's guide. It felt like it was coming from an 8 year old, not an ancient super-genius.
    Having no prior knowledge of who he is, I just assumed that Xanathar was the beholder equivalent of a "man baby" crime boss who gets anything he wants.

    Maybe he is a genius and the commentary is completely off. Or he is purposely trolling everyone.
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  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by DigoDragon View Post
    Having no prior knowledge of who he is, I just assumed that Xanathar was the beholder equivalent of a "man baby" crime boss who gets anything he wants.

    Maybe he is a genius and the commentary is completely off. Or he is purposely trolling everyone.
    It still results in annoying, mostly un-funny, interjections.
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  10. - Top - End - #100
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    Talakeal's Avatar

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Planescape.
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    Exalted.
    Warhammer Fantasy, when they don't go overboard with the grimdark edgelord nonsense.
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  11. - Top - End - #101
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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by DigoDragon View Post
    Having no prior knowledge of who he is, I just assumed that Xanathar was the beholder equivalent of a "man baby" crime boss who gets anything he wants.

    Maybe he is a genius and the commentary is completely off. Or he is purposely trolling everyone.
    As I mentioned above, there is not just one "Xanathar." The current bearer of the title is childish because they are a young Beholder, hence the caliber of the sidebar jokes in XGtE.

    Mark might have been thinking of Kirukeskai, the most famous crime boss 'Xanathar' throughout 3rd edition, or its predecessor the original Xanathar (which might have been that creature's name) who was secretly slain back in 2e.
    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
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  12. - Top - End - #102
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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Psyren View Post
    As I mentioned above, there is not just one "Xanathar." The current bearer of the title is childish because they are a young Beholder, hence the caliber of the sidebar jokes in XGtE.

    Mark might have been thinking of Kirukeskai, the most famous crime boss 'Xanathar' throughout 3rd edition, or its predecessor the original Xanathar (which might have been that creature's name) who was secretly slain back in 2e.
    TBH, I don't care who the Xanathar was. I just thought the writing was boring.
    The Cranky Gamer
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  13. - Top - End - #103
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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    TBH, I don't care who the Xanathar was. I just thought the writing was boring.
    My comments were intended to be more generally elucidatory on the subject than aimed at you specifically
    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
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  14. - Top - End - #104
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    BardGirl

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    Default Re: Best-Written Campaign Setting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kriegspiel View Post
    Some great mentions so far, one that needs to be added....Delta Green
    And it's more of a sub-setting, but I love the recent Berlin sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu. It really gets across the feel of a broken and traumatised nation reinventing itself in ways both wondrous and horrible and the lingering after-effects of a disastrous war, and I love the quirky historical details in there that would just be too weird to make up. Especially the detailing of the LGBT+ subcultures of the time, which (at least for me) feels like it approaches the subject in a respectful and rigorous way without either being exploitative or sanitising history.

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