>look up RPG settings>most of them are extremely generic with a small number of minor "twists" that don't change anything important just like your homebrew setting>the rest are full of artsy but practically unplayable concepts like "the country uses memories as its currency"Is there any point in NOT just using the built-in setting like Forgotten Realms or whatever?
>>98075283There's a small number of settings in RPGs actually. They have been decreasing in numbers since the 90s and even TSR/DnD nuked all their settings for years and only revived them like cheap nostalgia bait recently. This is because creating a setting requires ton of work and imagination involved, but writing a set of sloppy rules that exist on a vacuum is very easy. Ironically videogames have waaay more varied and different settings than tabletop RPGs.
I think it would be pretty silly to try to use Eberron or Forgotten Realms for a game that isn't D&D.I also don't need an elaborate setting for my games, beyond establishing what hero characters can do, can encounter, and the environments they can explore; everything else is just meaningless babble.I'd rather just focus on the gameplay aspects of my game, honestly, because that's all I need for a game.But I can understand why that might chaffe the storytellers and theater kids who don't know anything besides their interpretation of D&D.
>>98075363Eh I used gurps for an eberron game and it worked better than D&D5e
>>98075470So, how did you account for the things that happened in Eberron that aren't possible with GURPS?
>>98075283>Is there any point in NOT just using the built-in setting like Forgotten Realms or whatever?Other than the fact that FR/Faerun fucking sucks shit from a butt and no one playing D&D these days knows anything about it because WotC has consistently failed to produce a modern campaign setting book for it and no one is going to read dozens of shitty novels to learn how the setting is supposed to be? No, I guess there's no reason at all.
>>98075283I don't want to have to read gay nonsense about an "official" setting.
>>98075283>Is there any point in NOT just using the built-in setting like Forgotten Realms or whatever?Because I like customizing my setting to have exactly what I want in it. I want a beholder kingdom next to my human kingdom, with a wild-magic wasteland in between. Forgotten realms doesn't have that. Sorry. but it just doesn't ,and I want that, so I need to make my own setting. Also it's better because then your PCs can be part of history without conflicting with the "official lore." This idea that everything needs to be worthy of publishing to a wider audience is a stupid-ass mindset that came from Critical Roll and everyone trying to follow in its footsteps.
>>98075283>why have sex when you can watch others doing it already?>>98075565Also this. Reading through official setting fluff genuinely irritates me for some reason. Every setting I've tried to read into from MERP to WFRP to Greyhawk has made me feel like pic related. I don't like my game world being dictated to me by a bunch of writers I've never met who have no relevance to my table.
>>98075283Don't have time to read all that shit and pretend it hangs together. Take the parts you want, use historical references, combine with your own ideas. All other options are cucking yourself.
>>98075283I mean theres a lot of different ways to be generic if you play something other than fantasy. But that would reqiure learning a different system and you seem like a whiner. If youre looking for less generic fantasy though I found Wildsea to be pretty imaginative. Rowan, Rook, and Deckard RPGs are also solid, but come much closer to the traditional fantay tropes youre complaining about, so idk.
>>98075283None of them do exactly what I want except my own.
>>98075862That's the key of TTRPGs; not using something that's popular or anything like that, but using what you and any other members of your group enjoy.
>>98075914Unironically this might be the best advice ever posted on this board. I wasted a year or more trying to get games together for a setting and system I didn't like, because it was popular and I felt like nobody would play otherwise.
>>98075283I completely share your sentiment.However, for my D&D setting I use all the most recognizable D&D names at once.
>>98075363>>98075470>>98075494I have run and played Eberron in a variety of systems: 3.5, 4e, 5(.5)e, Fate, a handful of PbtA games, Pathfinder 1e, Pathfinder 2e, and more. The most successful Eberron game I have played in was in Pathfinder 2e: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/91089566/#91131236There are other Eberron system hacks floating around, such Savage Worlds, Daggerheart, and Draw Steel.
>>98076026I just another variation of already tired and boring "depends on the setting" from bots and retards. Is literally not even an answer.
>>98075283>Is there any point in NOT just using the built-in setting like Forgotten Realms or whatever?Yes. It's having fun.
>>98075746>Open the Middle Earth Role-Playing book >It's talking about Middle-Earth>wtf is Rolemaster
>>98075494can you give an example of something in Eberron that can't be done in GURPS?
>>98076759Pretty sure most of, if not all, the higher level monsters and spells fit that bill.
>>98076789No like an actual example.
>>98076943Those are in Eberron actually.
>>98075283Traditional games?
>>98077305At this point I hope it's a bot rather than an actual person posting this, because and actual person posting that in pretty much every thread on /tg/, inlcuding ones that are very clearly about traditional games, including this one that's about RPG setting, is a pretty sad thought.
>>98075313>Ironically videogames have waaay more varied and different settings than tabletop RPGs.This, I just find the easiest ruleset to reskin and run it as the jrpg I'm currently playing. I'm deciding between 4e and Starfinder for my next Star Ocean/XBC/FFX game, but just ran into Broken Crucible, it looks fun, has kind of a VOTOMS like cosmic entity.
>>98075313>Ironically videogames have waaay more varied and different settings than tabletop RPGsThat's not ironic, it's a natural consequence of the differences in media. For a start vidya are far more popular, profitable, and reliant on visuals to engage their audience. Thus they're much more likely to have a distinct appearance.More importantly they don't need players to understand the world in order to play them. The rules are enforced by the programming whether the player gets it or not. A TTRPG needs the GM to be taught the world well enough to adjudicate, and players need to know enough to make decisions. Everyone needs to imagine something similar, and the more esoteric the setting the harder that becomes.
>>98077305He's literally talking about RPG presentation and their compatibility with actual gameplay >>98077353Some freak(s) here probably get off to it. "Work on your art" used to get spammed for everything. This board feels very mentally ill.
>>98075313>>98077371Tabletop RPG's are treated more as tools, a lot of their settings are made vague and flexible enough for you to make it suitable for you and your table's tastes. It's been like that since day1. When there's a TTRPG that's really married to its setting, some people start complaining. It's why there's a lot of games just trying to get the general vibe of a genre or specific property.With vidya RPG's, you get what the programmer decided, and you don't have to worry about moving things around for your group.
>>98075283I've never read an RPG setting book. Are any of the eberron ones any good? I've been told I might like them because magitech bullshit but I don't want to spend time reading a dogshit book that I won't actually have had any use for.
>>98077074It is Forgotten Realms, but Acerrerak the Demilich casting Timestop then 3 instances of Wail of the Banshee then teleporting out is probably along the lines of what he meant. Which was very easy to figure out.The question is then: were you ill-willed or retarded?
>>98075283"That's not what Elminster would do" was all I needed to become homebrewpilled. That said, creating those is effortless, and I take pleasure in creating new fantastic places.I've got this shallow bay in a volcanic area where underground pressure and heat is released just below the surface creating giant geysers. Unique marine life got there, not unlike those who grow around RL undersea chemical vents, including amphibious monsters. Have that fit Forgotten Realms around people familiar with the setting. Attached to the setting. At that point, I'd rather make my own.That said, no hate for those who use those settings. Anything but A.I. on-the-spot-no-doublechecks
>>98078083Misinformed, actually. I didn't realize GURPS had D&D spells.
>>98077721A tabletop roleplaying game, with its words used as they mean, SHOULD be "married to its setting", because what can be done in the game establishes what sorts of things can happen in the game's world.This helps establish internal consistency, which not just helps with game structure, but also creates a more solid narrative/lore structure.But everyone seems to just have this attitude of "well I like roleplaying games but I refuse to make my characters makes sense for the world and would rather sit and make retarded voices so I'll just add whatever I want, consistency and gameplay be damned".Someone who doesn't care about internal consistency can't claim to love stories and worldbuilding, just as someone who avoids running a game or playing it in favor of secondary shit can't claim to enjoy games.In the words of Riker: "you CAN'T so don't even TRY".
>>98078531>what can be done in the game establishes what sorts of things can happen in the game's worldVanishingly few games have rules tight enough that they significantly limit this beyond broad genre assumptions.
>>98078548>Vanishingly few games have rules tight enough that they significantly limit this beyond broad genre assumptions.Mmm, yes.Thanks for explaining the problem back to me, that was super helpful.
>>98077074Ah, no examples because nogames.
>>98075283most games never really interact with what makes a setting unique and stand out from other.If i hunt the evil necromancer in the Dalelands, Aundair or Greyhawk city might be different on paper, but actually isnt.How often do people play games that can ONLY function in Setting X and nowhere else?And if thats the basis we are working with, the question boils down to "Do i prefer the Red Wizards or the Emerald Claw?" and "would i prefer to do the exact same things in Waterdeep, Greyhawk City or Sharn
>>98078609This is why I generally try to run Eberron-specific adventures that make use of relatively Eberron-endemic conceits, such as the Draconic Prophecy, the quori, the dragonmarked houses, the specific tensions between the specific nations, the Undying Court, the Tairnadal, the verticality of Sharn, and so on.All of these could theoretically be ported over into other settings, but it would be much easier to simply use Eberron outright.
>>98078588If I am misinformed, precisely point out where the error is instead of being passive aggressive.
>>98075283>most of them are extremely generic with a small number of minor "twists" that don't change anything importantbut anon, thats exactly what makes all the difference. If i want to be a agent of the Lords Alliance, i want to be a agent of the Lords Alliance, because i happened to like the vibe of the Lords Alliance for whatever reason. Turning me into some agent of the Dragonmark Houses will not do it for me.
>>98078633The error is your entire life.
>>98077074>GURPS>The game known literally for being so modular to the point that it can approximate just about anything>yOu CaNt Do EbErRoN bEcUz GuRpS nO hAeV hIgH lEvEl SpElLs AnD mOnStErS!I don't even play gurps and I feel confident in calling you an absolute fucking moron.
>>98077721Yeah, kinda, but as single as they are setting-wise, they're often pretty much monogamously in love with their gameplay loop. I don't think I'm reinventing the wheel by saying a medieval and a sci-fantasy game ran in 4e will look more like each other than they'd look like their counterparts ran in WFRP/40k. When doing sci-fi specifically I usually like tactical (grid even) combat for dungeon delving, and loosey goosey theater of mind for wilderness. Last campaign I ade the excuse that firearms were powerful enough to one-shot most things, but were unusable inside ruins because their power source interfered with the technology of the ancient civilizations that built it, rendering the entire ruin inhabitable due to strong electromagnetic storms caused by the systems going haywire if you shot anything.This time I'm thinking strong personal force-fields, almost like dune but without the "shoot me and the entire city blows up" angle, that force melee because firearms just can't burn through the shield's energy quite like those beam sabers and impossibly sharp alien ceramic knifes charged with psychic power. For the wilderness I'm thinking of giving the players easily accessible 5-ish meter tall mecha, that can carry weaponry capable of treating a big monster threat like a simple mook.>>98078087>"That's not what roadside bandits would do"I swear this happened
>>98075313>>98075283Eberron's interesting because of the time frame being basically after Magical World War 1, so there's a lot more that you can do with. The real problem overall is Wizards trying to turn everything into FR or some variant of FR. All the cool unique settings (except Dragonlance) do sort of devolve into artsy unplayable stuff without a lot of effort on the player's and the DM like with Planescape's slang and extremely zany and quirky large city concept. Spelljammers and Dark Sun (before being killed) were formerly of the very good kind that was unique but still capable of running without a lot of effort, but Spelljammers is basically FR-lite in Space and Dark Sun is giga-dead.
>>98078739Your concession is accepted.
>>98078903All these settings have been dead for years. Hell Forgotten Realms itself was quietly killed and left abandoned to rot forever with 0 new content
>>98075363Eberron works really well with savage world. it fits the vibe
>>98078531I don't entirely disagree, just explaining how people view these things. Lots of people throw out the setting, but they can get away with it because the setting is sometimes really generic and for that purposePersonally I've been starting to find it annoying when people complain about Runequest: Roleplaying in GLORANTHA really wants you to interact with GLORANTHA, a setting that isn't generic at all. Especially when if that's not what you want, you can pick up the BRP book, or many RQ/BRP derived systems like Mythras or Openquest, or even the RQ editions that try to divorce the setting from the system like RQ3. Which funnily enough is a decision that people blame for the game's falling out with its fans.
>>98080133To be fair a setting isn't always good. IMO a lot of people discard Glorantha because it's a batshit insane world that's both overwritten and excessively detailed yet vague and contradictory written by a guy who was frying his brain on drugs while beating off in sweaty bathhouses for "enlightenment". It is a schizo setting, and there are other such cases.
>>98080696I am very well aware of people having different taste which is why I brought up all the examples of Runequest without Glorantha, or just the system itself, BRP/variations of BRP like Mythras, just like how you can't really complain about MERP when Rolemaster is right there. RQG should be allowed to exist for people who want the drug addled schizo fantasy of 70's Stafford.
>>98080696You're entitled to play any of the one million dogshit generic settings my dude. Not everything needs to cater to the lowest denominator (i.e. you)
>>98081343Also something of note, BRP was literally made to be RQ without Glorantha. I just don't see the excuse. Chaosium is making a new edition that's intended to be more streamlined and less overwhelming with its mechanics, so maybe the complainers won but I don't know how they'll deal with the setting.
>>98081882I used to run Mongoose Runequest.Mongoose Runequest ONE even.With the broken until patched parry mechanics.I have also run the newer edition of Runequest, and frankly, it's a bloated piece of shit, and too hard-locked to dragon pass during that particular time.The "complete" character creation mechanics sucked dog cocks, and the "quick" ones are incomplete.Also, the extra layers of elemental affinity were so shrug inducing that I never ONCE got a player to interface with them.
>>98082474Yeah even if you're completely dedicated to Glorantha, the RQG system is bloated and overwhelming and only really cares about one region, Chaosium themselves have noticed
>>98075283Because I don’t want to and I don’t have to justify my actions you dunce.>you see ,chud, your setting needs to be at least this different before you’re allowed not to pick slop insteadOr what?Made me reply/10But I’ve seen similar points expressed on /tg/ enaugh >if your elves don’t speak back to front and only shit on Tuesdays you should have a human only game >if your space adventure doesn’t accurately model relativistic physics you should play 5e instead>if you don’t run a 7 hour wargaming session you should use TOTM instead No.
>>98078609Idk man.My campaign makes zero sense outside of its setting and the setting isn’t even super special All you need to do is make the setting rather small and not have high level NPC do everything important
>>98078083All of those spells can be built by using the Powers system
>>98075494The question is the other way around. Eberron was a world that had DnD magic integrated and used matter-of-factly by their inhabitants. No point in having a maid to polish & sweep and do that work if it could be solved with a cantrip. Consider them as genre-aware NPCs.Given that logic, GURPS with the bundle of rules and spells available would be completely different because the rules and possibilities are different.You have to overshoot the restraints (DnD) and ask for all the wide space the new rules and possibilites offer.
