Recommended 3rd Party Settings/Books?

[Libertad]

Alright guys, I've been checking out some 3rd Party Products I found fascinating, and I want your thoughts regarding these settings.  What I'm looking for is a fresh and interesting setting that can provide me with a lot of inspiration for adventure ideas and is willing to depart from standard D&D tropes (stuff like Elves live in forests, etc.).  I don't care as much for feats and spells as I do for "fluff" and campaign ideas.  I only listed five here, but I'd like to hear about any other good settings!

Kingdoms of Kalamar: From what I've gathered, it's a low-powered, low-magic setting with significant attention to setting detail.  Hobgoblins are a major world power (bonus), slavery is legal in many nations and isn't regarded as evil by a lot of people (I still think it counts as Evil alignment-wise), and the human-dominant Kalamaran Empire is fading and shrinking.

Scarred Lands: Setting based off of Ancient Greek Legends.  The gods fought against titans and laid waste to large swaths of the world.  Has a Sword & Sorcery feel.  There's only a few bastions of civilization remaining as city-states, and almost all of them have big problems (ruled by necromancers, civil war, hive of pirates/decadence).  All arcane spellcasters receive the benefit of endure elements against the cold when they cast a spell.  Why?  So we can have a plausible explanation for Conan-esque scantily-clad sorceresses!

Midnight: Imagine Lord of the Rings, except that Sauron won.  An evil god/overlord named Izrador took over most of the continent, rules it like North Korea.  Spellcasters, non-humans (except Gnomes), and literate people are declared enemies of the state and hunted down.  PCs are expected to be rebels fighting a desperate struggle against the forces of darkness.

Iron Kingdoms: Steampunk fullmetal fantasy.  Much of the setting focuses on warcasters, spellcasters who specialize in building techno-magic instruments of war.  Monsters are more powerful politically, and goblins, ogres, and trolls have their own kingdoms.  One of the nations is ruled by an undead dragon dude.

Dragonmech: Post-apocalyptic setting where massive dragons from space are devastating earth.  Giant war mecha are used to fight them off, and each other.  Dwarven aptitude for technology makes them a dominant power force.

Dragonstar: D&D in space!  Teleportation, planar travel, and dragon magic helped expand civilization beyond the stars, and new worlds with new races and monsters were discovered.  Most of known space is ruled by an empire with dragons in charge.  Rules for starship combat and guns.

[sirpercival]

My Magipunk Campaign Setting (WIP)!  link in my sig.

[Unbeliever]

I was a fan of the settings (not the rules) of Scarred Lands and Iron Kingdoms.  Both were fun and something of departures from ye olde D&D without going so far as to really change what you did in the campaign (ye olde stabbing). 

Iron Kingdoms managed to destroy itself for me with its rules when they finally came out with a book, so I'd ignore all of those.  Though their monster manual is pretty fun. 

I was left completely cold by Dragonstar -- it struck me as both annoying and abominably silly --  and have mixed feelings about Midnight.  My issue with Midnight (and to some extent Dragonstar and Dragonmech) is that there's really only one kind of campaign you can run with it.  That, and their version of the evil world type of campaign is very over the top.  If I wanted to do that I'd probably just angle for Dark Sun. 

Hope the $.02 helps. 

[Libertad]

I was a fan of the settings (not the rules) of Scarred Lands and Iron Kingdoms.  Both were fun and something of departures from ye olde D&D without going so far as to really change what you did in the campaign (ye olde stabbing). 

Iron Kingdoms managed to destroy itself for me with its rules when they finally came out with a book, so I'd ignore all of those.  Though their monster manual is pretty fun. 

I was left completely cold by Dragonstar -- it struck me as both annoying and abominably silly --  and have mixed feelings about Midnight.  My issue with Midnight (and to some extent Dragonstar and Dragonmech) is that there's really only one kind of campaign you can run with it.  That, and their version of the evil world type of campaign is very over the top.  If I wanted to do that I'd probably just angle for Dark Sun. 

Hope the $.02 helps.

I heard that the Iron Kingdoms Monsternomicon is one of the best books of its type.  I've also heard many good things about their setting books.

How was Dragonstar annoying and silly?

[Marco0042]

Alright guys, I've been checking out some 3rd Party Products I found fascinating, and I want your thoughts regarding these settings.  (snip)

Iron Kingdoms: Steampunk fullmetal fantasy.  Much of the setting focuses on warcasters, spellcasters who specialize in building techno-magic instruments of war.  Monsters are more powerful politically, and goblins, ogres, and trolls have their own kingdoms.  One of the nations is ruled by an undead dragon dude.

(snip)

I was a player in an Iron Kingdoms game. We played in the Khadorian Empire and had lots of fun with the Soviet Union meets Full Metal Fantasy. Most of the splat seems to assume you are going to play Cygnarans but the other nations have plenty of info to work with. Their books are well written and there is lots of fluff sources to draw on. Since you don't care about mechanics this is a good choice because I wouldn't want to advise anyone to play D20. The D20 setting book is not cheap on ebay. Or at least it wasn't when I was looking for it. I'm sure you can find most of the fluff info online.

[ariasderros]

Dark Sun: for a little Dune in your D&D.

[Unbeliever]

I was a fan of the settings (not the rules) of Scarred Lands and Iron Kingdoms.  Both were fun and something of departures from ye olde D&D without going so far as to really change what you did in the campaign (ye olde stabbing). 

Iron Kingdoms managed to destroy itself for me with its rules when they finally came out with a book, so I'd ignore all of those.  Though their monster manual is pretty fun. 

I was left completely cold by Dragonstar -- it struck me as both annoying and abominably silly --  and have mixed feelings about Midnight.  My issue with Midnight (and to some extent Dragonstar and Dragonmech) is that there's really only one kind of campaign you can run with it.  That, and their version of the evil world type of campaign is very over the top.  If I wanted to do that I'd probably just angle for Dark Sun. 

Hope the $.02 helps.

I heard that the Iron Kingdoms Monsternomicon is one of the best books of its type.  I've also heard many good things about their setting books.

How was Dragonstar annoying and silly?

D&D IN SPACE! is already inherently silly.  If memory serves, you have this weird draconic empire that dominates everything and alternates between good and evil dragons, which is such a hamfisted setup for a plot, and requires such a wide suspension of disbelief, that I couldn't get into it.  So, what, the forces of good just hang back and let oppression reign supreme for decades on end?  Stuff like that.

Given the option between D&D in space and Star Wars or even just a quick homebrew setting that picks up my favorite action sci-fi tropes (e.g., Cowboy Bebop, mecha) or Dragonstar, I'd gladly take the former. 

If the goal is exotic alien locales with a bit of insanity, then I'd say that's what the truly excellent Planescape setting is for.

Oh, and +1 Dark Sun = Dune. 

[ariasderros]

Or, if you feel like being the captain of the weatherlight, there is spelljammer.
For a little MtG in your D&D

[Libertad]

I'm definitely going to check out Iron Kingdoms.

While we're on the subject, what do people think about the Castlemourn Campaign Setting by Ed Greenwood?  It was developed for 3rd Edition around 2009, and didn't get a lot of coverage.  I can't find out much about the setting beyond vague stuff and that it's sort of post-apocalyptic.

Here it is, on drive-thru rpg.

[Unbeliever]

^ do you trust Ed Greenwood to write ANYTHING?

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Psi stuff:
Hyperconscious ... is both psi books author homebrew
Dreamscarred ... is older C.O. and psiboard guys
Lycanthromancer's powers revisions ... around here

K and Frank's stuff at gamingden

Planewalker.com was (is) the official fan site for 2e Planescape.
imo - still the best setting.

Athas.org was (is) the official fan site for 2e Dark Sun psionics,
and were active on the 3e boards.

This is enough material to keep your imagination and subconscious going for years.
{ ... insert so says my kitty avatar smiley face ... }

[Libertad]

Psi stuff:
Hyperconscious ... is both psi books author homebrew
Dreamscarred ... is older C.O. and psiboard guys
Lycanthromancer's powers revisions ... around here

K and Frank's stuff at gamingden

Planewalker.com was (is) the official fan site for 2e Planescape.
imo - still the best setting.

Athas.org was (is) the official fan site for 2e Dark Sun psionics,
and were active on the 3e boards.

This is enough material to keep your imagination and subconscious going for years.
{ ... insert so says my kitty avatar smiley face ... }

Guess what?  I've looked at everything but the psionics stuff and have copies of the material saved onto my computer.  Looks like great minds think alike.

Isn't Tempus Stormwind one of the Dreamscarred guys?

[Unbeliever]

Psi stuff:
Hyperconscious ... is both psi books author homebrew
Dreamscarred ... is older C.O. and psiboard guys
Lycanthromancer's powers revisions ... around here
...

Minor thread jack:  we might be restarting our psionics only (in a homebrew setting) campaign.  Is there anything I should look at to add to our gaming materials or alter the rules we use?  The game's been on hiatus for a long time (damn people moving away!), but we used all the WotC stuff and Hyperconsciousness. 

Thanks.

[snakeman830]

Psi stuff:
Hyperconscious ... is both psi books author homebrew
Dreamscarred ... is older C.O. and psiboard guys
Lycanthromancer's powers revisions ... around here

K and Frank's stuff at gamingden

Planewalker.com was (is) the official fan site for 2e Planescape.
imo - still the best setting.

Athas.org was (is) the official fan site for 2e Dark Sun psionics,
and were active on the 3e boards.

This is enough material to keep your imagination and subconscious going for years.
{ ... insert so says my kitty avatar smiley face ... }

Guess what?  I've looked at everything but the psionics stuff and have copies of the material saved onto my computer.  Looks like great minds think alike.

Isn't Tempus Stormwind one of the Dreamscarred guys?

Yup, Tempest Stormwind is one of the writers for Dreamscarred Press.

[Libertad]

I'm looking at some of the d20 stuff by Dreamscarred Press.  Any products in particular you'd recommend?

Monte Cook's Ptolus.  Good, bad, or a mixed batch?

[Unbeliever]

I found Ptolus to be a kind of silly idea and pretty overwrought.  But, I had a friend of mine whose opinion I trust who really liked it.  I think he liked less the whole package, instead treating it as a cornucopia (and seriously, there's a ton of material there) that he could pillage for ideas. 

[Libertad]

Another Monte Cook product:

Arcana Unearthed.  An alternate Player's Handbook and Setting, also by Malhavoc Press.

Anyone tried it out?

[zook1shoe]

Dark Sun sounds fun

Kingdom of Kalamar's books are really poorly printed, so I couldn't even read them

[Mooncrow]

Another Monte Cook product:

Arcana Unearthed.  An alternate Player's Handbook and Setting, also by Malhavoc Press.

Anyone tried it out?

Yes, along with Arcana Evolved.  It's basically a slightly more balanced D&D where almost every class has magic or it's equivalent - kind of a middle ground between 3.5 and Tome.  It's interesting, but it's not going to feel very different from straight D&D.  Personally, I like it much better than PF, but that doesn't say a whole lot, and my groups have all elected to just stick with house-ruled D&D rather than swapping to either.

/shrug

[Libertad]

So, can anybody shed some more light on the Scarred Lands Campaign Setting?  What makes it different from all the others?  What are its themes and mood?