Favorite Game Worlds (and Possible Collaborations)

[Uatu]

So, what are your favorite gaming words (campaign settings)? Of course, this could lead to possible collaborations of art/databases/etc.

Some possibilities below:
Greyhawk (Temple of Elemental Evil, etc.)
Blackmoor (City of the Gods, etc.)
Dragonlance (kender, Solamnic knights, etc.)
Forgotten Realms (specialty priests, spellfire, etc.)
Marvel Comics (X-Men, etc.)

Well, I guess I like most of the above, but am leaning towards Greyhawk most. I really enjoyed the Dragonlance books (well, the first three) when I was younger, though - that is a fun campaign as well, but hard to support with DC!

[manikus]

Let me add a couple of worlds/settings to the list, if I may. These come from past ideas of mine.

Manga (Dragon Ball, Gundam Wing, Macross...)
Star Wars
Middle Earth
Transformers (G1)
World of Darkness (original setting)
Wheel of Time
Song of Ice and Fire
Modern realistic (no magic)
Alien (the movie series)

I would happily play designs from any of the above (from both posts) and give feedback, etc. as a beta tester.
What am I really interested in working on, though? I guess it depends on my mood. I guess it's just easier to say what I'm not interested in working on- Dragonlance (fond memories of the first trilogy, but didn't care for the magic system), Greyhawk (not familiar), Blackmoor (not familiar), Manga (burnt-out), Song of Ice and Fire (too hard to depict parallel stories), Alien (to hack n' slash).
What has stopped me from progressing on the other settings? Mostly, it has been the limitations of DC. Sometimes it's just a very small feature, sometimes it's a big one. Sometimes, it's just b/c I get overwhelmed.

Okay, I've thought about it a bit more, and at this moment, I would most be interested in working with Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, Marvel or Wheel of Time (in pretty much that order). This might chnage later today after I try out a couple of the Star Wars games I got for X-mas.

[manikus]

Here are some links to DC related yahoo groups devoted to various settings. They all have a significant amount of art if anyone is interested.

Star Wars~
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/...yguid=62613226

Marvel~
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/...ncraft_marvel/
(I just started this, so will be putting up graphics today.)

Wheel of Time~
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/...yguid=62613226

Song of Ice and Fire~
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/...yguid=62613226

[Uatu]

What didn't you like about the Dragonlance magic system, Manikus?

Anyway, Greyhawk is sort of vague, but is basically just the default campaign of AD&D

[manikus]

It's hard to put my finger on what I didn't like about DL magic...it's as much tied up with the characters of the various books as it is with the mechanics. I didn't like everyone wearing a robe that announced what their allignment was, nor the fact that there was a single governing body of mages. I didn't mind the phase of the moon stuff, in fact I thought that was rather ingenious. Even more than the magic system, is my dislike of Kenders. Well, not Kenders per se, but the shallow way in which they are portrayed. I felt like they took one character and said all Kenders are exactly like this, except some are female.
I don't really dislike the DL setting, it's just that given the option, I would choose FR over it. I guess that's the same thing with Greyhawk as well. But with GH, I just don't know anything about it (though Manikus the Ranger was born on Oerth).

Upon further reflection I think some of my issues with DL are related to the published art, some of which I don't like (but there is plenty of it that I do like).

[Uatu]

Hmm - I guess I do agree with you about most of the things you mentioned (yeah, having a single body of mages killing all renegades is a bit overboard, and the kenders do all seem like the same person). I do like Dragonlance art in general, though (well, Larry Elmore's stuff).

As for Greyhawk vs. Forgotten Realms... well, they are both fairly generic systems mostly following generic AD&D rules, but the more I dig into Greyhawk, the more I like it! FR seems to be a bit... um, corny? Or something? Compared to Greyhawk (and of course Middle Earth, which perhaps I should have listed as well...), anyway. FR is also a bit of a mishmash campaign setting that seems to have EVERYTHING - Arabian Adventures, Kara-Tur, Maztica, etc... some gods came from other pantheons (Oghma, Silvanus, Loviatar, etc.), and so on... And some things (the Seven Sisters, the Harpers) do seem a bit corny, although they can be fun, too. (I am currently running an online game (post-by-post) in the Realms, though.

Greyhawk was always vague (on purpose), while Forgotten Realms was very specific (with lots of supplements), though.

[manikus]

I'll have to take a look at a Greyhawk sourcebook. My first foray into AD&D was in the Greyhawk setting, though that's really pretty much arbitrary as it mostly was done by the Dungeon Master. Manikus (the character) first pulled a bow string here, before being ported to the Forgotten Realms. (In case you're wondering, he's not in FR anymore, but has vanished into the multiverse with his partner of 20 years, the bard Jane Auger.)

Larry Elmore is one of the pre-eminent fantasy artists in the world and he along with Keith Parkinson and one other who's name is eluding me at the moment are the reason that I got interested and stayed interested in fantasy and AD&D.

[manikus]

I just added Middle Earth to my earlier post.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I would like to do a design/collaboration in this setting as long as it wasn't a retellling of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Hobbit. It would be perfectly okay to borrow from these sources, but I don't want to try and remake some of the best stories ever told.

[Uatu]

Yeah, no need to do a remake of one of those stories (which would be a huge task, anyway) - but it would be cool to have some of the places and such available, though.

Jane Auger - 1E bard or 2E bard?

Greyhawk seems to me just very Gary Gygax - his style is very characteristic (wordy, detailed, not sure how to explain it, but good fantasy).

Keith Parkinson was also very good (may he rest in peace), but I guess I am foremost an Elmore fan Jeff Easley (did I get that right?) and some others were also very nice.

[manikus]

Jane is a 1e bard living in a 2e world. She started off in 1e in a non-FR world and made the transition in the same way that Manikus did. I tried to work her in as 2e but it wasn't the same; so for a while she dressed as a man and went by the name of 'Jack' and played as Rogue (not a thief, but a nimble, witty fighter with a darkside).

Now, I'm going to have do some stats for these two. I think I still have an old character sheet of the Manikus character, but I know that I don't have one of Jane. Not that I would stick to them anyways. I'll of course have to do some art for them as well.

A Tolkien setting would be fun to do, that is for sure.

Yes, Jeff Easley is the third artist. He along with Parkinson and Elmore inspired more games I played or ran than anyting else.