Viewpoint What are your favorite settings to roleplay in?

[MDL]

I'm interested to find inspiration for my own setting I'm creating and would like to know what your favorites are. It could be an established setting, like a fictional universe or a historic period or just a type of setting that you prefer but not specific. I'm not looking for plot themes here, like romance or horror. Just the setting.

Let's hear it

 

[rae2nerdy]

They're all my favorite when I make them as I usually spend weeks to a month fleshing stuff out.

Usually I’ll get an idea from a book of movie and just expand it until I either make an AU of the original idea or something wholely my own.

I think the world I come back to the most common is probably my Harry Potter America AU. I’ve been working on that for the better part of a year off and on. Expanding it when I come up with new ideas, rewriting things to better fit with the canon.

I basically use it as a means of expanding the Harry Potter Universe and fixing the plot holes or inconsistencies in the original universe.

Another idea I come back to is magical farms/zoos. I love the idea of taking a mythological creature and transforming them into a mundane part of their world. So a unicorn becomes essentially a magical goat. A dragon becomes like a dog. That kind of stuff.

Basically the mundane parts of magic really excite me so that’s a setting I come back to again and again.

 

[Bone2pick]

I love so many settings: Shadowrun, Forgotten Realms, Gotham City, Warhammer 40k (specifically Necromunda), Gamma World, the Hyborian Age, World of Darkness, Xanth, the seedier worlds of Star Wars like Tatooine...

I don't just want my worlds to be dangerous, I want them to be layered with danger. Take Shadowrun for example – it has political intrigue, mega-corporate power plays, social turmoil, street gang violence, paranormal entities, rogue artificial intelligences, lethal cyberspace battles, and more. It's a setting ripe with conflict and peril. By and large, characters in worlds like Shadowrun aren't suppose to save or fix it (it being the setting), they simply need to survive it; this allows for nonstop story suspense.

 

[MDL]

Another idea I come back to is magical farms/zoos. I love the idea of taking a mythological creature and transforming them into a mundane part of their world. So a unicorn becomes essentially a magical goat. A dragon becomes like a dog. That kind of stuff.

So it's a zoo in our world but it has mythological creatures? But you lot me in how a unicorn is a goat and a dragon is a dog? How does that work? Is the dragon small like a dog and can do tricks?

Interesting idea nonetheless.

Take Shadowrun for example – it has political intrigue, mega-corporate power plays, social turmoil, street gang violence, paranormal entities, rogue artificial intelligences, lethal cyberspace battles, and more

I really enjoy Shadwonrun as a setting also, it's just too bad that the tabletop game mechanics are such a mess.

 

[rae2nerdy]

So it's a zoo in our world but it has mythological creatures? But you lot me in how a unicorn is a goat and a dragon is a dog? How does that work? Is the dragon small like a dog and can do tricks?

So traditionally Unicorns actually where portrayed as goat/deer like creatures far more than equine creatures. So the idea of having a "goat" unicorn is a little closer to a lot of the older mythology. Now what I mean by a unicorn as a goat is basically a unicorn taking up the same niche as a goat. Sort of how you have pokemon that are supposed to represent real life creatures and sort of have similar purposes while also having magical abilities.

So unicorns (assuming your going with the more goat-like physiology versus the equine physiology) could be used for milking in addition for the purifying properties of their horns/tails. So it's basically just taking this magical creature and figuring out how it would work as livestock. (and to be clear not all unicorns would look like goats just the ones that lived on farms. As unicorn is basically just - Animal with singular horn on it's head. It doesn't have to look any particular way.)

As for dragons as dogs again it's the same as above. They basically fill the same niche as a dog. Again with the idea that dragons come in different sizes so the relative size of the dog will determine how it's used. Like if your talking carrier class (the size of planes or cars) than they're likely to be treated like horses or other transportation animals. If they're the size of like rats or cats than more than

 

[MDL]

Now what I mean by a unicorn as a goat is basically a unicorn taking up the same niche as a goat. Sort of how you have pokemon that are supposed to represent real life creatures and sort of have similar purposes while also having magical abilities.

So it's kind of a goat and kind of a horse? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be annoying or anything. And I don't get the pokemon thing at all, really never was into it. But that's my bad.

As for dragons as dogs again it's the same as above. They basically fill the same niche as a dog. Again with the idea that dragons come in different sizes so the relative size of the dog will determine how it's used. Like if your talking carrier class (the size of planes or cars) than they're likely to be treated like horses or other transportation animals. If they're the size of like rats or cats than more than

So what you're essentially saying is you have magical/mythological creatures that are domesticated in the setting and used by humans for various purposes?

 

[rae2nerdy]

So Unicorns are not only equine creatures. A unicorn is just an animal with a singular horn. So for instance these are sub-species unicorns distinct from the equine version people are used to.




And yes the magical beings are either domesticated or just fit into the same ecological niche as real animals. Like you would have dragons that are domestic and dragons that are wild. The wild ones would basically be predators and the domestic ones would be mounts or hunting companions.

The Pokémon analogy basically means there are no animals we would recognize in the world. Everything is a magical equivalent of something else.

So like no real world cows but a magical equivalent. Dogs might exist but they would be magical dogs not labradors. That kind of thing.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

In my early days I was known as a SciFi/Fantasy guy. In my rookie year I created a very detailed world with a hybrid setting that hosted several role plays.

Pride Sin & Glory was set in a traditional fantasy world that had American western, and apocalyptic influences. I'll give you a bit of backstory on the lore, since you had mentioned you were also looking for inspiration.

In ancient times there were two very different cultures. Vhas had developed a strong sense of morality and society, considering themselves to very civilized and dignified. Kanan maintained a strong sense of spirituality and advanced tribalism. When Vhas encountered Kanan, they were deeply appalled by this new society, waging war and committing a horrific, systematic genocide against them. The elders of Kanan took a young man to one of their ancient temples, and placed a mysterious curse upon his soul, casting him into the wilderness that he may survive the impending slaughter. This boy's name was Draxx Necro, and he became the first and king of all vampire kind. He was Kanan's ultimate vengeance. He turned men and women of Vhas towns and cities, making them his loyal slaves, incapable of defying any order given by their king. They lived for eternity, haunting the civilization of Vhas until they faded into memory.

The numbers of vampire kind flooded the world like a cancer over thousands of years, until mortal men were a minority, living in fear of their immortal, blood sucking tormentors. IN the oldest version of the world (pre-reboot) Draxx returned to the ruins of the temple where he was cursed and found tomes of necromancy hidden beneath it. He summoned hordes of demons from the underworld to reduce what was left of the known world to an apocalyptic hellscape.

There was one small area of the known world where the ranks of men still flourished. The tech level was old American west. Revolvers, flintlocks, rifles, but the commoner dealt in traditional weapons like swords, shield, bows, crossbows, etc. So there was this mix of Western and medieval smeared atop this post-apocalyptic horror-esque canvas. I loved it, other people loved it. It was a great setting that provided good story telling.


These days I'm more of a Realistic/Fiction guy, but it really depends on whether or not it's good. That sounds ambiguous as hell, and that's because it is, haha. If it's good it's good. If it's not your own, I don't want anything to do with it. I like unique settings for unique stories where people make unique characters just for that unique story. Nothing worse than when you see that one person running over with their beat-up old port in their arms like, "Hey guys! I've got my Harry Potter character here! I think they'd be a great fit for your RP with a few little changes here and there!"

 

[Pinapple Jar]

My favorite roleplay settings would be very specific , calming scenarios ...almost like a calmer second life

BNHA rp's are a must (mains : tetsutetsu, give my mans some love). I love all kind of AUS.

 

[Crayons]

Feudal Japan is a big favourite. I'm just ridiculously into it and read stupid amounts of books about samurai, Japanese history and all kinds of other tangentially related things.

I also really like fandom RPs, mainly the ones where everyone plays OCs. Although I haven't played it for a long time, the fandom setting with the most OCs I have is Naruto.

I like other historical settings too with or without fantasy elements - Victoriana, Ancient Egypt, Iron Age Britain, Medieval... . And in fourth place: Modern with quirks. I'm pretty bored by the vampires and werewolves stuff by now, but if its something a little more off-beat that can be fun.

 

[MDL]

There was one small area of the known world where the ranks of men still flourished. The tech level was old American west. Revolvers, flintlocks, rifles, but the commoner dealt in traditional weapons like swords, shield, bows, crossbows, etc. So there was this mix of Western and medieval smeared atop this post-apocalyptic horror-esque canvas. I loved it, other people loved it. It was a great setting that provided good story telling.

Sounds really interesting. Nice to mix so much at once to get something really original

These days I'm more of a Realistic/Fiction guy, but it really depends on whether or not it's good. That sounds ambiguous as hell, and that's because it is, haha. If it's good it's good. If it's not your own, I don't want anything to do with it. I like unique settings for unique stories where people make unique characters just for that unique story. Nothing worse than when you see that one person running over with their beat-up old port in their arms like, "Hey guys! I've got my Harry Potter character here! I think they'd be a great fit for your RP with a few little changes here and there!"

So as long as it's coming from an original place you're for it? How can you tell that a character is a modified harry potter character? Would love to hear some memories about that.

I'm pretty bored by the vampires and werewolves stuff by now, but if its something a little more off-beat that can be fun.

What is the one thing you wish more games were about? What would be the modern setting that would appeal the most to you?

 

[MDL]

And yes the magical beings are either domesticated or just fit into the same ecological niche as real animals. Like you would have dragons that are domestic and dragons that are wild. The wild ones would basically be predators and the domestic ones would be mounts or hunting companions.

It's a really cool idea. Has this ever been done in any fiction you know, or something kind of like it?

The Pokémon analogy basically means there are no animals we would recognize in the world. Everything is a magical equivalent of something else.

I see now. That's cool.

 

[Crayons]

What is the one thing you wish more games were about? What would be the modern setting that would appeal the most to you?

Tbh I don't go looking for modern RP, so it would have to be something original and unusual. I like fae, and would probably go for a modern RP about faeries as long as it had the nebulous "coolness factor" that is somewhat difficult to pin down. The last non-fandom modern RP (outside of VtM tabletop) I did was a good couple of years ago, and was about human teens discovering a town full of youkai who had been hidden for a long time, with people playing characters on both sides of that divide. That was fun but didn't last very long. I definitely would not play modern realistic RPs because it's too close to RL.

 

[silvercharizard]

I'm a huge nerd for games like Skyrim and Fallout so anything with a good fantasy/post apocalyptic/dystopian feel to it and I'm good to go

 

[MDL]

I'm a huge nerd for games like Skyrim and Fallout so anything with a good fantasy/post apocalyptic/dystopian feel to it and I'm good to go

How about original settings?

 

[ashwynne]

For me my favourite settings to roleplay in are ones that have complex underlying conflicts. Fantasy, modern, AU, whatever, doesn't matter. Just give me some fun dynamics to work with! Whether it's a hostile environment, tension between kingdoms, inner political strife etc.

I would say that the most fun I've had has been when I'm given a very basic concept (ie. two kingdoms where one invades the other for resources) and then built it up from there with my side. Of course, in cases like that it depends heavily on your partner. If they're capable of doing world building on the fly as well then it's a marvelous experience. In a group setting I'd say it's more fun to have a well-developed, structured, world, but since I primarily roleplay 1x1 I have more flexibility normally. Either way, so long as there's an interesting premise behind the setting I'm guaranteed to enjoy it.

 

[TheAdept]

I like apocalyptic settings and urban fantasy settings. I'm not a big slice of life guy.

 

[silvercharizard]

How about original settings?

I've tried to do a few original settings but none of them ever stuck around for very long so they never got much use for exploration or anything

 

[Damafaud]

I'm a big fan of superpower, so my favourite settings in Realistic is influenced by these two concepts.

For Realistic, I adore cosmopolitan city with slightly futuristic technology touch affected by the presence of superpower in society. I prefer the capitalistic approach to superhero society and not a setting where the government creates an organisation to control superheroes. Speaking of heroes, while I am fine with the coined term superheroes and supervillains, a setting where there is a larger margin for morally grey powered humans is definitely my favourite.

I also like magic, but I'm not too big of a fan for urban fantasy. My experience with it so far is not too good.

 

[MDL]

Realistic, I adore cosmopolitan city with slightly futuristic technology touch affected by the presence of superpower in society

The "presence of superpower" would make it not so realistic, don't you think?

 

[Damafaud]

The "presence of superpower" would make it not so realistic, don't you think?

Realistic is one of the few categories available in RPN. It mainly talks of RPs with setting not too far with our current world.

 

[MDL]

Realistic is one of the few categories available in RPN. It mainly talks of RPs with setting not too far with our current world.

I'm aware.

 

[Damafaud]

I'm aware.

Good then!

Cause most superpower RP I join is located under Realistic tag which is why I call it realistic even if it's more whimsical than reality.

 

[StrawberryAvalanche]

When I first started out, I really liked generic small towns and cities. My best friend and I even had my own house as a setting for roleplays (gotta love the self-insert days!), and eventually, she created this whole new Island and whatnot (which she still writes content and characters for to this day- such dedication). So with her help, I began learning how to make my own worlds and dimensions, and so my favorite settings to roleplay are the ones I come up with. Sometimes I like going back to my roots, and thinking about the first land I ever created, where the citizens all lived in mountains and had a portal to the Earth and would help human beings out.

Oh gosh, now I'm just thinking of my memories.

But currently I have built this one world with another friend, that's so beautiful and intricate. We fleshed out everything, from the smallest dirt road to the environments each culture we created as well has to deal with. And that so far is my "2019 favorite".

 

[WildHairedOne]

I love the western setting, but it seems others that like it are few and far between.