Once again we get a prompt opened to many interesting interpretations. What is an evocative environment? A place where we choose to game? Is it a location within a game itself? Or maybe the totality of the world our character inhabit? I decided to focus on the settings that shaped my gaming life.
Epitome Settings of D&D
It is hard to imagine someone playing AD&D in the 90’s who was not influenced by Dark Sun and Planescape. Just the basic premise of each invokes so many locations, images, and possibilities – you almost don’t need to read the words. But you do, and the words twist and turn your imagination. And then the art pushes you further. And in Planescape the font, yes the font, starts working its magic in your imagination.
World of Darkness
And you continue your gaming career and these new odd games show up and take the community by storm. The early Vampire: the Masquerade especially drew a curtain over our world, a world that will always be a very Tim Bradstreet looking world, changing it. Not in a wild way like the D&D settings, but in the uncertain way of a glimpse at the corner of your eye. And it kept pushing the darkness, unease, until Changeling: the Dreaming showed up. A book so full of colour and life, of youth and playfulness, and twisted darkness behind the joyful glamour that is the fey.
The Cyber
I loved the aesthetic and the seemingly simple setting of Android since we played the original board game. The card game sealed it for me, and when the Shadow of the Beanstalk came out it was just candy. Because of the games that introduced the game to me, i came into it through the characters. The locations were an added bonus. And there are so many I would like to run through and explore. From New Angeles to Heinlein to Mars. It is one of the best mixtures of tropes, existing ideas, and new spins I have experienced.