Opinions, please? Campaign-pitch

[g33k]

Gearing up for a new campaign based on the upcoming RQClassic reprint, I'm pitching to my gaming-group.  Below, please find my "pitch."  Any comments/suggestions/etc most welcome!

Nobody has played more than a single session in Glorantha before.  I'm pitching for a whole campaign, multiple adventures (taking one-to-several game-sessions per adventure) looking for starting characters to advance to Rune Level, I hope!

And so, The Pitch:

 

=====================================

 

Glorantha is a largely Bronze-Age world (with some primitive areas that are Neolithic); the Dwarves have Iron (not as a technological advance, but as a magico-religious one).

 

Humans dominate most of the world, and are the most-PC'ed / most-PC'able people; but (many!) other races do exist.  Mostly, however, those other races don't quite match the "standard" fantasy tropes, despite how much they look -- when drawn by an artist -- like similar D&D-ish races; the main races are Trolls, Dwarves, Elves, & Dragonewts.  There are several notable species of sentient animals, mostly with their own cultures (but at least one notable sentient-animal species has a culture almost-identical to the human culture with which they intermix), and a smattering of other intelligent animals too.

 

There are also dinosaurs. What RPG from the 197'0s would be complete without dinosaurs??!?

 

The core area, most-written & most-gamed, is vaguely Ancient-Middle-Eastern-flavored (in the same way that Tolkien's Middle Earth is vaguely Northern-European-flavored).  The Bronze-Age / Middle-Eastern vibe lwas deemed not quite "swords & sorcery" -- Runequest became known as the "swords & sandals" RPG!

 

However, the Beast Rider tribes from the Plains of Prax (each Tribe rides a different beast, but all share a similar culture & overlapping religions) are a sort of Native-American / African / Mongol / Celtic fusion.  The Sartar people are kinda-sorta Anglo-Saxon-esque, but with odd South Pacific Islander & Viking bits of culture, largely worshipping the powerful LIghtbringer deities.  One small region (Dragon Pass) is very much an "uncontrolled but multiply-claimed crossroads" where anything-goes is the order of the day -- mostly so GM's can throw a melting-pot of PC's (and foes!) into the area and have it all be vaguely-justifiable.

 

Unlike D&D's "alignment" on 2 axes (which largely define the "sides" in conflicts) Gloranthan conflicts are usually multi-dimensional and fluid, based on cultural and religious rivalries and enmities, and can be an opportunistic Realpolitik of uneasy alliances and friends-turned-enemies (most of which have little impact on the Average Joe, or even the average Adventurer!).   The one overriding issue (for most peoples) is the fight against Chaos:  Chaos is corruptive, horrific.  Chaos is Evil.  Even directly-opposed deities, like those of Light and Darkness (and their mortal-plane followers) set aside their differences when there is Chaos to be fought (or, often enough... to be fled!)

 

Magic is everywhere:  most villages & tribes will have civilians who know mending-type "domestic' spells, soldiers who know a few Battle Magic spells, animal-handlers with Beast Speech spells, etc.  Everyone believes in the Gods because their power and presence is self-evident.  Virtually everyone is a Lay Member of at least one Cult (the generic Gloranthan term for a religion (of any size)); people are often Lay Members of an entire pantheon!

 

Above the Lay Members are the Initiates of a cult, then the priests & priestesses, and Rune-Lords and Rune-Priests.  They have access to Rune Magic, which does things impossible for the basic "everyman" magic's.  They also teach specialized and/or esoteric skills, hard to learn elsewhere.  Joining a Cult (or some Guilds) and advancing within the Cult (or Guild) is usually the way to advance in power.

 

===

 

The thing is... 90% of that detail above is kinda-sorta irrelevant to your PC's.  It's a BRONZE-AGE WORLD.  Despite how "common" magic is, 99% of that magic is just workaday / professional tools:  not magical telephones, TV's, automobiles, etc.  To get somewhere (or to get news to or from somewhere), the distance generally has to be traveled, via generally Bronze-Age tech.  The PC's generally only know what you'd expect someone Bronze-Age to know.  Generally speaking, of course (i.e. Rune-Level magic cast by priests of the God of Knowledge (Lhankor Mhy) might exceed those low-tech limits... ) ,.

 

If you're a tribesman (or woman), you know the plains, you know the Beasts you ride, you know your OWN tribe really well, and you know any allied tribes kinda-sorta well (they're a lot like you are... even if their Beast isn't as good as yours is!); outsiders are... odd (at best)... generally ignorant of things that are important, occasionally lucrative (e.g. for ransom, or to cheat out of trade-goods), dangerous in large numbers, etc etc etc.

 

If you're from a town or city, you know your own town really well, but outside the walls.... well, it's a long, dangerous trip to the next town (which is a lot like yours... but not as good).  The barbarian tribes outside the walls probably do kinky things with their Beasts every other Holy Day, but you don't want to travel without a safe-passage from said barbarians.  At least they're stupid rubes, and easy to cheat out of valuable trade-goods.

 

If you're a soldier from the conquering Lunar Empire, you know that -- tribesman or townie -- they're ALL basically ignorant barbarians!  The Goddess of the Red Moon is rising, and She will soon have the world at her feet.  Every kingdom you've met has fallen to the Lunar advance, sooner or later (even if the damned Sartars keep rebelling, and being put down... and who can even TELL which of the Praxian Tribes is where...) .  At least when you want some of their trade-goods, you can "tax" them on the spot.

 

etc...

 

===

 

Our Game:

 

Assuming that everyone is willing to launch into a "Classic Runequest" Gloranthan campaign, I would propose we start in or near the city of Pavis (more properly, "New Pavis" -- but "Old Pavis" is known colloquially as "The Big Rubble" and few live there (at least, not for long!)).

 

Pavis is a relatively-cosmopolitan city; locals and distant folk intermingle, allowing for all manner of "city" and "nationality" backgrounds.  It's just inside the eastern edge of the Plains of Prax, so the Beast Riders visit often.  The nominal ruler (the Lunar Empire) sends both willing settlers and political/criminal exiles.  It abuts the Zola Fel river, one of the great rivers of the area; and, of course, one wall is built up against the wall surrounding Old Pavis... expeditions to the Big Rubble (with its many treasure-troves & ancient artifacts!) are a near-daily occurence.  Some even come back.

 

It would also be viable to play a "mostly Beast-Riders" campaign (near-ish to Pavis so we COULD do city stories & vast-ancient-ruins at times, and a city-bred sort might reasonably be present, too), if that held more appeal; either all from one Clan (Impala Riders?  Rhino riders?  Bison Riders? Bolo-Lizard Riders?  Etc, 10ish Beaset choices...), or maybe a group assembled from multiple Tribes, by a single Cult...

 

Finally, there's Dragon Pass (mentioned above).  It's in the mountains above Prax to the northwest.  There are lots of adventures in close proximity, but no real "big city" settings like Pavis.

[Baulderstone]

It's rather long for a pitch. A pitch should have just enough information to get people interested. You also want to focus on what the players can do. Your first level talks about varying levels tool technology and dwarves, which aren't a race that is likely to play a big part in a Pavis/Prax campaign. Then you for eight more paragraphs before starting the ninth paragraph admitting that most of what they have read is irrelevant to their PCs. That's not a great approach to winning them over. 

I would cut everything except for the content in the "Our Game" section. Maybe add a sentence to the Pavis pitch about it being occupied by the distant Lunar Empire. Your beast rider pitch has enough to get their attention as well.

Maybe add a sentence or two explaining the game has a sword and sandals, Bronze Age feel, as that was in the cut section. 

I'd probably cut the Dragon Pass pitch. You don't have any information or hook there, and its drifting away from the focus on Prax that your other two pitches have. The 2nd Ed. is largely focused on Prax anyway, so it's better place to start. 

Once people agree to play, you can feed them more setting information during character generation and, even better, by letting them learn about the setting by exploring it in play. During character generation, you can feed them only details their character would know, letting you leave everything else mysterious and exciting. 

Glorantha can seem offputting to new players due to all its details. Giving them an overly long pitch feeds that idea. Giving them a whole page to read as a pitch feeds into that. Just stick to the cool things they can do in the game, and let the other details come later. 

[Joerg]

How to pitch probably depends on who to pitch for.

Basically, you want to play the classical game in the classical setting. What's the harder sell, game system or setting?

System: No fire-ball tossing wizards or greater wishes, but devout priests and holy people calling down the aid or the wrath of their gods, and your characters able to do so on a smaller scale, too. No classes but backgrounds that define your skills and cults that define your magic.

I would collect the other stuff in three handouts for character creation - urban, nomad, occupation soldier (on leave? Dismissed?), and probably add the sturdy Pavis County/Sun Dome County farmer as another option. Perhaps even the "exotic refugee" type, origin at GM's discretion - showing that there is a rich background by asking leading questions and then providing a suitable background, although RQ2 pretty much excludes standard western chararacters with sorcery.

[Mankcam]

I'm uncertain if portraying the 'Sartar People' as 'Anglo-Saxon-esque, but with odd South Pacific Islander & Viking bits of culture' would be the best description. It has been suggested to use ancient Thracians as a core, with broad strokes of Gallic, Mycenaean, mixed with some Saxon & Viking flavour. The Viking flavour comes through more in mythology. I think the ancient celt vibe should be much stronger than later celtic influences however. Searching online for depictions of ancient Thracians and Myceneans, then throw in liberal doses of ancient celts like Gauls and Haltstatt Kelts. Google images is great for this,and will help set the scene quite well for your players.  It may be difficult to see all these influences from the RQ2 rule book alone; it is more how Heortlings have been depicted in more recent publications.

The Middle-Eastern vibe could work well for Pavis, and I used to describe the Pavic streets looking like ancient Jerusalem . To an extent I based Old Pavic peoples from the Yiddish peoples of biblical times. You could also look at some influences from the ancient Palmyrene Empire. Given that many of the New Pavic people are Heortling in origin, I tend to base a lot of their presentations from the Galations.

The Elder Races evolved to be quite different from their presentations in the RQ2 rulebook. They are quite unusual in their behaviour and outlook, very alien at times.

Dwarfs were depicted akin to Tolkienesque Dwarves in RQ2 publications, whereas the Mostali are now much more like a something out of Brian Froud's feverish imagination, almost like 'dwarf-goblin-dystopians'. The RQ2 rule book illustrations of Elfs were also very much like Tolkien's high fantasy Elves, whereas the Aldryami are more 'planty' in the organic sense, like a cross between pagan 'green wicca folk' and Ents. In fact, some are practically sentient plants and trees. The Trolls in the RQ2 book looked like humourous goblins (I am seeing that pic of Goobag), whereas The Uz are now more like a cross between Orcs and Klingons, and can also be quite intelligent.

All the Elder Races can be very hostile to humans at times, so they are quite different to classic high fantasy versions of these races.

I am only pointing this out if you introduce the players to Glorantha using solely the RQ2 illustrations, then it may be difficult to present other more recent products in the same setting.

The RQ2 source books are great however, and Pavis & The Big Rubble and Borderlands & Beyond are titles that most of us here would recommend for Glorantha.

Most of your pitch is a pretty good sell however, and using Dragon Pass and Prax is always a great location for a RuneQuest rumble, regardless of edition. 

Edited January 27, 2016 by Mankcam

[soltakss]

I wouldn't emphasise the Bronze Age world part, as it isn't really.

Emphasis many cultures, emphasise that religion is important and that magic is commonly available.

I wouldn't have anything that details when the setting was created, as it has evolved a lot recently. It is no more a 70s setting that the 60s when it was created, or the 80s when it was detailed or the 2000s when it was changed.

 

[Aelwyn]

If Joseph Campbell had created an RPG setting, he would have made Glorantha. If your players aren't familiar with Joseph Campbell, that won't tell them anything. If they are, that will tell them almost everything.

I would avoid saying that any one group is like a combination of five different Earth cultures. That's just confusing--there's no way to tell what parts of each culture are used, and people who aren't history or anthropology majors will be baffled. Just tell them that their characters are defined by culture and religion, and that there are many, many cultures and religions in this world. Describe a few examples--maybe Humakt, Orlanth, Storm Bull, Issaries, Chalana Arroy--and ask if those appeal to anyone. If a player isn't interested in the ones you pick out, ask what kind of character he or she is interested in. That probably comes after the pitch, though.

You might even just show players the runes, along with their names and descriptions, and ask which ones appeal to them--if someone picks Death, you've got a Humakt worshipper.

[Noita]

I agree with keeping the real world comparisons to a minimum. I'd be going "eh??" at the mix of cultures mentioned.

Just describe the major players and a bit about the world in general. 

Describe Pavis more in depth and go...

It's all we had back in the 'first age' and we had lots of fun. Shape the world with them.

[g33k]

Much of value in this thread... thanks to all who've participated!

I look forward to any futher/other contributions, if any; if not, there's already lots for me to do in an improved "pitch"...

@Baulderstone -- I'll definitely abbreviate this; thank you!  However, I always pitch longer for "a campaign" than for "an adventure or two."  I don't plan to cut down to the classic "elevator pitch" length.  If I am giving them any meaningful choices (e.g. Praxian Beast-Riders vs. Pavis City-born vs. Lunar Exiles vs...) then I also need to give them enough information for their choices to be meaningful!

@Joerg -- System is OK; they've played CoC and RQ6/RQE.  Setting isn't so much a "hard sell" as it is (as is well known) kind of intimidating in how it appears front-loaded for lots of study.  I like your idea of presenting the bulk of the detail for each type of character only to folks interested in that type...  Makes good sense.

@Mankcam -- So many good cultural pointers & images... thank you!  I think I had not previously really looked at the Thracian people... my bad!

@soltakss -- Not at all sure why you say it isn't Bronze-Age.  Sure, there's a bit of Iron-use, and spell-enhanced other materials.  But broadly-speaking, most of the cultures are mostly bronze-using (and most of the real-world cultural bases are bronze-age cultures).  Good point not to over-emphasize the 60's/70's roots, I guess; but if I don't mention dinosaurs up-front, they end up seeming like a random "WTF?" inclusion....   and we WANTS them, my precious, yes we does!   But I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with likening things to Bronze- rather than Iron-Age cultures.  Just cutting way way down on the number of cultures being referenced!

@Aelwyn -- Love the Joseph Campbell simile; I'll use it for sure!  Not sure which of 'em will get it (or not); but if any do, it's pure gold!

@Iskallor -- I think you've hit a critical note or two; quoting you (and editing down a bit):  "Describe... and go... Shape the world with them."  I can probably give them more info (even if I do it essay-mode like the oversized "pitch" above) and have it actually HELP them grasp things, if I do it paragraph-at-a-time on an as-it-comes-up basis.

Thanks again, everyone!

[Baulderstone]

19 minutes ago, g33k said:

 

@Baulderstone -- I'll definitely abbreviate this; thank you!  However, I always pitch longer for "a campaign" than for "an adventure or two."  I don't plan to cut down to the classic "elevator pitch" length.  If I am giving them any meaningful choices (e.g. Praxian Beast-Riders vs. Pavis City-born vs. Lunar Exiles vs...) then I also need to give them enough information for their choices to be meaningful!

True enough. And you know your audience and what length they will tolerate. If we consider the Beast Rider, Pavis, and Lunar Exiles campaigns to be three separate pitches, it does justify some length. 

[g33k]

I'm probably going to run them with the Borderlands arc, which will allow for Lunar, Pavic & Praxian PC-backstories (n.b. "ex-slave of ..." allows even more breadth) without even minor contortions (I plan to allow more "exotic" notions, if desired; but I expect they'll be good with those choices), with a smattering of other 1-off adventures exploring PC's individual backstories and players' individual interests.

Maybe (depending on how soon KS fulfills those pieces) Pavis and Big Rubble intermixed with the Borderlands, for a mega-campaign -- Raus could easily have some transactions up in Pavis, and ask the PC's to be his agents up there (or escorts/guards for his agents), which could suck them into those stories.

I'm hoping/planning to relocate Apple Lane to somewhere in-between Weis & Pavis, and run it as a "you all meet in an inn!" scenario.

 

[Noita]

Date Tree Lane

[Baulderstone]

3 hours ago, g33k said:

I'm probably going to run them with the Borderlands arc, which will allow for Lunar, Pavic & Praxian PC-backstories (n.b. "ex-slave of ..." allows even more breadth) without even minor contortions (I plan to allow more "exotic" notions, if desired; but I expect they'll be good with those choices), with a smattering of other 1-off adventures exploring PC's individual backstories and players' individual interests.

Maybe (depending on how soon KS fulfills those pieces) Pavis and Big Rubble intermixed with the Borderlands, for a mega-campaign -- Raus could easily have some transactions up in Pavis, and ask the PC's to be his agents up there (or escorts/guards for his agents), which could suck them into those stories.

Sounds good. Borderlands is formatted as a strict linear series of adventures, but they mesh very well with treating Prax as a big open sandbox, especially with the Pavis and Big Rubble books on top. On top of going into Pavis on Raus' business, going into town for a little R&R after a big job can get them there as well. 

3 hours ago, g33k said:

I'm hoping/planning to relocate Apple Lane to somewhere in-between Weis & Pavis, and run it as a "you all meet in an inn!" scenario.

 

Adding it in as Sartarite trading outpost could be interesting. 

[hkokko]

Lots of advice already above.

These are two things I would concentrate in:

Pick some of the Glorantha Voices - the ones you think players will use and give it out to players. http://www.glorantha.com/docs/heroquest-voices/ For example the Bison People is for Praxians and Talking to the Moon Woman in the Tarsh voice would give Lunar background. In there the Puma folk are not existing in canon anymore. 

There are also examples of "What Everybody Knows..." document. Examples can be found in http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha/umathela/Info-Umathelans.pdf and searching with "What Everybody Knows" Glorantha keyword in Google. 

I would print out or show some pictures from the cultures and area. The Gloranthan images gallery on my pinterest has some and more are easily found with a search for example:  in google image search "glorantha prax images".  If your players are in pavis - show the pavis and big rubble drawing that shows sort of three dimensional view of the old and new pavis. 

 

[Mankcam]

Apple Lane is iconic, maybe you can have it both ways and keep with canon: 

In the Dragon Pass Gazetter, Apple Lane was located as a trade village between the Colymar and Malani Clans, between Runegate and Jonstown. However it also goes on to say that the famous Pawnshop has now been burnt down by the Lunars (perhaps Gringle was a Sartarite conspirator?).

You could easily have the wily old Gringle relocating his Pawnshop beyond Sartar somewhere in Prax, either at a listed location or you could easily make up a new settlement of that size without affecting anything. It would likely be on the Pavis Road between Sartar and Pavis, or at at riverside settlement down the Zola Fel in the vicinity of Raus Fort.

It would need not to be too isolated, as Gringle would need to be situated on a trade route for his business. However it will have been a step down from where he was previously in Apple Lane.

You could play the Apple Lane scenarios pretty much as written, yet have a reason why Gringle's Pawnshop is elsewhere. You could rename the Tin Inn, but if the players were none-the-wiser you could just keep it as is if you wanted. I would not call the setting Apple Lane, but the scenarios 'Gringle's Pawnshop' and 'Rainbow Mounds' could be transposed to any small village settlement. 

The great thing about rpgs is the wiggle room you have locating a good little sandbox setting like this almost anywhere

Edited January 31, 2016 by Mankcam
spelling errors

[soltakss]

17 hours ago, g33k said:

 

@soltakss -- Not at all sure why you say it isn't Bronze-Age.  Sure, there's a bit of Iron-use, and spell-enhanced other materials.  But broadly-speaking, most of the cultures are mostly bronze-using (and most of the real-world cultural bases are bronze-age cultures).  Good point not to over-emphasize the 60's/70's roots, I guess; but if I don't mention dinosaurs up-front, they end up seeming like a random "WTF?" inclusion....   and we WANTS them, my precious, yes we does!   But I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with likening things to Bronze- rather than Iron-Age cultures.  Just cutting way way down on the number of cultures being referenced!

OK, first of all, having most people use bronze and rune level use iron might make the metal-using technology bronze age, but in effect that is pretty meaningless.

 

Orlanthi are roughly equivalent to Celts/Anglo-Saxons/Vikings, all of which are Iron Age cultures; Pentians are roughly equivalent to Mongols, Praxians to Mongol/Amerinds, neither of which are bronze age; the Holy Country is a mixture of cultures none of which are bronze age - Caladraland is Stone Age, God Forgot medieval, Heortland Iron Age, the sea people are fishers, trolls don't have a bronze age culture and Esrolia a mix of cultures which is the closest to a bronze age feel; Balazrarings are Mesolithic.

To me, Glorantha is ancient in style, but I don't see much that screams Bronze Age to me.

 

[Zit]

that's it. Instead of "iron" or "bronze", let's say "ancient". Anyway, there is no bronze but dead gods bones

[Mankcam]

Are dinosaurs really a 1960s/1970s craze? Jurassic World begs to differ 

Edited January 31, 2016 by Mankcam

[Joerg]

The Flintstones are a different kind of dinosaur craze. Stop motion giant lizards or real lizards with glued on appendages in a diorama are an ancient staple of the dream factory. Can you imagine growing up without those cheesy Godzilla movies?

[Noita]

On Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 9:23 AM, Mankcam said:

Apple Lane is iconic, maybe you can have it both ways and keep with canon: 

In the Dragon Pass Gazetter, Apple Lane was located as a trade village between the Colymar and Malani Clans, between Runegate and Jonstown. However it also goes on to say that the famous Pawnshop has now been burnt down by the Lunars (perhaps Gringle was a Sartarite conspirator?).

You could easily have the wily old Gringle relocating his Pawnshop beyond Sartar somewhere in Prax, either at a listed location or you could easily make up a new settlement of that size without affecting anything. It would likely be on the Pavis Road between Sartar and Pavis, or at at riverside settlement down the Zola Fel in the vicinity of Raus Fort.

It would need not to be too isolated, as Gringle would need to be situated on a trade route for his business. However it will have been a step down from where he was previously in Apple Lane.

You could play the Apple Lane scenarios pretty much as written, yet have a reason why Gringle's Pawnshop is elsewhere. You could rename the Tin Inn, but if the players were none-the-wiser you could just keep it as is if you wanted. I would not call the setting Apple Lane, but the scenarios 'Gringle's Pawnshop' and 'Rainbow Mounds' could be transposed to any small village settlement. 

The great thing about rpgs is the wiggle room you have locating a good little sandbox setting like this almost anywhere

My praxian pcs recently found the missing newtling statue eye in a mudshark den in the Zola Fel delta...

 

[Baulderstone]

8 hours ago, Mankcam said:

Are dinosaurs really a 1960s/1970s craze? Jurassic World begs to differ 

Coming from the opposite direction in history, I am sure that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Rice Burroughs might disagree that it was a 60s and 70s thing. And we can't forget King Kong which was the Jurassic Park of 1933. 

[Mankcam]

5 hours ago, Baulderstone said:

Coming from the opposite direction in history, I am sure that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Rice Burroughs might disagree that it was a 60s and 70s thing. And we can't forget King Kong which was the Jurassic Park of 1933. 

Yep, I totally agree.

Dinosaurs are certainly not a 60s/70s craze; rather they have been in vogue for over the past century, and probably will continue to ignite imaginations well into this next century.

Dinos are always cool 

[g33k]

I don't think "dinosaurs" have gone out of style since about the '60s... the 1860's, that is!

But in RPG's, I see dinosaurs in a few specific roles -- in anything pulpy, wierd-science, lost-world, etc... they might very well be anything from the focus of a campaign, to a 1-shot adventure (either standalone, or as a piece of an otherwise non-dino campaign), or anywhere in between.  There's also running a deliberately-anachronistic "cavemen & dinosaurs" game, and a dino-focused fantasy such as "Dinotopia" (I don't believe the author has licensed it, but it looks like a "natural" and I believe it has been MUSHed and otherwise adapted for personal projects).

However, in RPG's that are otherwise straight-up "fantasy rpg's" with magical beasties & spell-casters & swordsmen & pre-industrial tech... MOSTLY, you don't see dinosaurs in those sorts of game-worlds (at least, I haven't seen 'em lately).  Maybe I just missed those games/worlds...?

 

[Baulderstone]

8 hours ago, g33k said:

However, in RPG's that are otherwise straight-up "fantasy rpg's" with magical beasties & spell-casters & swordsmen & pre-industrial tech... MOSTLY, you don't see dinosaurs in those sorts of game-worlds (at least, I haven't seen 'em lately).  Maybe I just missed those games/worlds...?

 

Well, Forgotten Realms, which seems to have become the baseline of generic RPG fantasy has dinosaurs. I do agree that the generally are used to signify some level of pulp weirdness. 

Speaking of pulp, I'll also add that both Exalted and Eberron, two of the biggest settings of the 21st Century have dinosaurs as well. Exalted has dinosaurs that piss heroin, while Eberron's halflings are nomadic dinosaur riders. 

[g33k]

43 minutes ago, Baulderstone said:

Well, Forgotten Realms, which seems to have become the baseline of generic RPG fantasy has dinosaurs. I do agree that the generally are used to signify some level of pulp weirdness. 

Speaking of pulp, I'll also add that both Exalted and Eberron, two of the biggest settings of the 21st Century have dinosaurs as well. Exalted has dinosaurs that piss heroin, while Eberron's halflings are nomadic dinosaur riders. 

<heh> Eberron?  Really???  OK, I guess that counts as my missing a pretty big one!  FWIW, I think I've only ever played one session of Eberron (at a 'Con).

Exalted really isn't a "straight-up fantasy" rpg, though, with PC's beginning play virtually as demigods.

But the Forgotten Realms?  Nah... THAT's old-school, baby!  Same vintage as original Glorantha... Greenwood was creating in the Realms (like Stafford was creating in Glorantha) before Gygax, Arneson & Co rolled up their first characters!

 

[Baulderstone]

9 minutes ago, g33k said:

But the Forgotten Realms?  Nah... THAT's old-school, baby!  Same vintage as original Glorantha... Greenwood was creating in the Realms (like Stafford was creating in Glorantha) before Gygax, Arneson & Co rolled up their first characters!

 

I agree. My point is that it is still enormously popular. In fact, it has only increased in popularity as it bled into video games and novels. I've known a number of people younger than me that have never touch a table top RPG and have a deep and geeky knowledge of the Forgotten Realms.