There are three primary types of campaign setting:
Setting genres have touched on every genre of high-action fictional storytelling from role-playing's roots in fantasy to science fiction in settings such as Traveller to horror in the World of Darkness. Even modern-day spy thriller-oriented settings such as Spycraft have been introduced.
A small number of campaign settings fuse two or more genres in a single game. GURPS Infinite Worlds, for example, the characters play "Infinity Patrol" agents who travel to alternate worlds.
The very first role-playing settings from the late 1960s and early 1970s (World of Greyhawk, and Blackmoor) were based in the fantasy genre, primarily based on the popularity of fantasy works by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Over the decades since, fantasy role-playing has evolved and expanded tremendously, even developing its own sub-genres. The genre can be subdivided into high fantasy where supernatural events are commonplace, and low fantasy where there are few or no supernatural aspects.
While pure fantasy games were initially popular, games such as Ars Magica popularized the notion of fantasy set within elements of real-world history. Later games would update this concept even further, bringing fantasy gaming into the present day in a genre known as urban fantasy (e.g. ) or even into the future by combining urban fantasy with cyberpunk (e.g. Shadowrun). Even when the main setting of a game is not taken directly from the history of our world, they still tend to draw heavily on historical models, though distorted by the presence of magic; also, as gods often have direct and tangible interactions with the world, religion is usually very unlike our world.
Because the world's most popular roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, is part of the fantasy genre, fantasy is also the most played roleplaying genre. RPGs of the fantasy genre are sometimes collectivelly called "Fantasy roleplaying games" ("FRP").
See Category:Fantasy roleplaying games
Science fiction settings for role playing were first introduced in 1977 with the publication of Traveller, a space opera-oriented game whose Third Imperium setting covered multiple worlds and alien races. Due to the success of Star Wars, and the impact that the franchise had on popular culture, many science fiction settings were introduced or adapted, especially during the 1980s. The scope of a science fiction setting is typically larger than that of a fantasy setting, encompassing multiple worlds or even entire galaxies. Such settings often involve detailed accounts of military and/or trading operations and organizations.
Gamma World, introduced in 1978, explored the replacement of traditional elements of fantasy settings with the pseudo-scientific elements of post-apocalyptic fiction. These settings lend themselves to the "adventuring" mode of most fantasy games, and thus focus on developing specific locations and loosely defined cultural or racial groups.
See Category:Science fiction roleplaying games
The roleplaying game Ars Magica is one such 'historical' game, set in what its source materials call 'Mythic Europe': while history is generally accepted to unfold as depicted in real-world historical accounts, Ars Magica presents a detailed background for its setting, tying the existence of magic, wizards and the Faerie realms into a historical context while allowing for 'fantasy' elements to come into play.
See Category:Historical roleplaying games
Modern horror settings such as Call of Cthulhu were first introduced in the early 1980s, creating a hybrid of fantasy horror and modern thrillers. These settings tend to focus on organizations and societies in which generally normal people fight against malevolent supernatural entities. Such games often are structured as a straightforward "monster hunt", though Call of Cthulhu also involves a great deal of investigation and clue-finding.
The second style of horror game reverses the roles, with the player characters being such supernatural creatures as vampires and werewolves. This second style was popularized by White Wolf's . A series of games by the same company followed, sharing a setting called the World of Darkness.
The setting in both these styles of horror games is often contemporary, between the 19th century and the current day. Creating the correct mood and air of suspense is very important in these games.
Some elements of fantasy role-playing settings were often related to the horror genre. Vampires and ghosts are typical fare in most such settings, for example. Campaign settings that combine horror and fantasy elements on an even footing include the Dungeons & Dragons settings Ravenloft and Ghostwalk. The D&D; Heroes of Horror sourcebook also provides ways to emphasize horror elements within a more typical fantasy milieu.
See Category:Horror roleplaying games
See Category:Comedy roleplaying games
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