Im kinda partial on that one.
I mean. I like beeing surprised while in the game.. as in, i dont want to know how it works ACTUALLY when my characters doesnt, Because.. well. Yes. you can ignore it and play with it. But is a whole other ballgame when you really DONT know. On the other hand when the game is totally made by the Gamemaster, DM, ST, whatever you are basicly wingin it as you play. You dont have a background in which to have a basis for your character.. how he sees this or that, what parts conform the pilars of the game, etc..
I love a nicely done authentic setting where things have changed. Where everything is a new experience, but it is also pretty hard to enjoy things when they suddenly come up in the game from nothingness. It has more to do with how a Dm turns it around int part of the story and the game and less on how different it can be from normal settings. More than everything I value taht a ST/DM/GM puts time, effort and design into his world..if it goes somewhere.. if it has a meaning.. if it makes us(the players) get into the game.
I dont give much of a **** when ¨There are 7 kingdoms in Peloria, each of them founded on different pillars of clergy and each of them very different from each other, in Voluria, the caste of Arch magi have made all religion void, and punishuble by death¨ if it doesnt wield into the story, our characters or what we know of the world.. i want something tangible, something my character knows, rumors, stories, legends, story as they know it ..
¨There are 4 gods in the everlasting star of ashes. One is now dead by the hand of Topo Giggio the Mad. He has usurped the throne of Inbaldur and taken the crown of Tholus with which he has cast the deadly white searing hand of the sun upon the lands of Oarabur where all have died.¨ OK, thanks Fred. But what the hell does that have to do with our mundane existance in Cuchitril Ville where we have to get our buddy out of the jail to escape persecution because we killed the governors son who was possesed by a devil- ass-monkey.
To all a purpose.
And invention when invention is needed. I prefer to play something well done in a setting i know and enjoy, with themes and stories i can understand because i have this background on it, than a half baked attempt on ¨a whole new thing¨.
But thats just me. Mostly because i want to enjoy that one time i get to be a player each Cimmerian tri-year when the multiverse aligns and all creation says: Wtf, let one of his players have an idea today.
Regards,
Mike