Ankh-Morpork.
Mostly, I presume, because I don’t live there, and can safely experience it through the pages of a book, which are thankfully unsuited to transmit the sense of smell and, while still able to cut, are less likely to kill me than a dagger or any of the other deadly instruments one is likely to encounter there.
The rest of the Disc can be quite enjoyable too.
Came here to say Discworld. But I wouldn’t want to live in the city any more than I do here.
Star Trek’s depiction of the late-24th century. The height of the Federation, with nearly-ubiquitous post-scarcity democratic socialism, where anyone can do what they want, unburdened by having to work just to survive. But if you do work, you have the freedom to pursue anything, anywhere.
Unfortunately, our direction at the moment is taking us ever closer to being the Borg.
Iain M. Banks’s Culture series—the prototypical example of “fully-automated luxury gay space communism”.
Man I’m on Use of Weapons now and I fuckin love it. I want drug glands, sex change viruses, and drone friends! And I really want to play Azad…
This is the best answer because all of these other fictional places can be replicated with 100% accuracy using Culture tech.
Skies of Arcadia.
For one thing, the entire setting is just a bunch of floating islands, and I love that trope.
For another, there’s 6 moons, each with elemental powers. The land under each moon is affected by these powers, making the land under the red moon a scorching desert, and the land under the green moon a thick jungle.
Then there’s the subtle mysteries. There’s an iron star in the atmosphere, which is a satalite but everyone forgot what it’s called. There’s a black moonstone, but no black moon to go with it. There’s a looper of every moon colour, but there’s also a black looper that only shows up once you defeat the main villain.
I think, most of all, I love the tone. Pirates fight an evil empire, and a heroic, upbeat attitude is never punished.
I really like the world of Horizon zero dawn and forbidden west. All the ruins from buildings we can recognize (and some we cannot) are really cool. I also like how humanity had to start again without all the knowledge that was lost in the Apollo purge and how they had to adapt to a world shaped by the AI called Gaia and her robots.
Star Wars, specifically the universe created by the EU from 1991 to 1999. It was a wide open wild west of ideas. The details of the clone wars hadn’t been established, Anakin Skywalker as the chosen one didn’t exist, and there was just such a massive variety of content.
This, though I’d even be willing to stretch it a few years later.
You get everything from people analyzing the gritty details of the technology of the setting, to the classic wild adventure romps, to wacky mystic stuff. It brought us incredible stuff like the original Battlefront II’s portrayal of clones, Jango and Boba Fett being further fleshed out, Shatterpoint being basically Space Vietnam, and more.
I cut off at 1999 because that’s when The Phantom Menace came out. I still enjoy what that following era of the EU became, but TPM completely transformed the shape of the Star Wars EU. While the pre- and post- TPM EU is still officially the same continuity, the texture was so changed that you can easily treat them as two different visions of Star Wars.
Oh yeah, I totally understood why you chose to cut it off there. I’m just okay with a few more years of subsequent content.
I appreciate that following of EU as well, which actually lasted longer the “old” era, with the new spanning from 1999 to 2014. It’s still good, just different.
In FFXI, at around level 20, you have to walk from your starter city to the main capital city, Jueno. It takes a couple of hours your first time, because all of the monsters are level 40+, and you have almost no chance of surviving an encounter,. You have to cross several very large maps in the process, usually alone or with a friend at around a similar level, and there is a lot of sneaking around you have to do in order to avoid detection. I always liked this part of the game because of the challenge it presented. When you arrive in Jueno, you finally get your chocobo license and never have to walk across those maps again, unless you really wanted to.
The updated version of the game doesn’t require traveling like this anymore. I think you can just take an airship or teleport there somehow now, but I still take the long way for nostalgia whenever creating a new character.
My favorite is Middle Earth, but my 2nd choice would be the Dresden Files. Everything from Chicago to the Feywild to Vampire parties to the realms of the dead.
Hogwarts.
A huge castle where you can learn magic, explore and live adventures with your friends? There’s a reason there was so much success for that saga.
JKR is a horrible person, but that universe is still there for people to create and share stories. There are a few fanfictions out there that are better than the last books.
!leaky_cauldron@diagonlemmy.social for people interested in that universe.
But I also want the fantastic beasts too. That book is way more interesting! Same universe but less about the school and more about finding the creatures.
The Fantastic Beasts concept was nice, but I really preferred the world building in the main HP series. To each their own!
Oh I like the whole universe, but the creature in the main guide book “fantastic beasts” were what I liked more.
I like the moving stairs in Hogwarts and the magic map they use. Never read nor do I know if there was an actual novel for Fantastic Beasts movie. Just the guide book that was a supplement to the HP series.
There was also a quidditch rule book that was cool. I wish I could play quidditch. Even without flying IRL would be a creative challenge. No golden snitch. Just hitting quaffle into small hoops might be fun while running around a field or maybe on horses IRL.
As challenging as it would be, the Fallout universe.
Don’t know why. I just feel like in the Fallout universe, you can be anything you want to be as long as you can convince enough people to back you up. Those same people might eventually stab you in the back, but still…vigilance is a small price to have the freedom to climb from a nobody stumble-bum to a czar of your own city-state.
I love the Expanse. I think it is a very realistic depiction of the future 400 years from now on the path we are on. The power struggles between the Earth and Mars and the Belters caught in the cross fire who are barely considered human. Everything is run ny corporations that only care about profits and will grind down anything that is in the path.
Though it’s definitely more fantasy, I love the Borderlands universe for the same reason. Musk is basically Handsome Jack without the charm.
As a kid I loved the realm of Dinotopia. Something about the art style fascinated me as a youngster
Gurney is a master of his craft, I couldn’t blame you for liking his art. I like it too
Dungeon-diving and katabasis in general. Roguelikes are clutch for this reason, but it’s also why I fell in love with the Elder Scrolls franchise, especially Morrowind; and why Fallout 3 was the best one — crawling through the DC Metro. And why the World Adventures expansion to Sims 3 blew me away. Obviously Terraria, Minecraft, and Core Keeper are all favorites as well.
In literature, myths like Orpheus and Eurydice or the tale of Persephone and Demeter hold a special place. Jules Verne rocked it with Journey to the Center of the Earth but also 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Conan Doyle is known best for Sherlock Holmes but his “The Lost World” is my favorite. And yes, I’m reading Dungeon Crawler Carl right now and it’s as good as advertised.
For movies, ones based on the above books are great. The Core kinda sucked, though.
The Dragonball Z universe. The setting would be similar to earth but with the existence of Capsule Corp tech, the lookout tower with the hyperbolic time chamber, sensu beans, and of course the dragon balls. Having the powers of most of the characters would be dangerous though, so without all of those.
The Fugue from Weaveworld. Something about a magical world, hidden in the intricacies of something as seemingly mundane as a rug.
