Underused Settings in World building

[Ewolf20]

not gonna state my thoughts about this one. just wanted to ask you guys what ideas or settings are underrated in fantasy.

 

[pmmg]

I don't know a good answer to this. I would say anything that is not a version of medieval Europe would fit. Of late, I have been interested in a world much more like the Amazon and some of the cultures that built the ziggurats and lost cities there. I don't see too many of those.

Though, I think the next thing I am feeling compelled to write is a space faring tale.

 

[Orc Knight]

Yeah, exploring the fantasy jungle doesn't occur too much. I try to go into it because I love the jungle (mostly at a distance) and it's got quite a bit of potential. From Amazons to lizard folks and the like. Though it is explored more in the two fisted tale style stories. Maybe a new twist on dungeon delving (one book I read had that sort if thing, with dungeons as a genius loci, which makes it pretty cool). Fantasy is broad though, so borrowing from a bunch of stuff is always possible.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

As usual, here's a Mythcreants article.
Five Underused Settings in Spec Fic

 

[WooHooMan]

Anything that doesn't involve a guy riding a horse in a forest.
That's the ultimate fantasy cliche: riding a horse through a forest. So any setting where riding mounts is not the dominant form of transportation and any setting that isn't filled with temperate forests qualify as underused in my book.

But to give a more substantive answer: most settings in fantasy are explicitly based on a specific historical culture. I'd like to see more stuff that's built from the ground-up and without any clear real-world parallel.

 

[Ewolf20]

Anything that doesn't involve a guy riding a horse in a forest.
That's the ultimate fantasy cliche: riding a horse through a forest. So any setting where riding mounts is not the dominant form of transportation and any setting that isn't filled with temperate forests qualify as underused in my book.

But to give a more substantive answer: most settings in fantasy are explicitly based on a specific historical culture. I'd like to see more stuff that's built from the ground-up and without any clear real-world parallel.

i agree with the latter, but i feel like building a culture from the ground up is harder than taking inspiration from a pre-established culture. trust me, i tried this before and i hated it. but it can be done well but ultimately, people will always make comparisons on many things.

 

[MrBrightsider]

I'd love to see some more Aztec fantasy, personally. The things those guys did would have your publisher saying "Nah, guy, this is too unrealistic." Plus you can change out temperate forest for rainforest, and instead of giant spiders, have all sorts of horrifying rainforest monsters.

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

I’ve always wanted to see a setting based on aboriginal Australia, as I think it would be perfect for a fantasy setting.

 

[Voydemain]

I’ve always wanted to see a setting based on aboriginal Australia, as I think it would be perfect for a fantasy setting.

You might find Kulipari interesting then.