Choosing a setting

[Kalontas]

Well, a newbie here, so not sure if this is a right place for this thread, so if it isn't just forgive and move to proper place.

I have several ideas for settings, but I'm not sure which one should I make. Maybe you can help me decide?

First one is a world based on greek mythology, but a completely new one, not a form of our own world. Some loose concepts borrowed from Orphic mysticism, some from modern christianity, some from classic fantasy, generally creating a fantasy-mythology hybrid.

Second one is based on many mythologies, generally showing our world as if all the ancient mythologies were true (well, to some degree, since it's naturally impossible for both Marduk and Gaia to shape the world as the primary creators). So we can meet Dwarves and Giants on the far north, Centaurs and Satyrs in Meditarranean, Egyptian god-spawns in the deserts of Kemet, Chinese fabled Dragons in the east, Atlantis rising in the centre of Atlantic Ocean, and even The Feathered Serpent ruling over people of Mesoamerica. Something like Ars Magica, but done with ancient times and whole world this time.

Third one is a sci-fi universe, where our sector of the Galaxy (commonly called the Virgo & Phoenix sector) is divided between two big alliances - the so-called Virgos (including nine races that mostly favor nature and original order) and so-called Phoenixes (including nine races that favore technology and go to their aims through all possible means). There are some ancient artifacts left from "the Architects" - the race that created all known sentient life in present universe. Time of this setting is around 2800s. Don't ask me what's up with humans - they were once led by racist totalitarian government and proclaimed suicidal war on "The Great Nine" (former alliance of both Virgos and Phoenixes) and got eradicated. The few humans left are currently or slaves of the Itreklari or rebels hiding deep... somewhere.

That's what I came up with not so long ago. Please help me decide with which one you'd prefer to play in.

[Superfluous Crow]

Hey and welcome to the site :)
And i'm pretty sure there is nothing wrong with placing the thread here.
The first one sounds pretty good; i believe that something like it has been discussed here before (not so many days ago in fact). So you should probably be able to get a lot of feedback on it.
My favorite is the second one: sounds kinda like an ancient version of "American gods" or something like that. I think that would be a pretty neat and interesting setting, although you should probably be careful to weave it all together so it makes sense and not just stuff every single idea into wherever there is room for it. But i vote for that one.
The last one seems somewhat generic, except for the humans being extinct part. That also poses its own problems as a no-human setting always seems kind of odd and artificial, especially if the extraterrestrials are very strange and different.  
Hope this helps. Pretty good ideas all in all.

[Llum]

Alright I don't play tabletops at all, but I will give you my opinion anyway.

I like the second the best, mixing all the old mythologies, maybe creating ties between them is nice.

Other than that the first one is interesting, but I think more information would be needed for a more concrete opinion.

For the third science fiction universe, I personally think one of the main elements of science fiction is the technology, it really adds to the "feel" of the setting. You don't really mention anything related to it aside from ancient artifacts (which can potentially be anything) so maybe some more information on this and I could give some comments, but until then I can't really say anything (except for you know, asking for some info on the tech)

[Kalontas]

As for more information about the settings...
First one's prehistory is defined by the ancient Time-God to be alone in the universe, sacrificing himself to have a child. Sacrifice was almost eternal, and Time-God finally doubted... and produced two sons: Fanes, the Light-God, and Typhon, the Void-God (yeah, somewhat Manicheian rip-off). The two went to war and as a result of war between their "avatars", the physical world was produced. Today, the most common of "good" races are Humans, Dwarves and Elves - humans being inspired by ancient Greece, Dwarves by the Cimmerians of myth and Elves by Atlantis.

About something more of third setting - each of the main races are generally depicting some way of how humans may end up in future, in real world. There are cyborg-people, who are ruled by the machine that they created or the total also empire-builders, the perfect capitalists, even to the extent of using aliens as slaves, as even the "space pirates" driven only by their greed. Each of them somehow present some aspect of humanity.

The second setting speaks for itself, maybe I should add that even the gods themselves would speculate what really created the Universe, but even to the most ancient ones of them (Gaia, Apsu, Ra) any memories of "what was in the beginning" is obscure, allowing them all to coexist.

[Superfluous Crow]

In the second setting, are the gods all-powerful like usually depicted, or just "above human" as seen in American Gods? I would kinda prefer the second setting with less gods and more mythology. But that's just my divinophobia kicking in.

[Kalontas]

Gods' powers are great, almost omnipotent (at least in the eyes of the mortals), but limited. They might be kicking in to some cases, but mostly to the priest's spells and some marriages, like Zeus used to do.

[Superfluous Crow]

Okay. do they walk amongst us or do they live in some other world?

[Kalontas]

They are present in material plane, although most of the time hiding in their places of power (like Olympus, Celestial Courts, Pre-Hill of On). Well, not quite hiding, but rather... partaking unending parties, as they used to in the world's mythologies. ;)

[Kindling]

Welcome to the Guild. I think all three setting ideas have the potential to be excellent, depending on the execution. Why not work on them all?

Sure your progress might be slower than if you focussed on just one, but it strikes me that if you have all those different great ideas it would be wasteful to disregard some of them to focus on only one, even if that one is "the best."

Alternatively, why not try combining them? Perhaps the Virgos and the Phoenixes encounter a race called Humanity - a race with bronze-age technology, but able to compete with the technologically superior aliens thanks to the assistance of their Gods' powerful magicks?

Or not. Just a thought.

[Kalontas]

Well, Kindling, I certainly have nor time, neither will to do all three. And, knowing how I end up things, I'd rather end up with all three barely began.

It looks like most of you liked at most the second option, but I realized it's neigh-impossible to create a consistent world based on ALL the mythologies around. They simply contradict themselves in too many ways. Sorry, but I can't do this.

For a first option, that'd be nothing very original. There were ideas for this before and I don't think it would be something I would be really proud of.

So... here goes the third option and I think I'll go with this. Maybe even today I'll begin to work over this setting, posting some basic info, if you wish.
However, if I am to make any official manuals to use by people around the net, I'd need a proofreader. My english is good overall, but I can still make some Tarzanesque sentence constructions and so on.
Anyone interested? The setting or the proofreading.