HYPERBOREA / How do you Hyperborea?

**Posted by Spider of Leng** 4/29/2026 8:56 am

As someone returning to Hyperborea after a few years away I am curious as to how others use this setting. Do you use it RAW? As an alternate world? Part of another setting? Time travel?

I loved it when I first got 2e, but I already had an established setting I created so I just bolted Hyperborea on as the North Pole, so speak of my setting. As it turned out, I had already conceived of a world with two moons and a limited solar system from whence other beings visited so I just ported that stuff right in. I allow limited interactions between Hyperborea and the rest of my setting, but there are a few gates, most prominently Utrichen Dolmen on the highest plateau of the Mysterious Celestial Empire of Leng, which links to the Plain of Leng in Hyperborea. And through the underworld, of course.

What about you?

**Posted by rhialto** 4/29/2026 6:42 pm

Much like you I don't use the Hyperborea setting as-is. I slotted Hyperborea in to my North Pole, and my setting is loosely based on Atlantis (of various literary inspirations, nothing gaming related). I've also introduced some sword & planet inspirations, again literary and not game supplements.

**Posted by Carnby** 5/01/2026 4:16 pm

I use Hyperborea to run standard D&D-style games, with the Hyperborea weird sci-fantasy included. I just think Hyperborea is mechanically extremely solid.

**Posted by Chainsaw** 5/01/2026 4:53 pm

Spider of Leng wrote:
As someone returning to Hyperborea after a few years away

Welcome back!

I am curious as to how others use this setting. Do you use it RAW? As an alternate world? Part of another setting? Time travel?

Run as its own world, pretty much RAW. If I were running Greyhawk or my own homebrew world, I would probably port it in as a pocket dimension. You know, accessible via jumping into a painting or something like that.

**Posted by Vetus Miles** 5/04/2026 10:42 am

Run it as its own world as is. Mostly RAW, we deviate a little on some rules,

**Posted by demetrisathanasopoulos** 5/06/2026 1:37 am

i was never big in to world building, i wanted to play more than write a huge world, so i use the Hyperoborea Setting 90% as it's written and 10% my own little strokes.

it's a well written setting after all

**Posted by Doctor_Rob** 5/16/2026 6:13 am

I confess to dark heresy and don’t use Hyperborea but rather a pseudo-pre-cataclysmic or pre-ice age analogue to our ancient bronze-age (or even Stone Age) world. That way, I can anchor things in relatively familiar terms where historic place names are such because they were named for folk memories from a lost age etc. I can also drop in published scenarios with suitable set dressing changes without difficulty. Cheesy I know, but who cares….! The AS&SH rules are easy to use whole-cloth because either the Hyperborea elements can be adapted or…. ignored (gasp! Does that make me a bad person….?)

Last edited by Doctor_Rob (5/16/2026 6:14 am)