The main RP I run, GEARs, is an original setting, but I deliberately mention what influenced me, and other things that are similar to give people an idea of what to expect. 
There's still a pretty big chunk of info in the OOC, but it doesn't seem to scare people off too much, and I'm certainly not lacking in player participation. I had to close the RP to new members, since I kept getting requests to join.