One world for all your campaigns, or do you set campaigns in different settings each time?

MerricB · Feb 26, 2014

Back in the late 80s, I began playing in a Greyhawk game. When I returned to DMing in the late 90s, I used that version of Greyhawk as the basis of my new campaign, and pretty much all of my original (non-organised-play/published) adventures since then have been set in that world. There have been several "campaigns" in the world - characters starting at first, and continuing to high levels - set in different areas of the world, with the City of Greyhawk, Great Kingdom, County of Ulek and Lands of the Frost Barbarians being the main ones.

When I start a new campaign when Next finally appears, I'll have it set in that Greyhawk.

I did run the HPE adventures in the Nerath Vale as written. I run a lot of Forgotten Realms adventures as part of Organised Play. And I ran Pathfinder for a year set in Golarion, but using the adventure paths.

However, if I'm going to run an original adventure, it'll be in that Greyhawk. At this point, it is very much *my* world. There's been play in it from 576 CY through to 604 CY. I've a feeling that the next campaign will see time advance further as I try a different style of campaign, but it's great looking back on the world and remembering its history, even if only I really know most of it.

I do know that other DMs love creating new settings, and it seems occasionally like every adventure they run is in a different world!

I'm just wondering how approach your campaigns. Are they all set in the same world? Different worlds each time? Do you return to favourite settings but otherwise explore the possibilities?

And will anything be changing when 5E comes by?

Cheers!

amerigoV · Feb 26, 2014

In our group, the GMs do have their favorites. One uses Ptolus cuz he paid a ton of money for that calculus sized book, another has carried some of the same elements from one homebrew world to another.

I have bounced around but have settled on one that I will call my "campaign of detail". By that I mean I am diving down into the details and getting them across to the players so they pick up on them over time. Unfortunately, I have not got to run it yet, but its day will come (the bane of rotating GMs and having kids - hard to get all the gaming in I want). The setting is Hellfrost by Triple Ace Games for Savage Worlds - not D&D I know, but its very D&D for the game system and our group tends to prefer traditional fantasy for the long haul.

Obryn · Feb 26, 2014

Whenever there's a setting in play, I try to keep some modicum of continuity next time we use that setting.

But really, I rarely go back to anything; the only time I used one setting and maintained it from one group of players to another was a d20 Call of Cthulhu game that had a sequel campaign and then a third installment using Savage Worlds.

Ahnehnois · Feb 26, 2014

I've always used my one campaign setting. Too much work to create another one. Moreover, familiarity on the part of the players is an asset for a DM; it's less things that I have to explain. I do like to shift around time periods (admittedly a necessity since the players participated in the end of the world, ergo no more games set after that timeframe). Switching the era is a nice excuse to do a quasi reboot without having to make a new map or create new setting elements from scratch.

GX.Sigma · Feb 26, 2014

I have too many incompatible campaign ideas to put them all in the same world.

DMZ2112 · Feb 26, 2014

GX.Sigma said:
I have too many incompatible campaign ideas to put them all in the same world.

Amen to that. I spent a long time trying to prove the grand unified setting theory, and I think it's ultimately self-defeating. Big, diverse settings are great, but if you have an idea that doesn't fit sometimes it's better to give it its own home rather than whipping out the shoehorn.

I've got several settings that I've run campaigns in but only one or two of them are particularly well developed. I built a setting for play at my FLGS, that was designed to contain all of the content released for D&D4; I have a highly customized postage-stamp setting with multiple eras of play across a detailed timeline that I've been constructing slowly since AD&D2, and that is now finding a home with 13th Age; and my latest baby is a personalized version of a "core" D&D setting, with a strong emphasis on system identity.

Olgar Shiverstone · Feb 26, 2014

I choose on a by-campaign basis, though I've really only used FR and Greyhawk for long campaigns.

I suppose it might be different if I had a massive investment in my own campaign setting, but I don't have one.

the Jester · Feb 26, 2014

I have a long-term campaign world in which all my D&D games are set, regardless of edition. I use different areas and eras, though.

Lord Mhoram · Feb 26, 2014

I've got a world I've been using since the early 80s. Same world.

Different times and places - and the happenings of one campaign are often legend and folklore in the next.

MerricB · Feb 26, 2014

Lord Mhoram said:
I've got a world I've been using since the early 80s. Same world.

Different times and places - and the happenings of one campaign are often legend and folklore in the next.

Oh, that's marvellous! I've never jumped so much between campaigns, which is a pity, thinking about it.

Cheers!