How Detailed Would Your Ideal Published Campaign Setting Be?

[Doug McCrae]

Eberron Campaign Setting is close to perfect in terms of the subjects covered and the amount of detail. I agree, the maps could've been better but more detailed versions are available online.

Compare with the original Greyhawk boxed set. Two pages about trees. Eight pages on weather. Far too much info about the gods, including stats, split up between two books. What were you smoking, Gary? To be fair there is a lot of good info too, on history, nations and other geographical areas.

I didn't vote in the poll as I think maps are good, stats completely unnecessary beyond class and level.

 

[Voadam]

I gloss over a lot.

In Greyhawk I could never follow or care about Oeridian vs. Flan vs. Baklunish and their population migration patterns. The short descriptions of countries and areas worked well for me though and were modular enough that I only needed to read the ones I was dealing with (Verbobonc, Wild Coast, Greyhawk).

God history and cosmology are cool and appreciated. It gives me a good top down feel for the world and its conflicts.

For getting a handle on a world I like things like the Scarred Lands Ghelspad Gazetteer, enough to give me flavors, history, and ongoing politics without being overwhelming. I never got the Hardcover but feel I have a good feel for the setting.

I use the FRCS's regional sections scattershot, focusing only on the areas relevant for the games I play in and not reading all of them for a feel for the setting overall. It is a good reference, but I haven't read it all. I have read the Ravenloft CS 3.0 fully and enjoyed that, very evocative and inspiring for a DM and appropriate info for players (no NPC stats, just rumors and "common knowledge" about NPCs that might or might not be true).

I haven't given it much thought but I don't really care for the only class and level descriptions for NPCs (i.e. noble 5) but it is a minor thing. I don't find them that useful a reference, I either want a full statblock or flavor only description so I can tailor their combat competency to my campaign needs.

 

[Hussar]

I'd like an "Other" option as well.

- Present all, or nearly all, setting information within modules and tie everything to an actual adventure and I'm sold. I'm not going to get into yet another setting where I have to do all the scut work creating the actual adventures.

I loves me the Adventure Paths for a reason.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I liked Eberron and I agree the Imruphel the Lich (NE male Vaasan human lich Necromancer 18) example is the limit of what I'd want to know from a campaign setting.


But if it isn't supported with adventures it's nigh worthless other than as a source to plunder for ideas. If I buy a book, it's supposed to help me. And cool encounters are, in my opinion, harder to create than cool countries.

 

[Wombat]

Hmmm, I dunno that I actually fit on this scale, but I pushed the middle response.

I don't want or need a raftload of NPCs. I can make those myself. I do like maps, lots of them, but this is secondary to details about the world and the societies, not just how many wizards versus sorcerers there are, but actual nuts-n-bolts of the society. What do people wear? What do they eat? What are some of the games they play? When do they worship and how do they do this? What holidays are important to them?

In other words, I want to know things about the world that have nothing to do with adventuring.

Why?

Because these details make for a real, believable world. This sets the context for the players themselves -- are they annomalies or are they part of the mainstream? Will they be viewed as saviours when they come waltzing into a new village or treated with deadly suspiscion? What do adventurers do when they are not adventuring?

I don't just want game rules -- I want a world.

 

[Ferret]

I voted for the hundreds, as I an always make stuff out and change things, nothing is set in stone

 

[Laman Stahros]

My preference is much like Forgotten Realms in Second Edition, lot and lots (and lots of details) but without stat blocks. All I want to know is, say, Imruphel the Lich (NE male Vaasan human lich Necromancer 18), the rest of the stat block I will do myself.

Stat blocks are now too long to be included in campaign-type products. As most of them are wrong anyway I would prefer that the space be taken with stuff I can use in the game in the future.

That sounds good.

Oh, and no novels. I hate game world novels unless they explore historical events. I'll advance my own timeline, thank you.

QFT. The novels advancing the timeline are what drove me away from the published settings.

 

[mseds99]

stats, stats and more stats

Maps, not so much, but I use premade NPC stats religously from anywhere I can get them. As a dm, it takes me the most time to produce NPCs and I'd rather focus on producing an interesting backdrop for the players instead of number crunching.

 

[maddman75]

I'm anti map and anti metaplot. All I really want is a firm concept, I'll fill in the details in play.

 

[an_idol_mind]

Personally, I liked how Mystara was handled with the Gazetteers.

If the Thunder Rift setting had some better editing, it would also have been an excellent example of the sort of setting book I like.