How to Multiple Campaign Settings Distinct from one another

[ffanxii4ever]

So, I am in the planning stages of running a Spelljammer campaign, and I am planning on having them run to the big name worlds (Oerth, Krynn, and Toril), along with a couple of other worlds (namely Golarion and Eberron) in the course of the campaign. Golarion is where they will be starting out, and Eberron is pretty freaking distinct of a place because of the tech level and what not, but I was wondering if anyone has ideas about what the most distinctive regions of Oerth, Krynn, and Toril are, and what should be major things that I should really play up to make each of the world feel completely and totally distinct from one another. (and not just Fantasy World 1, Fantasy World 2, Fantasy World 3)

 

[Mark]

What is the purpose of the campaign? Is it like Doctor Who where a small band is going from world to world and righting wrongs? Are they more like Firefly, ex-military trying to eke out a living in a universe that is cold and harsh? Or like Quantum Leap, tripping from one situaiton to the next and just trying not to make things worse (and maybe make things better) while they are there? I think this type of information would help people choose locations not only distinct to the campaign settings but also relevant to your purpose.

 

[ffanxii4ever]

What is the purpose of the campaign? Is it like Doctor Who where a small band is going from world to world and righting wrongs? Are they more like Firefly, ex-military trying to eke out a living in a universe that is cold and harsh? Or like Quantum Leap, tripping from one situaiton to the next and just trying not to make things worse (and maybe make things better) while they are there? I think this type of information would help people choose locations not only distinct to the campaign settings but also relevant to your purpose.

Without getting too specific, the campaign is somewhat along the lines of a "save the world" plot, except rather than saving the world, it is saving the entire Material Plane and all of the crystal spheres from an invasion from a host of alien beings that originate from the Negative Energy Plane. They are going to be ?sphere-hopping? (is that the right term?) because the ancient artifact level device that is capable of stopping the invaders from entering and taking over was split into several MacGuffin-sized pieces and spread throughout the spheres by its creators millenia ago. So as a result, these artifact pieces must all be found and reunited with one another in order to pretty much save everything living.

So I suppose I am looking for the major, iconic regions of the worlds that SCREAM that they are (insert campaign world's name here) and that have either been the source of contention over the ages for the world, or a stable point in the history of the world that has been around for centuries, or something along those lines.

 

[the Jester]

I'd use Greyhawk City in WoG, Undermountain in FR and Dragonarmies on Krynn. I can't think of much more iconic for each setting than that (except maybe Elminster, but I'd only use him if I was going to kill him off).

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms have a bit too much in common, so I'd try to contrast them by their magic level. Go to one of the magic heavy areas of Faerun and one of the magic-light areas of Greyhawk.

Dragonlance has several uniquely Krynnish races (and thus places that are home to those races) like Kender, Tinker Gnomes, Draconians, and Krynnish Minotaurs (no other setting has seafaring minotaurs to my knowledge).

 

[deadsmurf]

I'd contrast FR and GH by placing the party into a situation in GH where magic is being persecuted, and highlight the low magic and technology levels. Interact with some local clerics.
Then when in FR be somewhere EPIC and magical and full of apparent history, and interact with more different clerics. Have everyone the party meets be seemingly higher level than they are used to.

When you get to Eberron your only choice to showcase the setting is - Start off in Sharn, somehow find a dead body in the rain, investigate it, get double crossed, then have a fight on top of a Lightning rail on your way to the Talenta Plains where you fight halflings on Dinosaurs and raid an ancient dungeon for lost artifacts. Thats an Eberron Campaign in a nutshell.
If there are Divine characters in the party, tell them that they no longer feel the presence of their gods. But their faith still allows them to cast the spells.

 

[amerigoV]

but I was wondering if anyone has ideas about what the most distinctive regions of Oerth, Krynn, and Toril are, and what should be major things that I should really play up to make each of the world feel completely and totally distinct from one another.

Krynn - Kender!! Tons of them, plus tinker gnomes, and Draconians! Maybe ignore the Draconians, they kinda got ruined with all this 4e Dragonborn stuff (unless you are not doing 4e).

Toril - Just have the PCs sit around and what Drizzt and Eliminster do all the work . More serious - maybe they get caught up on a plot by the Zhents, or get sucked into Myth Drannor.

Oerth - Hmmm - you could run them through one of the classics - Tomb of Horrors, Village of Hommlet, White Plume Mountain. Sure, those could be anywhere, but they are originally set in Greyhawk.

 

[Hussar]

It's funny that people point to Greyhawk as this sort of low magic setting. I mean, this is a setting where people (plural) capture gods and then ascend to godhood, undead armies lead by vampires, demon lords continuously plot, and entire continents and people get roasted by epic level magic. I've never quite understood why Greyhawk gets painted as a low magic setting.

The points about Krynn are good. Krynn has some pretty distinct races and the politics of the setting - many areas are still ruled by dragon highlords as I understand - are pretty unique.

The difficulty in my mind would be distinguishing FR and Greyhawk. They're both pretty kitchen sink settings. I'd actually go with the more wahoo elements of Greyhawk to separate it off. White Plume Mountain and Barrier Peaks come to mind. The crashed spaceship in The Forgotten City module. That sort of thing.

I'd paint FR as pretty much standard, stock fantasy world and then make everything different from there.

 

[Krensky]

First, try and hunt down the three Spelljammer supplements for those settings to save yourself on making new systems, plus some of the more interesting places in those spheres are not on the main world. They also give you background on where Spelljammers go and why. If memory serves on Toril Waterdeep (and the port under it), Hzuz, The Imperial Capital of Shou Lung, and Akkaido in Wa are the main Spelljamming ports, and the Minotaur kingdom is on Krynn. Don't recall Oerth.

Tinker gnomes are a big part of Spelljammer already.

Also, to save some headache, you might want to hunt down the players book for Dragonstar and allow people choose the archtypal dieties in that when they leave the sphere their diety is native to.

 

[Stormonu]

Since you're running Spelljammer, you might want to have the characters settle down on Greyhawk near the Barrier Peaks - at least in sight of the spaceship that crashed in the mountains. (Perhaps they need to recover the ship's distress beacon for some reason, which might have even been removed from the ship and is an object of worship in a nearby area).