Thinking about using a CS

[Mitchbones]

I'm starting a new campaign in September, and not too keen on homebrew worldbuilding. I thought using a Campaign Setting would give me inspiration for my new campaign but I have a few questions.

What CS do you use? Do you recommend it for a new-ish DM?
Should I loan out the CS before the campaign starts where the players can learn about it? Or should they just learn about the world as we go along in the game?

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I recommend Eberron, purely and simply because I prefer its "modern" tone and attitude to the "traditional" feel of older campaign settings like, for instance, the Forgotten Realms, and because it works spectacularly well with the current rules (and I don't anticipate it being any less suitable for Fourth Edition, either).

There are "setting secrets" in the Eberron Campaign Setting, but my personal approach to those is to let the players know, and simply ask them to be sensible enough to not act on information that their characters wouldn't know.

Besides, there are also secrets for which there is no official truth, and even players who memorise the campaign setting book can't possibly know the DM's explanation for them.

The campaign setting book also has a "10 Things You Need To Know About Eberron" section which clearly communicates what the setting is about.

 

[Treebore]

There are lots of good setting out there. The question is which would appeal to you.


Scarred Lands-out of print, but still esy to find on line
Kalamar-look up Kenzer's website
Wildlerands-Judges Guild/Necromancer Games (search for samples in the free downloads section)

Dawnforge by FFG I believe

Midnight, also by FFG

Forgotten Realms by WOTC

Eberron by WOTC

Oathbound by Bastion Press, I believe

Morningstar via Goodman Games

DCC 35 via Goodman Games

Blackmoor

and even more.

 

[DragonLancer]

Ones that I like:

Dragonlance (pre-Chaos War) - romaticised D&D, strong good vs evil feel and just different enough from standard D&D.

Dawnforge - Sadly no longer supported, but has an excellent First Age feel. A setting for those characters who want to be larger than life and a setting that allows it.

Aereth (DCC world) - Generic without being bland, plenty of room to add your own modules and areas, and a host of DCC modules to continue to bring the setting to life.

Scarred Lands - Detailed, interesting backstory with lots of room to do your own thing as well.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

If you plan on switching to 4e, I don't recommend using a setting that has mechanics specified in it. Instead, pick something that is pure fluff, such as Green Ronin's Pirate's Guide to Freeport. I haven't actually read it, yet, but I hear good things about it and might switch from Eberron to that despite my complete collection of Eberron material.

As a side note, I like the ideas I'm hearing about 4e, but the idea of a lot of my Eberron material becoming obsolete (feats, powers, spells, races, monsters, etc.) agitates me a great deal.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Currently I use the Eberron Campaign Setting and it's what I would recommend. The main book is extremely well written and has everything you need. However it's a little weird, there's more magic in the world than is implied by the core rules. Eberron is D&D meets Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Maltese Falcon. It's fantasy inspired by the 20s and 30s, the pulps, swashbuckling action movies and noir.

Forgotten Realms might be more to your taste if you prefer a more traditional D&D universe.

Midnight answers the question, "What if Sauron won the War of the Ring?" It's very dark.

 

[Thanee]

What CS do you use? Do you recommend it for a new-ish DM?

For D&D mostly the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (the main book is still 3.0, but that's only relevant for the setting-specific rules material, most of a CS book is setting description, naturally; the rules part has been updated in the Player's Guide to Faerûn). It's typical high fantasy.

I can recommend it. It's a very good book and the descriptions have the right level of detail, enough to get started without much work and leaving enough room for your own interpretations and adventurs). There is also a lot of support for it (sourcebooks and also much free stuff on the net).

Should I loan out the CS before the campaign starts where the players can learn about it? Or should they just learn about the world as we go along in the game?

I would give them a quick rundown on the important things, so they have a good idea about the world in general, and the place where you set the campaign in particular, but otherwise just let them learn as you go.

Bye
Thanee

 

[darthkilmor]

Ptolus is a bit expensive(120 $$ ) but only the DM would need to get the book. Its mainly a mix of urban adventure/intrigue & dungeoncrawling.

 

[smootrk]

I would recommend Forgotten Realms:
Lots of established material for you to use.
Despite all the pre-existing material, there are still lots of regions that can be 'made your own' or areas that have not been explored yet.
Lots of crunchy bits (setting specific prcs, spells, magic items, etc)
Forward compatibility as $4dventure (4E) presents itself.

 

[Ry]

If you're leaning towards Realms, I'd recommend treating it as if it's actually a book of thirty different settings stitched together at the edges. Pick one of those, or a few connected ones that you like, and read up on that. Targetting it that way, IMO makes for a great game where the PCs feel like they're really changing the setting, rather than having players who are suddenly crisscrossing the globe to get a hand from one of the limitless supernpcs against one of the limitless superbads (unless you want to run 'DA 4G0TTN RA3LMZ' ) .