D&D 5E What is the best D&D Campaign Setting and why?

[Quickleaf]

I am about to take numerous files (the random writings of about a years worth of prep) and convert them into an organized world guide. Since 5E has yet to produce a world guide, I am curious which world guide would be the best example to use. Here is a list of D&D and AD&D campaigns. Those to which I have access are emboldened.

Birthright Campaign Setting
Blackmoor Campaign Setting
Dark Sun Campaign Setting
Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Eberron Campaign Setting
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
Hollow World Campaign Setting
Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms
Planescape Campaign Setting
Ravenloft

Questions:
Which one has the best format and why?
What sections did you find the most informative and why?

One of the things I appreciated about Planescape was in the boxed set's booklet Sigil and Beyond there was just about perfect, clear, succinct coverage of:

• Tropes of the setting differentiating it from other settings.
• What adventurers do in the setting.
• Laying out what level advancement means in the setting.

I like it when a setting articulates its raison d'être right up front, giving me something to go back to as I'm reading like a touchstone.

 

[S'mon]

I liked the Mystara Gazetteers best. See Dawn of the Emperors for an excellent mega-gazetteer approach. Intro, history, geography, NPCs, adventure ideas in GM section. Culture, some history, daily life, spells & rules mods in player section. And giant maps.

 

[S'mon]

I really like the format of the Pathfinder setting book. The Inner Sea Worldguide. It spreads the information out in a pretty logical way and presents things fairly easily. Races then nations and then life in the world and miscellaneous details. Plus it's nice and clean with each entry starting at the beginning of a page.

It's interesting and informative, but it doesn't really have GM oriented stuff to help me run a campaign there. It's great to give to players to inform their backgrounds, but no NPCs, no adventures. It's all player-side stuff.

The very best I know is the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Box, it's all GM side hex level detail. With it, my players can go anywhere, do anything, and I always have material. It's a sandboxer's dream.

Of the OP list I like the Hollow World box set best, it follows the GAZ format and has useful NPCs, big maps, adventures & adventure hooks etc.

 

[corwyn77]

Known World/Mystara

Buy the first 14 Gazetteers and a few other things on DMSGuild for $15!



But, considering Planescape and Known World are $15 each for almost all of it, get one or both and spend some quality time reading.

What should I be searching for here? I see a bunch of gazetteers for $5 each but no bundle or anything for $15 for either setting.

 

[Ath-kethin]

What you're seeking is opinions on the format of a book, not advice on a campaign setting, correct?

I never had any use for the Forgotten Realms, but I agree with others that the 3.0 campaign setting book is extremely well done in terms of layout. It's pretty dense, though, and a bit of a slog to wade through.

Something you might look into as a starting point are the Plane Shift articles on the Magic: The Gathering site, which give advice on playing in various M:tG worlds using D&D 5e. The articles are free, succinct, and basically provide an overview only of what makes them different and distinct from material in the Player's Handbook. They're wonderful and digestible and should WotC ever choose to do setting updates from older worlds, I think these kinds of articles are the best way to go.



Edit: Here are the actual pages for the Plane Shift articles:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/plane-shift-kaladesh-2017-02-16

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/plane-shift-zendikar-2016-04-27

For some reason the page for Innistrad seems to be MIA, but the Dragon+ page is still up and can be found here: http://www.dragonmag.com/5.0/#!/article/106375/102161027

(That's still a WotC site, by the way, so it's not like downloading junk off some kind of random who-knows-what page).

 

[Aldarc]

The best world guide in terms of formatting, layout, and organization contributing to its usefulness? Ptolus. Hands down.

Among the ones you listed in bold, I favor Eberron. It provides a nice balance between too much and too little information, giving enough info to establish a sense of place but not too much that you lack any semblance of creative control. It gives a solid sense of pulp adventure and mystery. It gives a sense of urgency in the campaign setting anchored by the Last War and the threat of renewed hostilities. There are so many potential plothooks in every single page, so that every page leaves you thinking, "It would be neat to have a campaign centered around that!"

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

What should I be searching for here? I see a bunch of gazetteers for $5 each but no bundle or anything for $15 for either setting.

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/211032/Known-World-Megabundle-BECMI-BUNDLE?src=salepage

 

[Satyrn]

I liked the old box sets, like Maztica (and Probably Kara Tur), Which had a small book for character options, another for setting details and a third with info about the gods.

 

[Whithers]

What you're seeking is opinions on the format of a book, not advice on a campaign setting, correct?

Yes, that is correct. I got distracted while posting and somewhat mistitled my thread.

 

[Whithers]

As rule books go, skipping other aspects and going outside of D&D, I loved the boxed set rules in the original Traveller game (circa 1970's). There was a book with all of the explanations and fluff, and a book with all the charts and formulas. Once one had read the rules, the 30 or so pages of charts were all collected in an easy to use reference with far fewer pages to slog through for that table one needs for that unexpected party choice.

So, far this has been helpful, and I am laying out a table of contents to keep me from meandering as I write.