What Is Your Favorite Campaign Setting?

[Wicht]

I have, in my time, played in the Known World, Krynn, the Forgotten Realms, a smattering of Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Golarion, Kalamar, 1920s Cthulhu, the World of Darkness, the Wild West, Middle Earth, Smurf Village, Kaidan, the Realm of Dreams, New York with the Ghostbusters, a variety of homebrew settings, and probably a few others I am not remembering.

Of those, I think Kalamar remains my favorite published setting. I really like the way it was designed and every time I read any of the material for it, I want to go back to it.

For fantasy realms, Golarion is probably my second favorite setting, though I have fond nostalgia for the Forgotten Realms. My main problem with both settings however is the same: there is so much published stuff that its harder to make it your own. FR is worse than Golarion in this regards, which is why I probably prefer Golarion. That and I really like several of the Adventure Paths Paizo has done. Krynn was even worse than both of those, and I think that's why I never played more in it.

I have a natural soft spot for Kaidan, which is understandable as I wrote the campaign book, and I would like to write more adventures for it, but for various reasons I doubt that is going to happen.

I am also very partial to the Realm of Dreams, again having written material set there, and I have a grand campaign I would like to finish writing some day where the PCs are all dreamweavers, adrift in dream and able to shape it to their whims. I have it about 3/4ths finished, but alas, Covid stopped my work on it, and I've been slow to get back to it.

I also like the One Ring's Middle Earth, and 1920s Cthulhu, and I suspect the next two games I run will be in those settings respectively.

In the end, I think I its hard to pick just one when there are so many interesting stories to discover in multiple worlds and a myriad of games.

 

[Thourne]

WEG Star Wars in the Old Republic era.
Just a lot more freedom without being tied to detailed timelines you need to avoid stepping on.

 

[DragonBelow]

Dragonlance, Spelljammer, Ravenloft.

Dragonlance, I read a bunch of the novels and DMed at least 3 campaigns there. Currently playing Adventurer's League Dragonlance

Spelljammer, just love the space fantasy aspect of it. Currently DMing a campaign there.

Raveloft, I tried running it several times but they fizzled out. Now mostly relegated to halloween one-shot material, but still great.

Honorable mention: FR, and Eberron.

 

[Parmandur]

My current homebrew setting is pretty much my personal Forgotten Realms greatest hits turned into a mold for a new casting about a tenth the total size.
The High Forest bordered by Rashemen, Vaasa, and the Dalelands, with Neverwinter, Telflamm, Baldur's Gate, and Westgate as coastal city states.

I think the biggest flaw of the Forgotten Realms is that it's just way too big. It could easily have been three separate campaign settings as it is, with plenty of potential to develop the South half into two additional settings.

One of my discoveries goijg back to the sources...the Heartlands and Savage Frontier really were the Setting, as it actually was fleshed out prior to TSR throwing it into gear.

 

[Yora]

One of my discoveries goijg back to the sources...the Heartlands and Savage Frontier really were the Setting, as it actually was fleshed out prior to TSR throwing it into gear.

Yeah. I've come to the realization that the northern half of Faerun is meant as a New World that is still in the process of being settled and where play takes place, and the southern half is the Old World that provided the settlers and technologies for that northward migration into the wilderness.
Amn, Turmish, and Mulhorand and everything south of that seem to have been just names on a map to provide context and flavor, but not actual places with any content.

I could write whole pages about this. Which I did.

 

[aco175]

Forgotten Realms (as a whole, not only the sword coast),

Wait, what. Like there is some fantastical lands not on the Sword Coast. Next, people will say they have purple dragons.

One of my discoveries goijg back to the sources...the Heartlands and Savage Frontier really were the Setting, as it actually was fleshed out prior to TSR throwing it into gear.

Wasn't the Bloodstone Lands actually Bob Salvatore's homeworld that got thrown into FR like the whole 10 Towns and such after the books started coming.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Glorantha, Greyhawk, Call of Cthulhu, Harn - all favorites growing up. Enjoyed Krynn running that Dragonlance series as well. I enjoyed Greyhawk's more open, less defined state of the early days - it almost felt primordial. Glorantha's wild and free wheeling and somehow epic feel. Enjoying my return to that setting.

Also, Traveller as an honorable mention. We played a fantastic one-shot and I would love returning to that setting. We also enjoyed a short MERP campaign back in the day.

 

[Atomoctba]

For D&D-related things: Cerilia (the continent of Birthright), Sigil, and Eberron.
The World of Darkness from the 1st edition of Vampire, before all the metaplot ruined it.
Theah (7th Sea)

 

[Parmandur]

Wasn't the Bloodstone Lands actually Bob Salvatore's homeworld that got thrown into FR like the whole 10 Towns and such after the books started coming.

No, Icewind Dale (not yhe Bloodstone Lands) was made up for the novel, not part of a home game. But Icreind Dale is only on the fringes of the "Savage Frontier" region (basically everything North of Watsrdeep, and the islands West of thst).

The Bloodstone Lands were the generic microsetting for the H modules, and were ret owned for being over the mountains to the East of the Heartlands (Sword Coast from Daggerford to Candlekeep East all the way to the Vast, basically).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Of those, I think Kalamar remains my favorite published setting. I really like the way it was designed and every time I read any of the material for it, I want to go back to it.

Kingdoms of Kalamar is a fascinating setting. It's probably one of the best examples of a setting without any hint of metaplot. Instead, everything is poised on the brink of happening, awaiting the DM and PCs' actions to write the future of the setting.