WotC comes to you and asks you to pick a setting...

[Kae'Yoss]

If I was asking for people to imagine new rules, they could imagine new rules to fit any setting imaginable. The question, as I meant it, refers to the current rules set.

Still, Eberron would not fit, in my opinion: It has too many parts that just aren't standard D&D, like living constructs as player character races or technology.

If we had a remake fo the 3.5 PHB where all the Greyhawk stuff was removed and replaced by Eberron stuff, you would have to introduce the new base classes and of course races to the PHB, too. This would mean they would become core, and this would cause stuff like people asking why most other settings don't even use all core races, or why suddenly there are warforged as a major race in the Realms....

The Realms won't do, either, because of their nonstandard races, like Moon Elves, who have the same bonuses as core elves, but look differently, especially the human height. Or planetouched, who are core for FR

So, in that way, GH is the best choice: No funky races as standard races, no major deviation from what is to be considered standard fantasy (which is what D&D, in its core, caters to).

 

[Gez]

I'd say Eberron or Scarred Lands. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc. are plagued by previouseditionisms (such as, no dwarven wizard).

Ravenloft, Iron Kingdoms, Midnight, etc. are too gimmicky. They're gothic horror D&D, steampunk D&D, what you want, but not plain-vanilla D&D.

Other settings, I'm not familiar enough to say.

And I dislike Dragonlance anyway.

 

[Dinkeldog]

I picked FR, although it could have been Greyhawk. Those are the two most vanilla settings out there. Eberron is my campaign of choice, though.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I'd say Eberron or Scarred Lands. Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc. are plagued by previouseditionisms (such as, no dwarven wizard).

Ravenloft, Iron Kingdoms, Midnight, etc. are too gimmicky. They're gothic horror D&D, steampunk D&D, what you want, but not plain-vanilla D&D.

The Dwarven Wizard is a bad example, IMO. IIRC, FR Gold Dwarves were one of the workarounds for that in 2e. So no dwarven wizard in 2e, but Gold Dwarven Wizard was possible.


Tell me how you think that Eberron is plain-vanilla D&D.

 

[farscapesg1]

If you are using the current rules as written, I just don't think that Eberron is a good choice. D&D, with the current core books, is fantasy, aka Swords and Sorcery. Sure, Eberron has some interesting features, but it is not pure Swords and Sorcery fantasy with the living constructs and other little custom touches.

 

[Staffan]

Don't make me remind you that KoK names are based on the individual's language, enabling players to immediately recognize a name from a particular region, unlike GH and FR.

Actually, 3e FR stuff makes some effort regarding tying names to regions. It's only a handful of names per region (the whole sidebar about it take up one page), but that should serve enough to get one started.

 

[Vonlok The Bold]

I'll add my voice to saying Kalamar if we are talking about the rules as written. Others have mentioned how well designed it is, and how it makes sense, with the rules.

I think because it is so well thought out, with so many things created, and there are so many levels there, it offers the most chances to take advantage of ALL the rules of D&D. There is well thought background, and opportunities for almost any style of roleplay from intrigue, and mystery, hack and slash, puzzle solving, dungeon crawling, wilderness adventures, town adventures, etc.

Most settings offer these, but few have supported them so well with a wealth of background knowledge and hooks for adventuring.

A close second would be GH because it is generic enough to fit all the rules in, but requires some fleshing out of details by the GM to have it truly live up to its potential. That can be good or bad depending on the GM.

 

[megamania]

I am an Eberron and Darksun fan but I have little doubt- it would be Grayhawk.

 

[Altalazar]

Call me a traditionalist, but I think you have to base the core system around Greyhawk. It just has always been the default, and as I become an old-fart gamer, I'll be sitting in my rocking chair on the porch waxing on how Greyhawk started it all...