Your favorite 3.x published campaign setting?

[Minicol]

Arcanis by Paradigm Concepts really did it for my group.

AGOT.

Golarion.

 

[hewligan]

Freeport - an absolutely amazing book, well edited, with the strongest, most coherent, most adventure rich fluff in any setting book I have read.

Notable mentions for:

Midnight - I would have loved the opportunity to GM in this setting, but it is very dark and most players appear not to like that style. Technically 3.0 I believe.

Golarion - THE Forgotten Realms Grey-Box for the current generation

Didn't Like Despite Trying:

Scarred Lands - I really did try, buying 2 hardbacks and 3 PDFs. Well written, but the concept just never connected with me.

Eberron - I think it was a good product, but again, it just failed to resonate with me.

 

[Smeelbo]

Favorite 3.5 settings

Having DM'ed both, I can strongly recommend both Monte Cooke's Ptolus and Privateer Press's Iron Kingdoms. Monte Cooke was one of the designers for 3.0, and Ptolus is his 3.0 playtest campaign setting. Honestly, no other 3.5 product comes close in utility, quality, and completeness. It is the ultimate sand box.

Iron Kingdoms is kind of a pre-Victorian Steam Punk setting, well thought out, beautifully envisioned, and avoids many of the pitfalls of a standard 3.5 setting. Much better than Eberron. Their one pre-built adventure is not that great, but the setting, and the campaign specific mechanics, are fantastic. Plus, it's supported by their beautiful miniatures line.

Smeelbo

 

[rgard]

Hi All, thanks for all the great suggestions. My short list is now:

1. City State of the Invincible Overlord with the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.
2. Conan OGL.
3. Oathbound.

I plan on using bits from FRCS, Freeport (maybe drop the entire city in) and the others suggested (have a really extensive RPG collection on hand inlcuding most of what came up here) and maybe Ptolus as a destination eventually.

Again, thanks for all the great suggestions.

Rich

 

[jaerdaph]

For me, it's a tie between Freeport and Aereth (The Known Realms).

 

[scruffygrognard]

Ptolus. It is nearly perfect.

 

[Darrin Drader]

3. Oathbound.

Hey cool. Then this should make you happy: Epidemic Books - Oathbound

Incidentally, I am finishing up work on my part of a new Oathbound book after the setting was inactive for about five years.

 

[Alzrius]

Hey cool. Then this should make you happy: Epidemic Books - Oathbound

Incidentally, I am finishing up work on my part of a new Oathbound book after the setting was inactive for about five years.

Whoa, that's great news! I had no idea Oathbound was making a comeback, but it's awesome that it is!

 

[Darrin Drader]

Whoa, that's great news! I had no idea Oathbound was making a comeback, but it's awesome that it is!

The news hasn't been widely publicized yet, but it is publicly available. Greg has big plans for the setting, including ways for people to get their hands on previously published books.

 

[Filcher]

Another vote for DCC World, aka Aereth.