D&D 5E (2014) An Atlas of the D&D Worlds?

How about this. Make a hardcover atlas which includes a map of all the D&D worlds ever published by TSR and WotC. That'd be one way to hit home that the all the D&D worlds are still ripe for adventure. Such a book would appeal to many different D&D groups.

Abeir-Toril:


Eberron:


Io's Blood Island Chain, the setting of Council of Wyrms:


Krynn:


Mystara (the classic Known World region is outlined in the little rectangle) and the Hollow World:



Nerath:


Pelinore:


Ravenloft:


The Realm of the D&D Animated Series:

Jakandor:


Thunder Rift (the core setting of Rules Cyclopedia D&D, the "second edition" of BECMI D&D. One of the designers of Thunder Rift suggested (in this interview compiled by me) that it be placed in one of the other continents of Mystara, namely Skothar or Davania.):

Aebrynis (though this map is only of the continent of Cerilia):

Blackmoor (which exists in the ancient past of Mystara, on the continent of Skothar, but also exists as a separate campaign setting published by Zeitgeist Games, who had a license from WotC. The Zeitgeist Blackmoor was slated to have its own world map, but Arneson died before the world map was published, as far as I know. In Gygax's original home campaign, Arneson's Blackmoor was geographically originally part of the Flanaess, but for the published Greyhawk map, TSR kept only the name of "Blackmoor" as a region, but reconceived it so that it was no longer tied to Arneson's version, except that it still as the Egg of Coot, and still has a city named "Blackmoor". A fourth version of Blackmoor exists: the First Fantasy Campaign version of Blackmoor is attached to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy world map from Judges Guild.)


Athas:


Oerth:

Other Oerth maps here, including the 3e Chainmail map of northwestern Oerik: http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2012/03/gonduria-aquaria-and-oerths-four.html

The map of the Kingdom of Ghyr mini-setting is attached below. For its context see the next post.

one-off mini-settings

The D&D Gazetteer might as well include these places too, since they exist somewhere in the D&D Multiverse. The Desert of Desolation exists in three D&D worlds.

• Ghyr (the tie-in setting of the AD&D Action Figures) The map of Ghyr is attached to the end of the previous post.
• Karawenn (the setting of the First Quest novels for AD&D2e)
• Desert of Desolation (exists in Faerun and Nerath and Mystara--the Ylaruam gazetteer suggested its placement there.)
• Land of Arir (an Arabian-style one-off locale from 1e Day of Al'Akbar)
• Kolhapur (an Asian Indian-style one-off locale from 2e Star of Kolhapur)
• The Dream Lands of Smslyvch (from the Hebrew BECMI adventures)
• City of Manifest (Ghostwalk)
• The world of the D&D Endless Quest gamebooks.
• The world of Dragon Strike, those VCR-based D&D games. It has its own crystal sphere.
• The Empire of Izmer, the setting for the first two D&D movies, such as they are. Arneson (who did promotional work for the film) says (here) that in his home campaign, Izmer is located in the same world of Blackmoor(!)
• (The third film, the direct-to-DVD Book of Vile Darkness, is, according to this blurb, set in the Kingdoms of Karkoth in the D&D World of Nerath.)
• A world composed of all the generic DUNGEON magazine adventure locales.

The D&D gazetteer could also officially place all of the generic adventures which have ever been published. Perhaps there could be a placement in nearly every published world (except for worlds whose themes don't match with those adventures, such as Dark Sun). This would of course only be relevant to the "WotC timeline" of the D&D Multiverse. Every DM might have an different placement. This would make the baseline Multiverse coherent and comprehensive, while recognizing that each DM's Multiverse is an alternate parallel Multiverse.

Tianguo, the setting of Dragonfist (if Pramas would license his world back to WotC, to be included in the D&D Gazetteer):

I love the idea, but that's not surprising considering I've suggested the same exact thing on a couple occasions (great minds and all!). Can't find the thread, but you can search for it if you want.

I think one or even a series of books called something like "Classic Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons" would be popular among long-time fans. This would also clear up some space for new worlds.

The world of Urt:


The D&D Gazetteer could also include the D&D World of Urt. This world is a variant of Mystara. These are the differences:

• Urt is basically the creation of Frank Mentzer and Francois Froideval.
• Mystara is basically the creation of D&D brand manager Bruce Heard.

• The name "Urt" is from Mentzer's Gold Box (Immortal Rules), which, in the monster entry for "megalith", mentions in passing that the world is named "Urt". The name "Urt" never appears again in any Mystara product.
• The name "Mystara" came much later in the publication history, through a DRAGON magazine contest; though since no satisfactory names were submitted by readers, D&D Bruce Heard invented the name.

• Urt is a megalith--the largest known life-form in the Multiverse. This is stated in the Gold Box, which includes monster stats for Megaliths.
• Mystara is not a megalith, unless there are hollow megaliths too.

• Urt is the same size as Earth.
• In the later Poor Wizards Almanacs, Mystara was made to be much smaller in diameter than Earth.

• Urt is not hollow.
• Mystara is.

• The boundaries of the countries of Urt are exactly as depicted on the Masters Set map.
• A later DRAGON magazine article said that map was a gnomish forgery. In the World of Mystara, that map is a forgery. But in the World of Urt, that map is true.

• Urt is set in the past of Earth. This is stated in the Black Box (Masters Rules), IIRC.
• The Wrath of the Immortals boxed set (which replaced the Gold Box rules) says that Mystara is in a different dimension from Earth--the Dimension of Myth. Mystarans know Earth as "Laterre."

• Specifically, Urt is the Jurassic past of "D&D Earth". (The Urt world map is lifted straight from the geological map of the Jurassic period.)
• Mystara's default date of 1000 A.C. is 1986 A.D. on Earth. In 1000 AC, the PCs visit Chicago and New York, in the adventure IM1: The Immortal Storm.

Gamma World:

Gamma World became a D&D World in 4E.

Cool stuff, but I think a few of them (Urt, Blackmoor, Jackandor, etc) might be too obscure. Still, a book with some of the more famous worlds might be a cool primer to D&D.

While I like the idea, I don't think every setting ever published is feasible. For one, a lot of them were licensed and they no longer have the rights. But more importantly trying to put 40 years of settings into one book would be a massive undertaking, not to mention a massive book.

Now a book with maps and basic details of all the major campaigns would be more feasible. Basically all the ones that had a boxed set or hard cover campaign setting.