D&D 4E 4e Campaign Setting Options - Forgotten Realms, Homebrew, or Other?

[Friadoc]

Well, Folks, I've a question for you, about running a 4e campaign, about whether I should run the Forgotten Realms, create a homebrew, or some other option I've not thought of and I figured I'd hit EN World and as you all about your own thoughts.

Now for some background:

Recently I've moved back to Southern Oregon and it's taken me awhile to find some players, thus far I've met with one guy (pretty cool and we get along well), and we're gonna form a new gaming group in the Klamath Basin and Rogue Valley area and figured we'd give 4e a shot, so as to know the rules better and see how easy it'll be to form a group up for it.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do a homebrew, but then I thought about the Forgotten Realms having its 4e incarnation up, and decided I'd ask you all for thoughts, as well as the nifty poll above.

So, let me know what you think, but please note that this isn't a version war thread, as I play 3.5 heavily in play by post games and it's still my system of choice, I'm just giving 4e a shot because I did have fun in my one campaign, pre-move, of it and wanted to try my own hand at DMing it.

Thanks, ahead of time.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Wraith Recon?

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, I am pretty anti-FR, so take this as it is.

I think the best way to begin a campaign or new group is with a few tight adventures that do not have a whole ton of back story. Set a village somewhere, give it several threats and deal with the threats in turn. The problem with FR is that everything is so big, and there is the temptation to make even a couple undead in the cemetery part of the grand movements of the world, instead of some deluded human or monster working for its own purposes.

I'm not a fan of pre-made worlds unless they are open enough for a lot of DM manipulation, like greyhawk.

 

[JeffB]

Take the Nentir Vale setting in the DMG and run with it- that's exactly what I have done. Enough to get ya started, plenty of seeds, and open for plenty of expansion as needed/necc.

But I'm def a "less is more" person when it comes to campaign settings- I'll take the original GH folio over Garys boxed set, or the 3E D&D Gaz over the LGG any day of the week

 

[Friadoc]

Wraith Recon?

Now I'll admit, I'd not heard much of Wraith Recon until you inspired me to look into it, that's an interesting option, in the same vein of X-Crawl, as in it being a science-fantasy feel to it, similar to Shadowrun, in flavor and taste more than texture.

Although I'll give it some thought, it might be a little more militant and less fantasy than some of my players might like, but we'll see.

Well, I am pretty anti-FR, so take this as it is.

I think the best way to begin a campaign or new group is with a few tight adventures that do not have a whole ton of back story. Set a village somewhere, give it several threats and deal with the threats in turn. The problem with FR is that everything is so big, and there is the temptation to make even a couple undead in the cemetery part of the grand movements of the world, instead of some deluded human or monster working for its own purposes.

I'm not a fan of pre-made worlds unless they are open enough for a lot of DM manipulation, like greyhawk.

Yeah, the design small and reveal over time model is the one that'd I'd use if I did a homebrew, as it'd focus on the immediate area around where the players start and then expand the world slowly as they work their way out. There'd be some general ideas of the outside work, talk of far off places, but the area around the PCs would be the point of light type location of a far off outpost of civilization, akin to the frontier settlements of the early American west.

Take the Nentir Vale setting in the DMG and run with it- that's exactly what I have done. Enough to get ya started, plenty of seeds, and open for plenty of expansion as needed/necc.

But I'm def a "less is more" person when it comes to campaign settings- I'll take the original GH folio over Garys boxed set, or the 3E D&D Gaz over the LGG any day of the week

Thanks, that'll give me something to work with, that's for sure. I was thinking of dropping the Nentir into my homebrew, with some slight modifications, as it fits the environs of the real world analog that I'm basing my homebrew around.

 

[Phaezen]

I am going homebrew for my first campaign and seriously looking forward to it. Points of Light all the way, with the players having limited knowledge of the world.

I will admit that I will libraly steal any good ideas I can find that will work, and there is quite a bit I will be stealing from the FRCS for example. Not that my players need to know .

If you are interested in having a look, I am going to be designing most of the setting around my main plot and developing the world as a sand box depending on player action.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/plots-places/244162-plot-building-enemy-my-enemy.html

Phaezen

 

[Betote]

The implied "Points of Light" setting is more than enough to me. I've just started reading the FRCG, and I think it's the best version of the Realms I've ever seen, but that's because I've always hated FR and this book completely destroys it

If you want a premade setting, I'd go for Scarred Lands. It's, IMO, the ideal setting for 4e, and it's going to have a full 4e version on 2009. Get the Ghelspad Gazetteer and one or two city books (I like Mithril), and wait for the full 4e campaign setting to come.

 

[Mallus]

I prefer to create a new homebrew for each new edition. So that's exactly what my friends and I did for 4e. The setting isn't very big yet, mainly one port city on a strip of land that sits between the Astral Sea and the interior of the mind of God. It's posted in a thread here --2nd link in my .sig.

The campaign set there is now two full sessions old (plus some play-by-post on our message board) and already it's memorable, in that funny-but-oddly-scarring way all our campaign tend to be...

 

[Friadoc]

I am going homebrew for my first campaign and seriously looking forward to it. Points of Light all the way, with the players having limited knowledge of the world.

I will admit that I will libraly steal any good ideas I can find that will work, and there is quite a bit I will be stealing from the FRCS for example. Not that my players need to know .

If you are interested in having a look, I am going to be designing most of the setting around my main plot and developing the world as a sand box depending on player action.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/plots-places/244162-plot-building-enemy-my-enemy.html


Phaezen

Points of light, I think, is a fun way to put the unknown back into fantasy gaming, as some settings just imbue players with so much knowledge of the world at large, which is cool for campaigns of that flavor, that it's hard to do the "unknown danger" type game. I think it's why Keep on the Borderland is so much more difficult to run in some settings, as players shrug off things a lot more, due to experience and such, but, with PoL, they're more prone to not assuming they know things, for a fact.

The implied "Points of Light" setting is more than enough to me. I've just started reading the FRCG, and I think it's the best version of the Realms I've ever seen, but that's because I've always hated FR and this book completely destroys it

If you want a premade setting, I'd go for Scarred Lands. It's, IMO, the ideal setting for 4e, and it's going to have a full 4e version on 2009. Get the Ghelspad Gazetteer and one or two city books (I like Mithril), and wait for the full 4e campaign setting to come.

Scarred Lands is an excellent setting, in fact it's also the first time I was published as a freelance RPG writer, too. The Tear of Mormo, an artifact in Relics & Rituals, is the first thing I was ever paid for writing.

Anyhow, I totally missed the announcement of Scarred Lands getting the 4e treatment, so I'll definitely have to give that some thought. Thanks.

 

[Jhaelen]

I wouldn't touch FR with a 10' pole.

I'd either use Eberron or the Earthdawn setting for 4E Age of Legend. Since neither is out right now, I'd start with a homebrew or the default setting.