Best world books for different settings?

[Glyfair]

Most other D&D settings have only had one or two versions, but we could reach beyond and look at other games and settings: Glorantha, Shadow World, Talislanta, Tekumel, Warhammer, etc.

For Glorantha, I think it is easy. It would be the RQ3 Glorantha box set. In fact, I think this is as close as the world had to a single world book (I admit, I haven't looked at the Mongoose RQ books). Generally you got bits and pieces of the world revealed through various supplements.

This supplement, along with Gods of Glorantha pretty much gives you what you need to run a campaign in Glorantha in any edition of Runequest.

 

[ggroy]

I'm not a fan of Greyhawk Ruins, but Castle Zagyg isn't really sufficient to get started quite by itself, either. You can certainly supplement CZ with Joe Bloch's Castle of the Mad Archmage, as well as RJK's Maure Castle and Bottle City, and a variety of other sources (see my CZ review [warning: 15 page .pdf file] for suggestions), but I think you're definitely on the right track!

The last Castle Greyhawk centered game I played with these particular Greyhawk grognards, we decided to try out the "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk" book using 3.5E rules.

For a rough background, the DM used 2E "Greyhawk Ruins", the Castle Zagyg books, and the 3.5E "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk" book. These books were obviously not used as strict canon. From whatever other sources the DM had, a more or less homebrew dungeon was created for our version of Castle Greyhawk. (We excluded the satirical 1988 "Castle Greyhawk" WG7 module).

 

[GlassJaw]

Amongst my Greyhawk grognard friends, the hardcore ones do not consider the "Greyhawk Wars" as legitimate Greyhawk canon. (They think the "Greyhawk Wars" was an abomination of the setting).

Whether you follow the canon or not, City of Greyhawk and From the Ashes are amazing boxed sets. If you have those, you have the foundation of an amazing campaign.

 

[grodog]

Gary's novels and short stories are another excellent trove to mine for Greyhawk flavor, ideas, NPCs, plots, demons, etc.: well-worth digging up!

 

[Connorsrpg]

Even though it was only done once (not counting an earlier free version on internet), i gotta say "Nyambe: African Adventures" by Chris Dolunt, published by Atlas Games. Loved it.

Even though I have never ran the Realms, I gotta agree with the 3E Campaign book.

I got a lot of use out of the Greyhawk brown box and the City of Greyhawk box set. Didn't much go for Castle Greyhawk.

The original Dark Sun box set.

I loved the 1E Kara Tur and 3E Oriental Adventures with Rokugan when they were released, but too humano -centric for my current tastes.

(Would love to see an awesome Dark Age England setting - more than just Ian Malcolmson's Dragon articles)

As you can see I like 'Historical' settings and still make a lot of use of the 2E Green Books too.

I do love the 4E idea of a player's book and a DM's book though and the FR and Eberron ones I like. Given I have read some, but never ran the Realms I actually like the 4E version.

 

[Dragonhelm]

For Dragonlance it's the Dragonlance Campaign Setting, together with War of the Lance and Age of Mortals.

I love the old books, but they really have nothing on the latest. Sovereign Press for the win.

You beat me to the punch, Jonesy!

I'm going to second what Jonesy said here. For Dragonlance, anything by Sovereign Press/Margaret Weis Productions is gold (or rather, steel). War of the Lance comes in for the win as best Dragonlance sourcebook ever.

Prior to 3rd edition, I would give special mention to Dragonlance Adventures, which was the foundation stone upon which Dragonlance gaming was built. And the Tales of the Lance boxed set still holds a special place in my heart.

For other worlds, here's a few that I like...

Dark Sun - Original boxed set and the Dragon Kings expansion book, which was the best epic level sourcebook for the time, IMO.

Forgotten Realms - I thought the FRCS for 3e was incredibly good. I was hoping that the DLCS would look more like it. Also a big fan of the original and gold boxed sets and Forgotten Realms Adventures.

Greyhawk - I have a certain fondness for Greyhawk Adventures. The City of Greyhawk boxed set was good, and I enjoyed seeing the 3e Expedition to the Greyhawk Ruins.

Eberron - Love the 3e sourcebook. I don't have the 4e campaign guide yet, so I can't compare.

Spelljammer - The original boxed set was amazing. I remember being stunned by the whole concept. And the art was cool too! The boxed set that went over the actual Spelljammer itself was tons of fun. It was a mini-campaign of sorts.

Ravenloft - I never could get into Ravenloft in 3rd edition. To me, it took away from the setting when it didn't touch the other settings. The original two modules by Tracy and Laura Hickman hold a special place in my heart here, as well as the 2e boxed set (and I forget the name) that compiled the two boxed sets before it.

Al-Qadim - Arabian Adventures was so nifty. Aladdin had just come out, and the flavor in this book added so much. I regret never having the opportunity to play it.

Mystara - I'm not a Mystara expert by any means, but I loved the Red Steel boxed set, the Champions of Mystara boxed set (with the Spelljammer-like airships), and I seem to recall the Immortals boxed set as being fun.

Oriental Adventures/Rokugan - I know a lot of people prefer the d10 system and I like it too. However, this tag team duo of books were some of my faves in 3e. That's what introduced me to the setting.

I also enjoyed the Council of Wyrms boxed set and Tale of the Comet.

For the most part, I enjoyed the initial setting sourcebooks of each setting, though a few didn't grab me as well. I never could get into Planescape with the art (just not my style) and the terminology. I so wanted to like the idea, but upon seeing it, it was a turn-off. Birthright had some nifty ideas, but never grabbed me.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Forgotten Realms

- The FRCS 3E was brilliant.
- My favourite RPG product of all time: 2E's Faiths & Avatars. You could build 100s of campaigns simply with the adventure hooks in this book (and you should grab Powers & Pantheons and Demihuman Deities for completeness).
- The Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas. OK, technically not a book but the whole Realms mapped up to the near end of 2E and in a style about 1 billion times better than the "inspired by elephant faeces"-style of the 4E map... yes please!

Eberron

_ I'm really enjoying the 4E campaign guide. The 3E version was also really good.
- Dragons of Eberron is a great book for history and adventure/campaign hooks.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I've only played since AD&D, and only in 4 published settings: Eberron, Dragonlance, The Realms, and Ravenloft.

IMHO, the Eberron Campaign Guide is better than the ECS. They took all the brilliance of the 3rd Ed book and polished it. It's a really good book, probably my favorite 4th Ed book written so far.

The 3rd Edition FRCS is probably the best fantasy book I own. It's absolutely amazing.

I don't really have a favorite Dragonlance or Ravenloft setting book.