Campaign setting recommendations

[Kesh]

If you want a 3e setting, I'd probably say go with the FRCS and Silver Marches books. That'll give you a really flavorful setting with plenty of adventuring opportunity.

I would recommend the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer but I believe it's out of print. Greyhawk is the basic D&D setting, so you don't need anything but this and the core books to play.

Oriental Adventures is a fun setting if you want to go Eastern instead of Western. Plus, there's plenty of supporting material in the Rokugan setting.

Another option is to pick up some older 2e setting books and try them out. You can get many of them from SV Games as PDF documents for about $5. In that vein, I'd recommend:

Dark Sun - Not your typical fantasy setting, this one blends magic, psionics and a desert environment to create a very unique campaign. Also, the fine folks at Athas.org have just released a 3e conversion manual on their site, and should have a fully 3.5 compatible version out soon.

Karameikos: Kingdoms of Adventure - This is the 2e boxed set that brought the world of Mystara out of old D&D. Karameikos is your basic medieval fantasy setting, full of knights, wizards and high adventure. Plus, the book is very rules-light, so you can just run it as-is. There's also a Mystara Monstrous Compendium full of 2e creatures appropriate to the setting.

Red Steel, aka Savage Coast - You can actually download this setting for free in RTF format from Wizard's website, or download a PDF from SV Games for about $5 (more readable). This is a swashbuckling fantasy setting, where the land has come under a curse that grants people special powers while afflicting them with magical penalties. I'm working on a 3e/3.5 conversion of the material right now, and hopefully I can put up a web site soon.

 

[Skade]

I'm a huge fan of the Iron Kingdoms, but you won't be able to go buy one cohesive setting book. You have three adventures, the Witchfire Trilogy, with agreat deal of information. There is Lock and Load a Character Primer that really rocks, filled with details about the continent. There is the greatest Monster book ever, the Monsternomicon, again filled with toins of useful information. There is a cheap pdf adventure that details abit of the city Corvis. Most importantly howeever is the website, and the yahoo group who have made numerous files and Privateer Press supported suppositions about what is to come. Including an unofficial campaign guide that is quite good. Check out wwwprivateerpress.com, or www.ironkingdoms.com for more.

Otherwise I prefer Scarred Lands, specifically set in Hollowfaust. I've only run short sessions set from there, but it was a blast. There are some very unusual circumstances that can come up, and lots of room to expand a campaign. I like pretty much everything from this setting.

If you are going to play in the Forgotten Relams I throw my vote behind using the Silver Marches area, and its subsequent guide. Its a very active area of the Realms, with plenty of space to do what you want, as well as plenty of places that have been premade for you.

 

[Orias]

The fact that the realms has a few epic-level characters running around should only make a difference if you let it. Don't want Elminster budding into your campaign? Then don't use him. The Simbul too uber for ya? Well, she's off planes-hopping looking for spell components. No sweat.

The Realms are about you and your players, not Elminster and Khelben. The iconic NPC's should never overshadow your players and their acomplishments.

I agree with you. People who complain about the Realms complain about things that shouldn't even really matter in the first place. The npcs exist in a manner by which to interate just how long & how indepth the world has become, & to state the circumstances of balance throughout this world, constantly shifting back & forth out of different places.

You should not let a bunch of people who exist as a backdrop ruin your game.

The Realms is by far the best culturally, historically, & theologically sound fantasy setting ever devised, the only one who has the claim to be able to compete with Arda.

 

[Nightfall]

my favorites:

Midnight = dark Tolkien, evil empire, rare but powerful magic, covenant (leveling) items, cool version of "classic" races, heroic paths, magic system that is a great and simple fix to the standard "fire & forget" D&D magic, lots of places for your own creativity, you'll need only 2-3 books, and struggle, struggle, struggle...

Scarred Lands = dark D&D, cool gods, an empire of dark-skinned lawful evil dwarfs, epic monsters, the Blood Bayou, ratmen, very detailed source material, very cool landscapes, and more PrCs than you can count...

Thanks for the support Card. Hope this means you'll be picking up the Player's Guides then.

 

[Nightfall]

Otherwise I prefer Scarred Lands, specifically set in Hollowfaust. I've only run short sessions set from there, but it was a blast. There are some very unusual circumstances that can come up, and lots of room to expand a campaign. I like pretty much everything from this setting.

Well Skade, if you enjoyed Hollowfaust think you'll like what they did with the Blood Bayou.

 

[Desdichado]

The Realms is by far the best culturally, historically, & theologically sound fantasy setting ever devised, the only one who has the claim to be able to compete with Arda.

That's certainly the first time I've ever heard anyone say that. It hardly seems culturally or historically sound when the cultures are simply calques of real earth cultures thrown next to each other without regard for the development and intercultural interactions that led to those original earth cultures in the first place. I'd say the cultural and historical soundness of FR is one of it's weakest points. Theologically, I don't really know -- the gods of FR seem fine enough, I suppose. Can't argue with'em anyway.

 

[Skade]

Well Skade, if you enjoyed Hollowfaust think you'll like what they did with the Blood Bayou.

I've waiting for that one, even more than Shelzar. I've been very curious about that since I first read about the Blood Bayou in CC2. Is it a place that can be used to start adventureres in? It seems a little non-good for most campaigns.

 

[heimdall]

I can't speak for Kalamar but I can speak for FR. From a player's perspective, FR does give you pretty powerful characters, even at low levels. However, it does this not because it's designed for monty hall players but rather because it is about a lot of magic, a lot of heroics, etc. The kind of campaign where you can save the world every week and not feel too cheap about the whole thing.

From a DM's perspective there's a lot of material built up for it. This is a blessing and a curse. It means you've got a lot to draw from, but it also means that some players will know the "canon" of FR and that can be difficult to deal with, especially if you want to deviate.

Of all the published realms, my absolute favorite has been Ravenloft, though. I've not run it yet under 3rd Edition but had a blast with it under 2nd. If you're into gothic horror and if you like working to set a mood, it's a great setting. I think my players had the more fun with Ravenloft over FR because it was dark and forboding and the whole game is set up where evil is supposed to win in the end.

 

[Desdichado]

Somebody really should publish that questionaire that picks a setting for you. And it should include all the "next generation" settings, like Midnight, IK, etc.

 

[Bluewolf]

Seizing the throne of power

Quoted: {Innocent Bystander} I've been playing D&D for about 5 years now, and am thinking trying the DM's chair. I am quite aware of the amount of time and effort that goes into creating a world, and knowing that, was thinking of picking up either the Forgotten Realms, or Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting.

--- --- --- ---

In retrospect I shouldn't have been so eager to become the DM for my small society. However circumstances forced my hand as all our experienced players had either left the society as they had completed Secondary education or did not want to be a DM. Thus after being a player for less than six months I attempted to become a DM.

As you could guess the campaign end was a near disaster as I couldn't handle high level PCs, as I could let alone grasp the concept of the d20 system. I did the traditional style of DMing (if in doubt shout) which thoroughly annoyed my PCs. Although all did say that the beginning of the campaign was thoroughly entertaining as well as being well laid out. What I can conclude from what little experience I have is that there needs to be consistency throughout your campaign.

For the material that you wish to use in your campaign all I can offer is the advice of my society's experienced players. Firstly one half believed that FR was thoroughly overpowered and that care should be paid to what parts you want to take from FR. Whereas the other felt that the material overall was balanced and led to an interesting campaign.

Kingdoms of Kalamer is something that I have never heard of before so I really cant say much or post what others in my small knit group have said about it. This may have been too new for the experience players, which left last year, and too new for us ignorant newbies. Whatever you may chose for a campaign setting, good luck too you and I hope that all goes well for your campaign.


Bluewolf