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<blockquote data-quote="ferratus" data-source="post: 5204255" data-attributes="member: 55966"><p><strong>Dragonlance</strong> - (Love/Hate)</p><p></p><p>My favorite setting because I really like romantic fantasy of an epic. When you play a DL game, you fight a continent wide struggle between good and evil from the back of a dragon. That's pretty special to me and I definitely spend a lot of time thinking about how to make that setting better. </p><p></p><p>I hate it however because it has always taken a backseat to its pulp novels. There was no room made for a campaign in which the players are the great heroes instead of the Heroes of the Lance and their kids. On top of that, neither the pulp novels or the few game modules had editorial control to keep them consistent. So you have several story lines which contradict each other. The 5th Age for example ran roughshod over the setting's themes and established lore of the setting that came before.</p><p></p><p>The other problem with Dragonlance are the one joke comic races of the kender, gully dwarves and gnomes. Everyone has a story about a DL campaign that was derailed or even fell apart because a kender PC was toxic. Gully Dwarves are a race that was designed to make fun of the mentally disabled. Gnomes, like wild mages, were also something that made people groan when someone wanted to play one because they were as much of a liability to the party as they were a contributor. </p><p></p><p><strong>Forgotten Realms</strong> - (Don't care) Pre-4e a ren faire world with magic up the wazoo. In 4e, a ren faire world that has been hit with a gritty reboot. Either way it is too vanilla to be interesting for its own sake, and you are always going to be a small act in a much larger world. I mine the crap out of it however for dungeons, monsters, and magical items for my homebrew settings.</p><p></p><p><strong>Greyhawk</strong> - (Love/Don't care) The 1e modules are great. I love Maure Castle, the Temple of Elemental Evil, the GDQ series. Many characters and villains are also great. Outside the modules and their characters and demons however, it is a bunch of 'meh'. I just don't care about the Sea Princes, the Frost Barbarians, Keoland or the Duchy of Urnst. So I'll gladly play the modules and ignore Greyhawk.</p><p></p><p><strong>Birthright</strong> - (Love/Don't care) To round out the basic vanilla D&D settings, we have this rule set about managing kingdoms and domains. I love the idea of managing domains and strongholds (I think it should be a key part of paragon level play) but like Greyhawk I don't care about the setting.</p><p></p><p><strong>Spelljammer</strong> - (Love it) - I don't know if I'd ever want to DM this setting, but I certainly like the idea of playing in it. A good mix of sci-fi and fantasy, with the freedom of soaring through the heavens. I just like the idea of being a pirate in a universe full of Mos Eisley cantinas.</p><p></p><p><strong>Planescape</strong> - (Hate it) - Too convoluted, and makes the awe and terror of the gods and demons pedestrian by having them all drinking in the same tavern in Sigil. I like my otherworldly enemies to be otherworldly thanks.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ravenloft</strong> - (Hate it) - D&D is a game about collecting experience points, leveling up, and becoming mighty heroes. Ravenloft is about being trapped in a dimension of utter hopelessness and gothic terror. If you treat it like a standard D&D game, you'll run roughshod over the spooks and defeat the campaign setting. If you don't, you can look forward to a year of failure, defeat and sorrow. 4e has it exactly right. Ravenloft is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't have a campaign there.</p><p></p><p><strong>Eberron - </strong>(Hate it) - Simply because I hate magi-tech. I also have to admit that I'd rather play a pulp noir game rather than a pulp noir fantasy game any day of the week. </p><p></p><p><strong>Dark Sun</strong> - (Curious) - I like the gritty R.E. Howard-esque post-apocolyptic desert world. I probably wouldn't want to play it past level 10 though, as quest for survival and an oasis of wealth and calm seems to be the point of the setting rather than overthrowing tyrants and becominglegendary heroes. </p><p></p><p><strong>Oriental Adventures/Al-Quadim etc. - </strong>(Like it) - I'd always be up for playing an alternate culture to European fantasy, though not enough that I'm planning my own 'exotic culture' campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ferratus, post: 5204255, member: 55966"] [B]Dragonlance[/B] - (Love/Hate) My favorite setting because I really like romantic fantasy of an epic. When you play a DL game, you fight a continent wide struggle between good and evil from the back of a dragon. That's pretty special to me and I definitely spend a lot of time thinking about how to make that setting better. I hate it however because it has always taken a backseat to its pulp novels. There was no room made for a campaign in which the players are the great heroes instead of the Heroes of the Lance and their kids. On top of that, neither the pulp novels or the few game modules had editorial control to keep them consistent. So you have several story lines which contradict each other. The 5th Age for example ran roughshod over the setting's themes and established lore of the setting that came before. The other problem with Dragonlance are the one joke comic races of the kender, gully dwarves and gnomes. Everyone has a story about a DL campaign that was derailed or even fell apart because a kender PC was toxic. Gully Dwarves are a race that was designed to make fun of the mentally disabled. Gnomes, like wild mages, were also something that made people groan when someone wanted to play one because they were as much of a liability to the party as they were a contributor. [B]Forgotten Realms[/B] - (Don't care) Pre-4e a ren faire world with magic up the wazoo. In 4e, a ren faire world that has been hit with a gritty reboot. Either way it is too vanilla to be interesting for its own sake, and you are always going to be a small act in a much larger world. I mine the crap out of it however for dungeons, monsters, and magical items for my homebrew settings. [B]Greyhawk[/B] - (Love/Don't care) The 1e modules are great. I love Maure Castle, the Temple of Elemental Evil, the GDQ series. Many characters and villains are also great. Outside the modules and their characters and demons however, it is a bunch of 'meh'. I just don't care about the Sea Princes, the Frost Barbarians, Keoland or the Duchy of Urnst. So I'll gladly play the modules and ignore Greyhawk. [B]Birthright[/B] - (Love/Don't care) To round out the basic vanilla D&D settings, we have this rule set about managing kingdoms and domains. I love the idea of managing domains and strongholds (I think it should be a key part of paragon level play) but like Greyhawk I don't care about the setting. [B]Spelljammer[/B] - (Love it) - I don't know if I'd ever want to DM this setting, but I certainly like the idea of playing in it. A good mix of sci-fi and fantasy, with the freedom of soaring through the heavens. I just like the idea of being a pirate in a universe full of Mos Eisley cantinas. [B]Planescape[/B] - (Hate it) - Too convoluted, and makes the awe and terror of the gods and demons pedestrian by having them all drinking in the same tavern in Sigil. I like my otherworldly enemies to be otherworldly thanks. [B]Ravenloft[/B] - (Hate it) - D&D is a game about collecting experience points, leveling up, and becoming mighty heroes. Ravenloft is about being trapped in a dimension of utter hopelessness and gothic terror. If you treat it like a standard D&D game, you'll run roughshod over the spooks and defeat the campaign setting. If you don't, you can look forward to a year of failure, defeat and sorrow. 4e has it exactly right. Ravenloft is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't have a campaign there. [B]Eberron - [/B](Hate it) - Simply because I hate magi-tech. I also have to admit that I'd rather play a pulp noir game rather than a pulp noir fantasy game any day of the week. [B]Dark Sun[/B] - (Curious) - I like the gritty R.E. Howard-esque post-apocolyptic desert world. I probably wouldn't want to play it past level 10 though, as quest for survival and an oasis of wealth and calm seems to be the point of the setting rather than overthrowing tyrants and becominglegendary heroes. [B]Oriental Adventures/Al-Quadim etc. - [/B](Like it) - I'd always be up for playing an alternate culture to European fantasy, though not enough that I'm planning my own 'exotic culture' campaign. [/QUOTE]
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