Campaign Settings you like

[crazy_monkey1956]

My favorite settings are the ones I can borrow the most stuff from for my homebrews. With that in mind...

Dragonstar (Fantasy Flight Games, D20 3.0)
Spelljammer (TSR, 2E)
Council of Wyrms (TSR, 2E)

Those are my primary sources right now, though I've also borrowed bits and pieces from Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Eberron, Greyhawk, Golarion, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and Planescape.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Homebrew, mostly.

If it's "official" settings, then these are some that I happen to like:

Hyboria, et al (Robert E. Howard)
Drenan, et al (David Gemmell)
Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin)
Pendragon (I'm sure you can guess the setting for this game... )
Blake's 7 (series name; setting's a fairly dark sci-fi version of Earth and beyond)
Middle Earth (J. R. R. Tolkien)

edit: How could I forget that one?!

 

[Wik]

Favourite Published?

Dark Sun would be my setting of choice. I'm always a sucker for post-apocalyptic settings, as they have adventure built right in - and there are plenty of logical places to put "dungeons" without them seeming fake or ill-fitting. What's funny is that I've never been super attached to the idea of Dark Sun in a desert - I really believe it wouldn't be too hard to do Dark Sun on an ocean. Or Dark Sun in the arctic. Just so long as the accumulation of power is related to the idea of making the ecological situation worse, the setting works.

Jakandor is my #2 setting of choice. Everyone forgets about it, as it came out in the final days of TSR and wasn't really advertised that much. But it was pretty frakkin' cool, and 4e is the PERFECT engine for it. Humans-only world. The Charonti are a highly-lawful, undead-using mesoamerican-style group of wizards trying to recover their ancient culture, including the rediscovery of long-lost spells. Meanwhile, the Knorr are a native american/viking cross of highly shamanistic hunters and barbarians who are religiously anti-magic, and believe that "civilization" and law weaken the natural spiritual strength of man. Naturally, both sides hate the other. And neither side is evil or good. Brilliant setting... and also very post-apocalyptic.

Council of Wyrms is pretty fun, because you play dragons. And being a dragon is pretty awesome... and then you realize that everyone else is a dragon, too. While you get to have fun bullying around pesky mortals, there's also a lot of politicking because you don't want to take on the other dragons. Plus, since age is a big part of the campaign, there could be a period of a century between adventures - which allows the GM to showcase the forces of history changing the world around the PCs.

Earthdawn, while not a D&D setting, is another one I'm pretty keen on these days. Highly-magical, and also sort of post-apocalyptic, the namegiver races have weathered five hundred years of a magical catastrophe, holed up in scattered underground dungeon-cities. Now, on the tail end of the catastrophe, they are emerging into a changed world and rebuilding. Neatly done, and the first setting I had ever seen where humans were not the dominant race, either numerically or politically (I actually believed this was a bad design decision when I first saw it, as the 2e DMG told me so. Now I realize just how stupid I was).

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Council of Wyrms is pretty fun, because you play dragons. And being a dragon is pretty awesome... and then you realize that everyone else is a dragon, too. While you get to have fun bullying around pesky mortals, there's also a lot of politicking because you don't want to take on the other dragons. Plus, since age is a big part of the campaign, there could be a period of a century between adventures - which allows the GM to showcase the forces of history changing the world around the PCs.

This aspect is fun, but I find running "normal" campaigns in Council of Wyrms just as much fun. Running regular PCs under the shadow of the dragons has vast potential.

 

[kitsune9]

I have quite a few campaign settings. Probably my favorite that I have yet to run is the Iron Kingdoms setting. I just really enjoy the story and the combination of technology and magic. Second up is Eberron / Forgotten Realms. I've always been a fan of FR and have many of the books and supplements going all the way back to 1st edition. Since I'm not into 4e, FR got replaced by Golarion which I think is Paizo's version of it.

For more far out campaigns, I really love Planescape and loved Torment. Also, I just finished the 13th Wheel of Time series, so if there was a Pathfinder update to setting, I'd snatch that up too, but I do have the 3.0 version.

 

[joebobodo]

I quite enjoy Eberron, though my setting of choice as of late is definitely Golarion. The fine folks at Paizo are doing an amazing job of supporting their locale.

 

[Cyronax]

Greyhawk (any era)
Dark Sun
Eberron

They've always been my favorite published worlds. They run the gamut of what I'd want to play for a set world.

That said, homebrew worlds are always more interesting. It is nice to see the creativity flow from DM and player to fill major gaps and build a shared world.

C.I.D.

 

[karlindel]

Homebrew, as I run campaigns in them all the time.

Of published Settings:
Deadlands - I love the mix of westerns, occult, horror, and steampunk elements. I like that you can run a game session that focuses on only a single genre, or any combination of them.

Eberron - My favorite D&D setting. I like the variety of campaigns that can be run, and the pulp feel of the setting. The world feels large enough to have a lot of fun in, while still focusing strongly on a few themes.

Fading Suns - I have heard it described as the Byzantine Empire in space. I like the mix of psionics, mysticism, and high technology. The mix of feudal power structures in a sci-fi setting, the remnants of older and more advanced civilizations, and the politics between the various factions make this a very fun setting with a lot of play potential.

Rokugan (from Legend of the Five Rings) - This is the best oriental setting I have seen. I like that the system and the setting are intertwined. I also like the focus on the culture of the setting and the importance of the clans and their relationships.

 

[Lancelot]

I like a lot of settings, but rather than a big list of random names, I'll go with a Top 3. Also note that I'm excluding my personal homebrew because, really, who other than myself and my players would care?

And for variety, I'll choose a D&D setting, a non-D&D setting, and a non-tabletop setting.

1. Planescape. I like the weirdness. I like the mythology. I particularly like the Politics of the Planes (archdevils, demon princes, fey lords, archangels, etc). And I downright love Planescape Torment, diTerlizzi's art, and Sigil. My love for the setting extends to 3e and 4e. Although some might complain that the vision (and cosmology) has changed too radically, I say that anything is possible in an infinite multiverse. I think 4e's Dawn War, Astral Sea and Abyssal Seed concepts are just as valid and interesting as the Blood War, Baernaloths and Factions of 2e. It's all fantastic.
   • Honorable Mention: Dark Sun. I never got into it in 2e, but I'm loving the new 4e campaign setting.
2. Legend. This is the campaign setting of the Dragon Warriors RPG from the 80's (recently re-released by Mongoose). Very gritty quasi-Earth setting with relatively low magic. That could describe Warhammer to some extent, but Dragon Warriors feels more "real". It isn't eternal warfare against the hordes of Chaos. Humans are by far the dominant race, with most other races being almost a rumor or a fairy-tale. There are some great themes, like the historical remnants of a quasi-Roman empire, religious wars, vague Celtic overtones, and a slightly downbeat "you usually lose even if you win" tone.
   • Honorable Mention: Warhammer 40k. Strangely enough, I don't actually play the game. But I love the fluff.
3. Fallout. As in, the computer RPG. All of them. Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas. I'm a huge fan of the whole series. I like the companions, I like the villains, and I love the whole 50's Americana meets the post-Apocalypse feel.
   • Honorable Mention: The setting of The Witcher computer RPG and series of books. Gritty as heck. Adult content. Urban "slum elves" (before Dragon Age stole them), demihumans warring with humans, no clear-cut good guys (and few clear-cut bad guys), and a very European take on mythology.

 

[jdrakeh]

The Known World, Greyhawk, and Ravenloft of official D&D settings. My favorite RPG setting, however, is Harn with Shadow World coming in a close second.