D&D General Does you campaign setting match where you live?

[Dioltach]

My wife says I live in a fantasy world, but otherwise, no.

 

[Tonguez]

"Use what you know"

I've lived in coastal California, just outside Atlanta and now Mississippi, with a couple visits to relatives in Kansas and Ohio. As well as a couple week-long trip to Arizona, Wisconsin & Chicago. Most of my campaigns I run in spring/summer areas where the heat index makes plate a bad idea.

...Speaking of snow, the very first time I encountered snow was at system training in Chicago (I was just out of college). When fighting my way through the wind between buildings, I saw a huge pile of snow and decided to fall/allow myself to be blow into it. I had no idea that the wind could freeze it hard as concrete, ouch!!!

Yeah, have seen lots of people make the mistake of thinking snow is soft and fluffy - and the city folk who think the can go for a walk up the mountain in a t-shirt and sandals

 

[Shiroiken]

Oddly enough no, despite living in the Midwest and playing in Greyhawk. My last two campaigns have been coastal/sea based campaigns, one of which had a lengthy excursion into the jungles. The one before that trekked across quite a bit of the Flannaess.

 

[MarkB]

Yes and no. I'm in England, and did have a cyberpunk-esque setting that was based mainly in London, occasionally heading out to other parts of the country - but that wasn't mimicking familiar territory so much as just straight-up using it.

The only other setting I built recently was a desert-based pirate setting with sand-ships plying the endless dunes that separated the various oases (Iiteral and figurative) of civilisation, very much not an environment I've experienced.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

My default settings have mostly been centred around the typical European-style temperate four seasons. That's because I typically use Greyhawk as my default setting and usually in or near Greyhawk City.

I grew up in a sub-tropical climate but, being Australian, we were taught as children that there are 4 seasons, winter coming complete with snow. Well, not in my home town there isn't. We basically have 2 seasons: cool and dry; and hot and wet.

I have a couple of home brew settings, never used, that are anything but typical European in terms of climate. One of them is a huge swathe of volcanic badlands with a harsh range of climates. The other is fantasy northern Australia and Indonesian archipelago; exclusively tropical and monsoonal.

 

[Unwise]

Australian here. I would say that the main difference from my setting to others is how much you don't want to go near the water. I think I subconsciously put crocodiles and sharks in every bit of water. I also use mangroves a great deal. PCs are always finding themselves in paperbark forests with boggy ground. It lets me introduce more crocodiles, but also makes survival a challenge if you have no way to stop the mozzies and leeches and have no dry ground. Speaking of which, I am guessing malaria and mozzies are a much bigger deal in my game that most.

 

[Yora]

I live in northern Germany. Our landscape is very nondescriptive, and the only historic thing that happened here that was somewhat interesting was a period of highly successful medieval merchants. Which just doesn't lend itself to heroic fantasy adventures.

I have considered Hamburg as the setting for a Vampire game, for which a major port with a long history since the middle ages does open up a number of very interesting ideas, but I've never gotten around to actually set it up.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I live in the middle of Sweden, so temperate climate, four seasons, and access to both coast and mountains. And heavy winters, even if those are rare these days for reasons we sadly know.

And yes, lots of my fantasy campaigns start out in such a climate, as it's easy relatable to both my table and standard western fantasy - such as Forgotten Realms Sword Coast area. But then again, I'm a sucker for the planes and Spelljammer, so sooner or later the party will get a change of milieu and climate.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not really. My current campaign started in Icewind Dale (fantasy Alaska), wandered down to the Sword Coast (which my impression of was formed by the Baldur's Gate CRPG, and is hence fantasy Canada), visited Tashluta (fantasy North Africa) and is heading for the Underdark.

None of which are very like Surrey.