D&D General Kitchen sink setting or narrow genre focus for long-running campaigns (2,5,10+ years)

[aco175]

I have been playing in FR for all of 5e and never left the greater Phandalin/Leilon/Neverwinter region. This is the 5th campaign we played and while the players can go anywhere they want, they don't. We did play the elemental evil campaign, so maybe more Sword Coast north.

I can throw in things from all over the world if I wanted, but tend to keep 90% of the local people and flavor and only throw in something if needed. Things like 80% of townsfolk are human and most worship the same few gods.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Never played Starfinder.

It’s like Spelljammer, apart from the spaceships look like spaceships not sailing ships.

 

[Remathilis]

It’s like Spelljammer, apart from the spaceships look like spaceships not sailing ships.

Eh... No?

Starfinder is what people sometimes claim Star Wars is: space wizards. It's got lazer guns and power armor but it's also got magic and monsters. I tend to think of it as taking Star Wars and replacing the Force with D&D magic and sprinkling on elements from Halo, Mass Effect and other sci-fi properties. Whereas Spelljammer is basically D&D in Space. The technology is D&D faux-medieval, you got all your classic D&D species and classes, etc. Basically, it's a nautical adventure setting with some quirky space/astral elements.

Starfinder is sci-fi with a dash of D&D. Spelljammer is D&D with a dash of sci-fi.

 

[payn]

The irony is that Starfinder straight up erased the planet. Completely. Golarion is gone, and nobody knows what happened, where it went, or whether it could potentially be restored. (Indeed, nobody remembers anything for a period of several centuries surrounding Golarion's disappearance.) Anything at the level of gods--meaning, those who should be able to resist memory-erasure effects--refuses to give any information at all, other than that Golarion still exists, somewhere.

For all the blowing-up the Realms have gotten, they've never been outright deleted.

One thing that will drive some folks absolutely nuts is that even regular PF Golarion has some setting spanning mysteries that are never intended to be solved (at least by the publisher).

 

[el-remmen]

I have found that my most successful campaigns (and I measure success based on how long it lasts and how much fun we have) are one where there has been a focus on a distinct area within a larger and more diverse setting context.

My “Out of the Frying Pan” 3e campaign took just over 5 years and the PCs traveled to a particular part of the world and stayed there the whole time.

My most recent “complete” campaign mostly took place all around my version of Saltmarsh and lasted 3 years and another campaign that is still ongoing has lasted over 5 years and it taking place in the same general area.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

I've always run focused homebrew settings, with "take the rule-set and supporting materials, and cut away everything that doesn't look like [setting]"

I have a certain admiration for kitchen-sink campaigns and those who run them, while also being very aware of the downsides of those campaigns. I feel very little desire to run such a game myself, however, partly due to those downsides but mostly as a matter of taste.

 

[AlViking]

I don't necessarily see it as an either or. You have an entire world to play with, there can easily be a region controlled by powerful vampire like Ravenloft and another area that's standard city based adventure or anything else you want. Why limit yourself? I typically start with a specific area and theme but then it just kind of depends on what the players want to do. It's worked well for me for decades. I think it matters more to you as a DM on what kind of setting you'll enjoy and are comfortable with, as long as it's not too narrow and the setting doesn't box you in I'm not sure it really matters.