D&D General Recommend me a somewhat contained setting

Reynard

aka Ian Eller
Supporter
I am going to be starting a D&D 2024 campaign soon, and I need a setting for it that is relatively self contained. I am thinking something no bigger than Britain, and probably smaller. I don't think a single city is big enough, but maybe you can convince me otherwise.

The premise of the campaign is that a very terrible and powerful individual has taken over the setting and the PCs are all people who have been wronged by this horrible being. (I am only being vague because I haven't quite decided on the exact nature of the BBEG, but I am leaning hard toward evil wizard-king-usurper.) They are going to start at 1st level and the motivating force behind their adventures is simply: kill that SOB. It is going to be a player driven sandbox, where they get to decide how they want to go about gaining the power and resources necessary to finally take the BBEG down.

I need a setting that can fit enough factions and secrets and locations and treasures that the players can decide what they want and how to get it on their way to kill the BBEG, within a campaign intended to go from 1 to high teens or even 20.

What setting would you recommend? Note, it does not have to be current or even official D&D.

Thanks!
 

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The Chronicles of Amherth by Small Niche Games and its three companion volumes (Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay, Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall, and Ghoul Keep and the Ghoul Lands). It was originally written for Labyrinth Lord, but is pretty easy to convert for 5e.
 

Two products that I've used that are really nice and contained-- but also well-described-- are the Nentir Vale from the 4E DMG, and the Silver Marches setting book from 3E. Now granted... a lot of the additional Nentir Vale information has been spread out amongst a bunch of 4E adventures and products (Keep On The Shadowfell, Thunderspire Labyrinth, etc.) and the Silver Marches book is actually a part of Faerun of the Forgotten Realms... but that's not to say you can't use them as isolated areas and just not acknowledge their connection to any greater continuity.
 

Honestly, I might just go for one of the domains from Van Richten's.
I had not considered that. Interesting idea. I should flip through that book and see what i see.
The Chronicles of Amherth by Small Niche Games and its three companion volumes (Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay, Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall, and Ghoul Keep and the Ghoul Lands). It was originally written for Labyrinth Lord, but is pretty easy to convert for 5e.
I will take a look. Thanks.
Two products that I've used that are really nice and contained-- but also well-described-- are the Nentir Vale from the 4E DMG, and the Silver Marches setting book from 3E. Now granted... a lot of the additional Nentir Vale information has been spread out amongst a bunch of 4E adventures and products (Keep On The Shadowfell, Thunderspire Labyrinth, etc.) and the Silver Marches book is actually a part of Faerun of the Forgotten Realms... but that's not to say you can't use them as isolated areas and just not acknowledge their connection to any greater continuity.
Is there an actual Nentir Vale supplement/sourcebook?
 



Yeah, i was going to suggesta domain of dread, too. They're nice and self-contained and have an obvious bad guy. Van Richten's presents a fairly strightforward rubrik to build on out yourself, too, if that's an option.

A more off-kilter suggestion might be Neverland. It's an island sandbox setting, inspired by the Peter Pan stories. The system is D&D 5e-ish. The setting is pretty whimsical but dangerous with weird elements, including a connection to the unseelie realm, a kaiju-sized monster, some weird time effects, and so forth. The island could literally be in the ocean somewhere, but could also easily be roped off the rest of the world by The Mist or something. There are clear factions described, and some flexibility to decide who/what is the main BBEG. I't also really well laid out, imo. However, I don't recall offhand if it supports play up to 20th level.
 



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