Settings, Minisettings, Exsetting, and Subsettings.

[gyor]

With all the talk of Settings lately I've been looking for settings from D&D's past, and in doing so it dawned on me that we really need to break them down into categories to really understand what we are talking about.

The full setting for D&D Settings of D&D are Planescape, Spelljammer, Ravenloft, The Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Darksun, Birthright, Mystara/Known World, Eberron (3e), Nentir Vale/Nerath (4e) and now Ravnika in 5e.

Minisettings are settings are basically small settings, that are more areas intended to be dropped into other worlds, and/or are too small to support a full Campaign Guide of a reasonable size. Examples of thus are Ghost walk, Thunder Rift, the Planeshift articles, Gloomwrought (The city of Gloomwrought got absorbed by both FR and NV) and so on.

Subsettings are like Al Qadim, Maztica, Arcane Age, and Kara Tur in the Forgotten Realms, Blackmoor for Mystara (or was it Greyhawk), areas that are big enough to be full Settings in their own right, but are techniquely apart of another setting.

Exsettings are settings that used to be official parts of the D&D universe, like Kingdoms of Kalamar, Lankhar, and Rokadan, but we're owned by other companies which went their own way. These the D&D universe should try and forget even existed, for legal reasons.

I just thought I'd bring some order to the discussion because Thunder Rift and Ghostwalk shouldn't really be considered in the same category as FR, DL, DS, PS, SJ, RL, Eb, NV, KW, GH, BR, Rav.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Here you go. I copied this post from early June in the "Two New Settings" thread:

I'm making a list of all D&D worlds and all other TSR/WotC TRPG settings, not counting settings owned by other companies (Star Wars, Wheel of Time, Indiana Jones, Lankhmar, Conan). I'd like to see each and every one of these worlds at least mentioned in any upcoming Planescape/Spelljammer(?) text which is slated to be announced this summer. Oh, and would you give us a "galactic" (planar/phlogistonic) map (http://www.spelljammer.org/worlds/articles/SphereGuide/Guide to the Spheres.pdfsee p.6 here) showing where all of these are?

Did I miss any?

D&D "Megaverse": other in-house Hasbro settings which have received TRPG treatment, or D&D Multiverse settings which were developed only by a WotC licensee:

• Dominaria (M:TG Multiverse) is owned by WotC, but no setting cross-over yet, only 5E rules adaptation.
• Aldrazar / Garweeze Wurld contained comedic versions of several D&D worlds, crystal spheres, and locales, under a license agreement between WotC and KenzerCo. I wonder what WotC are rights to that material? Can it be reprinted or referred to by WotC as being a part of the 5E D&D Multiverse, or a parallel "comedic continuity" thereof? There is actually a lot of relevant material, such as a name given for the Rock of Bral's crystal sphere: Casaspace.
• Dreamblade (miniatures game). Not D&D, but were referred to in online articles, with suggestions of how to use with D&D.
• My Little Pony: Tales of Equestria
• (Note: Potential for connecting with the wider Hasbro Universe.)

D&D Multiverse: Worlds and Meta-Settings (main worlds or planar domains in bold)

Planescape (meta-setting): Sigil
Spelljammer (meta-setting): Rock of Bral
Chronomancer (meta-setting)
Tangents (meta-setting from Alternity)
Dimension X (meta-setting from d20 Future)

Abeir-Toril: The D&D World of Forgotten Realms
​

• Abeir (split off from Toril during 4E era)
• Toril (during 4E era)

Oerth: The D&D World of Greyhawk

• Yarth (an alternate Oerth)
• Uerth (an alternate Oerth)
• Greyhawk 2000 (future timeline)
• "Joerth" (unofficial designation for the "joke Greyhawk", seen in the 1988 Castle Greyhawk spoof. Perhaps a part of the "comedic continuity" seen in WotC's licensed Hackmaster spoofs)

The D&D World of Blackmoor (was retconned into the ancient past of Mystara, but, as originally printed in OD&D, was not a part of Mystara, and as presented in the 3E Blackmoor line, was not part of Mystara either. So Blackmoor exists in two different WotC continuities. Gygax said that he only borrowed the name for the Blackmoor of Oerth.)

Krynn: The D&D World of Dragonlance

• various timelines in the River of Time

Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread

• Classic Ravenloft Timeline
• Curse of Strahd Timeline (essentially a reboot, combining iconic characters from different eras of the Classic RL Timeline)

The D&D World of Eberron​

Mystara: The D&D Known World (incl. Red Steel/Savage Coast, Hollow World, Thunder Rift (D&D Black Box setting), Ghyr (setting of the LJN Action Figures), Karawenn (setting of the First Quest novels), Islandia (vaporware); see also Blackmoor)

• Urt (Mentzer and Froideval's BECMI setting, with the Master Set world map, and Gold Box cosmology, prior to the map be drastically reconceived in the Voyage of the Princess Ark stories, and the cosmology revised in WotI)
• Classic Mystara Timeline (extending all the way to the last products: Joshuan's Almanac and Red Steel/Savage Coast)
• "3000 BC Blackmoor Timeline" The Blackmoor adventures were at first presented in DA series and GAZ1 as taking place in 3000 BC, but then in GAZ2 were retconned to 4000 BC.
• "AC 1000 Quagmire Timeline". As originally presented, X6 took place c.1000AC, but was retconned in Champions of Mystara to have taken place in the prehistoric past. Reportedly X9: Savage Coast was suggested to be retconned as well.
• "AC 1150 X13 Timeline". GAZ7 retconned X13 to happen 150 years in the future, yet PWA1010 and Joshuan's Almanac places it 30-some years in the past)
• "AC 1200 Great War Timeline". The Great War of the Desert Nomads event from X4, X5, and X10 was retconned twice: once from c.1000 AC to two hundred years in the future (1200 AC), and then again (in WotI) to 1005-1006 AC.

Athas: The D&D World of Dark Sun

• Classic Dark Sun Timeline
• 4E Dark Sun Timeline

Aebrynis: The D&D World of Birthright

Nerath: The D&D Points of Light World

The D&D World of Earth (each Earth-based RPG and d20 Modern campaign model is considered to be a distinct timeline)

• D&D Earth (the implicit present-day "non- or low-magical" Earth timeline in which most xD&D cross-overs have occurred (except for the Laterre-Mystara crossovers), such as: where Robilar got his six-shooters, the Wizards Three visit to Wisconin, the Mystaran Immortals visit to Chicago in one of the IM modules, and where the Egyptian and Mesopotamian peoples and pantheons of Toril came from. Urbana Arcana, as the default/core d20M campaign model, and the Historical Reference Guides from 2e, may be the closest representations of this continuity. Other campaign models (such as Boot Hill) may exist "off-screen", but each is assumed to be separate continuity.)
• Urban Arcana (d20 Modern campaign model)
• Historical Reference Earth (AD&D2e)
• Gothic Earth / Masque of the Red Death
• Laterre ("Magical Medieval Earth" which contains Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne in place of the French province of Auvergne - in the Dimension of Myth of the Classic D&D Reality.)
• Midgard (Earth as perceived by the Norse - mentioned in the CD&D Northlands Gazeteer)
• Bacchar (Earth as perceived by the Ancient Greeks - mentioned in Ravenloft)
• Boot Hill
• Gangbusters
• Dawn Patrol
• Top Secret/SI
• Dark•Matter (Alternity setting, d20M campaign model)
• Shadow Chasers (d20M campaign model)
• Agents of PSI (d20M campaign model)
• Genetech (d20M campaign model)
• Magitech (Alternity Universe Book)
• Pulp Heroes (d20 mini-game, later a campaign model for d20 Past)
• The Seedy Streets of Northport (setting for Pulp Heroes d20 mini-game in Polyhedron Magazine)
• Iron Lords of Jupiter (Polyhedron mag)
• Shadow Stalkers (d20 Past campaign model)
• V is for Victory (d20 Modern)
• For Faerie, Queen, and Country (Alternity Universe Book)
• Mecha Crusade (d20 Future)
• Remember the Alamo (TSR mini-game)
• Hi-Jinx (d20 Modern)
• Thunderball Rally (d20 Modern)
• Tabloid! (Amazing Engine Universe Book)
• They've Invaded Pleasantville (Amazing Engine Universe Book)
• Icebergs (TSR mini-game)
• CyberRave (d20 Cyberscape)
• Deathnet (d20 mini-game)
• Kromosome (Amazing Engine)
• Gamma World (various editions; including Omega World)
• The Wasteland (d20 Future)
• Atomic Sunrise (d20 Apocalypse)
• Earth Inherited (d20 Apocalypse)
• Plague World (d20 Apocalypse)
• Hallowmere (WotC's flagship novel series of its Mirrorstone young adult imprint. About feys and unfeys of Virginia and Scotland)
• Ravenloft: Domininion (novel series set in Earth)

Earth's Solar System or Milky Way Galaxy (Sci-Fi continuities (AFAIK) taking place in (some future version) of the Milky Way Galaxy):

• Star Frontiers (also encompassing Star Law campaign model from d20 Future)
• Star*Drive (Alternity)
• Bughunters (Amazing Engine and d20 Future)
• From the Dark Heart of Space (d20 Future)
• The Galactos Barrier (Amazing Engine)
• Once and Future King (Amazing Engine)
• Revolt on Antares (Tom Moldvay's TSR mini-game)
• Attack Force (TSR mini-game). Set on Arcturus.

Other Worlds:

• Pelinore (house setting of TSR UK's Imagine magazine)
• Aquaria (Though it's also Mentzer's person setting, WotC owns the rights to whatever is printed in the TSR Aquarian modules.)
• Jakandor
• Io's Blood Isles (Council of Wyrms)
• City of Manifest: Ghostwalk
• Kolhapur: quasi-Asian Indian setting from The Star of Kolhapur for 1e.
• Land of Arir: quasi-Arabian setting from I9: Day of Al-Akbar for 2e.
• The Realm (of the D&D Cartoon Show, includes Fantasy Forest boardgame and gamebooks)
• Empire of Izmer (1st and 2nd D&D Movie; 3rd was set in Nerath)
• The Vale (setting of the 1999 D&D Adventure Game)
• Pharagos, Aquela, Imperium Romanum, Night, Petroyeska, Mahasara: settings designed by James Wyatt which were featured in DRAGON and POLYHEDRON magazines, or in a WotC web enhancment (Mahasarpa).
• Wonderland: 1e cross-over with Alice in Wonderland.
• The Dream World of Symslvch (The setting of the Hebrew-language Basic D&D modules.)
• Alusia (the world of the TSR DragonQuest RPG)
• The world of Role-Aids (TSR purchased these from Mayfair Games)
• The world of the Endless Quest and HeartQuest gamebooks. Possibly placeable on Mystara (generic D&D gamebooks) and Oerth (generic AD&D gamebooks), or perhaps a distinct "gamebook world".
• The worlds of the generic DUNGEON magazine adventures.
• The worlds of the standalone TSR novels (Jewels of the Elvish, etc.)
• Dunador (the setting of N3 Destiny of Kings)

I would like to add all of the planets, moons, crystal spheres, planes, and alternate timelines, but that'd be a bigger project.

https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/continuities

 

[Dungeonosophy]

I like your terminological distinctions.

I would also distinguish "meta-settings": Planescape, Spelljammer, and Chronomancer. Meta-settings are settings - they had a distinct brand and logo, with distinct flavor and iconic locales (Sigil, Rock of Bral), but they're also something more than a "setting"...they also serve as transitive connectors between settings.

Note: In interviews, two of the main designers of Thunder Rift said that mini-setting is located in Mystara somewhere...though they gave two different placements, on two different continents!

 

[Mercurius]

I don't really think Nerath/Nentir Vale belongs in the first category because it hasn't been detailed beyond Nentir Value, and thus is more in the second category. That said, Nerath is the region Nentir is in, and the world (or continent) got a map in a board game. Doesn't quite fit into any category, but if I were to fit it into one of yours I'd put it in the second one.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

I don't really think Nerath/Nentir Vale belongs in the first category because it hasn't been detailed beyond Nentir Value, and thus is more in the second category. That said, Nerath is the region Nentir is in, and the world (or continent) got a map in a board game. Doesn't quite fit into any category, but if I were to fit it into one of yours I'd put it in the second one.

You have a point. What you say is true; yet since it was the core setting of a whole edition of D&D, I'd still count it as a peer of the other full-blown Settings. If you count all of the 4E adventure sites, and DRAGON magazine articles, there are a goodly number of writings about that world. It certainly has a detailed pantheon and cosmology, even if the map of The World was barely broached. I'd just say it's the most sparse of the Settings.

There weren't a whole bunch of Birthright books either.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Ex-Settings

D&D Ex-Settings:

Conan/Red Sonja
Lankhmar
Diablo II
Kingdoms of Kalamar
Warcraft (the first Warcraft d20 TRPG was officially branded with the D&D logo by agreement with WotC)

Ex-Settings, if you count other TSR and WotC games (non-D&D):

Barsoom (miniatures game)
Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne (first edition was published by TSR)
Wilderlands of High Fantasy (IIRC, there was some license or agreement between Judge's Guild and TSR)
Indiana Jones
Marvel Super Heroes
Finneous Fingers
SnarfQuest
Perry Mason (TSR boardgame)
Honeymooners (TSR boardgame)
All My Children (TSR soap opera boardgame)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Buck Rogers
Star*Craft
Pokemon (Jr. Adventure Game)
Star Wars
Wheel of Time
Call of Cthulhu d20 (also Cthulhu pantheon in 1e Deities & Demigods)
Hackmaster 4E (was an officially licensed comedic version of AD&D)

Ex-Mini-Settings:
Shannara (in DRAGON magazine)

Ex-Setting Glimpses:
Elric's Multiverse (pantheon in 1e Deities & Demigods, and Kelmain in AD&D action figures)
The "Giants in the Earth" DRAGON mag articles had a bunch of conversions of various Intellectual Properties into D&D. I don't know if these were done through licensing agreements, or what.

Technically, all OGL games are licensees of WotC. That's a big Megaverse.

 

[Mercurius]

I think you've got to make a clear distinction between settings that were developed *FOR* D&D and those that were adapted *TO* D&D. I'd argue that the latter don't even really belong in the same discussion, or at least in their own category that supercedes inclusion in other categories. Only the former group are truly "D&D settings," while the latter group are independent settings that have simply been given D&D rules for those who wish to play D&D in those worlds. Elric's Multiverse or Middle-earth are great examples of this; to include them within the D&D multiverse or call them D&D settings just seems...wrong.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

I think you've got to make a clear distinction between settings that were developed *FOR* D&D and those that were adapted *TO* D&D. I'd argue that the latter don't even really belong in the same discussion, or at least in their own category that supercedes inclusion in other categories. Only the former group are truly "D&D settings," while the latter group are independent settings that have simply been given D&D rules for those who wish to play D&D in those worlds. Elric's Multiverse or Middle-earth are great examples of this; to include them within the D&D multiverse or call them D&D settings just seems...wrong.

Well, that's what Gyor's term "Ex-Setting" covers. They're definitely not a part of the D&D Multiverse, since WotC/Hasbro doesn't have any access to those Intellectual Properties.

I'd distinguish between Elric's Multiverse and Middle-earth though, because Elric was officially licensed to TSR, and thus an "Ex-D&D Setting (or glimpse thereof" (there was a dispute, but IIRC, Moorcock agreed to license TSR to sell the rest of the Deities and Demigods stock. Then Elric pantheon was removed.) Whereas Middle-earth never has been licensed to TSR/WotC--except that Cubicle 7 is a licensee of WotC's OGL.

Still, we all agree that neither are part of the D&D Multiverse.