Similarities/Differences between the current official D&D settings?
- Thread starter Goodsport
- Start date
Psion
Adventurer
Goodsport said:Thanks for the info, everyone. Keep 'em coming!
I knew that Ravenloft was an official setting in AD&D, but is currently a third-party product. Is Dragonlance (Krynn) also currently a third-party product?
You keep making me repeat myself, don't you?
The Dragonlonce book for 3e was put out by Wizards, and then the support licensed to sovereign press. So, in short, yes.
Steel_Wind
Legend
Psion said:
Actually, DragonLance would be more "official" than Kalamar and more substantial than GH. Kalamar is Kenzer & Co's baby. The DragonLance Campaign Setting is actually published by WotC (with other books licensed to Sov Press).
When someone finds a Greyhawk Setting puclished by WotC - be sure to let me know. Living GH Gazeteer is as close as it gets - and that isn't a campaign setting.
Psion
Adventurer
Steel_Wind said:
Oy. You might not want to go there.
Saying your setting of choice is "more official" is pretty pointless. It's got the "licensed by WotC logo" on it or it does not. Trying to establish "officialness" doesn't show the setting any better or worse, doesn't help the thread, and is likely to ruffle feathers.
As to the actual question, I am not sure I could say it any better than one of the posters did to the same post on RPGnet, other than he doesn't include Ravenloft.
Ravenloft is probably the most different in tone and feel, though. The "dark powers" rules and other changes give the game a much grimmer feel.
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The_Gneech
Explorer
Well, my take on the various settings, such as it is, goes something like this:
Greyhawk -- The most "old-schoolish" of the bunch, for obvious reasons, Greyhawk is loose enough that you can put pretty much whatever you want into it, but coherent enough that you can make it a believable setting. There is a lot of history, from the Invasion of Geoff to the rise and fall (and rise again) of the Temple of Elemental Evil, providing you with lots of potential adventure seeds. There are a small number of very powerful figures (e.g., Mordenkainen, Iuz, Iggwilv), but for the most part the players aren't likely to encounter them until they're a comparable level of power themselves. It does a nice job of straddling the "sword-and-sorcery" vs. "high fantasy" feel, but also has a lot of unfortunate place names, such as "Verbobonc."
Forgotten Realms -- Originally a slightly-more-verbose version of Greyhawk, FR has evolved over the years into a more baroque, high-magic kind of setting. More colorful and less grim than Greyhawk, FR can sometimes suffer from a kind of "Disneyland" feel, with beholders running the thieves' guild and ogres becoming bards. (To be fair, Greyhawk does occasionally have a similar tendency to wander into the bizarre, but there it's more of a "fell through a hole in the hedge" rarity, rather than an accepted facet of daily life.) FR has a wealth of detail that Greyhawk does not, which can be good or bad depending on your own personal tastes.
Eberron -- All I've seen of this is the setting book (of which I've read about half) and a few adventures, so all I can give you is my impression. Eberron is more 'contemporary' kind of setting, sort of "Miyazaki Meets D&D," which of course leads some people to cry "It's too anime!" I personally see this as its main strength, rather than a weakness ... it makes Eberron a vital and exciting "new world" of gaming, while still building on the foundations of previous efforts. It also has echoes of '30s serials: besides the obvious "Indiana Jones" influence, when I see Sharn and airships, I think of Coruscant, which in turn makes me think of Flash Gordon. Eberron would not be well-suited to run an "Against the Dark Lord" kind of campaign, but would do very well for "High Road to China." It's not as trippy-weird as Greyhawk, or as intricate-and-rich as FR; it's more about two-fisted rollicking action.
I only have passing knowledge of Kalamar, Krynn, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, etc., so I can't really address those. I could talk about Hyboria or Middle-Earth if you'd like...
-The Gneech
PS: These are merely my own descriptions of the settings as I see them. YMMV
Greyhawk -- The most "old-schoolish" of the bunch, for obvious reasons, Greyhawk is loose enough that you can put pretty much whatever you want into it, but coherent enough that you can make it a believable setting. There is a lot of history, from the Invasion of Geoff to the rise and fall (and rise again) of the Temple of Elemental Evil, providing you with lots of potential adventure seeds. There are a small number of very powerful figures (e.g., Mordenkainen, Iuz, Iggwilv), but for the most part the players aren't likely to encounter them until they're a comparable level of power themselves. It does a nice job of straddling the "sword-and-sorcery" vs. "high fantasy" feel, but also has a lot of unfortunate place names, such as "Verbobonc."
Forgotten Realms -- Originally a slightly-more-verbose version of Greyhawk, FR has evolved over the years into a more baroque, high-magic kind of setting. More colorful and less grim than Greyhawk, FR can sometimes suffer from a kind of "Disneyland" feel, with beholders running the thieves' guild and ogres becoming bards. (To be fair, Greyhawk does occasionally have a similar tendency to wander into the bizarre, but there it's more of a "fell through a hole in the hedge" rarity, rather than an accepted facet of daily life.) FR has a wealth of detail that Greyhawk does not, which can be good or bad depending on your own personal tastes.
Eberron -- All I've seen of this is the setting book (of which I've read about half) and a few adventures, so all I can give you is my impression. Eberron is more 'contemporary' kind of setting, sort of "Miyazaki Meets D&D," which of course leads some people to cry "It's too anime!" I personally see this as its main strength, rather than a weakness ... it makes Eberron a vital and exciting "new world" of gaming, while still building on the foundations of previous efforts. It also has echoes of '30s serials: besides the obvious "Indiana Jones" influence, when I see Sharn and airships, I think of Coruscant, which in turn makes me think of Flash Gordon. Eberron would not be well-suited to run an "Against the Dark Lord" kind of campaign, but would do very well for "High Road to China." It's not as trippy-weird as Greyhawk, or as intricate-and-rich as FR; it's more about two-fisted rollicking action.
I only have passing knowledge of Kalamar, Krynn, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, etc., so I can't really address those. I could talk about Hyboria or Middle-Earth if you'd like...
-The Gneech
PS: These are merely my own descriptions of the settings as I see them. YMMV
Thunderfoot
Hero
Steel_Wind said:
Easy there big fella, some of us have been playing for so long (28 years come this November) that Greyhawk is the ONLY official setting. But the fact of the matter is that GH was made as ethereal as it was so that it could be "customized" so each campaign would be a little different from the rest. The origina GH was the same way. As for an official campaign bible, there isn't a need, EVERY module that doesn't say otherwise is automatically set in GH. Personally, I prefer homebrew, and have never liked ANY of the established campaign settings.
The_Gneech
Explorer
Steel_Wind said:
Hmm ... it has a map, a list of races (including six or seven human nations), a gazetteer, a comprehensive list of gods, a bazillion countries and adventure seeds.
What's missing? 0.o It has everything I need...
-The Gneech
Joël of the FoS
First Post
From the FoS FAQ:
Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which combines elements of the basic D&D game with the trappings of gothic horror. To quote from the original Ravenloft Black box set:
"Dark, gloomy castles, desolate landscapes, black clouds racing against the moon - these are the trappings of the Gothic tradition. Early Gothics were stories of mystery, , and desire - of heroines imprisoned in a fortress, their purity and sanity assaulted by the evil lord of the manor. Later novels, such as 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein', toss the heroine to the sidelines, and "evil" takes center stage. This is the classic horror in which Ravenloft has its roots."
For the appropriate gaming atmosphere imagine playing D&D on a dark rainy evening by candlelight. Not only that, but in a frightening place filled with phantom sounds, strange noises and horrors of the night. It is a world of haunted mansions, cursed bloodlines, with undead and primal beasts and yet humans being the worst of all. The Ravenloft setting is often also referred to as the Demiplane of Dread or the Land of Mists.
Joël
Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which combines elements of the basic D&D game with the trappings of gothic horror. To quote from the original Ravenloft Black box set:
"Dark, gloomy castles, desolate landscapes, black clouds racing against the moon - these are the trappings of the Gothic tradition. Early Gothics were stories of mystery, , and desire - of heroines imprisoned in a fortress, their purity and sanity assaulted by the evil lord of the manor. Later novels, such as 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein', toss the heroine to the sidelines, and "evil" takes center stage. This is the classic horror in which Ravenloft has its roots."
For the appropriate gaming atmosphere imagine playing D&D on a dark rainy evening by candlelight. Not only that, but in a frightening place filled with phantom sounds, strange noises and horrors of the night. It is a world of haunted mansions, cursed bloodlines, with undead and primal beasts and yet humans being the worst of all. The Ravenloft setting is often also referred to as the Demiplane of Dread or the Land of Mists.
Joël
