What are the pros and cons of the different campaign settings?

[Desdichado]

I certainly wouldn't say Kalamar has no flavor; I find that position odd.

Kalamar's "schtick" seems to be that it's a realistically presented and crafted world, while still faithful to the D&D mileu. There's typicall a lot of fans of Kalamar hanging around on these boards; I'm surprised none of them have shown up here yet.

Scarred Lands is getting more than it's fair share of support in this particular thread, I'm thinking. Sure, the setting's got a lot of interesting things going on, but from reading this, you'd think it was the be-all end-all of settings, as well as one of the most popular ever published.

How urgently do you need this setting? Another option, although it's been delayed again, so you can't use it unless you don't need it for a few months, is Iron Kingdoms. You can get the adventure "Trilogy" Witchfire, the Monster book (one of the best in print, IMO) and the character primer, which are enough to play for a while, though.

It's an interesting setting with a twist; some steamtech here and there to give the setting a slightly different feel. Great flavor, some of the best art and writing in the industry, but lousy production schedules, unfortunately. We've been waiting for the actual campaign setting for I don't know how long, and now it's announced that it's not coming out until April or something like that.

Of course, the good news is, the reason it's been delayed is that with all the writing, editing, playtesting and art done, they had way more material than they originally planned (almost 700 pages vs. 240 pages) so they're splitting the book into two 300+ books.

 

[shadow]

Well, I'll chime in with the settings that I'm familiar with:

Forgotten Realms
Pros: -Detailed world
-Lots of supplements
-High magic (could also be a con)

Cons: -Little internal consistency (Has a patchwork feel)
-A lot of uber-NPCs running around
-A lot of the setting relies on the novels

Greyhawk
Pros: -Standard D&D
-Enough background to add flavor, but not so much to be overwhelming

Cons: -Pretty generic. If you want something unique, look elsewhere.

Dragonlance
Pros: -Different take on D&D. Standard D&D with enought twists to be unique
-Dragons and Knights!

Cons: -Everything relies on the novels
-The 5th Age

Kingdoms of Kalamar
Pros: -Detailed world. Very "believable". Internally consistent.

Cons: -Can be rather dry

Scarred Lands
Pros: -A little darker than standard D&D
-Unique creatures, magic, and classes

Cons: -No campaign book! You have to buy a whole slew of supplements to play
-A little whacky at times

Ravenloft
Pros: -Very different than standard D&D
-Mysterious and ominous (mutable landscape, clerics get spells from the [/INDENT]mysterious "Dark "Powers")
-Different technology levels
-Cool monsters
-Cool Domains
-The Nightmare Lands!

Cons: -It requires the right group of players to get into the setting
-Mixing gothic horror and fantasy doesn't always work, you get some bizzare anachronisms
-You have to buy a variety of supplements to play

Morningstar
Pros: -Epic, Very high "golden age" fantasy
-Races are different For example, elves are immortal fey

Cons: -The epic feeling isn't really reflected in the rules
-Somewhat thin sourcebook
-Looks like it will have a "metaplot" (with the canticle)

Of course, my pros might be someone else's cons, or vice-versa. Just my 2cp.

 

[shadow]

Well, I'll chime in with the settings that I'm familiar with:

Forgotten Realms
Pros: -Detailed world
-Lots of supplements
-High magic (could also be a con)

Cons: -Little internal consistency (Has a patchwork feel)
-A lot of uber-NPCs running around
-A lot of the setting relies on the novels

Greyhawk
Pros: -Standard D&D
-Enough background to add flavor, but not so much to be overwhelming

Cons: -Pretty generic. If you want something unique, look elsewhere.

Dragonlance
Pros: -Different take on D&D. Standard D&D with enought twists to be unique
-Dragons and Knights!

Cons: -Everything relies on the novels
-The 5th Age

Kingdoms of Kalamar
Pros: -Detailed world. Very "believable". Internally consistent.

Cons: -Can be rather dry

Scarred Lands
Pros: -A little darker than standard D&D
-Unique creatures, magic, and classes

Cons: -No campaign book! You have to buy a whole slew of supplements to play
-A little whacky at times

Ravenloft
Pros: -Very different than standard D&D
-Mysterious and ominous (mutable landscape, clerics get spells from the [/INDENT]mysterious "Dark "Powers")
-Different technology levels
-Cool monsters
-Cool Domains
-The Nightmare Lands!

Cons: -It requires the right group of players to get into the setting
-Mixing gothic horror and fantasy doesn't always work, you get some bizzare anachronisms
-You have to buy a variety of supplements to play

Morningstar
Pros: -Epic, Very high "golden age" fantasy
-Races are different For example, elves are immortal fey

Cons: -The epic feeling isn't really reflected in the rules
-Somewhat thin sourcebook
-Looks like it will have a "metaplot" (with the canticle)

Of course, my pros might be someone else's cons, or vice-versa. Just my 2cp.

 

[Davelozzi]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned what I consider to be the one of the biggest cons to the Scarred Lands. The presentation of the material is very haphazard. The hardcover Ghelspad Campaign Setting is missing several of the crucial parts of the setting. PC races are detailed in the DM's Screen and the Creature Collection Revised, both of which are books that players probably shouldn't own. Several of the crucial prestige classes appear in Relics & Rituals, most notably the Veshinan Vigil. This kind of stuff has turned me off the setting. Of course everything can't fit in one book, but the spread in this case is out of control, at least in my opinion.

 

[Nightfall]

Dave,

They are working on fixing that. I would also like to point out unlike OTHER settings, it's not one mega-continent. It's a wide variety of places to settle into.

Shadow,
Again while there's not an FRCS, there is an SLCS. And that works out well for most people I've noticed.

Josh,

Not sure it's the be-all or end all of ANYTHING. I just happen to think it's a great setting much like Midnight, Oathbound or even Judge's Guild. As for why no Kalamar fans, hey I'd like to know too! But maybe there's a reason...

 

[Nightfall]

Scarred Lands might be a possibility--IIRC, it's a world recovering from ruin, and it may be quite easy for newcomers to settle in a currently unclaimed area.

True and with the Slacerian/Mind Flayer connection, it's easy to have such portals. Especially ones that are Slacerian made lying around.

 

[Psion]

Several of the crucial prestige classes appear in Relics & Rituals, most notably the Veshinan Vigil.

I can see not having the races in the campaign book (and there is one, shadow: SLCS Ghelspad and Termana are campaign books AFAIAC) being a problem, but I'm not too sure why having prestige classes in a supplement is a problem.

 

[Kichwas]

Uhm well unique about Kalamar...uhm...well uhm. I think there's half hobgoblins...

Strengths of Kalamar:

A map that works - matches geology / plate tectonics - and looks so. Geography that fits - rivers, forests and deserts are where they should be.

Socio-economic driven politics. As they should be. Not driven by alignment or who has the nekkid chicks...

No Iconic NPCs, nobody's above level 20 in the books, and few get that far. Nobody's so special that you need to account for them in your game. It's a setting, and it thus presents a world.

Hobgoblins as a major race. Hobgoblins control major resources in the world and are second in line to humans in terms of power. Two large established nations and a whole host of other territory, as well as integration into many human lands (and vice versa). They're available as PCs. Other interesting though rare PC races include but are not limited to half-satyrs and half-githzerai.

All the primary racial options are ECL 0, even the Kalamar version of a Drow is matched out to ECL 0.

All the rules are official DnD, and are overseen by WoTC RnD.

Detail. The setting is extremely well detailed, all of it researched to match what we know about sociology, political science, technological development, geography, theology, economics, and so on - even ocean wind currents -determined by researching geology- are taken into account in determining such things as trade (obviously) to which cities get the bigger populations.


Lots of adventure ideas are splintered throughout the books, mixed into the text, and all of them linked together with the greater scene of the setting.

Time-line lockdown. The date for the current time given in the core book is locked for all future product. As such, Kalamar has no metaplot and will never have such.

Religions detailed from the point of view of what they stand for and how they act on the world, rather than what powers they give your PC (though this is also included in the player's guide). Even to the point of view of describing the holy books of each faith.

Languages that don't all sound like knockoffs of English, German prounounced by Americans, or Latin pronounced by Americans. The languages are all unique and give Kalamar very interesting and consistant names to it's people and places.

Also: No Common.

Fan support:
Kalamar has a highly organized fan community with an active online presence:
http://www.kenzerco.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?Cat=&C=4
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kingdomsofkalamar/

As well as a Living campaign through the RPGA:
http://www.kenzerco.com/rpg/kalamar/livingkalamar/

As far as unique rules go... Kalamar is official DnD, so it sticks to the official rules. It does add several new classes in the player's guide:

Basarin Dancer - magical dancer
Gladiator
Brigand
Shaman
Infiltrator - a sort of spy like class
Spellsinger - no material components needed arcane caster.

 

[Pseudonym]

No Iconic NPCs, nobody's above level 20 in the books, and few get that far.

Well there is one, The Archmage Welren who is a Wizard 18/Aristocrat 13. Granted he has a country to run, so he won't be showing up at the PC's campfire saying "Well met!"

 

[Kichwas]

Well there is one, The Archmage Welren who is a Wizard 18/Aristocrat 13. Granted he has a country to run, so he won't be showing up at the PC's campfire saying "Well met!"

Welren is a 13th level Aristocrat in Cosdol with no wizard levels (Campaign Setting 14).

There's also a Werlen, who is also a level 13 aristocrat from Zoa with no wizard levels (Campaign Setting 138).

Got a book and page number reference for your guy?