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

[Tsyr]

I think we've worked our way through most of them, Nightfall... I mean, there are others, but how far does he want to stray from the norm? I'm assuming he doesn't want hard science or anything.

 

[Nightfall]

Tysr,

I think that's up to him don't you agree? I mean he COULD just convert the sci-fi aspects into a steampunk or even Chaositech type deal to make it more fantasy oriented.

 

[johnsemlak]

Well moving this along...

Anyone else think of a PUBLISHED setting that our friend Merek might use?

Has anybody discussed Oathbound? Could the Merak use a high-powered setting?

 

[MQP]

Despite the fact that no one's mentioned it save in passing, you could do a lot worse than picking up the Witchfire trilogy of modules set in Corvis, City of Ghosts, in the IK.

Check out http://www.privateerpress.com for more information. I've seen three different groups through Witchfire, and the only complaint they ever had was "so when is that Campaign Setting Sourcebook coming out?"

Which, admittedly, is an annoyance. OTOH, the writers and designers are very active on their forums, and for those of us running an IK game based on what's in Witchfire and the Character Primer, they're more than willing to give us advice and clear up questions for us.

And although I love me some homebrew, for those of us who don't want to: the Campaign Setting (due in April 04) is two books totaling 600+ pages of intel. Yum.

MQP

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I love Privateer, but I'll believe in the book once I've sunk my money into a copy that I can hold in my hands. But, if it's as good as the other stuff, it was worth the wait.

 

[bushfire]

I am old...I am stubborn...I refuse to go away. So, for me there is but one choice - Greyhawk.

People can knock it all they like but I know what I like and I plan to stick with it. I have been playing D&D for 23+ years and will only purchase campaign-specific materials unless they have a) lots of aquatic goodness, b) many references to hags, c) Greyhawk.

For me, it's the "Mysterious Places" of Greyhawk, coupled with the level of detail (just enough to let me run rampant with what I want) that makes GH the ideal setting.

For you running an aquatic campaign you should really check out the Judges Guild Wilderlands Setting by Necromancer Games.

It has *a lot* of water area and seems much more easy to be sea based than Greyhawk to me. Add to that Undersea kingdoms of Merfolk, Tritons, and islands galore it would be a great place for an undersea campaign. You can download a copy of the world map from http://www.judgesguild.com/


bushfire

 

[Ktulu]

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?

Hi, arcady. Actually, Welren is a 31st level character according to the eratta. However, he does have a country to run, and he's extended his human life to beyond 150 years, using magic.

Also, you can't judge Kalamar's flavor just by glancing. This is a mistake I made when I first bought the book. Only after pouring over different chapters, and finding little blurbs of information, can you really respect what Kalamar has done.

Example: I am currently working on source material for the Wild Lands in Kalamar. During reading I learned that Shyta-Thybaj, the capitol of Thybaj, is primarily made of short, squat stone buildings. This is apparent for two reasons. One, They sit on a Fault line, and it is mentioned that there have been earthquakes in the past. Two, the primary enemy of Thybaj are Giants. I would want a short, squat, stone building to as opposed to wooden framed ones when dealing with hurling rocks any day.


I, and my group play exclusively in Kalamar, after having played Greyhawk, FR, Scarred Lands, and numerous home brewed campaigns. Not only is it a great setting, but the guys that make the books talk to their fans for ideas. We offer support, advice, and sometimes loud shouts of no!

I am biased, but I do think it's the best campaign setting I've played in since I started playing RPG's.

The only, and I mean only, thing I don't like about Kalamar is that they still include drow. I like drow in FR, not in Kalamar.

Ktulu

 

[Kichwas]

Hi, arcady. Actually, Welren is a 31st level character according to the eratta. However, he does have a country to run, and he's extended his human life to beyond 150 years, using magic.

I guess every published setting has to have something I don't like.

Well Nightfall, there you go - something I find absurd about Kalamar, it has an Elminster now... I can only hope that when the Brandobia book comes out they do something to keep this guy out of the beds of the goddesses, and that he doesn't end up looking suspiciously like David Kenzer in the final illustration.

Thybaj, is primarily made of short, squat stone buildings. This is apparent for two reasons. One, They sit on a Fault line, and it is mentioned that there have been earthquakes in the past.

I live in earth quake country...

The -LAST- thing you want to be in is a stonr building - that's a death sentence. You want wood, cause it bends. I was in a wooden building built in the 1860s during the 89 quake, and it just felt like surfing for a few seconds. All the stuff that collapsed was stone, brick, or on landfill (a good percentage of San Francisco was built by sinking ships in the bay and then pouring dirt over them, every now and then construction digs into an old sailing ship and gets flooded out).

The only, and I mean only, thing I don't like about Kalamar is that they still include drow. I like drow in FR, not in Kalamar.

Yeah... but we all know WotC did that - took away Kalamar's dark elves and forced it to use drow...

 

[Trickstergod]

All apologies on the thread hijacking, but....

(Btw Metaplotting CAN be good IF you and the rest of the people have input. Which is why I like the Scarred Lands. Our metaplots are the ones MOST of us want.)

Shenanigans!

I believe support of what Scarred Lands metaplot exists to have been tepid at best, with about as many for it as were against it.

Most were just sort of "eh" about it to my recollection, and I don't recall much player input about the metaplot.

With that said, players and fans have had a good deal of input in other aspects of the setting, such as with the Slarecian Dragons and the Order of the Black Thorn, but that's not metaplot.

For my own part, I find metaplot is only a good thing when the proverbial bottom of the idea barrel has been reached. Once the setting really has nothing more that can be added to it - the world has been defined, the planes have been defined, there's more organizations than one knows what to do with, and so on, and so on - and it feels stagnant, well, that's when the change that metaplot brings is a good thing.

But rarely before.

I'm all about the plot hooks, not so much about the metaplot.

 

[Paka]

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71853

Above is a link to a meta-plot thread, so we can leave this thread to its original purpose but continue the discussion.