D&D 5E (2014) What Campaign Setting Do You Plan On Using?

[Olfan]

Probably start in the Realms but every game I run inevitably goes back to the glory that is Planescape.

 

[transtemporal]

I'm not running it, so probably FR.

For my second group, a scifiesque Dark Sun.

 

[Steely Dan]

Continuing with my Planescape campaign that started in 2005, but has been on hiatus since 2010 (DMing 50+ hours of 4th Ed put me off, and I did not want to go back to 3rd Ed, was justing working on my own 2.5, when 5th Ed was announced, and it's looking to be what I wanted back in August 2000).

 

[Li Shenron]

- Homebrew
- Forgotten Realms
- Rokugan
- Planescape
- Al-Qadim

These are my options, tho I am sure I won't have time to actually play more than 2-3 at best.

Probably my first and easiest choice for home gaming will be our old homebrew setting called Arborea (itself a mix-n-match of Faerun, other published settings/adventures, and original stuff), if only because the DM has put some material online and I can still remember it well. For the player, it'll be just an unknown world with some elements and locations "stolen" from existing settings.

Forgotten Realms would be even easier to DM once we have a 5e campaign setting book for it with 5e character material and monsters (so that I don't have to make them up myself). However I don't like what they did with the settings after 3e, and probably even some stuff was better before 3e. As far as narrative material, I might be better off just using my 3e FR books, but then obviously I'll have to miss out on the crunch, or convert it myself. The main risk of playing a FR game is always that of having a player that knows more than you and will catch all my mistakes, so I'd rather play this with casual gamers only.

I am making a 5e conversion of Rokugan, which is my favourite setting. I certainly want to play this, but because of its strong oriental flavor, it tends to have a smaller audience compared to classic D&D, so I have to check if my friends are interested. Furthermore, designing adventures is generally more difficult for me, since I'm not very good at writing intrigue stories.

Also love Planescape and Al-Qadim, but I don't have the old original sourcebooks, so I'll seriously consider these only if they publish 5e books of them.

 

[Steely Dan]

Also love Planescape and Al-Qadim

Those are my two favourite campaign settings, one thing I especially love about Al-Qadim is no meta-setting crapola (busybody writers messing with the setting, ala Time of Troubles, Faction War, Grand Conjunction, etc).

 

[Li Shenron]

Those are my two favourite campaign settings, one thing I especially love about Al-Qadim is no meta-setting crapola (busybody writers messing with the setting, ala Time of Troubles, Faction War, Grand Conjunction, etc).

Agree. I understand that the reason behind metaplots and setting evolution is that they make it a living setting, so a lot of people who regularly play in the setting have something new all the time. Unfortunately it doesn't work for me, since I only get to play the game sparsely, and therefore setting changes actually get in my way. My ideal is a fantasy setting that is designed once, sets a starting point for everyone, and then stays the same forever (updating only the crunch through editions). Ironically two of my favourite settings (FR and Rokugan) are heavily metaplotted... I just picked an era and froze them at that point for my games.

 

[Steely Dan]

Agree. I understand that the reason behind metaplots and setting evolution is that they make it a living setting, so a lot of people who regularly play in the setting have something new all the time. Unfortunately it doesn't work for me, since I only get to play the game sparsely, and therefore setting changes actually get in my way. My ideal is a fantasy setting that is designed once, sets a starting point for everyone, and then stays the same forever (updating only the crunch through editions). Ironically two of my favourite settings (FR and Rokugan) are heavily metaplotted... I just picked an era and froze them at that point for my games.

I do a similar thing, I stick with the original boxed set/book for each setting (Grey Box for FR, Dragonlance Adventures for Krynn, original 1983 boxed set for Greyhawk, original 2nd Ed boxed set for Dark Sun, etc), and I ignore all the meta-novels/adventures (Prism Pentad, Unhuman Wars II, etc).

 

[Li Shenron]

I do a similar thing, I stick with the original boxed set/book for each setting (Grey Box for FR, Dragonlance Adventures for Krynn, original 1983 boxed set for Greyhawk, original 2nd Ed boxed set for Dark Sun, etc), and I ignore all the meta-novels/adventures (Prism Pentad, Unhuman Wars II, etc).

I would have done that too, but I arrived later to the hobby and I don't have those old books. I hate digital books, and don't like buying second-hand much, but if one day they sell again those old settings books in printed format (like they did with rule books) then I'll probably pick them up.

 

[nnms]

Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique cycle plus D&Disms so all player options are covered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zothique

 

[Beleriphon]

My ideal is a fantasy setting that is designed once, sets a starting point for everyone, and then stays the same forever (updating only the crunch through editions).

Which is why my choice would be Eberron. The setting itself was never metaplotted forward during the 3E/4E change, and I'm hoping 5E does the same thing. All the setting really needs is the relevant character stats and classes, along with any specific magic items and what not updated to the new rules.