What do YOU look for in a Campaign World

[Sargon the Kassadian]

Hi all! I have been working on a homebrew setting for a while, but I realize I am catering to my tastes as a player and not to the average DnDer. Even though you EN Worlders are by no means average (exceptional ), I was hoping you could give me your views on what you expect and like or dislike about certain or any campaign world(setting-ala Greyhawk, Eberron, etc.).
Thanks!

 

[Crothian]

I have and have read through lots of the new campaign worlds. What I look for is creativity and ideas. I want something that works on many level, that is well thought out and inner connected (doesn't seem like a bunch of things thrown together), and has a sense of history. I like the feeling the world is a world and has come from somewhere and is going somewhere as well. It doesn't have to be different, but it does have to be smart and well done.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

What Crothian said...

I also want a world that has something new in it. Vanilla settings in which good guys live here and bad guys live over there I find dull. I also get annoyed at the constant setting of races in alignments. Orcs are evil, elves are good crap just grates I guess - too dull too repetitive. I prefer a setting where someone has thought out why the elves and dwarves dislike each other and made it a part of their history... not just - well dwarves are lawful and repressed and hate magic and elves are chaotic and free-spirited and love magic. Give it some thought. Same with the orcs, why are they universally evil - why not just differently neutral. Give the conflict personal/hostorical reasons other than Gruumsh hates elves.

That said I'm not a big fan of settings that change everything, you end up losing track of your players because too much has changed

 

[SpuneDagr]

I really have to look at each setting on a case-by-case basis. I don't think I could say, "I'm looking for such-and-such in a campaign setting," because I don't work that way. I usually don't go looking for a specific sort of setting, I look at the settings I know are out there and find things in them that I like.

Planescape - Outsiders are people too, with goals and dreams.
Dragonstar - You know, D&D in SPACE!!!
Eberron - Elves are all creepy death-worshiping necromancers, and there are robots.

 

[Darklone]

I look for a setting that is adaptable to my ideas and feels realistic without some strange uberpowerbalance or metaplot.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

New ideas - or a fresh look at old ideas. Don't try to be different merely for the sake of difference. Instead, come up with a small number of cool concepts to base your setting on, and then consistently work out the consequences of these concepts.

If you invent every single small thing anew, then you will alienate potential players - because they have to learn every small detail about your world to make sense of it. If in doubt, it is better to be logical than to be original - because worlds where people live in (such as the PCs) have to have an internal logic. It's better to discard a really cool idea when it doesn't fit into the rest of the world...

What I am not looking for is a gazillion new prestige classes, feats, and so on. Sure, it's allright if your setting has some of those - but they should follow naturally from the setting, and not the setting from the new rules.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I look for something that is, in the case of D&D, close to the core rules but takes a small departure from the 'norm.' Anyone's campaign can be like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. But with things out there like Eberron, Midnight, Iron Kingdoms, they certainly for allow other creativity.

What I don't like is a campaign setting that would take such a departure from the normal 'standard' settings that it could be a gamble and end up being kind of a flop. I think Spelljammer comes to mind. Sure, it looked fun but I would be afraid thatafter a few weeks that unless the players really got into the setting, they would lose interest and wish for something more 'fantasy' oriented or 'traditional.'

 

[GlassJaw]

Well I can tell you what I don't want in a setting. I don't want a setting that just looks like someone's house rules. Eberron falls into this category IMO. It looks like Greyhawk or FR with constructs and shapechangers as races and some tattoo/dragonmark thing.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Logical geography. Logical & sensible history. A workable and sensible social order. A lack of any of these makes the world nonsensical. I've only ever found two campaign worlds I really like and neither of them are DnD worlds.

GOM

 

[VirgilCaine]

I want a normal amount of magic and spellcasters.
Low-magic worlds are one of the most irking things to me.
I want druids that aren't ecoterrorists, and I want a world that makes sense...if there isn't anything or anyone stopping large groups of evil people from doing whatever they want, why aren't they in charge already?