What Is Your Favorite Campaign Setting?

[Ralif Redhammer]

WFRP Old World.

Of the embedded RPG settings, I'd count the Old World as one of the best. The way the system and setting mold each other is pretty great.

For my favorites, I'd go with Forgotten Realms, Dolmenwood, and Night City.

 

[innerdude]

For fantasy, if I'm not going to roll my own setting, I'll go with Golarion, even though it will never be with Pathfinder rules.

BECMI "Known World" is a close second.

For sci-fi, it's hard to beat Star Wars, in the post-Ep. 3, pre Ep. 4 era. But I also really like Ironsworn: Starforged assumed setting as well.

 

[Aldarc]

It moves around between Stonetop (PbtA), Nentir Vale, Eberron, and Numenera.

 

[ninjayeti]

Greyhawk is the one that I have the most affection for. We ran most of our games in Greyhawk "back in the day" and it was the home to all those great 1E adventures, so it really has the nostalgia factor going for it for me. Even just on the merits I still think it is the best "vanilla" setting out there.

I also really like Eberron as a well-done setting that takes the D&D tropes in a creative direction. l like how it works with lots of genres beyond traditional fantasy. There were a lot of adaptations in that setting (ditching metaplot, putting the focus on the PCs as the heroes, leaving mysteries with no cannon solution, embracing moral ambiguity) that still seem innovative even 20 years later.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Charted Space. NO Shattered Imperium, NO Virus, and NO Empress Wave. If you want gigadeathchaos, play during the fall of the Rule of Man, or the Years of the Barracks Emperors.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Dark Sun and Nentir Vale (and my D&D homebrews have been points-of-light campaigns like NV)
Star Wars, Star Trek
Gamma World (I’ve always played it “serious” but it’s gonzo aspects really came out in its last edition)
Fallout (once a casual interest, now I’m a fan)

 

[Divine2021]

Forgotten Realms, The Old World, and Star Trek (minus all the Discovery and Picard stuff.)

 

[GuyBoy]

In no real order:
Greyhawk, simply because it was the first and carries so many wonderful and evocative memories. I truly hope the 50th Anniversary returns there in some format.

Warhammer Old World, because it’s dark, gritty and awesome, and because in about 40 minutes I’ll be logging on to play in @TheSword ’s Enemy Within campaign.

Sins of the Scorpion Age: @Steampunkette ’s brilliant homebrew, where echoes of Mesopotamia combine with Swords &Sorcery, with a creative mind behind it.

Wilderlands of High Fantasy, because a lot was done by Jennell Jacquays and because I’ll always remember the epic siege of Tell Qua as one of the greatest victories I ever enjoyed in character.

Real world Victorian (or any era) London, because......” maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner.....”

 

[thullgrim]

Aspirational D&D - Planescape. I don’t think it’s really playable in D&D but it’s fascinating to read.

Playable D&D - Grey Box era Forgotten Realms. Playable, full of hooks, plenty of room to make it your own.

D&D adjacent - Earthdawn great, playable setting with deep lore and rationals for traditional D&D tropes.

Sci-Fi - Numenera, or Fading Suns

XX-Punk: Shadowrun or Mutant Chronicles.

Honorable mention to Coriolis and Symbaroum.

 

[Parmandur]

For me, vague 3E default Greyhawk was the original RPG Setting I experienced in the Aughts, and having gone back and learned more Greyhawk is definitely my favorite. I prefer "Vanilla" Settinfs because Vanilla is a great flavor. Being seeped in tropes helps an RPG Setting for getting players immersed: the more outré a Setting ia, the harder it will be to get player buy-in. Greyhawk gets the balance perfect: stereotypical enough to be approachable, different enough to be spicy. Detailed enough to inspire a lot of Adventure, but enough blank space to allow a DM to make any given corner entirely their own in play. No massive novel metaplot to cause table issues.