What Is Your Favorite Campaign Setting?

[Reynard]

Kingdoms of Kalamar is a fascinating setting. It's probably one of the best examples of a setting without any hint of metaplot. Instead, everything is poised on the brink of happening, awaiting the DM and PCs' actions to write the future of the setting.

That's a great feature of Eberron as well.

 

[Parmandur]

That's a great feature of Eberron as well.

It really the way thst most makes sense for a campaign set-up.

 

[JAMUMU]

OG Greyhawk, Cerilia, Lankhmar, RQ's "Mythic Earth".

 

[Yora]

It really the way thst most makes sense for a campaign set-up.

Timeline advances and metaplots basically make any setting unplayable.

You can't touch any of the cool things in your campaign if you want to avoid your campaign conflicting with the official material.

It's one of the dumbest ideas that ever happened to RPGs.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That's a great feature of Eberron as well.

Definitely, though I think Eberron has a slightly different approach - it's got some big sweeping historical events that set the stage for the PCs, whereas Kalamar, if I remember correctly, is more a world balanced on the edge of those giant events happening in the first place.

 

[TheSword]

Timeline advances and metaplots basically make any setting unplayable.

You can't touch any of the cool things in your campaign if you want to avoid your campaign conflicting with the official material.

It's one of the dumbest ideas that ever happened to RPGs.

It depends entirely on whether you like the changes.

Where the DM and players are familiar with the world and like the changes it allows for a dynamic world that exists outside of purely the interactions of the PCs.

 

[Hand of Evil]

1. Favorite; Warhammer's Old World, just fits my needs.
2. Next up would be Earthdawn.
3. 3rd on my list and current world; The Witcher World as presented in the computer game. Found the setting book online before the TTRPG came out and use it with Zweihander rules.

 

[Epic Meepo]

For fantasy D&D, my top pick would probably be the Forgotten Realms, assuming:
1) the 3e Campaign Setting book is a reasonably-accurate but out-of-date description of the world;
2) earlier Realms products are in-character historical documents with unreliable narrators; and
3) later Realms products are wild tales told by bards, so I can pick or choose what's actually true.

I've also had fun with Dark Sun (incidentally, if you want an alternate Forgotten Realms, the Tablelands fit perfectly inside the Anauroch desert); Eberron (which I suspect I'd enjoy more with some system other than D&D, though I haven't had a chance to try it); and various combinations of Planescape, Spelljammer, and/or Ravenloft.

For science-fantasy, I've always been fascinated by 40K, though most of my knowledge of the setting comes from the old Rogue Trader rules, the Genestealer boardgame, and the relevant chapters in the original Realms of Chaos hardcovers. I've never really played with the setting much, but I appreciate its over-the-top aesthetic.

 

[ThrorII]

I took the opportunity during my recent paternity leave to read the Grey Box and the early FR code Setting modules and Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover...and I have been radicalized as an FR Originalist. Sticking to 1E FR and a few early 2E books (FR 7, FR9, FR11, FR13, the FR Atlas and FR Adventures) and ignoring the Time of Troubles and Oriental Adventures (cringe) leaves an awesome D&D Setting just as good as Greyhawk for me.

I'm right there with you. I'm a 40 year Greyhawk lover, but I now own the Grey Box, FR5 & FR3 - which is enough to run an amazing Sword Coast 1e style campaign. I'm actually gearing up to run a 1e Forgotten Realms Sword Coast/Savage North campaign, using OSE-Advanced.

 

[Nightfly]

I really like Golarian, the default world for Pathfinder. There's a little bit of everything, so no matter what environment you crave, there's a place that fits. The history is wonderfully rich but has enough fuzzy spots that you can put your own ideas in without contradicting "canon" history. Some of the nations/areas are marvelously colorful, like Cheliax, a powerful theocratic empire of devil-worshippers. It's more gonzo than Forgotten Realms so it appeals to me more.

I always wanted to run something in Primeval Thule. Sadly, the company that published it is kaput, so I don't think there's much appetite for it.