D&D General [+] What is your favorite non-WotC D&D setting?

[Hex08]

This is a spin on another thread started by @overgeeked.

What are your favorite non-WotC D&D settings? This can include games that are not strictly D&D, like Pathfinder's Galorion or Castles & Crusades Aihide, but are alternate versions of D&D. Other game systems like Savage Worlds may be great but they aren't versions of D&D so they wouldn't qualify.

Like the original thread, this one is a plus thread as well.

The one I played in the most was Pathfinder's Golarion and I really enjoyed it. It had tons of variety so I could find a culture to fit just about any idea I had. That said, my favorite was The Diamond Throne from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. I liked the spin he gave the 3.x rules but mostly I loved the world because it had lot of influences from my favorite novels, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

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[Yora]

I never played it, but I really like the whole idea and presentation of Midnight.
Everyone always describes it pretty much the same way: "Sauron won". It's a somewhat generic fantasy world in which the dark lord managed to defeat the gods and his sorcerer generals and armies of orcs have conquered most of the known world.
I think of all the non-TSR/WotC settings that were released for D&D, Midnight might have quite well been the one that got the most attention from people. (Which is still to say "barely any".)

 

[jdrakeh]

Probably Middle Earth. I played a lot of MERP back in the day and, although not the most streamlined system, had a bunch of fun with it. I haven't played The One Ring, but I hear that it's amazing. I have played a few short adventures in Adventures in Middle Earth and think it is a serviceable conversion to 5e.

 

[overgeeked]

Whatever setting Dungeon Crawl Classics is set in. I love that game and the sword & sorcery style it evokes. Magic is dangerous. Warriors can perform might deeds. Making pacts with demons is a possible way to get power...but there's always a price. It hits so many high points on what I want from gaming.

The Dolmenwood setting from Necromantic Gnome for use with their B/X clone, Old-School Essentials. Again, it hits a lot of the high points on what I want from gaming.

And Dark Souls. Now that it has a 5E-based RPG coming soon, it's definitely on the list. It looks like someone took the idea of Ravenloft, treated it seriously, and produced the world of Dark Souls.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

I never played it, but I really like the whole idea and presentation of Midnight.
Everyone always describes it pretty much the same way: "Sauron won". It's a somewhat generic fantasy world in which the dark lord managed to defeat the gods and his sorcerer generals and armies of orcs have conquered most of the known world.
I think of all the non-TSR/WotC settings that were released for D&D, Midnight might have quite well been the one that got the most attention from people. (Which is still to say "barely any".)

I ran a Midnight campaign some years ago, and it remains my favourite setting bar none. Can't wait for the release of the 5E version. Most of my players also prefer that setting to all others.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Whatever setting Dungeon Crawl Classics is set in. I love that game and the sword & sorcery style it evokes. Magic is dangerous. Warriors can perform might deeds. Making pacts with demons is a possible way to get power...but there's always a price. It hits so many high points on what I want from gaming.

At this point, DCC has a bunch of different settings (note that the "no weird campaign settings" part of their adventure intro has been changed to "no boilerplate campaign settings").

And I agree re: it's awesomeness. DCC was pretty much the answer to what I want from a TTRPG.

 

[Ath-kethin]

This is a spin on another thread started by @overgeeked.

What are your favorite non-WotC D&D settings? This can include games that are not strictly D&D, like Pathfinder's Galorion or Castles & Crusades Aihide, but are alternate versions of D&D. Other game systems like Savage Worlds may be great but they aren't versions of D&D so they wouldn't qualify.

Like the original thread, this one is a plus thread as well.

The one I played in the most was Pathfinder's Golarion and I really enjoyed it. It had tons of variety so I could find a culture to fit just about any idea I had. That said, my favorite was The Diamond Throne from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. I liked the spin he gave the 3.x rules but mostly I loved the world because it had lot of influences from my favorite novels, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

​

I still love Primeval Thule from Sasquatch Games. The "Conan meets Cthulhu" ethos may be a little nonsensical (since Cthulhu type stuff showed up in the original Conan stories), but I really like the "undeveloped world" aspects of it. Even the greatest kingdoms are local powers, and delving too deeply into he world's secrets can be a bad idea for one's well-being.

It's rough in spots - the setting was released before the 5e SRD and OGL, so some of the language is unnecessarily precise and cluttered, and its categorization of societies into Civilized, Barbarian, and Savage is very colonial, but conceptually it's great overall.

 

[FriendlyFiend]

I'll always be fond of Pelinore from the dim and distant days of Imagine Magazine - there was something 'more real' about it than other D&D settings at the time, and the monthly articles somehow had a whiff of the handouts in history lessons (in a good way!).

 

[Tallifer]

Justin Howe's homebrew Vaults of Ur of a ruined world after seven multidimensional irruptions; Jef Fej's Far Wandrerz Talez. Both are kitchen sinks in the best gonzo sense of the phrase. This illustration I drew for Vaults of Ur gives a taste.

(For more fun D&D art and stories like this, you can peruse my webcomic Tales from the Gnomish Tarot )

 

[Lycurgon]

I am a big fan of the Midnight setting and am super keen for 5e update. I ran a campaign back in the 3.5e days.

I also love Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved. I would love an updated 5e version, even though there would have to be a lot of changes to make it in the 5e design philosophy.

I also absolutely love the Symbaroum game and setting. I haven't yet had a good read of the 5e version, Ruins of Symbaroum, but I look forward to reading it soon.