D&D General What setting books have you used in your latest campaign.

[teitan]

I am running a Theros campaign with a Warforged Monk PC who was created by the god of the forge and my wife is playing a centaur spore druid with psionic feats from Tasha's. We also have a Nymph from Oddyssey of the DragonLords.

 

[GM Lent]

I use a bunch of Mystara Gazetteers, 3.x Eberron books, the Complete Necromancer's Handbook, lots of old Al-Qadim ideas and materials, Swords & Wizardry modules, World of Xoth stuff, Basic Fantasy RPG stuff, Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperboria stuff, a map of Avernus I found online that I think dates from 2e, and that's not counting materials I've written and/or published myself, most of which gets a playtest run in my game as I'm working it out.

Oh! And I forgot to mention the Basic set Top Ballista; in my main campaign the characters have just defeated the Heydrech the nagpa in Serraine. Now they are looking to move their kingdom's worth of Mongai (the term I use instead of "mongrelmen") liberated from I1: the Forbidden City up into Serraine itself so they can start a new life.

It's a glorious madhouse.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ptolus 3E, Pirate's Guide to Freeport

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

All of them.

My last campaign that I was actually able to play was Spelljammer. I used Ravnica for random aliens (Kraul, Krasis, Horrors, etc), Theros for the subclasses (one player was an Oath of Glory Paladin) and races, Wildemount for the world and magic (dunamancy works very well in space), Eberron for the artificer, races (shifters, changelings, kalashtar, and warforged all work well in a space setting), magic items, and monsters (dolgrim, dolgaunts, quori, warforged titans/colossus), and the SCAG for Toril as a homeworld.

In fact, as of our last session, we have used every published D&D 5e book for the campaign (Ghosts of Saltmarsh for the ship rules, Dungeon of the Mad Mage for the space rules, Volo's for Neogi, Mordenkainen's for Giff, etc).

 

[Blue]

Which setting books am I using? Hmmm. None of them? All of them?

I'm not using setting elements from any setting book for either of the campaigns I'm currently running. Well, one I am using the PHB default pantheon which technically is FR, but I'm not using it from any FR setting book.

That said, I am open to players using character building elements that are not lore-prohibitive from the books. For example, dragonmarks without their lore and place in the world lose a lot so I wouldn't use the dragonmarked subraces, but a past-lives wizard using the Chronomancy subclass from Wildemount I could fit in to my world fairly well.

I addition, As DM I will gladly yank monster stat blocks, magic items, and the like if they fit. So I am using the settings books in the aspect where I'll use setting agnostic material from them that fits my campaign.

This isn't anything against the published settings, just that one campaign wasn't using them, and the other has a very specific setting that has rules changes to support and it's itself.

 

[Marc_C]

I have a home-brew setting on hold due to Covid. I raided stuff from the Greyhawk Folio, old D&D and AD&D modules, Dungeon Magazines and the Midgard 5e bestiary. I only use bits and pieces I recombine them to suite my needs.

I never use official settings 'as is' because I don't want players to 'game the setting' and know things the PCs shouldn't. It's important for me to keep a sense of wonder and discovery active throughout the campaign.

 

[The Glen]

Mystara 5e, using elements from Karameikos, Ylaruam and Ethengar