What's a good D&D campaign setting for a beginning DM?

[Psiblade]

I would be another one to suggest Eberron. There is only one book. The Eberron book is easy to read. There is also an adventure path of modules coming out for Eberron that can be easy adapted by a new GM for ideas. Eberron actually seems to be designed for newer players in IMHO with the settings lack of uber NPC's. You do not have to worry about some meta-plot affecting your campaign.

-Psiblade

 

[Mercule]

Forget all these settings and start with a small village or town and slowly you can build up from there as based on player actions. KISS is invaluable for being a good GM.

This is my recommendation, too. If he wants a full world map, there are a few sites around that will generate a fractal globe. I think there's one at the Irony Games site (but I'm not sure). From experience, I can tell you that starting small is one of the best things a creative DM can do -- you build the history as you go.

If he really wants a pregenerated setting, my first vote would be Greyhawk -- with just the Gazetteer. It is intentially designed to allow the GM to flesh it out. And it is D&D. Anything core is appropriate to Greyhawk.

Barring that, I'd go with Eberron. There is only one book for it, right now -- that's about as low of product history as you're going to get. There is a bit of new crunch, but most (new races, new class, new critters) fall into the category of not being new rules, just new constructs within the existing rules. Dragonmarks and action points are the only truly new rules, and neither is complex nor required for play. A tip on using action points, though, is to track them by handing out poker chips or tokens to the players, rather than marks on paper.

I'd stay away from FR. Part of that is personal bias, but part is because it is a huge setting with a lot of history and many books. It has a few new systems (spellfire, IIRC) in the core book, too.

I've never opened a Kalamar book, so I can't comment. It might be a great choice, though.

 

[qstor]

I'd second Ghostwind's comments. I think he was reading my mind while I was typing.

Count me as a Third vote for Kalamar!

Mike

 

[devilish]

Valus?

No one has mentioned Valus by our very own Ryan "Destan" Smalley.

Had an interesting experience -- haven't DM'ed in a while and they
pull me out of retirement ("I keep trying to get out but they keep
pulling me back in !!" ) and wanted to go with a new world. I've
got the village down pat but I needed a "world" to put it in, just
for cultural references. Was going to sneak in "Arcana Unearthed" but
I found out at the last minute that one of the players knows it backwards/
forwards/leftwards/rightwards. Down to the wire, I order Valus, have
it shipped overnight (got it Tues) and have been reading it all week.

Short story long.....Valus is an island that you can place anywhere - either
by itself on an oceanic planet, or insert the basic mainland that they
provide. Or, just place the characters in Valus and, as mentioned before,
let the campaign/players dictate how big the world gets/whats there/etc. as
the players start moving beyond the island.

my $(2/100)
-D

 

[teitan]

the Realms aren't that hard to get into and crunchy stuff doesn't come into play for a few levels really. When it comes to starting a Realms game just pick a region, any region, read up on it and start the game. You don't need to read the whole book to get a campaign going by any means. The book looks more intimidating than it is.

Eberron is GREAT. it contains about the same amount of crunch and fluff as the Realms to be honest so it is just as intimidating. What Eberron offers though is a great DM cheat in the matter of religion. You don't need to remember the names of all the gods etc. Now the Dragonmarked houses are a different story altogether.

Jason

 

[The Sigil]

Blackmoor.

The setting book is somewhat light on crunch but heavy on fluff - meaning your players won't be missing out on much if all they have is the PHB.

The setting is the birthplace of the "dungeoncrawl" - which, all things considered, is generally the easiest type of adventure for a beginning DM to run (kill the monster, take the treasure).

The setting has some "hi-tech/steampunk" elements a la Eberron but these don't overshadow the setting; again, you can get away with just using the PHB.

--The Sigil

 

[Ghostwind]

If having a world map is one of your criteria and Kalamar isn't what you want, then I'm going to go the other direction and recommend Oathbound for these reasons (even though it's not exactly 'generic' D&D).

-Full color global map
-Supported campaign settings with supplements that each contain an adventure plus downloadable adventures are available
-Players go into the world knowing virtually nothing and must discover and explore matters on their own
-Easy to control the amount of information the characters know on the part of the DM
-Can run all manner of campaigns (urban, desert, jungle, artic, etc.)
-A huge metaplot that isn't constantly changing (cough *FR* cough) but doesn't have to directly involve the players
-Players begin play at 5th-7th levels rather than 1st
-Capstone campaign setting - meaning it will fit on anyone else's setting with little to no modifications
-Because if you ever played Planescape and/or Dark Sun, you're gonna love it.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

One potential problem with Eberron is that if the DM is a stickler for sticking to canon, he runs the real risk of having future publications contradict campaign history.

 

[Remathilis]

Map of the world thing aside, Kalamar is a great way to go...

* The Core Setting book has 5% Crunch (namely what domains go to what god). 95% fluff/flavor.
* Some excellent supplements (Player's Guide, Atlas).
* 100% D&D, not d20. That means most of their stuff has touches other settings can't (like Beholders!).
* Rich setting, no meta-plot.
* Humanoids that aren't just cannon fodder.

That said, Eberron has
* Lots of action and excitement cinema style built in.
* Action Points are simple enough concept.
* Play it Pulp or Noir style, or both.
* Psionics!
* A World Map, with three underdefined continents for exploration.
* Warforged, they are just so cool
* New = Easy Access to material. No back catalogue

I do want to through a Nod to Faerun, for this reason...
* Crunch level in the core book is not high (some sub-races, feats, domains, few spells, a couple PrCs, and some new gear. Its actually roughly the size of Eberrons, cept they don't introduce and major new rules like AP).
* Lots of room to explore if you can the novels.
* Great Villians
* Plenty of support, including unofficial support.
* Good Locals to explore
* World Map

Personally, you're looking at my list if I was running a pre-published.

 

[jmucchiello]

-A huge metaplot that isn't constantly changing (cough *FR* cough) but doesn't have to directly involve the players

I've run a FR game for years now and I know of no metaplot dictated by the books to me nor of any plot that changes or doesn't change. Course, I haven't read any of the novels and I don't own the supplemental books (silver marches, underdark, etc.) maybe such plots are therein but that doesn't affect my game.

-Players begin play at 5th-7th levels rather than 1st

And this is good for a newbie DM because??? Don't get me wrong I have Oathbound and it is a cool setting but it is not for the new DM. It's more for the DM who wants something different. Or for someone sick of an older setting and wants to break away from it.

Actually, I don't think any campaign setting is good for the new DM. Keep of the Borderlands or Wizards Amulet/Crucible of Freya makes for a better campaign setting IMO. Probably any 1st level module with a developed surrounding would be a better campaign setting than any of the listed ones.

Or as Waylander said. Make a village. Detail an area no more that 4-5 days walk around it. Start playing.

This recent thread is probably apropos: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102982