Which Campaign Setting has the best fluff? Why?

[Testament]

Number 3: Eberron

Welcome to the world where, at long bleedin' last, they've realised what could happen with that sort of magic. It feels comfortable to me, like an old shoe, and I feel like I've played in it for years. No other setting has drawn me in like Eberron has. The world is varied and interesting, but unlike FRealms, it all feels like it fits.

Plus, it has Sharn. Other than Sigil, I can't think of another city setting with as much potential as the City of Towers. Go bashing in the Cogs, or mix it up with my favourite part of the setting, the Dragonmarked Houses. WotC finally discovered how to do (potential) enemies who can't fight you, they just make life REALLY hard for you.


Number 2: Planescape

Weird and wonderful Planescape. ANYTHING is possible in The Cage, anything can happen (and usually does). rk post brought this setting to life with his bizarre artwork, the supplements are about the only 2E stuff I'd kill to own, owing to how they drip with the unique flavour of this place.

And Sigil...ahhh, what a place. Go buy your lunch from a Demon, have a drink with some elves from three dimensions to the left, but watch out for everyone. You never know what's happening in this place.

And the Lady of Pain just rocks.


Number 1: Arcanis

When I first played a game of Living Arcanis, I knew that this was a special setting. When I picked up the Player's Guide to Arcanis and Codex Arcanis, and read them, I put them down, breathless. To put it plainly, Arcanis drips with flavour, like all settings should, giving you a fully fleshed out world where everything fits, everything makes sense, and yet you have enough of a blank slate to go nuts.

Its take on so many D&D tropes is interesting, with its single, unified pantheon of Gods which lack any kind of alignment, it's ex-giant Dwarves and its fanged, reptile-created Elves (Elorii). Its a world where you never know who to trust, since the whole place is going to hell in an express elevator, and the powerful are grabbing what they can on the way down. It needs heroes like never before, giving the PCs a real chance to shine, since there's no Edmonster running around stealing your glory.

It's Romanesque setting is also a little change, but one that I find quite refreshing. And Sarish may just be the coolest god in any D&D setting I've ever played in. For Duty and Honour!

 

[Steel_Wind]

For non RPG specific material, there is no question that for sheer volume, nothing really beats DragonLance by virture of all the novels. (150+) But that in itself is a problem as there was no central editing for continuity and, well, a lot of them are just plain bad and hard to make sense of, one with the other.

For me, Krynn was always a game world upon which novels were based, not a game world based on novels. That used to be true in 1st and 2E. But with the 5th age material and the current fan base, the whole of Krynn world design has been stood on its head. I can't say as I am a fan of the approach at all.

I was never really a fan of FR as it was too high powered for me. The fluff might have been just fine- but the underlying crunch was something I could not ignore.

Greyhawk never felt real to me. It had an underlying inability to suspend disbelief. It was always a game world first, never a world in which games were simply set. Fun to play in - but best fluff? No.

Planescape was always too power gamey for me. Sorry - some of the stuff is interesting to read but the setting was too bizarre for me to believe in. Planescape has its supporters and detractors: I'm in the the latter column.

The winner for best fluff IMO is Middle Earth, especially as detailed in ICE's classic campaign sourcebooks and modules, set in the third age after the Great Plague in 1640.

The regrettable thing about Middle Earth is that, Like FR, it became so detailed a setting that is became intimidating to manage and master for the sheer volume and density of game material (aye, HEAVY fluff). Ultimately, it collapsed under its own weight.

 

[Wes]

I've played scores of fantasy settings, from the famous and well known to the obscure or homebrew, and three stand out as the ones I like the best for pure fluff that makes sense, is playable, and fun to read:

1) Kingdoms of Kalamar.
-Hands down this is my favorite setting and the one I've had the most fun running. The cultures are realistic and three dimensional, the world is geographically accurate and interesting, and the fluff is great. I mean, you don't get much better fluff than an entire book for Orc culture (which rules, incidentally). I've played almost every setting mentioned here, and KoK is the one that wins the competition IMO.

I'm with GrimJesta Foo! Kalamar all the way!

 

[DarrenGMiller]

Judging by JUST fluff and fluff alone mind you:


1. Midnight - Amazing setting, but hard as blazes to DM though incredibly rewarding if done correctly.

2. Planescape - I have read but never played. It is engrossing.

3. Eberron - Though I do not care to play in it, it has great fluff.

4. Forgotten Realms - I hate it, but because of the sheer amount of material, some of it hits the mark fluff-wise.

5. EARLY Greyhawk - Feels like an old broken-in recliner or comfy pair of sneakers.

6. Ravenloft - Just remove the conjunction junction (or whatever they called that 2E crap)and it is a great setting.

Young Kingdoms - based on the writing of Micahel Moorcock, you can't go wrong, though there is not much fluff, what is there is well done.

DM

 

[Gez]

If you cite a homebrew describe what makes your fluff unique or more appealing than a published setting.

Because it's my baby!

Seriously, "better" is subjective, and best even more so.

Amongst published settings (that I know well enough to speak about), I'd say, for now, I'd say Eberron is the best one. One of the reasons is that it's the newest, and as such, hasn't accumulated enough baggage of things I don't like.

The Forgotten Realms, for example, are a good setting, but they have a lot of things I don't like much (anything elf-related, mostly ). It doesn't really detract from them during play, but when considering which setting in which to fit a new campaign, that adds weight in the bad scale of the balance.

 

[Mystery Man]

What setting has the best detail (I wont use "fluff") and what has the most detail.

I dont think there is anything post d20 (its good stuff mind you) that can compare with a lot of 1 and 2E publications for the best detail. That being said, Planescape and Forgotten Realms rule them all.

All that being said, It's all subjective as Gez and others have stated.

 

[DaveMage]

What setting has the best detail (I wont use "fluff") and what has the most detail.

I dont think there is anything post d20 (its good stuff mind you) that can compare with a lot of 1 and 2E publications for the best detail. That being said, Planescape and Forgotten Realms rule them all.

All that being said, It's all subjective as Gez and others have stated.

Most detail?

That would be the Forgotten Realms. There are literally over 100 FR sourcebooks.

"Best" detail is, as you say, subjective and a matter of personal preference.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Most detail?

That would be the Forgotten Realms. There are literally over 100 FR sourcebooks.

"Best" detail is, as you say, subjective and a matter of personal preference.

Only on sourcebook count. In word count, it's probably Dragonlance (count the novels).

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Only on sourcebook count. In word count, it's probably Dragonlance (count the novels).

Don't forget the extremely large number of FR novels, though. Perhaps not as many as Dragonlance, but enough to make up for the difference when you take the Realms' greater sourcebook count into consideration.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Only on sourcebook count. In word count, it's probably Dragonlance (count the novels).

There are exactly one squillion and five articles in Dragon written by Ed Greenwood. I'd give FR the wordcount advantage. Dragonlance puts up a good fight though.