Which D&D Campaign World did you enjoy most?

[Diamond Cross]

I like FR and Dark Sun.

 

[Philosopher]

Dragonlance has serious problems though. The comic relief races need to be toned down and reimagined, and the villains of the campaign need to wear less black hats. There has also been a great deal of discontinuity and cataclysm after cataclysm. So a reboot from scratch like Dark Sun would be nice.

True, although I personally feel a little torn about having a reboot of Dragonlance. In some ways, I like the time shortly after the War of the Lance the best, but I quite like some of the later features of the setting, such as the Knights of Neraka, the Legion of Steel, sorcerers and mystics.

Mystara, the Forgotten Realms, and Greyhawk all make the same mistake. They use ethnic and national stereotypes of Earth and then rename them.

Here is a post in a thread on the Piazza that describes the human ethnicities of Greyhawk. I used to assume that they were supposed to map onto real world ethnicities, but it turns out that that's not quite accurate.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

He's probably thinking the same as I which was that rather than be a campaign setting in it's own right it was just a larger expansion on the planes of existence.

Hm, I've never heard that take before.

Anyone who wants to look at it that way can count me as a lover of Sigil and its 'larger expansion of the planes.' Cooler by far than those campaign settings.

 

[Set]

Zakara, Kara-Tur, Scarred Lands and Freeport. I can't pick one.

I'm also very fond of Greyhawk, Eberron, Golarion and the pre-ToT Realms, 'though.

If someone made a campaign world that included Zakara, Kara-Tur, Nyambe, Hamunaptra, Naranjan and Freeport, I'd probably explode from sheer awesome overload.

 

[Remathilis]

I usually homebrew, as do many of the DMs around me. However, on occasion we've delved into non-homebrewed worlds, and here is my faves.

To Play In: Planescape. Man, it was so cool and I loved the slightly off-kilter feel to the planes, esp. Sigil.

To Read: Ravenloft. I didn't mind small stories set there, but I'm not sure I could make it a campaign. However, I could read the novels and old game-books for hours...

To Run: Eberron. Its 20th century feel was a great relief from sword-n-sorcery. Its also one of the most logical settings I've seen. I so wish there had been a few more supplements before the 4e switchover (and the subsequent 3-books-done method of handling settings).

Honorable Mentions: Golarion is a setting I keep meaning to learn more about; gonna need to get the Inner Sea guide sometime. Likewise, I REALLY wish I'd have picked up the Gazetteer of the Known Realms (Aerth) before it went OOP. Both of those worlds do a good job of presenting classic D&D worlds that are perfect for adventuring in.

I'd be remiss to not mention Mystara, for it was my first setting and my Homebrew is built on its skeleton.

LEAST FAVORITE: I never got into Dark Sun, since I don't really like the survival/grim situation. Likewise, Midnight's doom-and-gloom never was my cup of tea. However, the honor for least goes to Kalamar; ye gods, the Kalamar books were some of the most BORING book's I'd ever read. It was like reading the Encyclopedia! Top that with unpronounceable names and the flattest pantheon I'd ever seen, and I couldn't get 5 seconds into any book produced. I seriously couldn't believe it was done by the same people who do KotDT and Hackmaster...

 

[hewligan]

I never got to play in it, but Freeport was the campaign setting I could not put down. Beautiful writing - way beyond the level you see on most RPG material. Perhaps one day I will get to play or DM in this world.

For nostalgia reasons, and also because the grey box was awesome to a starting DM, the Forgotten Realms. Yes it was a kitchen sink setting, but it spawned a hundred adventures for me and my friends.

And the ones that never really worked for me:
Scarred Lands - I just did not connect with it
Eberron - felt like a gem of an idea killed by having to bring along a lot of DnD baggage.
Greyhawk - totally passed me by with its strong European flavour

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I couldn't select a single setting or two, because each setting can shine when the right stories are told in it, and the stories make use of the background's peculiarities.

Planescape and Spelljammer each have a premise which leaves me shaking my head; I don't feel any pull from them.

Jakandor really interests me as an experiment, but I haven't had the opportunity to play in this setting.

 

[Pickles JG]

Planescape - just mind boggling
Eberron - great twist, grey & grown up not the tiresome good v evil of other settings
Al Q'uaddim - rich flavour

I find the standard fantasy worlds Greyhawkk, FR very boring. I don't like fantasy fiction as a rule but do like noire & murder mysteries & the Arabian Nights.

 

[Psion]

Overall - My homebrew, Trinalia (and my Mearls inspired expansion of it, River of Worlds.)

Published, official - Planescape

Published, third party - Scarred Lands, Second World, and Freeport

 

[Mr. Wilson]

My favorite published setting I can now safely say is Eberron. It just works on so many levels for me personally, and has become my default world.

Pre-Eberron, I enjoyed the Realms greatly, but we mainly played homebrews.