Which D&D Settings Do You Play In?

Over on the right of the news page is a new poll which asks which D&D setting you currently play in. Obviously WotC has its own survey data, and we know from that that 55% of people use home-brew settings, 35% play in the Realms, 5% in Greyhawk, and the remaining 5% is divided between the rest. I figured it would be fun to see how closely EN World's members track to that overall survey; how closely to we represent the official data? To that end, I've listed a number of settings. The question is what you PLAY in? It's not "what would you LIKE to play in", or "what would you like to see more support for?" -- it's what are you PLAYING in right now? I know some folks have more than one game going and they may be different settings. That's why I've allowed a choice of three in the poll. If you have four or more games in multiple settings -- well, I'm envious. I took the list from the Wikipedia page of 25 settings, so if you're mad and incensed about the list or its ordering or whatever (because Internet) blame Wikipedia! Some settings incorporate others (Kara-Tur is in the Realms, for example), but I"m keeping it simple with the top level list.

Here's what WotC's survey says we play (that data comes from Chris Perkin's panel at Gamehole Con). Let's see how closely we match it. The survey is on the right hand side of the news page, or it's at the top of the discussion thread, depending where/how you're viewing this.

 

[sleypy]

I'm playing in a homebrew world that includes a lot of elements of Nentir Vale; it use bits of Darksun, Eberron and Realms. My races draw influenced from Darksun and Eberron. Nentir Vale, Greyhawk & The Realms are mostly resources for coming up with names, so cities, NPCs, gods, dragons, etc. (I like FR bizarre naming conventions for dragons.)

I do have tidbits from Al Qadim, but it is more of a stylistic influence.

 

[sleypy]

Wonder how this poll would compare to a " What setting do you WANT to play in?" one. I'm pretty sure there would be a noticeable shift in the percentages.

Would be different for me. Most of all my Realms games and the Realms that has bled into my homebrew have been due to me trying to be inclusive. I've shifted towards other systems just to escape the Realms generic fantasy.

 

[Connorsrpg]

Currently running a school group in Forgotten Realms and other group (which has not convened for a while) in Golarion. Strangely, I am not a fan of either. I much prefer to develop my own mini settings, or many others. Hence I choose not to vote, as I picked up the starter set, and it was of course set in FR, so I just ran with it. I started the Rise of the Runelords AP a long time ago now, as again, went with ease of use by choosing an AP already written, but have not enjoyed having pathway mapped out with little input to the setting/game myself.

Personally, I also feel this poll serves little purpose. For 5E everything is written for FR and when a new edition comes out people tend to go with what is available to try it out. I still don't think we are long enough in to the cycle for too many groups to be home brewing and there has been next to nothing for other settings. Well, no adventures anyway. This will just make it look like FR is the most 'popular', whereas it is simply most played in 5E as there is little choice if you want to run a game with little prep.

(Also running 2 Cypher System games; Deadlands and home brew Post Apocalyptic).

 

[PMárk]

Ravenloft as the 2nd most-played official setting? Interesting and dreadfully heartwarming.

 

[Morrus]

Ravenloft as the 2nd most-played official setting? Interesting and dreadfully heartwarming.

Coordinated effort from somewhere. Poll's over, I guess.

 

[Connorsrpg]

[MENTION=6695396]sleypy[/MENTION]. I also have moved to other systems, simply for a change, and awaiting 5E to come to the party on non-Realms stuff.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Honestly, I think WotC themself needs to do a second poll asking people which settings they prefer to play in if WotC published a support book for it. (Note: I don't think most of the settings need their own book, but it wouldn't hurt to least make a 'Worlds of D&D' book updated the necessary crunch for some things).

I'm guessing that if they were to compare those results with the current results they could get some good data. While Forgotten Realms is a popular setting, it is skewing high because they are pushing it with all of their products (though I do appreciate the adoption of the multiverse as the official default setting, with integrated information about some of the more popular worlds other than FR in the core books and others).

On this poll, I went with home-brew, Ravenloft, and Planescape. Ravenloft because a friend runs that, home-brew because we both run home-brews, and Planescape because my home-brew is going to encompass the whole multiverse. There really isn't a particular emphasis on Planescape as a setting though, so that's not exactly accurate. To be more accurate I'd have to go down and tick every box where one of the PCs is from, since they travel around.

 

[Wrathamon]

so 46% of enworlders play actively in Ravenloft campaigns?? That is very surprising.

I have played Ravenloft once and it was Castle Ravenloft adventure.

I might assume that people thought the poll was what is their favorite campaign setting or what they want to play in, then what they are actively playing in. But, if this is the case then we need a Ravenloft Campaign Book now.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I'm only playing my wife's homebrew

This statement warms my heart. Good for her!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

We're playing in Greyhawk at the moment as we're playing through RttToEE. When we finish that campaign and switch to 5E I think it is likely that we will switch to the Forgotten Realms as that's where the WotC adventures are based, so it might be easier not having to worry about converting names and places across.