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.

 

[Cristian Andreu]

My main campaign is set in Planescape + Spelljammer. Running two secondary campaigns (one starts later today, in fact) in the Realms.

 

[phantomK9]

Been playing in a weekly game set in Forgotten Realms and have been running a twice a month game also set in the the Realms. But just yesterday I decided to dust off my old Thunder Rift modules because my kids wanted to play D&D. Will find out how well it converts soon.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

I'm planning a Midgard game for next semester for our ESL D&D club, and doing some preliminaries for a Forgotten Realms game sometime in the future. (The Realms game could conceivably include bits of Spelljammer and/or Planescape.)

 

[JeffB]

Not sure how to vote.

I run mostly short one/two/three shot types of adventures and it varies.

The last couple were a riff on the criminally under-rated/under-utilized sandbox presented in the orange cover B3 ("Glantri/Known World", but not, as it was axed later by TSR), but I have transplanted SaltMarsh and The House , as well as other Greyhawk-isms....Keoland, the Wild Coast, etc. Stuff from The Wilderlands, etc.

I've been using it for Dungeon World and 5E. Been quite fun.

So..."other"?

or

"homebrew"?


ENWorlders make the call.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Sounds pretty homebrew to me!

 

[TenaciousJ]

I run my campaigns in Eberron. Lightning rails, airships, dragonmarks, warforged, and psionics that are not an afterthought are all too fun.

I would be more willing to check out some other settings if the material was more readily available. Eberron source books are still relatively easy to find. Dark Sun sounds appealing but I cannot be sure as I have never played in a Dark Sun game and everything I know about the setting is second- and third-hand knowledge. As a DM, I don't get a lot of inspiration when asked to use the more generic fantasy settings.

 

[Mad Zagyg]

Ravenloft just all of a sudden shot up, that seems a little suspicious.

Quite frankly, I'm a little shocked that Ravenloft is a favorite in such high numbers. It makes me really wonder what people are thinking when they select it as a "campaign setting." Do they really mean that they like Ravenloft "the adventure?" Because that's not a campaign setting.

I like the adventure too, but the setting is really awful, in my opinion. It always struck me as a campaign where it doesn't really matter if your heroes win or lose. In the end, no matter what you accomplish, the "citizens" are still stuck in some weird, grim, patchwork realm. Big deal if they defeated the Dark Power ruling whatever realm they're in. It's still surrounded by six more Dark Powers, each ruling their own equally horrible realm. Yay.

If this many people really like playing in a depressing Cthulhu-esque campaign setting, I guess I stand corrected. But I really wonder if people aren't just voting on their favorite classic adventure when they click that button.

 

[Wrathamon]

FR is skewed because most public play is FR.

If I started a game today it would be home-brew, darksun or eberron.

As a kid I ran homebrew Greyhawk, but switched to homebrew FR with the Graybox. I tried Darksun but no one wanted to play. I switched to Eberron as a DM, but most other DMs played in FR. I only played in one Greyhawk campaign growing up.

I actually like the 4e default setting. It's got a fun homebrew feel to it. Simple, nostalgic and quite a lot of depth to explore and develop as a dm.

 

[JRedmond]

All the books are FR I don't think its skewed at all.

 

[TwoSix]

Quite frankly, I'm a little shocked that Ravenloft is a favorite in such high numbers. It makes me really wonder what people are thinking when they select it as a "campaign setting." Do they really mean that they like Ravenloft "the adventure?" Because that's not a campaign setting.

I like the adventure too, but the setting is really awful, in my opinion. It always struck me as a campaign where it doesn't really matter if your heroes win or lose. In the end, no matter what you accomplish, the "citizens" are still stuck in some weird, grim, patchwork realm. Big deal if they defeated the Dark Power ruling whatever realm they're in. It's still surrounded by six more Dark Powers, each ruling their own equally horrible realm. Yay.

If this many people really like playing in a depressing Cthulhu-esque campaign setting, I guess I stand corrected. But I really wonder if people aren't just voting on their favorite classic adventure when they click that button.

I knew quite a few people during college (back in the late 90s) for whom Ravenloft was their favorite setting, and none of us had even heard of the adventure. Those Van Richten's guides were really popular.