Which is the Best WOTC Setting to Purchase?

[GlassJaw]

Monsternonomicon put me to sleep. Sorry man but I was like "Gee this is so damn dry!" But that's just me. *shrugs*

Wow. Just wow. This comment blows my mind.

I never really liked Eberron. It just felt like someone's house rules in hardcover form. I really didn't find it that "fresh" at all, nor did it capture that pulp adventure feel as advertised.

So between FR and Eberron, I would go with FR. Overall, the WotC FR books are some of the best they've released.

As good as it is though, I don't think FR would break my top 5. Iron Kingdoms and Freeport are currently at the top of that list (in that order, but it's close). IK is just amazing. The crunch is just "ok" but the writing and fluff are the best you'll find. Freeport is the quintessential dark and gritty city. There's also a lot of great source material for it, including adventures.

 

[devilbat]

Given the choice of either FR or Eberron, I choose FR. I prefer a more traditional high fantasy, and the level of support over the years for the Realms has been abundant. When I'm running a FR campaign, I ignore most of the "25th level mages around every corner", and I concentrate on making the characters the heroes. My groups never see Elminster et all.

 

[Mercule]

Between Eberron and FR, I'd prefer Eberron. Actually, Eberron has grown on me to the point that I'm even considering running a long-term campaign there. And this is from a guy who has been primarily homebrew (with a bit of Greyhawk) for 25 years, and hates magitech. Something about the way Eberron is set up just resonates, even with Sharn, Warforged, and the Lightning Rail. Those are the only three aspects of the setting that I'm not jazzed about and even if they can't be completely exorcised, they are easy enough to minimize.

The Eberron cosmology and metaphysics are very well done. The Prophesy is a great background item. The planes are interesting. Even Khyber is compelling, and I tend to think the Underdark is one of the dumbest ideas to have ever come out of TSR/WotC.

As for the Realms, well, the 3E FRCS hardback is possibly the best laid-out setting sourcebook to have ever been produced. It's a shame the content is such drek. Also, the deities -- even the scads cribbed from somewhere else -- are well done up and have interesting portfolios, motives, and priesthoods. Beyond that, I can't think of any redeeming features of the setting. It's a kitchen-sink setting where far too many components were just shoe-horned in -- it's got everything you could ever want to do, but getting to it is like finding something in a five-year-old's toybox.

If you want generic/Tolkienesque fantasy, you'd be much better served by using Greyhawk, which is designed to be tweaked a bit; or one of the better third-party settings -- several of which were named earlier.

 

[drothgery]

Count up how many Eberron supplements there are and then count up how many Freeport supplements there are (and include the RPGNow Freeport content).

obDisclaimer: I really didn't do any research on this before replying.

I don't think that's a reasonable comparison. How many of Freeport supplements post-date the launch of Eberron? Freeport's nearly as old as 3e, IIRC. And PDF-only products are borderline as to whether they're worth counting.

 

[Nebulous]

Of the two listed, i've only tried FR (for years i gamed there) so i have a sort of tendency toward it. But man o man, is it a kitchen sink campaign. Great stuff if you're a good DM and can cull out what you don't need, but by default it has TOO many manipulative gods all bashing heads day in and day out with opposing priesthoods, 9th level magic slinging back and forth and more heroes churning out of the woodwork than a slew of carpenter ants.

The FR books are all awesome quality though, even if the content is pretty much re-hashed from older editions.

I'm not being very useful. I've heard Eberron is good, but i'm kind of down on high magic campaigns right now. I dig on Midnight currently, if i didn't run that, i might check out Iron Kingdoms, and Monte's Ptolus book next summer sounds very interesting. Eberron...I dunno, i just don't know too much about it to really say.

And whoever told you third party products sucked has been in a train wreck and is delirious.

 

[Krypter]

Forgotten Realms is good for beginners, Eberron is better for jaded, experienced players.

If you grew up on the old Gold Box video games, or played Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate, then that's all Forgotten Realms. I like it for the nostalgia value and because I'm so familiar with it after having interacted with it for years.

Eberron is new and turns many of the standard pseudo-medieval conventions on their head. For gamers who are bored of the typical goblin-killin', elf-infested fantasy world, it's a breath of fresh air.

I'd recommend Greyhawk if you're new to gaming or if you just want to play a small adventure/dungeon in the middle of nowhere. Dungeon magazine places many of its adventures in Greyhawk by default (thanks, Erik!) and there is a lot of D&D history embedded in it.

Planescape gets my vote for cool, surreal, multi-world fantasy. Better for experienced players though.

 

[Odhanan]

For WotC settings, I'd say Eberron Campaign Setting.

For something "else", but still core D&D, Wilderlands of High Fantasy maybe.
Arcana Evolved for a non-core D&D system with an included setting.

 

[Pseudonym]

Of the two options, I would say Eberron hands down. I don't know if it is that I have become jaded on the Realms over the years, though. Either Eberron or FR is fine for beginning players, though you may want to limit characters to the core plus the campaign setting book for whichever you choose and ignore suppliments at the beginning.

Much as I love Eberron, don't give up on 3rd party settings just yet. Look towards the ones that are generic fantasy with a few cool hooks (Kalamar, Scarred Lands) as opposed to licensed versions of novels (Black Company, WoT, Conan etc.) if you are just starting things. That way you can make things truly yours without feeling constrained by what is already established.

If you want to deviate from d20 a bit, yet still retain a fantasy feel, Blue Rose has a great mechanics system, just ignore the vomit-inducing world it comes packaged with.

 

[shaylon]

It depends on what you want. For the sake of argument I am not going to comment on third party settings as it appears that you are set on a Wotc one. I think that 3rd party might be the way to go, however, but I digress.

I would go FRCS but I prefer that style of fantasy. Eberron is more technologically advanced which may suit you a bit better. If money is a factor there are several more FR books than Eberron currently so that may steer you towards Eberron. If 3.5 is a factor you may want to go Eberron because some of the FR books have not been converted to the 3.5 rules.

Hope this helps you.

-Shay

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hi all-

I really did not realize that such a question would get such extream responces. One reason for my preference for the WoTC settings over the non-WoTC is because I was told most TPM's are badly produced and edited, hence, my preference for WoTC's settings.

Anyway, perhaps Eberron might be the way to go, it does sound like a really cool setting with great production values.

Scott

Some questions to ask then:

Who told you that most non-WotC settings are bad?

Why did they tell you this? Do they gain anything from your buying WotC? (I.e. they already have all the books, work for a store that carries WotC or needs to special order other companies' material.)

Ask them what campaign settings they have looked at, and if they in turn tell you that 'they have been told, but have not looked themselves' (disturbingly common) then disregard it and look for yourself. No one knows your tastes better than you. If they can tell you what they did not like then listen and see whether their dislike is a matter of taste. I have met people who cannot stand Midnight, purely because it is an amazingly bleak world. But if it is to your taste then there is no setting better. I have met people who hate the Iron Kingdoms because it has guns. (Which is one of the major reasons that I like it.)

I have run into a bookstore that would recommend WotC simply because it was all they carried, naysaying other settings. When the clerk was commenting on the other settings to a customer I asked the clerk the clerk to describe even one non-WotC setting, he hadn't read any, but was pumping shelf stock instead - which is a good reason to say good things about WotC, but a bad reason to speak against non-WotC.

I am not saying that WotC is bad, simply that there are better. Midnight, Iron Kingdoms, Oathbound, and Wilderlands are all excellent, but cater to very different tastes. While I had some criticisms about Scarred lands the amount of support was excellent as well. As I said, even with my critiques, I hold iSL to the same level as the WotC setting that I like best. Personally, I very much like the feel of Eberron, and would rate it with some of the non-WotC settings that I like.

The Auld Grump, who prefers more coherent settings than the WotC norm.