Worlds

[Cyronax]

I suppose I'll have to follow suit... Hardest to play as a PC is easily Dark Sun -- it's too brutal, even given all the extra crap you get for it.

The hardest to DM is easily Forgotten Realms, because of the sheer lack of "artistic license" the DM has (lest he alienate his players who have read and grokked every FR book, novel, or fan-composed poem).

Yes FR is indeed a bloated monstrosity , but I think that it can't be considered the hardest world to DM. I mean every world out there can pose for some difficulty. IMO, FR DMs have a wealth of information to help them. That doesn't make for a hard task, just a different way to craft campaigns and adventures.

In the end I think DMing for Planescape is the hardest, because I just always had trouble making up great plots in the planes for low and mid levels PCs.

As for the hardest to be a player in, I'd say its a tie between Dark Sun for all of the reasons already provided.

C.I.D.

 

[A2Z]

I'd really have to say Planescape. Just because the whole premise of the setting is that there's always someone tougher than you around. Dark Sun is a tough world but the setting gives PCs a level boost as well as a boost in their abilities. So while the setting is tough, so are the players.

 

[Kichwas]

I'd say Dragonlance becuase the meta plot is so severe a DM is not left with many options that don't violate player expectations.

 

[Thadeus_Balderk]

For a good DM, any world is hard, and any world is easy... depends of de DM.

I don´t think that Ravenloft is a very hard to survive, you have to be smart. But in Dark Sun ,even if you are smart, you will die. There is a chace to survive, you have to become a cleric (more fortitude) and use a gate to get out...

 

[GrimJesta]

Im going to have to be jerk and add a world not on that list. Im saying that Kingdoms of Kalamar might be the hardest one to DM, but the easiest to play in.

The reason I say it is the hardest to DM is because political intrigue is, IMHO, much deeper than that of most other worlds and as such the DM needs to come up with some elaborate ideas and plots. But the road that is the toughest usually is more rewarding in the end .

A second runner up for hardest-to-DM would be Ravenloft. This is because you have to try so hard to make it really creepy and scary w/o falling to cliches (a cliche usually doesnt invoke fear or a shiver in players as theyve seen it all before).

But this is all just my own opinion.

-=grim=-