WotC comes to you and asks you to pick a setting...

[Mouseferatu]

Okay, you're sitting at home, minding your own business, when you get a phone call from someone at Wizards fo the Coast. They've decided that for the next edition (or simple update of this edition), they aren't certain they want to keep Greyhawk as the default setting, and for whatever reason, they've asked you to choose. You can pick any setting ever published in print for 3E/3.5, regardless of company.

However, they are certain to make one thing clear. They're not asking you to choose your favorite setting. They're asking you to choose the setting that, in your mind, most effectively and most completely serves as a strong example of what D&D is and can do, and has the greatest opportunity to showcase the rules as written. You cannot change any of the game to make a certain setting fit best. You must choose the setting that you feel best represents the rules as they stand now.

What do you pick? (And if it's one I didn't have on the poll, please tell me what it is.)

(And BTW, I deliberately left off any cultural settings, such as Nyambe or Hamunaptra, since no matter how cool they are, they're not the best models for the core rules as written.)

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

With those constraints...either Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms.

 

[dagger]

Thats a tough question Mouse, and I can honestly say I will need to think about it for a while.

But I am leaning towards one of the already established settings like FR or GH.

 

[Timeboxer]

Eberron. I say this largely because of the ways in which the D&D 3.5 rules have been applied in such a way as to actually shape the campaign world itself -- e.g., Dragonmarks, magic item creation, etc. For showcasing what the RAW can do for you, it does a very good job.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Man, this is tough! I picked Greyhawk, but I could have picked Scarred Lands and City State of the Invincible Overlord as well.

 

[d20Dwarf]

It definitely has to be a house setting, so FR, GR, or EB. There's no question they model the rules as WotC wants them to be modeled, right? Most other settings are experimental or targeted in some way, and so would not really do to be a neutral showcase for the ruleset.

Personally, I think they should stick with Greyhawk.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'd say Eberron most represents the current rules-set and look of the game.

I do like Greyhawk and FR more, though. Planescape and Spelljammer would both fit well, especially with the Dungeonpunk look that is currently espoused, but they're entirely too "out-there" to be the default setting.

 

[BvS]

Eberron was written specifically with the current rules in mind, in that sense it really is the best fit. Although there are some decidedly un-core things in there... but if it were for a new addition or another revamp of 3e (...3.75 perhaps?), then those things would be taken into account most likely.

 

[Stormborn]

I wonder how long Eberron and Greyhawk are going to overwhelm FR, and what that says about FR.

 

[KaosDevice]

I had to vote Forgotten Realms just because it has that 'classic high fantasy' feel that seems so deeply a part of D&D. City State appealed to me just because of the old school value.