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

[Faraer]

Please, not the Realms. The feel of the Realms is very different from that of the new D&D, and the setting has suffered more than enough changes already to accommodate it to the roolz.

And while Eberron has a much stronger 3E synergy, it's too much of an acquired taste to provide baseline D&D imagery, and deserves the chance to flourish in its own right.

While I'm not fond of the World of Greyhawk's treatment in the 3E books, Greyhawk Light, the variant World of Greyhawk that's the current 'default setting', is probably the best choice.

 

[Serendipity]

Blackmoor gets the point across, admirably well I think, without the uber-blandness that is FR IMO. But then, I'm also one of those bastoids who think that 3.0/3.5 could use some bloody flavor text now and again.....

 

[francisca]

In this order:

Greyhawk
Blackmoor
Forgotten Realms
CSIO

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

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.

It depends. If it's just a simple tweak (like E3.5), you might as well keep Greyhawk Lite as the default setting. But, if one of the design philosophies of the next edition is to support concepts outside the bounds of the canon of fantasy literature circa 1974, I could see the inclusion of lite versions of a number of settings. Basically the campaign model set-up D20 Modern uses and True20 will be using.

 

[Agamon]

Greyhawk is D&D is Greyhawk. Most everything else was adapted to become D&D (including FR) or veer away in places from the core (like Eberron).

 

[Bavix]

Greyhawk & Kalamar

Greyhawk is definitely my first choice but Kalamar is very close. Kalamar has a similar feel to Greyhawk but is much more internally consistent and better developed.

I honestly think that Kalamar has become what Greyhawk should have been.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I picked GH since it's worked pretty well so far, but I could see Eberron doing the same thing.

Kane

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I'd pick the Forgotten Realms. I love the setting.

 

[Coredump]

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

Well, I'm gonna have to pimp Kalamar. It doesn't change any of the rules, and it shows what can be done with the current rules, *besides* having big magic be the only interesting part of a world.

DnD is about roleplaying, and KoK is a world about how things believably relate to each other, so you can have a believable role in the game. To me, games like FR are more about the 'power magic' than the role playing.


edit: I don't know Freeport very well, but it may be a good choice also.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Well, I'm gonna have to pimp Kalamar. It doesn't change any of the rules, and it shows what can be done with the current rules, *besides* having big magic be the only interesting part of a world.

Yeah, I just about hit myself when I realized I'd left Kalamar off the list--but by then, we'd already gotten so many responses, it would've thrown things way out of whack to ask a moderator to add it in. :\

Guess we'll have to settle for people--like you--bringing it up.