Which is your favorite published setting and why?

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Halaster Blackcloak
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Which is your favorite published setting and why?

Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

If we ignore for right now the various homebrew campaigns (since most people prefer their own homebrew over anything else), which published campaign setting is your favorite and why?

I myself would have to go with the Forgotten Realms as my all-time favorite setting. There were plenty of good settings, especially in 2E. We had Birthright, we had Greyhawk (in both 1E and 2E!), we had Ravenloft, and many people liked Planescape (very well done, just not my cup of tea).

But to me, the Forgotten Realms was always the most magical. Granted, it did become an idiotic, unending soap opera of power escalation, poor writing, and shoddy design later in 2E. But with its introduction in 1E and even into the early 90's, it ruled!

I think the reason I liked FR so much is that it originally captured the feel of a truly fantastic other world. Greyhawk always felt too political for my tastes. A bit too medieval if you will, at the expense of fantasy. But the FR was magical more than anything. To this very day, reading through the 1E FR Campaign Setting box set gives me the feeling of being drawn into a forgotten world somewhere in the depths of mythological time. It was so rich with interesting things.

There were so many great enemies such as the Zhentarim, the Red Wizards of Thay, etc. There were fantastically developed areas like the Old Empires and Waterdeep. And of course, we got the ultimate gaming accessory of all time and the finest dungeon ever designed by mortals...the Ruins of Undermountain! :twisted:

While Greyhawk is more nostalgic as far as being the first world I ran into, I think the FR also wins for me because it's the first world I had a regular campaign in. So gaming-wise, it's even more nostalgic to me than Greyhawk.

So for all those reasons, FR wins for me. What do the rest of you think?

And, when we're done discussing this, there's an interesting follow-up question that I think you'll enjoy, so stay tuned! :wink:
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Post by Beowulf »

Dragonlance & Spelljammer are the only published settings I really liked, aside from Mystara for basic D&D.
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Post by Mira »

I've played in FR and enjoyed it, I never played in Greyhawk really, though I suppose most of the modules that came out for 1E were in theory set there. I detested the DL modules and Spelljammer never felt like AD&D to me. I really hated Dark Sun and wasn't fond of Ravenloft because I am too much against the idea of a world where good just CAN'T win, only survive.

Al-Qadim was probably my favorite to play in, I didn't get into it when it first came out, but was convinced to give it a try later, and discovered that I really liked it. It really did manage to capture that Arabian Nights feel and I had a blast playing in it. I don't know if it would have held up if I'd played it as much as I played in FR, but I didn't, so the memories of it are still quite good :)

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Post by Varl »

The Realms for me, of course. Greyhawk captured my interest early on in the 1e days, but there was always something missing about it I could never put my finger on. I wanted to like Greyhawk, and tried setting things up in it, but I think it was its lack of detailing that put me off.

Then the Realms came around, and redefined what I wanted out of a game world, and its detailing really captured my DM heart. 8)
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Varl wrote:
Greyhawk captured my interest early on in the 1e days, but there was always something missing about it I could never put my finger on. I wanted to like Greyhawk, and tried setting things up in it, but I think it was its lack of detailing that put me off.
Same here. I can't quite put my finger on it. I think part of it was that it always felt like it was Gary's game, whereas the FR always felt like a world provided for me to develop. Not sure how to explain that, but that's the gist of it. GH always felt likes someone else's world, the FR always felt like my own. Not sure why that is, especially when the FR were far more detailed, but that's how it felt to some degree.

And the politics...too much! What the hell is a Pfalzgraf or a Viscount anyway? You gotta really get into medieval terminology for all that. GH also seemed to be big on city adventure, which I like least.

I think what really turned me off to GH as opposed to FR (not that I didn't like GH, just that it never grabbed me the way FR did) was that there were hardly any non-human races to any significant degree. It seemed that GH was extremely humanocentric, with the various other demihuman races being almost an afterthought. We see this reflected in the harsh 1E class/race restrictions (both in eligibility and level limits). Y'all know how I feel about demihuman level limits! :wink: :twisted:

[Hey! Why is everyone running for the door?] :wink: :lol:

The FR felt much more fantastic, as opposed to a human medieval setting with occasional appearances by elves.
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Post by McDeath »

There are a lot of tough choices to choose from. I started play in the Known World later to be known as Karameikos. That is perhaps always my favorite choice. For a purely produced campaign of dread and fear I will take Ravenloft. When I first saw the boxed set I was like WOW. I've always been a fan of monster movies in-particularly zombies. Here was a setting that focused on the utter hopelessness in a world that was like a dream.
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Post by Beowulf »

After thinking about the question a bit more I have a couple of comments. First, while I like some of the campaign settings, I don't ever set my campaigns exclusively in them. Two really great settings that lend themselves to being incorporated peicemeal are Spelljammer and Ravenloft. Both of these will let you seamlessly lift your PC group out of your regular campaign and drop them into another, allowing you to use a module if you wish, without having to retool or change it to any great degree.

That said, I don't think I'd be very eager to run an entire campaign in either setting. Partly because they're not "AD&D", or at least not the way most of us conceive of the game. They're not completely anachronistic, but I think they make better appetizers or side dishes than main courses. And of course, I'm pretty set on running games in my own homebrewed campaigns.

So while I may love the Dragonlance, Spelljammer and Ravenloft settings, I don't foresee using any of them for long term games. :)
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Post by maraudar »

For me it will always be Greyhawk first then Ravenloft. I played my first adventure in Greyhawk set on the Wild Coast and havent left it yet. AD&D Greyhawk to me has alway had that feeling of roughness that I never found in the other settings (ponders a dig at overpowered FR :P jk).

Being a horror fan I was drawn to RL immediatley. I have been a fan of horror since Creature Features and Sven Ghoulie in Chicago as a little kid. I loved the old flicks and the settings they used. When RL came out I was in heaven. Funny it is the one game I will use the TETSNBN for. It translates fairly for that setting. Sucks foir eveything else.


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Post by Varl »

Another game world I want to eventually run a campaign or 5 through is Mystara. 15 gazateers can't be all that bad, and it looks intriguing enough to me to want to give it a try. I also like the idea of orcs having their own homeland (Orcs of Thar). I imagine that'd be quite a culture shock to stereotypical humanocentric and demihumanocentric nations people are used to. Rawr! :twisted:
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Maraudar wrote:
Being a horror fan I was drawn to RL immediatley. I have been a fan of horror since Creature Features and Sven Ghoulie in Chicago as a little kid. I loved the old flicks and the settings they used. When RL came out I was in heaven. Funny it is the one game I will use the TETSNBN for. It translates fairly for that setting. Sucks foir eveything else.
Oh wow! Do you remember the original Svenghoulie, Jerry G. Bishop, and his show, Screaming Yellow Theater? Some time back they came out with Son of Svenghoulie (Rich Kos), now he's become just plain Svenghoulie. Creature Feautures on WGN was awesome! I have a tape of the opening scenes with that cool Ray Mancini musical score. Memories!
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Ok, here's the follow-up question I promised! :wink:

If you could not play your favorite published campaign setting and had to play using a different one, which would it be, and what would you change about it to make it your new favorite?

For me, I'm going to say that I'd choose Birthright. I've always wanted to run a campaign there. Not sure about everything I'd change. I know I'd change a lot of the wording, because it uses that freaky Celtic style stuff. How the hell does one get a pronunciation of "SHEE-lin" from the word Sidhelien?

Puh-lease! Use words that are pronounced the way they're spelled, or at least are semi-logical? This is more irritating than the goofy "cant" language in Planescape.

I'd change the names of the gods because they're all silly and hard to pronounce.

Other than that, I think I'd keep the rest as it is.

Who's next?
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Post by Varl »

I already answered this one: Mystara.
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Post by jeffx »

Mine is Forgotten Realms. I started with it in Second Edition after reading the Avatar Trilogy novels. I never really followed canon all that much. Basically if it isn't in my box set and FR Adventures it didn't happen and things will happen the way I want them to. Heck, sometimes even if it is written in those books I won't use it. I primarily use it for the cities, maps, deities and powerful organizations. I have never used a known, major NPC....don't think I ever will.
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Re: Which is your favorite published setting and why?

Post by adidamps2 »

Halaster Blackcloak wrote:If we ignore for right now the various homebrew campaigns (since most people prefer their own homebrew over anything else), which published campaign setting is your favorite and why?
DarkSun simply because it is so differnt from any other setting. mere survival is a reward and a steel dagger is a weapon to fear. the alien races (Thri-kreen) , the feral man eating halflings, half-giant door kicker in's, Mul's and tall elves...freaking awesome! plus the art work was fantastic. lets not forget the twist on M-U's, Mul gladiators, Psionics (revised of course) on the house for every one, gladiators, elemental clerics, gladiators and no Paladins (not that I dont like them).

plus the setting left enough open (out side the retarded novel driven meta plot) that as a DM I could come up with what ever material suited the campaign world. it left a lot of flexability in its design.
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Post by adidamps2 »

Halaster Blackcloak wrote:Ok, here's the follow-up question I promised! :wink:

If you could not play your favorite published campaign setting and had to play using a different one, which would it be, and what would you change about it to make it your new favorite?

Who's next?
hmmm, I'd go with GH, and in all honesty I don't know much if anything at all I would change out right. But I can assure you that RoU woul dmake it into the campaign setting :twisted:
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Adidamps2 wrote:
plus the art work was fantastic.
I'd agree with you when it comes to the cover art. Brom all the way! One of my all time favorite AD&D artists. But I always thought the inside art sucked. It was usually done by Baxa, one of the worst artists ever hired by TSR. Yuck! :x
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Post by adidamps2 »

Halaster Blackcloak wrote:Adidamps2 wrote:
plus the art work was fantastic.
I'd agree with you when it comes to the cover art. Brom all the way! One of my all time favorite AD&D artists. But I always thought the inside art sucked. It was usually done by Baxa, one of the worst artists ever hired by TSR. Yuck! :x
I was ussually to mesmorized by by Broms work to notice the shitty stuff inside the books. 8)
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Re: Which is your favorite published setting and why?

Post by jeffx »

adidamps2 wrote: DarkSun simply because it is so differnt from any other setting. mere survival is a reward and a steel dagger is a weapon to fear. the alien races (Thri-kreen) , the feral man eating halflings, half-giant door kicker in's, Mul's and tall elves...freaking awesome! plus the art work was fantastic. lets not forget the twist on M-U's, Mul gladiators, Psionics (revised of course) on the house for every one, gladiators, elemental clerics, gladiators and no Paladins (not that I dont like them).
I tried Dark Sun when was first released. Bought and read the box set. I didn't like it because it was so different. If I would have tried it a year or two later it would probably be my favorite.

So to answer what I would play if not FR,...Dark Sun.
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Post by Zherbus »

FR up to about 1992ish for releases.
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Post by Hegel »

I like FR, especially until 1995-96. I have played a bit of Ravenloft and Mystara (I own those) and once I played Greyhawk but I didn't get the feel very much because it was a very large group (9 people) at a convention and it was 3rd edition if I remember correctly.
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Just wanted to pop in here and say welcome to Hegel, our newest member! :D
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Post by Algolei »

I always wanted medieval and political, so I favoured Greyhawk over all the others until I came to know Birthright. I'd probably still be playing in the Birthright world if they had continued expanding the setting.
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Post by Sir Clarence »

Greyhawk. I never really got into the Realms, and although I very much liked the first publications (grey box etc), the latter development of the setting wasn't my cup of tea.

I've recently purchased Goodman Games' Gazetteer of the Known Realms and really like what I see. I'm actually in the preparation stage for a first campaign on the world of Aereth that is about to launch in autumn.
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Re: Which is your favorite published setting and why?

Post by Torctref Spleenkiller »

Halaster Blackcloak wrote:If we ignore for right now the various homebrew campaigns (since most people prefer their own homebrew over anything else), which published campaign setting is your favorite and why?
I really have 2 settings that I like...

1. World of Greyhawk - very sentimental for me. It's what I grew up on when I first played AD&D..

2. Forgotten Realms - Lately, I have actively started collecting the FR material. And I have to tell you, this is fast becoming a top adventure setting for me... 8) I like FR because the feel of the setting is so very similar to the world that I designed back in '81...so ALL this material is a great wealth for me. 8)
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