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Tyndmyr
2010-08-17, 11:29 AM
Actual, published worlds...which are your most commonly used settings, and favorite settings? If both are custom, please describe, and feel free to add on your favorite standardized ones.

Most commonly used: Custom metasetting that treats most established settings as continents in a world. Additional planes of existance also apply.
Followed by greyhawk, then faerun.

Favorite: Custom metasetting in which worlds are connected via Sigil and spelljammer. Followed by Eberron, then Spelljammer.

pife
2010-08-17, 12:34 PM
Definitely Faerun (Forgotten Realms), followed by Ravenloft.. Truth be told, Ravenloft would probably be #1 if it was easier to find players that didn't run screaming when you told them you wanted to run a campaign there.

Guess I had a reputation for being "evil" back then.

I wanted to run Castles Forlorn so bad I could smell the rotting flesh.. But my players realized that A) it's Ravenloft, and B) I'm still me, so they convinced themselves that nobody would survive the first session.. They're totally wrong!! They would have at least made it to the second.

Aroka
2010-08-17, 12:40 PM
Dark Sun, Ravenloft. Because different and harsh is awesome, and because horror is awesome.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-08-17, 12:42 PM
Favorite: Eberron hands down, (Must be cause I was introduced into the game through it)

Second: Standar PHB setting (I think is Greyhawk)

Third: Forgotten realms

arguskos
2010-08-17, 12:42 PM
Planescape. There's something endearing about the planes, a sense of wonder and excitement, where there's always something *new* around each corner, I love and thrive on it.

After that comes Spelljammer (same as Planescape's feel, but far sillier), and the Forgotten Realms (I grew up on high fantasy, and I really LIKE the depth of the Realms, even though like half of everyone ever born hates the setting, so I never get to play in it).

dsmiles
2010-08-17, 12:45 PM
Does it have to be TSR/WoTC?

If not, Iron Kingdoms. Love that steampunk.

If so, Dark Sun. Feral Halflings rule!

Yora
2010-08-17, 12:46 PM
Planescape. There's something endearing about the planes, a sense of wonder and excitement, where there's always something *new* around each corner, I love and thrive on it.
Planescape!!!

Kalaska'Agathas
2010-08-17, 12:47 PM
For me, Eberron. Nothing quite compares to Sharn, to the intrigue, to the wonders of that world.

Second has to be Ravenloft.

Mongoose87
2010-08-17, 12:52 PM
*sigh*

Planescape, je t'aime.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-08-17, 12:52 PM
Planescape... I have heard marvelous things about the setting but I have a nagging suspicious it was for 2ed.. if so is there some sort of fan conversion similar to athas.org ?

Yora
2010-08-17, 12:54 PM
Planescape is the setting that got the rediculous prices at eBay some years ago. :smallbiggrin:
There's a site called Planewalker, I think, but I don't know how extensive their setting introduction is.

Mongoose87
2010-08-17, 12:54 PM
Planescape... I have heard marvelous things about the setting but I have a nagging suspicious it was for 2ed.. if so is there some sort of fan conversion similar to athas.org ?

There's some information in the Manual of the Planes, the Planar Handbook, and there's a group that did an independant 3E conversion. Planewalker.net, I think?

Tyndmyr
2010-08-17, 01:00 PM
Does it have to be TSR/WoTC?

If not, Iron Kingdoms. Love that steampunk.

I've got me some Iron Kingdoms too...good one.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-08-17, 01:02 PM
Thanks going to look for it.

Telasi
2010-08-17, 01:07 PM
Most played: Eberron
Favorite: Forgotten Realms

I'm a sucker for the Realms, honestly. Sadly, most of the people I play with don't necessarily agree.

Grommen
2010-08-17, 01:12 PM
Gonna have to go with the Realms Forgotten, due to the fact that I have over the past twenty or so years wreaked so much havoc upon the face of Faeurn. Very few places I can't tell you a really bad story about how we insulted someone, or killed some gnarly bad ass Dragon, Litch, Beholder, hell prolly a few kings if I think on it enough. Been tossed out of Cormyer, threatened by the Lords of Waterdeep, cursed at by Bruner. Found the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords like seven times :smallbiggrin: We have so many Books of Vial Darkness we have made a DVD box set of Darkness, with two extra hours of darkness! Their in a vault up in Bloodstone Valley guarded by a 25th level Cleric of Moridin.

Ay yessss. Knighted in a few, Indited in many.

#2 is going to have to be the boys over at Pathfinder. Their world is familiar and at the same time different. They are doing a fine job, and in at least our first campaign over in their waters we have managed to keep on to our old traditions (Playing "A Second Darkness"). We have managed to at least anger one of the Pirate Lords of Riddleport, clear out a Drow controlled city, send more than our fair share of Demons back to the Abyss, and soon I am thinking we are going to tell a honest to the gods Fairy Elf Queen that she is full of <your favorite excrement here>.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-08-17, 01:14 PM
Planescape (and to a lesser extent Greyhawk) basically are D&D to me; when I hear D&D, the first things I think of are the Circle of Eight, modrons, Iuz, Sigil, and so forth. I'm also a big fan of Dark Sun and Spelljammer.

Silly Wizard
2010-08-17, 01:23 PM
Eberron, followed by Dark Sun.

I love Eberron so much. You can play political intrigue around the cities, then have dungeon crawls while you are exploring the ruins and jungles of Xen'drik.

FelixG
2010-08-17, 01:31 PM
Favorite: Eberron hands down, (Must be cause I was introduced into the game through it)

Second: Standar PHB setting (I think is Greyhawk)

Third: Forgotten realms

This. But because it introduces playable constructs.

I <3 constructs.

hamishspence
2010-08-17, 01:34 PM
I like them- and managed to come up with a plausible reason for warforged in Faerun:

(one of the empires was already famous for fielding huge armies of constructs, so the idea that they could have made sentient ones as well, isn't that far-fetched).

bravebonebook
2010-08-17, 01:47 PM
Eberron by a landslide. I own every book for the setting (even the novels) and, though I don't play 4e, even buy some of those if they include something new for it. I've been playing since 1st Ed. and Eberron creates a world for my tastes that even the Realms doesn't duplicate.

Balain
2010-08-17, 01:47 PM
My first choice tends to be Greyhawk. I grew up with it and it has a place in my heart.

One of my favorite campaigns was a mix of Birthright/Greyhawk/my own stuff.

I'm currently running in Forgotten realms but I hate forgotten realms, but that is what the players wanted.

arrowhen
2010-08-17, 02:00 PM
Utterly generic swords & sorcery with a minimally detailed starting area, brief, evocative flavor text about the rest of the world, and everything else made up on the fly.

The-Mage-King
2010-08-17, 02:05 PM
Ebberon, Planescape, and Spelljammer.

Robots, espers, airships, aliens, sliders, and probably time travelers, spaceships, wierd creatures, and, of course, minature GIANT SPACE HAMSTERS!

What more could I want?

Terraoblivion
2010-08-17, 02:10 PM
For me as well it is Eberron. The way it was built more or less in one go, rather than pieced together over the years, is quite apparent and makes it come off comparatively stronger. I also like how firmly it sticks to its own core assumptions about the world and the rules. Also who can't love a setting which has a city that manages to combine sword and sorcery and cyberpunk as well as a city based on late 1940s Vienna? Really, i also like that they take politics and history seriously in the development of the setting, rather than going for the usual good kingdom/bad kingdom setup, it even manages to make a vampire and a hobgoblin two of the rulers most worthy of support.

The only competitor among D&D settings is the version of Ravenloft written by the fans and published by White Wolf for 3.X. It manages to actually take what is probably the most patchworky setting ever and work it together into a coherent whole, while also emphasizing all the good in the world to give the horrible to have something to contrast against. I still think that the more versatile setting of Eberron wins out in the balance.

Greenish
2010-08-17, 02:10 PM
Though I read my fair share of Dragonlance and FR novels before I even started gaming, I'll have to say Eberron is by far my favourite setting.

Didn't we have one of these threads not long ago?

TechnOkami
2010-08-17, 02:29 PM
DragonMech, its a steampunkish campaign. Never heard of Iron Kingdoms though...

Erom
2010-08-17, 02:43 PM
Most Common: 4e Standard (called POL by some)

Favorite: Eberron

All I ever wanted through all of my high school second edition campaigns was a PC Golem. When warforged were released I was joyful.

hobbes1020
2010-08-17, 02:44 PM
Forgotten Realms.

Eberron is a distant second.

I've heard really good things about the PF setting and would like to try it out.

Eldan
2010-08-17, 02:44 PM
Planescape. There's a 3rd ed conversion, but to be quite honest, it's not necessary. I have the 2nd ed books as PDF and they are just as useful if playing 3rd edition rules or Pathfinder or Mutants and Masterminds or any rule system. Because they are real RPG books: a hundred and fifty pages of fluff. An NPC description consists of three pages of fluff and one small paragraph of rules.
Not to say that Planewalker isn't a great site, of course.

Emmerask
2010-08-17, 03:03 PM
I like to have a lot of supplement books/novels to a setting so for d&d it is:

1) Faerun I think nothing comes even close to the 100 or so books published for that setting some of them are awesome (Cormyr saga) some are okayish and some are not that good. Even if some of them are slightly out of canon it still adds immensely to the setting.

2) Dragonlance

3) Planescape

pargbonecrusher
2010-08-17, 03:07 PM
I will be talking about 3.5 because I haven't played much 4.0 and no different settings on that either.

My favorite would have to be Eberron. If only because I don't consider Stormwreck and Sandstorm different settings.

Although, I would say, X-Crawl (http://www.goodman-games.com/xcrawl.html) is a pretty fun setting. More info in the hyperlink.

Yes, I know it's not specifically D&D, but it still is fun to have in a campaign.

Eldariel
2010-08-17, 03:20 PM
Most commonly used: Well, frankly, homebrew. Our groups mostly end up playing in homebrew/semi-homebrew settings. That said, we have a pretty healthy mix of official settings in Planescape/Dark Sun/Ravenloft/Eberron/FR but while I obviously have preferences, so does the rest of the group kinda splitting us up.

Favorite: Planescape followed by Dark Sun. They're different, have really strong feel to them and expansive lore. They feel special and they're anything but "Our World + Magic". There are tons of engaging figures in both and just the overall style of the worlds is awesome (in completely different ways for each, of course).

NeutralAwesome
2010-08-17, 03:32 PM
For me, Eberron. Nothing quite compares to Sharn, to the intrigue, to the wonders of that world.

Second has to be Ravenloft.

That up there.

potatocubed
2010-08-17, 03:34 PM
Planescape. Hands down, no question.

Cedrass
2010-08-17, 08:21 PM
It'll have to be Dark Sun.

Really, the second edition of it was so harsh and flavorful! I loved how I never really felt *safe* anywhere. Cities with the Templars or outside with... well... outside :smallwink:

Wish I could find a group to play...

Zombieboots
2010-08-17, 08:38 PM
Planescape!

Not only vanilla planescape but planescape because it practically includes most all other worlds as well.

Remmirath
2010-08-17, 08:40 PM
Most commonly used: Homebrew, hands down. I'm not sure that I have ever actually run a campaign in a pre-created setting, though I have played in some.

Brief description of the current one - D20 Modern used as a framework to connect a wide variety of other worlds and settings together via portals and with an overreaching plot. The D20 Modern element has largely vanished save as a base of operations. There are three of us taking turns DMing within the framework, and we all have our various worlds and plot threads. That's a very truncated explanation, as the game has been running for years now, but it's the basic thing.
It has acquired at least occasional elements of most settings over the years.

Favourite: Leaving aside homebrew (which I do tend to prefer - I like to have free reign), definitely Planescape. I'm quite fond of it. It has an interesting feel. I also like Ravenloft, though I know a good deal less about it - but I very much enjoyed the only couple of campaigns I've played in it.
Greyhawk is what I think of when I think of D&D, though, and to a lesser extent Forgotten Realms. Of the two I prefer Greyhawk.

The Big Dice
2010-08-17, 08:55 PM
I was about to wax lyrical about Ytarria from GURPS Fantasy when I caught the title of the thread. So I'll subvert things a little instead :smallbiggrin:

Most Commonly Played: Rokugan. Admittedly not using D&D as a game engine, but since it was a the OA setting for 3.0, I figure I can sneak it in there.

It's deep, it's subtle, it's intricate and it's the only example I can think of where a whole range of books are promoting what's effectively a Lawful Evil setting.

Favourite: I'm going to show my age here, but the Hollow World is probably my favourite setting. I've got a soft spot for lost worlds, dinosaurs and Ray Harryhausen. I can't help but feel that HW brings all those elements together.

Jarawara
2010-08-17, 09:22 PM
Grognard Alert!

I always preferred Greyhawk over the others.

But of course, I don't actually game in Greyhawk. I have my own world. I just like looking at all the nice Greyhawk pictures. :)

Thurbane
2010-08-17, 09:23 PM
My stock standard answer...GREYHAWK. :smallsmile:

When not running homebrew I (and most of the rest of my group) default our setting to Greyhawk. I'm currently running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft...and have set Barovia in a province of Greyhawk (since EtCR isn't set in a demiplane like the Ravenloft campaign Setting).

Vortling
2010-08-17, 09:27 PM
Eberron is my favorite D&D setting.
The most common that I've played or run is homebrewish combinations that have nearly everything in them.

Lhurgyof
2010-08-17, 09:39 PM
Dark Sun all the way, I liked how it was different and you're seemingly more powerful (until you realize everything else can and will kill you). xD

Trodon
2010-08-17, 10:13 PM
#1: Dragonlance hands down no contest. (Although I have never actually played in a Dragonlance game. :smallfrown:)

#2: Faerun.

Darkxarth
2010-08-17, 10:19 PM
Most Commonly Used Published Setting: Generic 3.5 Setting (Greyhawk, technically, though I always create my own kingdoms and continents on Oerth).

Favorite Published Setting: Eberron (magic as Victorian tech = awesome).

darkpuppy
2010-08-17, 10:22 PM
Most Commonly Played/Run: Faerun. Mainly trying to get a group in Pembs who has a big enough pair to play all the way through Return to Undermountain.

Favourite: Oh, Dark Sun, without a doubt. Brilliant oppurtunities for character roleplay, great setting, and, on top of that, as a BGMFH (Think BOFH), it gives me a warm fuzzy glow to tell the players they didn't bring enough water... halfway through their travels. Can't do that too often, naturally...

...I also love Thri-Kreen, especially after reading Thri-Kreen of Athas (a book I *have* to get another copy of!)

Mordar
2010-08-17, 11:47 PM
Most Commonly Played: These days it'll be homebrew, mostly.

Favorites:

Greyhawk - Fell in love with the old yellow boxed set, the super-cool maps and all the standards. I really enjoyed Living Greyhawk, and my best-run game was in the Kingdom of Nyrond. Heck, even played in a RoleMaster campaign set in Greyhawk for several years;
Lankhmar - A city campaign is very hard to run well, but I was lucky enough to be in a great one in a great city setting;
Forgotten Realms - Wonderfully flavored over the last 15 years, sufficiently familiar to enough people that it is easy to start an FR game, yet so varied and far-reaching that there's always new things to learn and new places in which to play;
Iron Kingdoms - Only got to play a little bit, but I loved it!;
Rokugan - Great setting, but not a great setting for D&D;
Ravenloft - Fantastic reading...the original module was ABSOLUTELY GROUNDBREAKING, and the ideas are wonderful...but as mentioned, hard to play a whole campaign without a high body count (or players fleeing because of the fear of such a body count)


I owned a handful of other conversion settings, and always wanted to play Birthright...but never had an urge for DarkSun, and wasn't playing when PlaneScape hit.

- M

dsmiles
2010-08-18, 04:53 AM
Can somebody please explain to me what's so great about Eberron? I tried reading the source material and it was putting me to sleep. So, paraphrase, please. I just honestly could not get into it. (Not trying to bring down all you Eberron enthusiasts, I just want to know why it's great.)

FelixG
2010-08-18, 05:04 AM
Can somebody please explain to me what's so great about Eberron? I tried reading the source material and it was putting me to sleep. So, paraphrase, please. I just honestly could not get into it. (Not trying to bring down all you Eberron enthusiasts, I just want to know why it's great.)

For me its the magepunk feeling of it, it has railroads (powered by elemental magic) airships (powered by the same) a crafting class is introduced who uses gadgets to get things done, a construct player class.

The settings are interesting, in one adventure you could be flying and chasing an enemy around miles tall shining towers of sharn (my favorite city of any setting by far) then go to the mournland and fight mutant creatures and find lost treasures or go across the see to Xen'Drik (SP) to hunt through jungles for lost artifacts and ruins of an ancient race!

Alot of it is just awesome to me, it offers a bit of everything that i love.

darkpuppy
2010-08-18, 05:08 AM
While Eberron isn't my fave setting, I think I can field this one for ya, dsmiles. Okay... To get the basic idea, think of all those noir and pulp fiction classics. The Maltese Falcon... Indiana Jones... Lovecraft, that sort of thing. Now add a dash of The Cold War, and finally mix in DnD magic taken to its logical conclusion (elementals used to power vehichles, industrial furnaces, permanent light items, a class which is pretty much devoted to making and recharging magic items)

You've got the first part now, by mixing all these together. The nations signed a peace treaty only a year before the official campaign start, but everybody's still got their agendas going... there's all the messes they left behind at the end of the war (the Mournland, Khorvaire's Hiroshima) ... but it's a time of oppurtunity too, as there's a sort of "Into Africa" movement, only this continent is Xendrik. Meanwhile, dark entities from beyond time and space, along with the usual assortment of normal DnD nasties, wait in the wings... indeed, two have kingdoms of their own... Finally, there's the moral ambiguity. Just because it's a mindflayer, even considering where they come from in Eberron, doesn't actually mean it's going to be evil. Similarly, even Gold Dragons can go bad.

It's basically one of those settings where, so long as it's grim and noiry, or swashbuckly, or pulpy, you can go somewhere and still have fun.

Greenish
2010-08-18, 05:12 AM
Can somebody please explain to me what's so great about Eberron? I tried reading the source material and it was putting me to sleep. So, paraphrase, please. I just honestly could not get into it. (Not trying to bring down all you Eberron enthusiasts, I just want to know why it's great.)Airships with huge rings of fire piloted by a race of true-breeding half elves who manifest a mysterious mark granting them the power of storms.

Dinosaur-riding halfling barbarians.

Old, undead-worshipping elf culture and a new aggressively expansionist one.

Battles atop the lightning rail speeding through the Brelish countryside.

Politics, history, intrigue, a move away from the godsforsaken alignment system.



…Changeling hookers in Sharn's red light district.

Comet
2010-08-18, 05:12 AM
Most played: Custom

Favourites:
Planescape
Ravenloft
Dark Sun
Spelljammer

in that order. I like my fantasy with some twist in it, as the same old dwarves and elves get pretty boring fast. Also, Eberron is cool and all but I never thought it was original or engaging enough to warrant buying the books. Might be wrong on that, but I think the quality of writing and ideas in the setting books peaked in the AD&D era.

dsmiles
2010-08-18, 05:23 AM
Thanks, guys. Sounds kinda cool, but I'm still not into it. Iron Kingdoms, though. That's where the magitech's at, IMO. Steam driven warjacks, gobber bodgers, arcane mechanicks, gun mages, rifles, pistols, mechanickal magic items. Steampunk is the genre for me.

FelixG
2010-08-18, 05:25 AM
Thanks, guys. Sounds kinda cool, but I'm still not into it. Iron Kingdoms, though. That's where the magitech's at, IMO. Steam driven warjacks, gobber bodgers, arcane mechanicks, gun mages, rifles, pistols, mechanickal magic items. Steampunk is the genre for me.

Iron Kingdoms ROCKS but in the group i play in i am surrounded by people who cry whenver someone brings up non wizards material. I even tried to GM a IK game but they refused to play in it because it wasnt an "official" wizards product :smallfurious:

dsmiles
2010-08-18, 05:27 AM
Do you happen to live in Virginia? I'd love to play Iron Kingdoms. :smallbiggrin:

Eldan
2010-08-18, 07:37 AM
For me, the appeal of Eberron (which I might call my favourite still active setting) is not the magitek, cool as it is.

It is, instead, that it feels like a working world. Many worlds I've read and seen look to me like someone designed a row of nations, then put them on a world map in a way that they fit together. With Eberron, I get a feeling that they actually have a shared history, culture and international relations.

Then there's the unusual time period: a lot of D&D seems to be set in a kind of medieval to renaissance world (which might not even be true, half the settings I know are more advanced, but it seems to be the basic assumption). Eberron is set in a weird mixture of the nineteen twenties, after the world war, economy exploding upwards, everyone in a great mood and pretending not to see the signs of the next great war; and the nineteenth century: explorers finally not only visit other continents, but establish colonies, map them out, bring fascinating exotics back with them. Technology is new and exciting, merchants and industrials are firmly establishing themselves, there's streetlights, airships, railways.

The third thing is the level structure of the system: while it seems at first that the world is low-level, with kings being level 6 and everyone else apparently below level 5, with only a handful of named NPCs in the teens, there's entire hierarchies of high-powered beings behind the curtains: the elves are ruled by ancestors with the power of a god, the dragons run the fate of the entire world in secret, the demons of Khyber are trying to break free, Daelkyr and Quori want to return to the mortal world, there's Raksha Rajas and a lot more. And your heroes have to stop them, or just delay them another decade.

Jacque
2010-08-18, 08:02 AM
1st: Scarred Lands (White Wolf's D&D setting)

2nd: Forgotten Realms

3rd: Iron Kingdoms

Terraoblivion
2010-08-18, 08:02 AM
I'm with Eldan. As cool as many of the set pieces, such as dinosaur riding halflings, are, it is the consistent, working world that does it for me. Which is also why i strongly prefer Khorvaire over the other continents, it works out that way much better than they do.

There is also the sense that they avoided wasted space though. If something is described it is because it is potentially important, obviously important or improves the sense of grounding in a society or a religion for the players, which in itself makes it potentially important. A result of that is that most of the monsters that are given any kind of emphasis in the setting, which is of course not every monster ever published for D&D, are given not only a role in the world, but a reason why they occupy that role. Not all the roles and explanations are equally interesting, but i do think that minotaurs who live as feared industrial workers and who might or might not unwittingly do the bidding of a coven of powerful hags is more interesting than minotaurs who sit around in a labyrinth waiting to be killed by adventurers.

Similarly religions aren't just a question of picking which superpowered being you want to cheer for. They are social institutions first and foremost and have their schisms and theological debates, as well as their secular power. Corruption in even the most staunchly good-aligned religious hierarchies is an all too real possibility too.

Basically it is the attention to detail rather than the specific details that does it for me with Eberron. Everything from the nations having a clear shared history to even major factions dedicated to taking over the world might have major benevolent sides is just part of this.

Erom
2010-08-18, 09:05 AM
The thing I like about Eberron is that is doesn't neglect the natural tendency of sentient races (Okay, IRL we have an N of 1 here...) to develop. It's not stagnant. If elementals exist and can be harnessed, then inevitably the march of technology will make it such that they are used to power vehicles and factories. To me, this makes Eberron one of the most realistic settings published.

Also, warforged are so cool that I would put up with a lot of bad or mediocre elements of a setting just to use them. I mean, I would pretty much drop them into any campaign I run, but not everyone is so excited about them.

SigCorps
2010-08-25, 11:48 AM
I'd have to go with Eberron, then Forgotten Realms.

The things I like about Eberron is the fact is that while what is there is well done and complete there are gaps here and there. Zen'drik is my main draw, it is not mapped out, writen up and published for all to read. I have a mostly blank canvas to work with. I can bring back the old fation dungeon crawl that no one know about.

Everyone knew and read all the Forgotten relms stuff. Nothing was a suprise and if you introduced seomthing new or different, some folks whould get down right upset.

The magicpunk of Eberron is also very good as well as the Dragon Marks.

BobSutan
2010-08-25, 03:33 PM
#1 is DragonLance. I grew up reading the books and it's what realm my group in high school played.

#2 is Eberron

#3 is Forgotten Realms

#4 is a tie between two homebrews I created.

Ghastly
2010-08-25, 03:42 PM
I love pre-spellplague Forgotten Realms. Incredibly detailed setting, and the associated novels are amazing.

Xephalo
2010-08-25, 03:48 PM
I most commonly play in Eberron, but my two favorite settings would have to be Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved and Kingdoms of Kalamar.

FuryOfMetal
2010-08-25, 05:35 PM
It'd have to be Eberron for me because of the crazy steampunk/magitech happenings. Also I agree that it is the logical result of us having access to magic and elementals...total domination!

But what does it for me are 3 things
1) Sharn: It's well developed, thought out and is the basis for an entire campaign as it has members from every walk of life and race. Also it flies!

2)Warforged: A race of sentient robot constructs created for war but now roaming free and struggling to find a purpose and a morality leading to....

3) Free-form allignment: Allignment is flexible. Some creatures aren't ALWAYS evil or good, exceptions can and will exist. This leads to more versatility, especially as the differences between allignments are blurred.

On a side not....anything with flying airships powered by magical elemental incarnations and lightning rails and magic robot people and tech-crazy inventors can only be fun

Elfin
2010-08-25, 05:54 PM
Published settings? Eberron's my favorite, though Forgotten Realms I like as well. I also like 4e's Points of Light, even though I don't like 4e itself.

But Greyhawk I simply can't stand, though I'm not really sure why. Blech.

mobdrazhar
2010-08-25, 07:00 PM
The order for me is:

#1 Forgotten Realms - The setting is so expansive and detailed. I read the books for many years before i even got into RP.

#2 Planscape - The ability to goto any other setting you want.

#3 Eberon - The Magetech does it there for me.

Zanticor
2010-08-25, 07:42 PM
No love for Mystara jet? A hollow world where kingdoms with vastly different philosophies and tech levels live side by side being hold in a kind of balance by immoral immortals vying for power: classic. Plus if you walk to the poles you can go into dinosaur land! It just got something for everyone.
Maybe I'm getting old but I still love the setting. Forgotten Realms or Eberron never did it for me, though some plane-hopping is always good. A bit hard to combine with all the gods living on the moon but I try to combine it a bit (they live in their planes but come to the moon for debates and stuff).

dsmiles
2010-08-25, 07:45 PM
No love for Mystara jet? A hollow world where kingdoms with vastly different philosophies and tech levels live side by side being hold in a kind of balance by immoral immortals vying for power: classic. Plus if you walk to the poles you can go into dinosaur land! It just got something for everyone.
Maybe I'm getting old but I still love the setting. Forgotten Realms or Eberron never did it for me, though some plane-hopping is always good. A bit hard to combine with all the gods living on the moon but I try to combine it a bit (they live in their planes but come to the moon for debates and stuff).

There was a little love for the lesser known Mystara, and I think even Birthright got some love. Iron Kingdoms got a couple of votes, and so did Spelljammer. Haven't heard anyone say, "Hollow World rocks," yet, though. :smallbiggrin:

Kinsmarck
2010-08-25, 08:16 PM
Without a shadow of a doubt, I favor The Forgotten Realms. As a writer, as a gamer, and as a perfectionist with a nigh-unhealthy attention to detail myself, I deeply respect and enjoy the three-and-counting decades' work that Ed Greenwood and others have put into that setting.

fryplink
2010-08-25, 08:29 PM
Other than my own personal setting?

Forgotten realms is the most played in, since we all read the novels and such, but we probably enjoy the vanilla setting more, simply because we aren't worried about hurting the continuity of FR (its weird, we care... a lot)

Noneoyabizzness
2010-08-25, 08:35 PM
ravenloft. it has any form of campaign setting one may need and if it doesn't it can be taken. the mists are selective but aren't genre snobs.

awesomessake
2010-08-25, 11:29 PM
Quoting TechnOkami:
"DragonMech, its a steampunkish campaign. Never heard of Iron Kingdoms though..."

Yay! i'm not the only one who likes that setting!

Let me just say that no two campaign settings are alike, and that everyones got there own taste... But Eberron appeals to all of mine :smallcool:

So it goes:
1.Eberron (I bow before its win)
2.Dragonmech (I like the setting, and i like the rules alot. I have to say i've never actually played a DM game, but i like the rules, especially since the rules for animated mechs are well suited for eberron.... an Eberron Mecha campaign anyone?:smallsmile:)
3.Dark Sun (well i like to borrow from it anyway)

AslanCross
2010-08-25, 11:32 PM
Eberron and Eberron for favorite and most used. My players really love it too.

Lord Raziere
2010-08-26, 12:52 AM
Eberron and Dark Sun.

Satyr
2010-08-26, 01:46 AM
Midnight. By all means. As often as not, the third party products are better than the stuff made by WOTC, and the Midnight Campaign Setting by Fantasy Flight Games is one of the nicer ones. A bit like a crossover between the Lord of the Rings and 1984.

Dark Sun is a good second, but I haven't yet decided if I buy the new books; I have no interest in the current rules, but I have very fond memories of the setting and it would be an option to convert it to a system I feel more comfortable with.

I found both the Forgotten Realms and Eberron to be too much kitchen sink for my taste.

Flawless
2010-08-26, 02:05 AM
Definitely Forgotten Realms, or more accurately, the AD&D second edition version. For me, it's the ideal mix of classic fantasy and epic stuff. There are lots of legendary dangerous places like Myth Drannor, the Undermountain, Anauroch or Hell Gate Keep. I'm especially fond of Ed Greenwoods own approach to the setting and characters, like how he describess Lady Alustriel and her love affairs. It's details like that and the fact that he doesn't take the whole thing to serious. The works of Troy Denning and the early stuff of Salvatore are good too, in my eyes.

Greyhawk is okay, it's darker and grittier, which I sometimes enjoy.

Eberron is just too much magic-teck for my taste and far too much away from how I imagine DnD.

Noneoyabizzness
2010-08-26, 08:30 AM
There was a little love for the lesser known Mystara, and I think even Birthright got some love. Iron Kingdoms got a couple of votes, and so did Spelljammer. Haven't heard anyone say, "Hollow World rocks," yet, though. :smallbiggrin:

hmm Cerilia. birthright was a great idea that maybe should have had more wiz love when trying to push the joys of leadership. but i think at best there was a 2 page article in dragon.

Eldan
2010-08-26, 12:10 PM
I'm always surprised how much people talk about Eberron's flexible alignment system... I've pretty much always handled it like that, except for maybe the divine worship: the gods know their worshippers. Of course, that bloody, cruel inquisitor may be praying to his own ideal of what his god should be, not the god himself. Problem solved.

hamishspence
2010-08-26, 12:19 PM
Pretty much- my immediate reaction on reading the description of how not all evil characters deserve to be attacked by adventurers was "shouldn't D&D normally work this way?"

PretzelKing
2010-08-26, 12:27 PM
i really love dragonlance, i grew up reading those novels as well. it seems like the classic D&D setting to me... but ive never had the chance to play in that world.

only played greyhawk so far, but so far- so good!

Hzurr
2010-08-26, 01:12 PM
Honestly, I guess I'll have to say Homebrew, because it's all I've really ever played. No one has ever offered to run a Forgotten Realms game, and I don't know enough about the setting to run one myself. I've done a few brief Eberron games, but the DMs were horrible, so I'm reserving any judgment on the setting until i have a neutral experience, at least. We came within an inch of starting a DarkSun game last week that I was going to DM, but ended up voting on a more traditional game instead.

So...yes. I have no real opinions on any published settings. :smallfrown: