[PF/3.5] What's your favorite campaign setting?

[Jhango]

Hi Guys!'


My Group is looking for me to run games on off nights.

I have an idea for an adventure, but I need a campaign setting.
I don't feel like putting a lot of work into making one up myself, so I'm looking for one that s already out there.

I'm vary open to ideas right now, so I just want to know, whats your favorite campaign settings, and why?

[HunterOfJello]

Planescape!

Because **** sticking to one setting in a single campaign.

[Anderlith]

Eberron- Dragonpunk, Dungeonpunk, Fantasypunk, whatever you call it. I like the industrial magic that eberron has, the warforged & the civilized adventure vibe it has.

Golarion-It's fresh, expansive & packed full of ideas & seeds to pick up. It's not like Faerun where everyone & their dog is an high level adventurer & has a bunch of lore already written about them. Pathfinder Society, & the Hellknights are really cool organization, & they finally give the humans a god (even though he died)

[Arcanist]

Forgotten Realm easily. All Magic, All the Time :smallamused: The God's actually do stuff AND progressing the campaign beyond Epic level is fairly easy :smallamused:

[JustPlayItLoud]

I'm going to assume you'll be running in a standard fantasy setting, as the setting of choice would likely be obvious otherwise. In that case I would suggest, in no particular order:

Forgotten Realms - This is a good setting simply because of the sheer volume if material available. Whiny whiners love to cry about the abundance if high level NPCs, but it's a weak argument. Nowhere in the books does it say you're required to have the PCs encounter an FR product identity level NPC in every backwater village. Ignore them if you want. There are also plenty of places that are thoroughly fleshed out, as well as areas that to this day are little more than broad sketches.

Greyhawk - It's a classic that has a lot of information about it, but has the benefit of not being as popular anymore. Still has some Gygaxian weirdness, but you're free to ignore it.

Mystara - This is another classic. If you're unwilling to download out of print but still copyrighted material, you're going to have a tough time finding much info though. The plus side is your gaming group is extremely unlikely to have extensive experience with even the Known World. Some of the surface world nations are fairly blatant analogues to real world cultures, but most aren't that bad. And the Hollow World is just a great excuse to put entirely anachronistic cultures right next to each other. Besides, what's not to like about a world with a god that's an intelligent T-Rex named Ka?

[avr]

Eberron. It's not as detailed as the forgotten realms, but it's much better thought out and IMO it's cooler. If you need a detailed part of the setting the Sharn book is your friend.

[Kol Korran]

I like Eberron most, and planescape second. Why Eberron?
1) It's a more mature setting in terms of society, commerce, religions, motivations, politics and the like. very few elements of it are clear evil, good, and so on... Eberron believes in "shades of grey"- nothing is obvious, and most people, places, organizations and antagonists are quite complex.

2) It gives the heroes a place to shine- They are note worthy at level 5, power houses at level 15, and international super heroes at level 13. most of the world is muchlower levels, but there is still quite a place for high level and even epic adventuring.

3) I really like the 3 great evil organizations/ entities- The lords of Dust are a scheming deceitful bunch of fiends (mainly rakshasas) who play an intricate game with the dragons for world dominance, using the elusive Prophecy. the Daelkyr are shape melders and abomination creators locked in the underworld, who's schemes, minds and intentions are unfathomable- the Far Realm up close. And the Dreaming Dark are a group of psionic nightmare beings who infiltrated this world and have made an entire continent their obedient citizens, which they do happily.

4) There are a lot of mysteries, hooks and more, but very little definite explenations, just suggestions. This gives the DM a lot of room to play around.

5) The Mournland- a land out of the twilight zone, where ANYTHING can happen. I love sending my players there :smallbiggrin:

There are probably more reasons, but these are the main ones.

[Valdis]

Forgotten Realms: Any time you have the chance of running across Drizzt Do'urden, I'll take it.

Planescape: A beautiful and very well thought out setting.

[DemonRoach]

Ravenloft, but unless your adventure is designed for it there is a good chance it won't really fit in

[Exirtadorri]

I honestly LOVE forgotten realms. The most power mortal mage ever came from there....oh...and then there's elminster. Even the paladins are better. Three different types of knights that branch from a single root with their own agendas? Three different kinda of mages all protected even if they are evil?

WAIT...A WHOLE CITY RUN BY A LICH AND ALL IT DOES IT PUMP OUT MAGIC ITEMS? yes please.

[Rogue Shadows]

Eberron, for all the reasons mentioned above.

Although...I am a fan of the "Points of Light" setting for 4E. Not anything else, just the setting.

And, the Realms will always have a place in my heart.

But for great High Adventure!, you should go Eberron.

[Unusual Muse]

I've always really like the vibe of Dark Sun (http://athas.org/)!

[subject42]

If you're talking about settings in general, I'm tied between Dark Sun and Ravenloft. I like the feeling of dread that both settings generate.

If you're specifically talking about 3.5/Pathfinder, I like Golarian from Paizo. Where else can psychic sharks trigger the collapse of civilization and indirectly spawn the birth of the God of Blackouts and Poor Decision Making?

[Vaz]

I like the idea that all the settings are available to be played as one, but with out the need to have mcguffin to travel, instead it is like the Elven shores in Lord of the rings, travel far enough you'll get there. It gives some suitable downtime as well during the travel that allows the PC's to retrain any bad decisions out, although I do frown on metagaming retraining.

I do like Rokugan though.

[Joe Eskimo]

Forgotten Realms. It's a huge well detailed place. And if you got problems with high lvl npcs and huge organizations, take them out or weaken them. The realms can handle it. Hey, it's your game. And games are meant to be enjoyed. :smallsmile:

[Blisstake]

Pathfinder - Golarion. *Probably* my favorite overall, just because of how much depth the developers go into without having to do a revision every new edition.

3.5 - Eberron. I also really like Dark Sun, but there was never an official 3.5 version of it.