D&D Lore and Campaign Settings

[ThePrez1776]

Hello all!

I'm kind of new to the D&D lore, and I know there's a lot of it to learn about, so I was feeling kind of overwhelmed with the amount of content to look at. Does anyone have any suggestions for starting points or particularly interesting areas of reading?

I also know the campaign settings are very different, but I'm not really sure how. If anyone could give provide an overview of the different settings and how they're different, that would be much appreciated. I'm most interested in Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Dark Sun, but if anyone has other campaign settings they would suggest, by all means let us know.

Thanks for the help!

[Extra Anchovies]

Greyhawk is the "default" setting; I think all non-setting-specific content is present in Greyhawk, and there isn't actually much on the topic.

Forgotten Realms if you want mostly standard fantasy with a few unique things and a lot more detail. It has the most support of the published 3.5 settings.

Eberron if you want high-magic with lots of items. Higher "tech" level than FR.

Athas if you want dystopian fantasy; the world is dying because magic and the people in power are doing nothing to stop it. No first-party support in 3.5, but there's http://athas.org/, which has mostly freely available updated of the AD&D Dark Sun content.

Ravenloft if you want gothic horror fantasy. It's a pocket dimension taken up by a spooky vampire castle.

[nyjastul69]

Greyhawk is the "default" setting; I think all non-setting-specific content is present in Greyhawk, and there isn't actually much on the topic.

Forgotten Realms if you want mostly standard fantasy with a few unique things and a lot more detail. It has the most support of the published 3.5 settings.

Eberron if you want high-magic with lots of items. Higher "tech" level than FR.

Athas if you want dystopian fantasy; the world is dying because magic and the people in power are doing nothing to stop it. No first-party support in 3.5, but there's http://athas.org/, which has mostly freely available updated of the AD&D Dark Sun content.

Ravenloft if you want gothic horror fantasy. It's a pocket dimension taken up by a spooky vampire castle.

This is a solid overview. The one thing I would say about Eberron is that 'tech levels' are high, but character levels are not as high in settings such as GH or FR. That's quite a bit 'o difference.

To my mind, GH and FR are roughly similar and the standard fantasy trope. FR being a bit higher in that regard, but not by a lot.

I'm a fan of Kenzrco's Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. It is a standard fantasy setting, much like GH or FR, but better built IMO.

Darksun is certainly distopian, and can be fun if you want to break from the standards.

Spelljammer has always been a favorite of mine. I like the idea of flying vessels in a standard fantasy setting. Although, it does introduce certain complications/ramifications, but probably not more than dragons do.

Dragonlance I love as a setting for books, but not for actual table top RPGing.

What do you want in/from a setting?

[afroakuma]

Well let's do the rundown:

Greyhawk is the most "default" setting, the one whose names and flavor elements are present in the core books. A world emerging from the throes of war and shaped by waves of cultural diaspora, Oerth's geopolitical upheaval - often involving the work of powerful mages, demon lords and demigods - has left it a rich tapestry of ambitions, causes, monsters and lost treasures waiting to be plundered.

Dragonlance is the classic High Fantasy with dragons given more prominence, tied to a richly textured timeline and themed around the efforts of heroic figures to turn the tides of war. In a world where the gods have been forgotten, faith is beginning to reawaken - as are the deadly chromatic dragons, heralding the Dragonarmies and their tyrannical advance. As in ancient times, it will be a small band of heroes rediscovering the artifacts that are the covenant between god and mortal who will be pivotal in maintaining the balance between Good and Evil.

Forgotten Realms is the setting that encompasses the continent of Faerun, a land of powerful wizards and accomplished heroes who have worked to carve out and defend the kingdoms and nations that form the battleground for highly active deities, their champions, and interest groups that plot to carve out a place in history. Moreso than nearly any other setting, the Realms are home to high-powered characters whose activities and interests can cross over with your own, though their vast expanse means there's always an adventure to be found somewhere.

Eberron is the most popular modern setting, a world inspired by pulp fiction and film noir where magic is put to practical use and the steampunk/gaslamp fantasy aesthetic rules. The mighty Dragonmarked Houses hold near-monopolies on the magical services their bloodlines are tied to, nations work to figure out how to position themselves in the wake of the Last War, otherworldly abominations plot to infiltrate society through humanoid shells and the vast cyclopean ruins of impossibly ancient cultures loom large on forgotten (or forbidden) continents of wild adventure. Don't look to the gods for direction in life, for in Eberron they are silent providers of divine magic who may or may not even exist.

Dark Sun is set on the dying world of Athas, a land destroyed by a history of magical abuses that have collapsed its ecology and turned a once-lush world into a harsh and relentlessly unforgiving hell of sand, bone and dry clay. Water is life, metal is power, gods are absent and the mighty powers of the mind - psionics - are everywhere, even among the most primitive wildlife. Magic is a dark force on Athas, for it springs chiefly from the art of defiling - draining life energy from the world to convert into spells. On Athas, survival itself is a quest.

Ravenloft is a dark setting of Gothic horror, a misty realm of shadow where tragic figures of evil rule over lands they cannot escape, doomed to repeat a cycle of humiliation, failure and torment that reflects the cursed lives that earned them their place in the Demiplane of Dread. Below an uneasy facade of everyday life lurk the ominous hints of supernatural terrors and the monstrosity of both the creatures of the night and the men and women who became so cursed by way of past misdeeds and present atrocities. Those who seek to escape or to lead good lives must take care to avoid falling prey to the same inner darkness and becoming another grotesque in Ravenloft's gallery of darklords.

Spelljammer is a fantastical setting of sailing through the stars, introducing Ptolemaic space to D&D lore. Voyage between other settings on a spelljamming vessel that plies the rainbow routes of the phlogiston, encountering the strange and wondrous denizens of wildspace and traveling to worlds and planets you never knew. Traders, pirates, adventurers and even vessels of war - all are waiting above the skies, as are the alien empires of aberrations such as the illithids, neogi and beholders.

Al-Qadim is an Arabian-inspired setting to the south of Faerun, the Land of Fate where the power of genies runs rampant. Strange and wondrous adventures can be found with the nomads of Zakhara or among the minarets of its great cities, where one might run afoul of an enslaved djinn, a holy assassin, slave-takers or pirates looking to find their fortunes along the coast or in the many isles around the peninsula. A thousand and one adventures await.

Kara-Tur is a land of Oriental adventure situated to the east of Faerun. The vast empire of Shou Lung and its neighboring realms are home to exotic spirit creatures, noble warrior traditions, deadly criminal organizations and the unique magical practices of the wu jen. These ancient and unassailable realms are mighty indeed, but are so large and insular that corruption, secession and war all threaten to tip the scales of order at any time.

Planescape is the most extraordinary setting of all, taking place not on a world nor in the stars but across the very planes of existence. From the Nine Hells to the Elemental Plane of Air to the Astral Plane, adventurers cross through portals that transcend multiple realities as they search for truth, for meaning... or just for gold and power. Factions, philosophical beliefs embodied in organizations, take center stage as the principle of the Outer Planes is that all things are shaped by belief. At the center of all things is the extraordinary City of Doors, Sigil, a place where one can rub elbows with demons, drink with angels, argue with the strange geometric modrons or pick a fight with a man made of fire. Climb the World Tree, sail the River Styx, visit the gods and explore worlds beyond words in the impossible infinities of the Great Wheel.

[Extra Anchovies]

Well let's do the rundown:

Afroakuma, everything that you type is pure gold. I don't think there are better ways to sum up any of those settings.

There are, however, two settings that you forgot.

Ghostwalk, a sub-setting where the dead are far from gone. When humanoids die, their spirits rise as semi-corporeal ghosts (different from the MM template) in Manifest, a city build around the physical entrance to the afterlife, where they stay for a while before passing through the gateway or being resurrected through magic. Death is not nearly as much of an obstacle in a game where Ghostwalk is used than it is in most campaigns, which can lead to some interesting storytelling. Player ghosts can help their allies bring them back from the dead or embrace their new form and take feats enhancing their ghostly abilities. Ghostwalk can be built into any of the settings in afroakuma's post, but it would be super out of place in Athas and might feel incongruous with Planescape or Spelljammer.

Rokugan, the setting of Legend of the Five Rings, which replaced Kara-tur in the third edition Oriental Adventures. Kara-tur is mentioned in some third edition Forgotten Realms content but doesn't have any 3e books of its own. I'm not familiar with it enough to give any sort of description other than "fantasy Asia".

[afroakuma]

Well, as long as we're covering the spread, there were a few others I left out.

Birthright is a setting of bloodlines and rulership, where heirs to fragments of divine power shed in an ancient war have the power of regency in their very blood. These scions develop their powers through competent rulership and the mystical link they have with their lands, or duel one another to strike at the heart and lay claim to the bloodright of their foe. Amongst their number are the monstrous "heirs" of the Dark God, demonic and twisted figures eager to devour all in their path.

Maztica is the far western land across the ocean from Faerun, where insular civilizations pursue the strange magics of feather and claw in service to couatls and jaguar lords. Invading explorers from the east have arrived on these shores for the first time, bringing new religions and strange technologies alongside a rapacious desire to find riches and make a name for themselves in this strange new land.

Mystara is the oldest setting, encompassing both the many nations on the surface as well as the living "museum" of lost cultures inside the planet itself - a Hollow World. Perhaps the most traditional of all D&D settings, Mystara is a world where great heroes and villains may strive to become Immortals, godlike beings with an interest in running the cosmos. Explore both the living empires of the surface and the secret lands beneath where history moves forward, captured from a moment in time when these ancient realms thrived.

There are some odds and ends beyond that, but they're tiny things, well outside of any kind of relevance.

[Brookshw]

Why am I thinking Rokugan is actually 3rd party (well done 3rd party for that matter).

On issues of trivial settings, Council of Wyrms be dragons, by dragons, for dragons. Never went anywhere but the most dragony on dragon settings except dragon lance where you're probably not playing as a dragon (though possibly as a draconian).

[BWR]

Why am I thinking Rokugan is actually 3rd party (well done 3rd party for that matter).

Because it is property of AEG? Somehow WOTC got hold of some of the rights to it at some point and they ran with it, printing their OA stuff as well as some other stuff. Then AEG got full control back at some point but are not legally allowed to refer to a certain time period - the one under WOTC's rule - by its proper name. Most notable for being a CCG where players influence the development of the stroyline through tournament wins (remember "The Games 3: Hands of Fate"? it was a love song to L5R, with many L5R players and celebrities showing up there). While I love the setting, a couple years ago the storyline turned to irredeemable **** after a long decline, so I quit the community.

[Deadline]

While I love the setting, a couple years ago the storyline turned to irredeemable **** after a long decline, so I quit the community.

As a side note, what happened to the storyline? I haven't followed things since the Four Winds arc. It'd be a shame to see the story fall down hard, I used to enjoy reading the fluff in the sourcebooks for AEG's L5R rpg more than I enjoyed getting the new mechanics to play with.

[Brookshw]

Because it is property of AEG? Somehow WOTC got hold of some of the rights to it at some point and they ran with it, printing their OA stuff as well as some other stuff. Then AEG got full control back at some point but are not legally allowed to refer to a certain time period - the one under WOTC's rule - by its proper name. Most notable for being a CCG where players influence the development of the stroyline through tournament wins (remember "The Games 3: Hands of Fate"? it was a love song to L5R, with many L5R players and celebrities showing up there). While I love the setting, a couple years ago the storyline turned to irredeemable **** after a long decline, so I quit the community.


Huh, fair enough then. Thanks for the info.

[BWR]

As a side note, what happened to the storyline? I haven't followed things since the Four Winds arc. It'd be a shame to see the story fall down hard, I used to enjoy reading the fluff in the sourcebooks for AEG's L5R rpg more than I enjoyed getting the new mechanics to play with.

A lot happened and the best thing would be to read the summary of events on the L5R wiki.
The short, short version:
Naseru took the throne at the end of 4W, after Tsudao sacrificed herself to take out Daigotsu.
Daigotsu had foreseen this and taken steps to ensure his return, but Emma-O removed his Taint and made sure he couldn't be Tainted. D tricked Emma-O into releasing Fu Leng's soul so he came back, Some more stuff happened, D got his Taint back, enlightenment was handed out like candy as story prizes, some people got stupid, Iuchiban came back and was badder then ever, taking over the Shadowlands, Kisada came back to help kick his arse (after facing down Fu Leng Iuchiban was just a good workout). Naseru got handed the idiot ball after Rich Wulf quit and wandered off to the Shadowlands to find enlightenment, got himself killed and hadn't appointed an heir, at which point the Unicorn wanted to take over, marched on the capital, got Kaneka and Sezaru killed leaving the Empire without an Emperor or clear heir. A bunch of minor wars happened, some crappy fictions and offensive Story Team choices were made, like ****ing up the Dragon and Togashi, and Togashi Satsu. The Shadowlands start the Spider 'clan' which pretend to be good guy ronin and infiltrate all over the place because everybody else is apparently stupid, incompetent and inexperienced (otherwise known as plot armorr - strike one against the ST). A Dragon is named Empress, gets the zap of omniscience, turns Togashi Satsu into her personal sock puppet because she's too good to speak normally, the Dragon messed up, the supposed destruction of the Spider (which they 'won' by being the losing faction in the two year mega-game event Race for the Throne, a multi CCG tourney, RPG, charity, trivia quiz, cosplay etc. etc. to determine who is the new Emperor) never happens except in name (strike two against the ST).

The Dark Oracle of Fire gets pissy and invades, burning tons of ancient buildings, like the High House of Light before his army is stopped. It started off fun and dangerous but ended with a whimper, not a bang. Then The Ivory Kingdoms get killed off by Kali-ma, who comes to Rokugan, because Kyoso no oni turned out to be an avatar of Kali-ma (yet another stupid retcon) and the Wall falls, Kyuden Hida falls, tons of other stupid stuff happens before Fu Leng finally dies permanently (we hope) facing Kali-ma and Daigotsu ascends to become God of Jigoku, and the Empress accepts his clan as part of the Empire in return for helping them defeat Kali-ma. At this point I gave up in disgust. That was four years ago or so.

[LoyalPaladin]

I would have to day that Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are definitely my favorite to play in. However...


Mystara is the oldest setting, encompassing both the many nations on the surface as well as the living "museum" of lost cultures inside the planet itself - a Hollow World. Perhaps the most traditional of all D&D settings, Mystara is a world where great heroes and villains may strive to become Immortals, godlike beings with an interest in running the cosmos. Explore both the living empires of the surface and the secret lands beneath where history moves forward, captured from a moment in time when these ancient realms thrived.
Why have I not heard of this? This sounds way too awesome. Next time I'm in a PbP, I want to try this out. Snowbluff. Snowbluff. Snowbluff!

[TrollCapAmerica]

I would have to day that Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are definitely my favorite to play in. However...


Why have I not heard of this? This sounds way too awesome. Next time I'm in a PbP, I want to try this out. Snowbluff. Snowbluff. Snowbluff!

Mystara is way back and was basically separated from AD&D and used for the more basic "D&D" set so you didnt hear much from it. I actually used it for my old AD&D games because the rules Cyclopedia was so cool and the places they used so interesting and unique

Nest of all no glut of Ed Greenwoods annoying ass NPCs getting in the way

[Extra Anchovies]

Why have I not heard of this? This sounds way too awesome. Next time I'm in a PbP, I want to try this out. Snowbluff. Snowbluff. Snowbluff!

Yeah, Mystara does look really awesome, I'd totally be down for a game there. Does anyone know if it got any updates past AD&D? I can't find anything.

[Darrin]

Why have I not heard of this? This sounds way too awesome. Next time I'm in a PbP, I want to try this out. Snowbluff. Snowbluff. Snowbluff!

Mystara is kind of a kitchen sink oddball... maybe moreso than Gygax's original Greyhawk. Back when D&D was split into AD&D and the Basic/Expert/Companion/Master D&D, TSR needed a line of modules to go with both product lines. AD&D already had the A series (Slave Lords), G series (Giants), and D series (Drow). So they launched the B-series to go with the Basic set and the X-series to go with the Expert set. They also dusted off some of Dave Arneson's old Blackmoor material, and perhaps to keep it distinct from Greyhawk, decided to use it for the Expert Set. Blackmoor had actually appeared along with the original "white box" edition of D&D as "Supplement II", where "Temple of the Frog" was the first adventure published by TSR. When AD&D 2nd Edition launched in 1987, Basic/Expert D&D was still around, and building off the map from X1 "Isle of Dread", they created a new campaign world (known simply at the time as the "Known World") to anchor some of their existing B-modules and launched the Gazetteer series to populate the world and give a rough framework for future releases.

Dave Arneson's original campaign world was actually a mash-up of fantasy and sci-fi elements. The back-history to the Temple of the Frog involves a spaceship crashing on the planet, the FSS Beagle, captained by Bork Riesling of the Galactic Federation. There were even other planets in the system, such as DMK-3, which became Damok-Tres, and then Damocles. DMK-2 was the planet the FSS Beagle crashed on, actually the third planet, but they were numbered in the order they were explored. As TSR developed the Known World, they added the Savage Coast campaign and the Hollow World - apparently not only was the planet part of an ancient sci-fi empire, it was also hollow and full of even weirder stuff. Sometime around Hollow World (1989-1990 I think) they rebranded the whole shebang as "Mystara". A lot of this was tied together with the Voyage of the Princess Ark, a series of articles in Dragon Magazine that allowed TSR to revisit the older Gazetteer material and introduce new material.

So Mystara is something like a multi-faceted touchstone to several different eras of D&D: the original white box booklets coveted by the grognards, the "Red Box" edition that a new generation discovered, and later the heyday of the 2nd Edition Golden Era.

[Psyren]

Where does Blackmoor fall in all of this? I don't know if it's not a true setting or what, but it never seems to get mentioned alongside Greyhawk or even Mystara.

[Agent 451]

There are some odds and ends beyond that, but they're tiny things, well outside of any kind of relevance.

Poor Taladas :frown:

[BWR]

Blackmoor was Arneson's own campaign setting, but apart from a couple of adventures was never developed as a complete setting for published games until well after the end of Mystara. However, it was rolled into Mystara's backstory as a very important part.

Those who like or are interested in Mystara should check out Bruce Heard's Calidar setting, his current project that is basically Mystara 2.0

[Bullet06320]

Dragon 315 had a 3.5 update for Ravenloft, Darksun, Dragonlance, Al'Qadim, Planscape, Greyhawk, Mystara, Redsteel, Birthright, Maztica, Kara-tur Hollow World and Ghostwalk and a first look at Eberron

Ravenloft had a lot 3.5 support from WhiteWolf. WOTC licensed them the name.

for Spell Jammer
http://www.spelljammer.org/

[Darrin]

Where does Blackmoor fall in all of this? I don't know if it's not a true setting or what, but it never seems to get mentioned alongside Greyhawk or even Mystara.

Blackmoor was originally placed on the Greyhawk map, up north near the frozen wastes, but other than the original Supplement II from the white box era, was never developed as part of Greyhawk, other than "Yeah, that's the campaign world from the other creator of D&D". When Gygax and Arnesan were playing, there were varying amounts of "spillage" from different campaigns, depending on who was DMing/playing. The sci-fi elements in Arneson's Temple of the Frog were actually from John Snider's Star Empires campaign.

In the Known World/Mystara setting, the DA1-4 modules placed Blackmoor on the Known World Map, and those modules cover the "wrecked spaceship" plot as far as it relates to the history of Mystara. However, X10 Red Arrow Black Shield module muddled things a bit with a world map that had different political boundaries. I forget if they placed Blackmoor in another location on the map... but they handwaved the incongruities with the map by saying X10 was set "200 years in the future" from the world as presented in the Gazetteer series.

If that's not confusing enough, there was also a D20 version of "Dave Arneson's Blackmoor" published by Zeitgeist games in 2006.

[Drork]

If you are looking for good D&D lore and the "feel" for each campaign setting I would actually advise you to go find some published fiction novels based in the world. Like all D&D published novels there are good ones and bad ones so make sure you find ones people like and recommend. A published novel isnt bogged down with rules to get the feeling of what the world should be like. They will often leave you with a better understanding of what the world is expecting from and will likely do to a player than world building that rule books will give you. The rule books with world building is for when you find the one that Clicks with what you want to do and you start fleshing out ideas and how you can make the world your own (by own I mean your gaming groups never own a world by yourself its bad for your games).

If you are looking at DMing Eberron my advice is start with some published adventures (there is short one in the back of the campaign setting). They are very punchy with their action style. If you like what you taste/play start a small campaign letting your players know the limited scope and expand outward. There is almost always a hidden plot device or mystery hidden in the background of them too.

The best description of the complexities Eberron is that there is a place for EVERYTHING in Eberron. When they say Everything they are talking about you could run into a chaotic evil gold dragon or a Lawful good construct. That being said you do not always need to have everything in one campaign. The one challenge I always find well DMing in Eberron is trying to make sure there is always something behind the scenes pushing things around. An average adventure is the norm, a good adventure is multifaceted, the Great adventures always leave the players wondering if they "won" or where played when they walk out of the wreckage they have left behind.

It can be very taxing as far as future planning there is also a great risk because of the knowledge is so broad in Eberron that a player might know more about one area than you do. That being said I love Eberron and feel that the unique nature of Eberron is that it was created as a 3.5 world where the other settings have been forced to conform to the rule set. Eberron is "crazy" compared to the other settings but it really feels like it is more the result of a world that has always lived with 3.5. Most "standard" D&D worlds feel like a medieval world with magic where Eberron feels like 1920s created from magic.

[BWR]

If you are looking for good D&D lore and the "feel" for each campaign setting I would actually advise you to go find some published fiction novels based in the world. Like all D&D published novels there are good ones and bad ones so make sure you find ones people like and recommend.


The problem with that is that some of the settings had very few novels to work with (Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Mystara, Planescape) and what you got was at best not a great introduction to the setting as a whole for inaccuracies or tangentiality (Mystara) or downright terrible (PS). In the case of Dragonlance, the setting is basically built around the main story of the novels so you can get an accurate picture, along with the tons of novels for the setting.

[LoyalPaladin]

Yeah, Mystara does look really awesome, I'd totally be down for a game there. Does anyone know if it got any updates past AD&D? I can't find anything.
Oooooh yeah! LP and EA, best friends forever! Haha. We could see if we could grab a DM for this one sometime. I think Snow is pleased to run as many Harbingers as possible... haha.

It'd be a neat setting for a future-esque Indiana Jones sort of adventure. Maybe I think that because giant subterranean museum screams Doctor Who though...


Mystara is kind of a kitchen sink oddball... maybe moreso than Gygax's original Greyhawk.
Wow, that was a really in depth post. Thanks for educating me!

[Red Fel]

Mystara was also the setting, if memory serves, for two arcade games - Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Tower_of_Doom), and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Shadow_over_Mystara). (It's right there in the title!) Apparently, we can look forward to a package re-release (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Chronicles_of_Mystara).

[Khedrac]

In the Known World/Mystara setting, the DA1-4 modules placed Blackmoor on the Known World Map, and those modules cover the "wrecked spaceship" plot as far as it relates to the history of Mystara. However, X10 Red Arrow Black Shield module muddled things a bit with a world map that had different political boundaries. I forget if they placed Blackmoor in another location on the map... but they handwaved the incongruities with the map by saying X10 was set "200 years in the future" from the world as presented in the Gazetteer series.
The original DA Series of modules didn't actually place Blackmoor on the map - they placed it several thousand years in the past. There was an inn placed on the map which allowed linking between times, however there is nothing (that I recall) that said the inn was stationary...

Later publications placed an artefact (OK a nuclear reactor), probably from the spaceship on the map, but give the technology reached by the civilization in the expanded history that too could have been moved.

Further the Hollow World made one of the main entrances to the inside (the current North Pole) to be partially made when said civilization went "BANG" - which further muddies the relative locations.

[Snowbluff]

Why have I not heard of this? This sounds way too awesome. Next time I'm in a PbP, I want to try this out. Snowbluff. Snowbluff. Snowbluff!

If you find a game for it... *shrug*

[LoyalPaladin]

If you find a game for it... *shrug*
Oh. It's on.

[Jay R]

Ask your DM. The only setting material you need to understand right now is what she is using.

[RedMage125]

Dragon 315 had a 3.5 update for Ravenloft, Darksun, Dragonlance, Al'Qadim, Planscape, Greyhawk, Mystara, Redsteel, Birthright, Maztica, Kara-tur Hollow World and Ghostwalk and a first look at Eberron

Ravenloft had a lot 3.5 support from WhiteWolf. WOTC licensed them the name.

for Spell Jammer
http://www.spelljammer.org/

Dragon 315 had a little bit for each of those. There was a later Dragon with a full 3.5e update for races and setting of Dark Sun, another with the Sorcerer-Kings, and a Dungeon magazine with the bestiary of Athas.

Also, White Wolf's Ravenloft (through their subsidiary, Sword&Sorcery Studios) was 3.0, but it was superb. WotC took it back, but the only 3.5e product they published was an adventure Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

[Khedrac]

Also, White Wolf's Ravenloft (through their subsidiary, Sword&Sorcery Studios) was 3.0, but it was superb. WotC took it back, but the only 3.5e product they published was an adventure Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft isn't set in "Ravenloft: The Demiplanes of Dread" - it isn't really set anywhere other than in a small barony somewhere unspecified.
In that way it goes back to the original I6: Ravenloft (and possibly to I10: Ravenloft II)

[Prime32]

If you are looking for good D&D lore and the "feel" for each campaign setting I would actually advise you to go find some published fiction novels based in the world. Like all D&D published novels there are good ones and bad ones so make sure you find ones people like and recommend. A published novel isnt bogged down with rules to get the feeling of what the world should be like. They will often leave you with a better understanding of what the world is expecting from and will likely do to a player than world building that rule books will give you. The rule books with world building is for when you find the one that Clicks with what you want to do and you start fleshing out ideas and how you can make the world your own (by own I mean your gaming groups never own a world by yourself its bad for your games).Worth noting: The Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels are canon, but the Eberron ones are not (and novels by different authors often contradict each other). This is because Eberron was built around the idea of including unanswered mysteries and NPCs who can be interpreted in multiple ways, so that DMs can put their own spin on things in each campaign (and so that you can have a story like "What caused the Mourning?" that feels epic in scope without the players knowing the answer already).

[Bullet06320]

Also, White Wolf's Ravenloft (through their subsidiary, Sword&Sorcery Studios) was 3.0, but it was superb. WotC took it back, but the only 3.5e product they published was an adventure Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

your right, 3.0, I didn't think to actually go look at the books on my shelf, but still they have a lot of good useable material

[RedMage125]

your right, 3.0, I didn't think to actually go look at the books on my shelf, but still they have a lot of good useable material

Oh absolutely. I figured it was an honest mistake. It's pretty common, especially after so long, for the lines to blur.

But handing Ravenoft over to the company that made World of Darkness was a brilliant move. I never got to play it, unfortunately, but I would sit and read the books at my FLGS at the time, and everyone I knew who played it said it handled the setting well.

My Ravenloft experience was strictly in 2e.

[Bullet06320]

But handing Ravenoft over to the company that made World of Darkness was a brilliant move. I never got to play it, unfortunately, but I would sit and read the books at my FLGS at the time, and everyone I knew who played it said it handled the setting well.


I've done some World of Darkness, White Wolf was definitely a good move for the Ravenloft setting