Best Written Campaign Setting?

[unseenmage]

In your opinion, which campaign setting is formatted in the most digestible or organic manner?

Which one presents the setting the best? Which has the best writing? What do you look for in a good campaign setting?

Am considering trying to publish a campaign setting and would love to benefit from the Playground's advice on the matter.

[the_david]

Hot Springs Island. Although it's technically not a complete campaign setting, I guess. You can run an entire campaign on the island. There are 2 books published so far, and they are expensive. They are worth it though.

[noob]

Every setting but the forgotten realms.
It sets a so low standard every campaign setting is perfectly written in relative.

[Falontani]

Eberron is amazing, it is well written, and it won a contest of best written settings in the past. In addition if you go with non book lore, the author continually pumps out more and more information via dragonshard articles, (which are incorporated into the wiki) discord, and other methods of communication.

The Warcraft Setting has an abundance of information if you delve (but delving really requires a lot of work since you have to play the video games to delve)

Settings that I would like more lore from to do fun campaigns in: the Diablo setting (Sanctuary) would and can be an amazing setting, although the lore is sparse, Elder Scrolls (Tamriel) the lore is rich, but again with the difficulty of delving, and the lore is only rich on a few small areas, Planescape, I haven't found much lore on it, and I don't know if there is enough or not. It sounds interesting though.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by unseenmage
Which one presents the setting the best? Which has the best writing?

I have a nostalgic fondness for the 3.0 FRCS, and I like the style, layout and text choices they made, which for me is all folded into my deep enjoyment of that edition.

That said, I think there are aspects of Golarion which are nicely done. I’m not a fan of the setting as a whole, but some of the Pathfinder writing is really quite good.


Originally Posted by unseenmage
Am considering trying to publish a campaign setting….

Do you know what route you’ll be going for publication? Will this be PDF-only, or will you be producing a print run? I’d be very interested in how you approach this.

.

[Mike Miller]

Am considering trying to publish a campaign setting and would love to benefit from the Playground's advice on the matter.

How far along are you? Are you just looking to release it for free? Are you sticking to OGL material?

DriveThruRPG comes to mind. I think WotC has/had some DMs Guild where you can publish stuff.

[unseenmage]

So far I am completely lost on the publishing front.

Have a fairly well fleshed out idea and am tracking away at the keyboard getting the broad strokes done.

Advice about the how and where to do this thing are more than welcome.

So far I'm thinking of keeping it OGL but I did want to include a few In Faerun, In Eberron, In Golarion sidebars if possible. I'm just not sure how much referencing the names of owned things I can do while still charging for a product.

That said I do want to charge for it. The idea is sound enough IMO and unique enough to merit it's own book. It will be significantly different from traditional D&D but in ways that stand up logically to the gameworld.

I definitely do not intend to reinvent any wheels. No strictly better than classes or feats or whatnot. Just hey, this is the gameworld, this is what role you can play, this is the kind of story ots probably good for, and heres how it changes some of the iconic stuff you're used to.

The consequences of the world do force me to represent a few things in a stripped down form but there is currently very little truly new content planned. Not sure if that's a good thing yet or not.

EDIT: On the charge for it front, I have read that some companies have success with releasing their product free and letting folk also buy it if they wish. Thoughts on that are welcome.

[Troacctid]

Of the setting books I've read, I would say Eberron. It's written with a keen eye towards providing story hooks; almost every detail it gives could be the focus of an adventure. Meanwhile, it also leaves a lot of things intentionally mysterious, which means your players get to be the first ones to solve those mysteries. Also, it's just generally designed to support D&D campaigns. Whatever style of gameplay you prefer, Eberron has a place for it.

I'll give an honorable mention to Nerath (the default setting of 4e) for a lot of the same reasons except that I don't think it got its own setting book.

[thorr-kan]

Al-Qadim, baby. Al-Qadim.

Though for 3ED stuff, Eberron is a wonderful read. I'd love to play there.

[Eldariel]

Let's see:
- Planescape. It was just the most interesting settings ever made. It also "works" rather innately since the powers it revolves around are very atypical. It has a great mix of foreign and familiar and basically anything is possible. It also ties nicely into any other settings. Of course, this has never been updated for 3e aside from some brief stuff in Expedition to the Demonweb Pits.
- Eberron. Out of all the 3e settings, this was the most innovative and also the most cohesive and logical. It's a pleasure to play and it whirs nicely, though it has a specific tone to it of course.
- Spelljammer. It's on the weird side but that's precisely what makes it so awesome. Actually it ties nicely into Planescape too, with everything from the infamous Tarrasque planet to the various spacefaring "vehicles" and all that.
- Dark Sun. Again, a well thoughtout settings with its own tone and environment. One of the better post-apocalyptic worlds anywhere ever. Again, barely exists for 3e though.

Honorary mention: Ravenloft. Really niche and kinda insane but enjoyable in its own twisted way. Ravenloft is like the D&D equivalent of Paranoia more or less. Everybody will die horribly but you play to determine the details.

[Zaq]

I find Planescape endlessly compelling, but I agree that there’s basically nothing for it in 3.5.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by unseenmage
So far I'm thinking of keeping it OGL but I did want to include a few In Faerun, In Eberron, In Golarion sidebars if possible. I'm just not sure how much referencing the names of owned things I can do while still charging for a product.

For the first two, probably not at all.

Are you planning to present this as a system-neutral campaign setting, or 3.5?


Originally Posted by unseenmage
The idea is sound enough IMO and unique enough to merit it's own book. It will be significantly different from traditional D&D but in ways that stand up logically to the gameworld.

From what I’ve seen of your threads, I can imagine it would be memorable, if not mind-bending. After all, you gave the Playground the immortal phrase “clockwork space whales.” :smalltongue:

Seriously, knowing it’s your work makes me really curious to know more about the setting.

[MisterKaws]

I like Tippyverse a lot, but that's more of a campaign concept. It's just that it's pretty likely to be what a true D&D world would turn like if you just fast-forwarded everything a thousand years and actually let the casters do their thing.

That being said, I love Eberron just as much as everyone else. It's probably the best official 3.X campaign. I especially like Sharn. That city alone can give you at least ten levels of story just fine.

[frogglesmash]

Iron Kingdoms is by far my favourite campaign setting.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Obligatory shutout to the Sovereign Lands. Tellene's core setting book is just setting and designed to have a lot of fluff but they never map things out so far as to cause weird issues like FRCS does.

[unseenmage]

For the first two, probably not at all.

Are you planning to present this as a system-neutral campaign setting, or 3.5?



From what I’ve seen of your threads, I can imagine it would be memorable, if not mind-bending. After all, you gave the Playground the immortal phrase “clockwork space whales.” :smalltongue:

Seriously, knowing it’s your work makes me really curious to know more about the setting.
Oh wow. Thank you.

3.P would be the goal I think. Workable in either. Though if I had to choose probably PF as it's what my group converted to for the most part. Definitely not setting neutral though.


For now I'm keeping as good a lid on it as I can since while I'm fleshing it out my players will be experiencing it firsthand.

[Mechalich]

Oh wow. Thank you.

3.P would be the goal I think. Workable in either. Though if I had to choose probably PF as it's what my group converted to for the most part. Definitely not setting neutral though.


For now I'm keeping as good a lid on it as I can since while I'm fleshing it out my players will be experiencing it firsthand.

3.5 and PF really aren't directly compatible. Making a setting viable for both means recalculating nearly everything in subtle and somewhat annoying ways, essentially you'll have to do everything twice. I recommend using PF for a project of this nature, simply because the amount of OGL content is exponentially larger and doesn't have a lot of gaping holes that you have to write around for publication purposes the way 3.5's OGL does.

[Khedrac]

While the Mystara setting as a whole is not particularly well done (it evolved rather than was designed), check out the Gazatteers for BECMI Mystara - they were particularly good at covering individual kingdoms. I would also check out Bruce Heard's Calidar world - Bruce was (I think) product manager for the later Mystara stuff and is now producing his own campaign world (with some very talented help) for multiple systems at once.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Mechalich
I recommend using PF for a project of this nature, simply because the amount of OGL content is exponentially larger and doesn't have a lot of gaping holes that you have to write around for publication purposes the way 3.5's OGL does.

This is what I’d been thinking. The sidebars on Faerun and Eberron would have been fun—and I encourage you to write them anyway, as ideas occur to you—but they may not be feasible in a product you’re asking people to pay for.


Originally Posted by unseenmage
For now I'm keeping as good a lid on it as I can since while I'm fleshing it out my players will be experiencing it firsthand.

Pretty much what I’m doing as well. Fortunately none of my players is running a divine caster, since I’ve been a little slow developing the main pantheon. This way they get to encounter the different faiths in-game, which has been a lot of fun.


Originally Posted by unseenmage
Advice about the how and where to do this thing are more than welcome.

One key question: what are you planning to do for the art?

It might seem secondary, but the art can make or break a purchase decision, and it helps inform the tone of the entire work. Have you thought about how you’re going to approach that?

[unseenmage]

...

One key question: what are you planning to do for the art?

It might seem secondary, but the art can make or break a purchase decision, and it helps inform the tone of the entire work. Have you thought about how you’re going to approach that?
Pay for it for starters. Hadnt really gotten that far honestly.

I suppose when the time comes I'll dangle $ in front if the few artists I know and hope for the best. :smalltongue:

More seriously, one of my players insists he knows a few decent artists online, I'll likely check to see if they have what I need.

[BWR]

While the Mystara setting as a whole is not particularly well done (it evolved rather than was designed), check out the Gazatteers for BECMI Mystara - they were particularly good at covering individual kingdoms. I would also check out Bruce Heard's Calidar world - Bruce was (I think) product manager for the later Mystara stuff and is now producing his own campaign world (with some very talented help) for multiple systems at once.

I love Planescape and have a soft spot for Dark Sun, Spelljammer and Ravenloft, but Mystara is probably my favorite, partially because of the reasons mentioned - the Gazetteers are all excellent reads, pretty much the gold standard for introducing culture, history and mechanics for realms in RPGs. Pretty much any time I introduce some new country or facet of the setting to my players (the ones not already familiar with it) there's a feeling of delight and wonder. Also, Mystara gets pretty weird if you scratch the surface. It's bonkers in so many good ways. Blackmoor, the flying city introduced in "Top Ballista", pretty much anything in Glantri or Alphatia, Ierendi (a country that's a mix between pre-contact Polynesia and Disneyland/Jurassic Park), the Hollow World, and the weird high-level adventures like Earthshaker (200 meter tall steammech runs amok), Where Chaos Reigns (time travel to prevent history being rewritten by totally-not-the-Borg); the list foes on and on.


Like in the current game how Atzanteotl (a bad Immortal) is trying to co-opt and corrupt the Immortality quest of one of the PCs, (who's a reincarnated flying sabertooth-riding samurai catperson from the invisible moon) by making him build a giant subterranean drill machine that folds out into a heavy weapons platform to attack the elves that live on the ceiling of the anti-gravity cave near the ruins of the blown up magical-nuclear engine from an ancient spaceship.

That's only one of the PCs' stories. The rest get similarly weird.

[Faily]

Pay for it for starters. Hadnt really gotten that far honestly.

I suppose when the time comes I'll dangle $ in front if the few artists I know and hope for the best. :smalltongue:

More seriously, one of my players insists he knows a few decent artists online, I'll likely check to see if they have what I need.


Just remember that if you are commissioning artists, be up front about the fact the commissioned art will be used for a product you're going to make a profit from. Making profit on their labour is often another beast entirely than just paying a one-time cost for a piece.

[Palanan]

Artwork can definitely be complicated. I've had some experience securing rights and permissions for nonprofit publications, as well as a small nonprofit group I worked with, and that can be time-consuming and occasionally delicate even when there's no payment involved.

Even when I did have a little money to offer, I sometimes had to cancel plans because the artists wanted much more than I had a budget for. It can get complicated fast, and things will fall through, so it's never too early to think about the artwork.

[unseenmage]

Any advice regarding what sort of budget the art for a campaign setting should look like?

[frogglesmash]

Any advice regarding what sort of budget the art for a campaign setting should look like?

Don't know about budget range, but I'd advise either fairly high quality art work, or no artwork, as amateurish artwork can make the entire project feel lower quality than it actually is. I'd also avoid 3D rendered art work, as I've never seen an RPG sourcebook where it looked good.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by unseenmage
Any advice regarding what sort of budget the art for a campaign setting should look like?

That’s a good question, and I wish I had a solid answer. I remember reading (maybe on the Paizo boards) that Wayne Reynolds received about $125 for each of his interior illustrations, but that’s a dim memory of hearsay on the internet.

Several years ago I was considering commissioning some artwork for a wildlife guide, and the artist was quoting me a package deal of around $3000. That would have been for a series of high-quality illustrations, although sadly I wasn’t able to pursue it.

I have a feeling that most fantasy art wouldn’t be nearly that expensive, but unfortunately I can’t say more than that. I agree completely with frogglesmash—it’s better to have high-quality art or none at all, since substandard art will drag down the rest of the book.

But don’t let any of this discourage you. I’m raising the issue of artwork early so you can be aware of it as you proceed—but I would encourage you to keep plugging away regardless. Other people have done this successfully, and from what I’ve seen your ideas are just as good as theirs, so by all means keep at it.