I grew up playing D&D and, more than that, thinking about the implied world of D&D. It’s a setting that’s a mix of mythic Wild West and L’Morte D’Arthur with a Space Opera’s affection for precursors and facial prosthetics. And honestly, I don’t think any of the settings that I’ve read feel like a setting where D&D happens.

Other worlds have their charms – But usually they don’t feel like settings where places where D&D happens. They feel like settled places, at least where the camera sits most of the time. What I want is a setting that feels like D&D Happens here. Reckless youths break into ancient tombs, honorable strangers ride into town, and Here Be Dragons is right next door. D&D Happens.

So this is my open notebook as I attempt to build the Perfect D&D Setting. A setting that is extremely optimized for D&D, with perhaps a few personalized touches. To do this, I have my overarching idea: Wild, Wild Post-Apocalyptic Arcadia. This phrase encapsulates my goal:

Small townships, far from governments and armies, make their way against a hostile and wild world. (Wild, Wild) The world has suffered calamities, great knowledge has been lost, and civilization has fallen. (Post-Apocalyptic) Medieval-looking political structures with just laws, plenty of farm land, and upright leadership. (Arcadia)

For my baseline, I'm thinking of the standard "civilized races" as peaceful inhabitants of the land before an orc-led empire conducted a conquest from beneath the earth. The empire brought with it terrible diseases, a result of the same necromantic and diabolist techniques that enabled it to obtain a substantial technological advantage, and wiped out much of the continent's population. The collapsing populations began to migrate together for sufficient population. At some point, either as a result of magical backlash or divine wrath (undecided) calamity swept the whole land and the empire shrunk back into the Underdark. Now, colonial remnants of the Empire trouble everyone. The Great Calamity has stirred ancient things best left sleeping and reveals long buried tombs, temples, and cities. Arcadia mostly follows some sort of religion that provides the just laws and the nobility is strictly in charge of the military/taxes instead.