The Best Published D&D Setting (by TSR/WotC) Is

[tdenmark]

What do you think is the best published D&D Setting (by TSR/WotC)?

I didn't include all the variations of Forgotten Realms/Faerun. I did separate Mystara and Hollow World because they are different enough. I did not separate Time of the Dragon from Dragonlance, maybe I should have?

Did I miss your favorite?

What non-TSR/WotC settings do you prefer instead of these?

[tdenmark]

Right after posting this I found a whole other Campaign Setting that TSR/WotC published I didn't even know about. I don't think I've ever seen any of these books in person.

The Odyssey Series.

www.tsrarchive.com/add/add-ody.html

[Finarvyn]

This is a tough survey. Nostalgia tells me Blackmoor, but it was hardly published by TSR. (TSR's four DA modules for B/X were Blackmoor, but FFC wasn't done by TSR.) Also, Lankhmar was published by TSR but wasn't original. I liked Dark Sun and Ravenloft, but my players don't want to play in those settings for various reasons.

Sort of Dragonlance, by default?

Must ponder further.

[verhaden]

Planescape, Eberron, and then Dark Sun. Then Mystara, Forgotten Realms, and Greyhawk. Of course, none without some modifications...

[simrion]

I voted Greyhawk (Greyhawk Folio) as it was the first published setting I ever bought and had those wonderful Darlene maps. I also like the folio outline of the environs sans game rules content. Was it the best? Nah, but the maps looked glorious hung on the wall ;-)

[tdenmark]

Dec 25, 2021 5:47:09 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

This is a tough survey. Nostalgia tells me Blackmoor, but it was hardly published by TSR. (TSR's four DA modules for B/X were Blackmoor, but FFC wasn't done by TSR.) Also, Lankhmar was published by TSR but wasn't original. I liked Dark Sun and Ravenloft, but my players don't want to play in those settings for various reasons.

Sort of Dragonlance, by default?

Must ponder further.

Yeah, I hesitated putting Lankhmar on there, but they were the first to publish that campaign setting and IMHO did a good job of it.

Good point about Blackmoor, but still belongs on the list for historical reasons.

Dragonlance gets a lot of hate, but it has a lot of good stuff in it and as DM you can always ignore or modify the annoying stuff (kender *cough* *cough* gully dwarves...)

[tdenmark]

I'm voting Ravenloft. It is my favorite 2e book. Though I could have went just as well with Planescape or Dark Sun.

[Deleted]

Voted for Dark Sun. Don't need to justify the Patrician choice.

[ThrorII]

I second Simrion's vote for Greyhawk Folio (1980). Just enough for a great campaign world, without all the extras of the boxed set.

[tdenmark]

Forgotten Realms is another setting I'm just so/so on, but the 3rd edition Campaign Setting hardcover is a marvelous tome.

I preferred the Forgotten Realms when Ed Greenwood would write his intriguing little articles in Dragon Magazine before TSR bought it and turned it into their default setting.

[tdenmark]

How did I accidentally put this in the Announcements board? I meant to put it in General. Oops

[spellslingsellsword]

I'd go Forgotten Realms for vanilla fantasy and Dark Sun for non-vanilla.

[rsdean]

I’ll be the super-curmudgeon and note that I have never owned a TSR setting product for D&D…so I don’t have a favorite.

[Finarvyn]

Okay, so I finally voted and picked Blackmoor. It was the first and I've run a lot more games there than any other setting. Lasnkhmar would have probably been my 2nd choice.

Greyhawk has a lot more material. Never really liked Forgotten Realms. Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Dragonlance got consideration but I love them more as a concept than an actuality.

Dec 27, 2021 9:22:10 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

How did I accidentally put this in the Announcements board? I meant to put it in General. Oops

Heh, I hadn't noticed either. Now moved to "General" for your convenience.

[jeffb]

I voted FR with the caveat I am only talking about the original 1E set and handful of product.

Otherwise it would be Greyhawk.

[tetramorph]

The best TSR (era) campaign setting is The Wilderlands of High Fantasy. ;)

[tdenmark]

Dec 28, 2021 12:36:07 GMT -6 tetramorph said:

The best TSR (era) campaign setting is The Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

I know, if that was an option it would be the clear winner. No need for a poll. Which is why I specifically limited it to settings published by TSR.

[tkdco2]

Forgotten Realms for me, followed by Dragonlance.

Edit: Mystara rounds out my big three.

[Deleted]

I'm a little skeptical of a poll like this, because it seems to assume that we are familiar with all of these alternatives. I know I'm not.

I voted for Dark Sun, not because I'm completely happy with it, but because I think it shows how different a world can be and still be D&D. It'd be a better thing in my opinion if DMs were this creative rather than having a 1000 bland watered down Tolkienesque campaign worlds.

Although I'm not fond of the Dragonlance products in general, I think that the setting (including the Taladas subsetting not included in the poll directly) is pretty interesting. If separated from the railroad storyline of the modules and novels, it's a good setting.

I agree with jeffb that the original Forgotten Realms boxed set and some of the regional supplements were good. Unfortunately, being the official setting for WoTC and the whole living setting thing more or less reduced Forgotten Realms to a compost heap.

I'm less familiar with Greyhawk than I'd like. I'd love to have the original folio. The rest? Largely undiscovered country.

[hamurai]

Dark Sun.

It's a very original setting, far away from the traditional fantasy stuff and very refreshing in that.

[tetramorph]

Dec 28, 2021 18:14:57 GMT -6 @dungeonmonkey said:

It'd be a better thing in my opinion if DMs were this creative rather than having a 1000 bland watered down Tolkienesque campaign worlds.

Oh, gee, @dungeonmonkey, I thought you liked my campaign setting! 😉

[Deleted]

Dec 29, 2021 7:54:10 GMT -6 tetramorph said:

Dec 28, 2021 18:14:57 GMT -6 @dungeonmonkey said:

It'd be a better thing in my opinion if DMs were this creative rather than having a 1000 bland watered down Tolkienesque campaign worlds.

Oh, gee, @dungeonmonkey, I thought you liked my campaign setting! 😉

You know, I don't actually know that much about your campaign setting. I think it coalesced around the time I left the Wilderlands of Central Texas. I'm only familiar with the quasi-monotheistic, Christian-like nature of the religion in the setting, which does strike me as a relatively significant departure from the usual.

I think my opinion about campaign settings is a minority view to say the least. There's a reason that there's all these campaign settings that are similar in broad brushstrokes: I think the majority of D&D players want it that way. I can't be too soapboxy about this, as I've generally run generic setting material. I have some ideas for a more distinctive setting, but have not gotten around to putting it down to paper. I've kinda been on a D&D hiatus of late.

[Deleted]

Dec 25, 2021 1:50:39 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

What non-TSR/WotC settings do you prefer instead of these?

A solid non-TSR/WoTC setting is Jimm Johnson's Planet Eris. There's a gazatteer and a nice world map available. (See his blog, The Contemptible Cube of Quazar for information.)

Full disclosure: I'm biased, as I consider Jimm a friend. But I've played in Planet Eris a fair amount, own the products, and wouldn't recommend them if I didn't like them.

[Deleted]

Although I'm not a Magic player, I would say that some Magic "Planes" are very good.

I like Ravenloft but it's kind of a "plugin" scenario, so considering you can still be playing Forgotten Realms and just happened to step into Ravenloft doesn't makes it less Forgotten Realms (or other setting you're playing) in my opinion.
What I mean about it is that, you have this scenario (like Mystara, Forgotten Realms) and all your understanding and knowledge about it (like "goblins exist"). When you step into Ravenloft, there are goblins there as well, so... Even though there are cool ideas (like the mists), Ravenloft seems more like a change of theme than a setting to me.

Innistrad on the other hand is kind of a more carefully designed "Gothic" scenario, like... there are no goblins in there, or any other generic fantasy creatures that doesn't makes sense in a "gothic fantasy" scenario.
Sure, Magic have this "plane travel" thing so just like a goblin can step in the mists of Raveloft, a goblin "planeswalker" can end up in Innistrad as well, but if you ignore this plane travel idea, Innistrad seems more carefully designed as a gothic settings than Ravenloft is by keeping all the generic fantasy and just changing the theme to a gothic adventure.

Apart from Innistrad, another good Magic setting is Ravnica. Unfortunately it have too much generic fantasy as well, but it also have some very good ideas and the factions, called guilds, are very nice designed and you have a very good political background that makes sense and just works.

I agree that Dark Sun is the type of thing that I look for when I look for a Setting. It's carefully designed and not only another generic fantasy that just happened to have different named cities and gods.

[Punkrabbitt]

My heart tells me Dark Sun, but my head tells me Greyhawk.

[tdenmark]

My rundown:

Greyhawk: I find it mostly bland, though it has my favorite adventure locales of all time like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and The Temple of Elemental Evil. Maybe it is good that its bland, it makes these fantastic locations stand out more.

Blackmoor: I like the mixture of fantasy, sci-fi, Barsoom, etc. It always felt so specific to Dave Arneson that I would rather have played in it (preferably with Dave as DM!) than to run a campaign in it.

Forgotten Realms: as I stated previously, I preferred it as Dragon Magazine articles before TSR published it as a setting.

Dragonlance: I have to admit, I fell for Dragonlance hook line and sinker. Always loved that world despite some of the goofiness. I can forgive how derivative it is.

Spelljammer: much better concept than execution. Kudos for originality.

Darksun: great

Birthright: it never hooked me. I'd rather play Pendragon.

Ravenloft: my favorite here. So atmospheric and the hardcover is so well done, you can just sit down and read it the adventures write themselves.

Hollow World: I got it when it came out and never played it. In principle I like the idea.

Mystara: terrific in every way. Like most people I was introduced through the Isle of Dread, which was the first adventure I ran as a DM so it is special to me. I'd like to see it get the deluxe hardcover treatment for 5e.

Planescape: I missed it when it came out, I was in college focused on studies and didn't play D&D much. Looking back it seems to be an excellent treatment of the planes.

Eberron: not my taste, didn't like it from the moment it was announced. Everything about it turned me off.

Ghostwalk: an under appreciated book. An intriguing idea: getting to play your dead character. While it is usually associated with Forgotten Realms it was meant to be its own entity that could be plugged into any campaign. I like it in theory, never played it.

Lankhmar: all due respect for City State of the Invincible Overlord, Lankhmar is my favorite city campaign.

Magic: The Gathering Planes: the books look gorgeous, filled with amazing art, I haven't gotten into them. I'm not even turned off by M:TG that much, just with all the other stuff I already have I don't need to get into yet another campaign setting.


While all of these various settings have their strengths and weaknesses, my favorite campaign setting remains the one I started in high school. Nothing beats homebrew.

[Deleted]

Homebrew is king. For me, established settings serve as inspiration for my own world-building. There's something magical about how Dark Sun manages to be so alien, so different but still D&D, like others above me have said, so I picked that one for this poll, only because among the *official* settings it's the closest to my idea of taking the core idea of D&D and making it your own. It's like someone took that little blurb in the 3lbb about other planes and went wild with it. "Let's mix Mad Max and Dune and Tattooine and a hundred pulp classics in a bowl."

[howandwhy99]

I think the original expectation is of a homebrew setting. Then published 1e Greyhawk became the setting for all the default rules, items, monsters, and lore. The Known World filled this role for many Basic players. Darksun is IMO the most creative yet still playable as a D&D published setting within 1e's constraints of what was necessary to contain the whole of "official D&D". Spelljammer is the best of the higher level planar adventure options, but not suitable as a setting to teach low levels, at least by my reading.

[stonetoflesh]

Of the vote options, I had to choose Forgotten Realms as that's the only one I really experienced as DM and player -- the Gray Box plus the first few supplements (Waterdeep, Savage Frontier, etc.)

For non-TSR, my favorites are the Wilderlands of High Fantasy (classic) and Dolmenwood (modern.)

[tombowings]

I voted for the Hollow Word. I tend to prefer ancient settings to medieval ones. The idea of faux-Greeks hunting dinosaurs intrigues me. In comparison to Mystara, I find the Hollow World much more brutal and savage. It's the closest to Conan that TSR comes.