[video=youtube_share;U1c8SVB3dpI]https://youtu.be/U1c8SVB3dpI[/youtube]

It's really late medieval. I prefer migration period or slightly later, not that late, but DA is quite interesting and authentic for what it is.

I prefer gonzo Thundarr the Barbarian-style post-apocalyptic kitchen sinks. If I want history I'll read it. Have fun playing whatever you enjoy though.

Karameikos/Known World is still my go to example for the best setting. Absolute bare bones basics. Go fourth and make of it what you will.

Quote from: Chris24601;1096984I prefer gonzo Thundarr the Barbarian-style post-apocalyptic kitchen sinks. If I want history I'll read it. Have fun playing whatever you enjoy though.

I'm probably pretty close to this, too. Except I have Barsoom firmly in mind as my starting point. It then gets heavily Savaged and thrown in the blender with a bunch of other stuff that catches my fancy, and that's my "typical" setting.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1096999I'm probably pretty close to this, too. Except I have Barsoom firmly in mind as my starting point. It then gets heavily Savaged and thrown in the blender with a bunch of other stuff that catches my fancy, and that's my "typical" setting.

This is why I like the Wilderlands kitchen sink so much!
Mind you I am currently running and enjoying Primeval Thule, Varisia/Golarion, and Forgotten Realms, they all work well. I have really gone off DnD settings dominated by large states and empires like Greyhawk. Even Mystara is really too civilised.

I'll take it one step further, not only is the setting you create the best setting, but the rules you create are the best rules.

History is pretty dull...it's why people invented fantasy.

My favourite setting is Spelljammer so shame that did not make the top four especially since weak ass settings like Dark Sun some how make it.  Personally I blame the SJWs for that.

Quote from: JeremyR;1097003History is pretty dull...it's why people invented fantasy.

If you think that history is dull then I suggest you check out Dan Carlins Hardcore History podcast

I'm pretty much Greyhawk, Gamma World, Third Imperium when it comes down to it.

I generally prefer Harryhausen Bronze Age vs. Ren Faire Medieval, except for Warhammer.

I never got to play enough to have a favorite setting, except for one MERP/Rolemaster campaign where I played the only known Dunedain Paladin of Eru the One. :cool:

For a historic setting, maybe medieval Europe ca. A.D. 1100.

I liked the original Traveler setting, Time Master (Chill), FASA Star Trek, and The Morrow Project.

My favorite settings to DM were Greyhawk (One city-based, one wilderness/domain management), and the Orion Foundation campaign in Top Secret/S.I.

Quote from: S'mon;1097000This is why I like the Wilderlands kitchen sink so much!
Mind you I am currently running and enjoying Primeval Thule, Varisia/Golarion, and Forgotten Realms, they all work well. I have really gone off DnD settings dominated by large states and empires like Greyhawk. Even Mystara is really too civilised.

I'd never looked into Primeval Thule before, but that looks exactly like the kind of thing I like. Going to have to pick that up. And, yeah, from what I infer of your last comment a huge part of the attraction for me is that idea of civilization being relatively rare and only in the loosest of terms being what we'd think of as actually civilized, with a bigger badder wilderness that exists just beyond the city gates. Kingdoms tend to be synonymous with "city", and kings are more like warlords that can only rule over that which they can personally control (vastly limiting their reach). I was all over the idea of D&D 4e's "Points of Light" for many of the same reasons. But any setting that cranks that dial all the way up gets my attention.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1097098And, yeah, from what I infer of your last comment a huge part of the attraction for me is that idea of civilization being relatively rare and only in the loosest of terms being what we'd think of as actually civilized, with a bigger badder wilderness that exists just beyond the city gates. Kingdoms tend to be synonymous with "city", and kings are more like warlords that can only rule over that which they can personally control (vastly limiting their reach). I was all over the idea of D&D 4e's "Points of Light" for many of the same reasons. But any setting that cranks that dial all the way up gets my attention.

The default setting of the world for the game system I've been writing has the biggest city for a thousand miles in any direction with a population of just 15,000 and the civilized lands it controls is home to barely 30,000 (the farmers mostly live inside walled cities and towns and then walk up to an hour to and from the fields). Beyond it is monster-haunted ruin-filled wilderness spanning a week's travel by river to the next civilized realm (whose capitol city's population is just 6000).

Those population numbers are also a bit misleading since only just over half are human (and a percentage of those has a notable degree of dwarven, elven, avatar or fetch ancestry). Dwarves boasting their arcane cybernetics, and various species of beastmen (minotaurs, kobolds, crocodin and the bat-like goblins) are next most common followed by Malfeans (elemental-themed tieflings) and various breeds of mutants (trolls, troglodytes and the occasional orc being most common) and a colony of self-exiled elves of the dark caste. Throw in a smattering of golems, gnomes and avatars (mostly sprites and the occasional sylph or undine, but a werewolf or dragon isn't unheard of) and the occasional caravan of fetches and you've got the population of the trade city of Blackspire; launching point for a thousand expeditions into the Duskwood to claim territory, items or knowledge lost to the Cataclysm two-centuries prior.

They say Castle Blackspire; the 25 story tall repurposed ruin that houses more than a third of the city's population and whose sheared off upper 75 floors still provides the city more steel than they can use; wasn't even the largest of the "skyscrapers" in the city of Praetoria when the Cataclysm hit, but it's older and sturdier design enabled more of it to survive far more intact than nearly any others; making it a hub for survivors to rebuild.

Design-wise the default setting area is basically the ruins of a region akin to a magitech version of the New York Metropolitan Area (i.e. about 13,000 sq. miles) two-hundred years after a magic Cataclysm ripped apart the world and wiped out 99.9% of the world's population (half of whom were horribly mutated). Bands of survivors lucky enough to find some edge amidst the ruins were able to form the nucleus of communities that now struggle to survive against the monsters let loose by the Cataclysm (mutants, creatures from other realms and other communities wanting what the other had) and are in desperate need of heroes to brave the wilds, clear it of threats and explore the countless ruins for anything that could give civilization an edge.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1097098I'd never looked into Primeval Thule before, but that looks exactly like the kind of thing I like. Going to have to pick that up. And, yeah, from what I infer of your last comment a huge part of the attraction for me is that idea of civilization being relatively rare and only in the loosest of terms being what we'd think of as actually civilized, with a bigger badder wilderness that exists just beyond the city gates. Kingdoms tend to be synonymous with "city", and kings are more like warlords that can only rule over that which they can personally control (vastly limiting their reach). I was all over the idea of D&D 4e's "Points of Light" for many of the same reasons. But any setting that cranks that dial all the way up gets my attention.

I agree - Wilderlands and Primeval Thule both do the city state/points of light thing. The FR sword coast is also mostly wilderness with a few cities, as is Varisia where I run my Runelords campaign. It is definitely the easiest setup for DnD I find.