I loved WW's Ravenloft setting. Really cool in the couple of games I played. I've never owned or read any of the books though.

I find DragonMech really interesting, although I've never played there

Ebberon was a lot of fun. Not interesting to read, but well designed from the point of play. It was super easy to get to where the action was at, which was everywhere.

Quote from: dsivis;286342they surfed???

Bilbo don't surf!

Birth Right. I only played it once, but it was by far the best.

Othewise, Kingdoms of Kalamar. Sure, it isn't D&D, but it was written for it.

If it hasn't got Tenser in it it's not an RPG etc.

Quote from: mxyzplk;286410(Man, all these Wilderlands folks... I thought *I* was old but that's way before my time...)

Valid for 2003 but since then we managed to pull in a few of the younger folks. (Thank You Necromancer)

Quote from: James J Skach;286398I'm going to look into it more into Wilderlands ( suggestions for the indispensable will be appreciated).

The Wilderland differs then other settings in that it focuses on the low level detail but has a very sketchy high level. The original 70s/80s material have virtually none.  Because of this you can customize the setting very easily to do  anything from swords & sorcery, high fantasy to gritty low fantasy.

The wealth of low level detail ease prep time considerably. You can rip out sections of a map and replace it with something else or original work of your own and the rest still will be useful.

The modern incarnation of the Wilderlands is found in these three products.

The Players Guide
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=31&products_id=756&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=31

The Boxed Set
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=31&products_id=2745&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=31

City-State of the Invincible Overlord.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=31&products_id=1360&it=1&filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=31

The entire Judges Guild line can be found here. Many of the original PDFs are available at a very inexpensive price.
http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0&manufacturers_id=31

There are various freebies offered here. http://www.judgesguild.com/

Of them these give the best sense of what the wilderlands is about.

The Rorystone Road a slice out  of map surrounding the City-State.
http://www.judgesguild.com/pdf/rorystone.pdf

An entire map and chapter from the boxed - Lenap
http://www.judgesguild.com/pdf/lenap/lenap.pdf
http://www.judgesguild.com/pdf/lenap/lenap_map.jpg

Enjoy
Rob Conley

I have to vote for the 1st Edition of Dark Sun as it was the only setting product I ever bought for any incarnation of D&D.

It is a deeply flawed setting and mechanicaly the hardest to play I ever encountered (hence I never actualy ran it) but at the same time is original within the D&D frame and has an ancient age/sword & sorcery feel to it that no other D&D world ever came close to replicate.


However if we take "D&D setting" to encompass every fantasy world ever published under D20 my pick would immediately go to the Hyborean Age of Conan

Quote from: Cranewings;286477Othewise, Kingdoms of Kalamar. Sure, it isn't D&D, but it was written for it.

That's a legalism. We all know it's D&D, only that we have to pretend it isn't.

There are many and good. I would go first with my homebre stuff (I feel that's what D&D was for), followed by the Known World and Dark Sun. In D&D 3, probably Midnight is the best.

I'm tied up between Mystara (especially Red steel) and Planescape. They took the magic and weirdness of D&D and ran with it, rather than trying to tone it down or ignore it.

Do we have to pick one? 1e Greyhawk is great to modify for a homebrew campaign, but Planescape is incredibly fun to read. Birthright would be really cool as a boardgame, because it focuses more on the macro than the micro (entire kingdoms, resource management, etc), if you get my meaning....

2nd Edition, Cliched Ravenloft. I loved the whole monster movie ripoff thing they had going. It made the horror fan in me very happy.

Quote from: JimLotFP;286366No.

Please to elaborate.

A three-way tie between Greyhawk (1983 boxed set), Wilderlands and Dark Sun (original boxed set, before all the loopy shit).

Quote from: Drew;286546A three-way tie between Greyhawk (1983 boxed set), Wilderlands and Dark Sun (original boxed set, before all the loopy shit).

My favourites are Mystara/Known World, 1983 Greyhawk and Wilderlands.  Of the three, Mystara is the most reliable, the one that always makes for a fun game.  I ran an enormously fun 45-year epic centred on the Dawn of the Emperors boxed set.

The other two you have to get your head around.  Greyhawk, I've found it works best as a lowish fantasy setting, a la the Saltmarsh trilogy which I am running in an online chat game that's going great.  Wilderlands has not quite clicked with me yet, I think its secret lies in hexploration but I haven't worked out the best way to approach it.

Quote from: S'mon;286576My favourites are Mystara/Known World, 1983 Greyhawk and Wilderlands.  Of the three, Mystara is the most reliable, the one that always makes for a fun game.  I ran an enormously fun 45-year epic centred on the Dawn of the Emperors boxed set.

Sounds good. I still have a soft spot for Mystara, but was never that enthusiastic over it's jumbled up alt. historical tone. The increasingly parodic Gazeteers also turned me off somewhat.

QuoteThe other two you have to get your head around.  Greyhawk, I've found it works best as a lowish fantasy setting, a la the Saltmarsh trilogy which I am running in an online chat game that's going great.

Agreed. 'Warhammer Fantasy Greyhawk' is one of my back burner projects that I keep meaning to get started on.

QuoteWilderlands has not quite clicked with me yet, I think its secret lies in hexploration but I haven't worked out the best way to approach it.

Yes. For me the key was finding a simple system. I  ended up alternating between C&C and houseruled BD&D, which allowed me to assemble encounters with minimum prep as the PCs careened around the City-State and it's environs getting into scrapes. I made sure the players understood that the Wilderlands was a reactive environment that responded to strong proactivity. The story wouldn't come to them, rather they had to forge it from their own IC ambitions. A few sessions in and they were dealing with a Skandik blood feud, a pissed off assassin cult and the unmasking of an illusion-weaving Ogre Mage who had been devouring the scholarly patrons of his book shop in the heart of the city. I barely had to write a single plot hook; I just cracked open the books, familiarised myself with their immediate environment and remained ready to wing it at a moments notice.