Continuing an examination of the many campaign worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.

Dragonlance

The world of Krynn feels eerily similar to Faerûn, though in the case of Krynn the novels came before the setting. It was dreamed up by Laura & Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, and features a well-storied history and geography along with a very successful trilogy of novels (Chronicles) at its core. I never felt quite right playing in Dragonlance, though. I always felt like no matter what I did, I’d be playing second fiddle to the likes of Tanis and Raistlin.

Ravenloft

With Dungeons & Dragons as a foundation, Ravenloft is where Castlevania meets the World of Darkness. No character is above corruption, but even a fallen hero is someone to whom the innocent can appeal for help with vampiric overlords. It makes for an interesting change of pace from the more traditional “high” fantasy settings of D&D, but I’ve never really invested in a full campaign here. I think it’d quickly become a dark, dismal affair. Not to say that dark, dismal campaigns aren’t fun… I was once in a Forgotten Realms campaign set during the War of the Spider Queen with all of the characters (including myself) being drow or drow-related. Dark? Yes. Fun? Hells yes.

Dark Sun

Here’s a campaign world I’d like to spend more time in, especially given the new life it’s received in the latest edition. D&D took a stab at a world with a bit of the old Arabian Nights flavor called Al-Qadim once, but it didn’t have quite the hook that Dark Sun does. The world is dying, magic is feared, sorcerer-kings plot and scheme to maintain their power and what heroes remain are in for a struggle even if they choose to move from one settlement to another. I hear nothing but good things, and while I’ve never yet entered this dying world, it holds a lot of appeal for me.

Planescape

I miss this campaign world. While Sigil and many of the other aspects of this setting have been folded into the Manual of the Planes, setting an entire campaign in and around the City of Doors takes a lot more legwork than it used to. Still, if you want to cast the players as nomads either doing good throughout the planes or seeking plunder from disparate worlds for some purpose, this is the way to do it. Just don’t ever, ever cross the Lady of Pain.

EVER.

Courtesy geneticanomaly.com

Yesterday I touched on a subject that will hopefully grow more interesting and in-depth as the year gets underway. In keeping with the initial source and given that I’m creating a new character for an on-line D&D campaign, I find myself thinking about fully-formed campaign worlds that exist outside of the default setting, at one time called ‘Mystara’ or ‘Greyhawk.’ Some have fared well over the years, while others have become somewhat faded. Today I’ll tackle three, and tomorrow four.

Forgotten Realms

It’s difficult to call these realms truly ‘forgotten’ when their books, tales and characters persist through not one but two complete revisions of the D&D engine. Toril has long provided players and DMs alike with a rich, nuanced and vast world in which to tell stories, and the continent of Faerûn has seen more than its share of wars, intrigues, betrayals and upheavals, rivaling Azeroth and the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. With a history that is deep and storied and a world expansive enough to encompass all sorts from all walks of life, it’s no wonder players keep returning to these not-so-forgotten realms.

Eberron

Steampunk fantasy. Almost sells itself, doesn’t it? Just ask Privateer Press. While Eberron might not have the mighty hulking warjacks and pseudo-Soviet warriors of Warmachine, it does have fully autonomous machine characters, railways powered by lightning and cities reaching high into the sky. It’s not a bad setting, and there’s a lot of fun to be had there, but magic becoming technology isn’t quite as interesting as magic railing against technology, as it does in the aforementioned Iron Kingdoms. But that’s a subject for another post, I suppose.

Spelljammer

I’ve only played Spelljammer once. It was… interesting. Blending fantasy with science fiction has been done numerous times – Star Wars, Krull, etc – but in Spelljammer it felt a bit forced. It was still fun for me, back in my teen years, to give this a shot, but it never felt quite right. I had access to the Star Wars roleplaying game – wrote quite a bit in terms of campaign background for it, in fact – as well as 2nd edition D&D, and I found myself thinking “I could be playing this or that” instead of playing Spelljammer. Still, it’s a setting with potential, and a little refinement may make it worth revisiting, provided the door that leads from Sigil to the realm of the Spelljammers doesn’t just open on empty space.

More tomorrow on the realms of D&D.