# Greyhawk vs Dragonlance vs Forgotten Realms vs Mystara vs Birthright



## VGmaster9 (Feb 12, 2011)

Which out of these five generic campaign settings do you think is the best? Which do you think offers the most variety? What are some that can do that others can't? What makes some so unique as opposed to others?


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## Alexander123 (Feb 12, 2011)

One that's not on your list: Eberron.

I don't know much about Mystara, Birthright or Greyhawk so I'll speak of the three I know: FR, Dragonlance and Eberron. 

I think Eberron offers something unique not offered by other campaigns, it has a realism which is missing in other campaign settings like FR and Dragonlance. The realism is evident by the fact that priests can be corrupt and will not be punished by their gods and will retain class abilities. 

I also like the way Eberron has gotten away from the race determines alignment mentality which is characteristic of other campaign settings. 

I also like FR and Dragonlance although I would not play in either, one of the basic reasons being that those camaign settings are cursed with gods that walk the earth. 

I also like the integration of science and magic which Eberron has been able to pull off which adds a certain flavor to it which is absent in other campaign settings.

Great thread by the way!


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## cleverkobold (Feb 12, 2011)

I think that Eberron was not included on the list because it wasnt considered a 'generic' campaign setting.


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## Alexander123 (Feb 12, 2011)

Do you know why it isn't considered generic?


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## cleverkobold (Feb 12, 2011)

Alexander123 said:


> Do you know why it isn't considered generic?




I admit that I have never played an Eberron game, however your description and many others that I have seen make it abundantly clear; because of the combo of science and magic, and the overall steampunky feel of the setting, that it is not generic at all.


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## Alexander123 (Feb 12, 2011)

I have always like the steampunk style and feel of Eberron, I think that is one of its virtues. That is one of the things which makes it unique.


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## cleverkobold (Feb 12, 2011)

I would really like to play Eberron, but for now I'll stick to Dark Sun.


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## Ahnehnois (Feb 12, 2011)

I'm not a big FR guy. Never read the books. Never played a D&D game in that setting. That said, I identify with it because of the Baldur's Gate Series, and it has a lot of merits and many good books.

Grayhawk never made much of an impact to me. I've had mediocre experiences with Dragonlance, though I'm sure it's a fine setting. Don't know anything about the other two.

If I had to use a published setting, I'd probably use Kingdoms of Kalamar. If I had to use one of *these* settings, I'd use FR.

Specifically, what I like about FR is the cultural diversity and the great campaign setting book. I also like that it embraces the tropes of D&D (i.e. magic is king at higher levels and the world economy is based on it). I don't like the amount of canon one has to wade through or the recent gutting of the setting, but those are both easily ignored by a capable DM.


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## cleverkobold (Feb 12, 2011)

Im not a very big fan of Dragonlance, perhaps it was my personal experiances with it though. It seems like all Dragonlance games I have played had too grand a scope and an overly epic plotline. I perfer starting small.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Feb 12, 2011)

VGmaster9 said:


> Which out of these five generic campaign settings do you think is the best?



That's like asking whether chocolate or strawberry ice cream is best. They're different, and serve (slightly) different needs.

If there's something you are looking for from a kitchen sink setting, you'd be better off saying what it is, and finding out which of these would best serve your needs.

And if you're willing to look at OOP kitchen sink settings (several of those you've listed are, after all), I'd also put Harn, Golalron, the Goodman Games world, various versions of Blackmoor and Castlemourn on your list as well.


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## Sekhmet (Feb 12, 2011)

Ravenloft, dude.


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## Alexander123 (Feb 12, 2011)

I have actually never played in a dragonlance game but I loved the novels. Games in dragonlance do seem to have an epic plotline and I also like to start small.


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## Particle_Man (Feb 12, 2011)

Kalamar for me (I am a special snowflake, I guess).  Of the five listed I would lean towards Birthright, as that had interesting options.


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## Icyshadowlord (Feb 12, 2011)

Personally, I would go with either Eberron or Greyhawk, though I happen to like Forgotten Realms as well. I don't know much about DragonLance or the other settings (though I am sort-of familiar with Dark Sun)

In the end, I voted Greyhawk because it somehow seems to be the very foundation of the 3.5 edition stuff like the pantheon and such things. My second option would have been Eberron, mostly for reasons that have already been mentioned here by some.


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## messy (Feb 12, 2011)

greyhawk, forgotten realms, dragonlance, and dark sun all have their charms. therefore, i cannot vote.


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## the-golem (Feb 12, 2011)

Particle_Man said:


> Kalamar for me




This. As far as a setting goes, this is probably one of the most developed ones I've seen as of yet. (It's got an Atlas even )

Aside from that, Greyhawk. Dragonlance is alright, aside from the whole meta-plot thing going on. I prefer my characters to BE the story, not take a minor role in it. The same goes for FR too, pretty much. I guess there are too many "big names" in FR for me to be content with. Not that this is bad, but not my cup of tea.

Mystara ... I dunno much about it, tbh. Birthright either, even though I'm pretty sure I bought the boxed set on a whim for that setting. The logo excited me!

Eberron, although the premise is nice, I wouldn't classify it as "medieval" I'd describe it more like industrial-era, but with magic as technology. I'm just guessing that's why it wasn't included.


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## Knightfall (Feb 13, 2011)

I had to vote Greyhawk. It was a tough choice between it and Mystara. The "classic" 1e/2e Forgotten Realms is a very close third.

I like Dragonlance more for the novels.


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## Alexander123 (Feb 13, 2011)

Knightfall said:


> I like Dragonlance more for the novels.




I also.


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## Turjan (Feb 13, 2011)

I don't know enough about Mystara or Birthright to judge them, and I certainly dislike Dragonlance. Which leaves Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. I guess that, just from the concept, I like Greyhawk somewhat better, but the Forgotten Realms are the place of many fond memories, so I have to go with them.

There is nothing "medieval" about the Realms, though. They don't even have a sliver of a medieval feel to them.


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## Alexander123 (Feb 14, 2011)

Why do you say there is nothing medieval about FR? Compared to Eberron it certainly would be.


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## Turjan (Feb 14, 2011)

Alexander123 said:


> Why do you say there is nothing medieval about FR? Compared to Eberron it certainly would be.



I could pose the counter question: Which aspect of the FR has a medieval feel to you? Plate armor and swords? 

To me, the FR have mostly the atmosphere of the Western genre, just with swords and magic missiles instead of guns. You have these huge swathes of wilderness for exploration, old ruins of ancient civilizations, meet lots of wild tribes and animals, and even the ever present nobles have more aspects of a cattle baron than someone bound into rigid societal structures. All of this looks much more like the 18th to 19th century American West than medieval Europe.


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## Jhaelen (Feb 14, 2011)

I think they're all pretty terrible. I vastly prefer settings that are _not_ generic vanilla settings. Having said that, I used the Blackmoor region in Greyhawk as the basis for my 3e homebrew campaign, so I voted for that.


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## Ajax1979 (Feb 14, 2011)

I have nothing against Birthright. It just really feels like a world made by committee. To me Birthright is the beautiful house where no one ever lived. Greyhawk and FR were homebrews. Dragonlance had novels and Mystara had a long series of articles in Dragon Magazine. Birthright showed up fully formed, had a huge amount of product over two years, and then vanished.

FR and Mystara get equal love from me though I ignore about 90% of the published material. Both suffer from "generic fantasy kingdoms" welded to "obvious real world cultural knock offs" but I'm okay with that. Between the two of them they cover just about everything.

I never got into Greyhawk much beyond the few nods to it in old Dragon Magazines and modules.

Dragonlance novels were a staple during middle and high school. As far as gaming there goes I have met two sorts of people:

1. Let's play the Companions and do exactly what they did.

2. Let's go out of our way to never acknowledge the events of the novels but doggedly maintain this is the same setting.

The former group seemed a lot more common to me. The latter group had some cool ideas (Taladas, Otherlands) but seemed to go off the rails into either generic fantasy or just plain weird a lot. "There's a spaceship buried under Palanthas and by the way there are two other moons no one knows about and the blue and gold wizards want to kill you.'


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## the Jester (Feb 14, 2011)

Greyhawk, always and forever.

I cannot stand FR or DL; never got the chance to play Birthright but I suspect I would really dig it. 

Mystara sits in 2nd place of the ones I've played, though.

All that said, my vast preference is a homebrewed world, and I also like some of the non-generic settings even though I may never run or play a game in them- Dark Sun rules, Eberron is cool by me, Oriental Adventures (before it got shoved into FR), Planescape, etc.


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Feb 16, 2011)

Mystara and Greyhawk are practically tie for me. Mystara won out only because the potential for non-medieval genre adventuring abounds in addition.


Birthright would come third for positive feelings around the cohesive setting or FR would come third for nostalgia towards the gray box era.


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## lordxaviar (Feb 17, 2011)

Ok some of your responses seem to make me think that you read the question too quickly...

it asked which MEDIEVIAL setting

Ebbron with live robots and steampunnky thing going dosent fit

ravenloft is closer to the 18's in feel... 

Greyhawk snob


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## Jhaelen (Feb 18, 2011)

lordxaviar said:


> it asked which MEDIEVIAL setting
> 
> Ebbron with live robots and steampunnky thing going dosent fit



If Eberron doesn't fit because it features the warforged then none of the settings fit, because they're ALL high-magic settings with some of them even featuring _actual_ sci-fi material (Greyhawk, Mystara).

If the OP was really looking for a medieval setting, i.e. a setting with low or no magic, he'd have used different choices in the poll.


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