# Top Ten D&D Settings of ALL TIME!



## TarionzCousin

What would it be like if all of the posts in this thread were positive; if nobody chimed in to say how much they hate "Setting X" and decry it as unworthy of even being mentioned here? 

Would the world end? 

Would all the internets implode?


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## enrious

Great list, fun memories.  I wouldn't have been surprised if any of the settings listed here had been #1.


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## Manabarbs

Planescape's win is made even more impressive by the fact that it hasn't been directly supported in TTRPG form for so long. I know that EN World skews older/oldschool, but it's almost 20 years since the setting last received a main setting book. (And 14 years since the very popular videogame.) Sure, there are a lot of people who have been playing since 2e, but there are also a lot of people who haven't, so for Planescape to win is all the more impressive.


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## Olgar Shiverstone

Wow -- surprised that Planescape is #1, and that Greyhawk outvoted FR. I'm down with GH > FR myself, but never grokked the PS setting.

Morrus -- I think you're right.  The first Pathfinder adventure path was for 3.5E and was set in Golarion.  "Pathfinder" as a game came out later.  They were published after Paizo lost the Dragon/Dungeon license (I got mine as a continuation of my Dungeon subscription, IIRC), but they were still for D&D.  Not sure if that meets the criteria or not.


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## delericho

Wow, that was a surprise. I mean, PS is a great setting, but when I saw FR was #3 I was sure that meant Greyhawk had to have won it.

Anyway, TSR sure did know how to make some fine settings.


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## gweinel

Planescape, Mystara and Birthright were my choices, so i am very pleased with the result. Now, if could revive these settings


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## koesherbacon

I'm kind of surprised that Dark Sun out ranked Eberron.  I know that in terms of nostalgia, Dark Sun will always hold a special place for people, but with there are so many new players who like the Steampunk or Gas Lamp Fantasy genera I would think that Eberron would appeal more to them than Dark Sun or even the more "typical" fantasy worlds like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms.


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## Storminator

While I have preferences, and wouldn't have ordered them like that, I'd play in any of those settings.

PS


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## Morrus

Storminator said:


> and wouldn't have ordered them like that




I'd imagine not! If those results were your exact order, you'd best start playing the lottery! The odds of that happening are 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2:1!


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## ThirdWizard

It warms my heart to see Planescape is still so popular.


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## Jhaelen

Wow, really some surprising results - I approve!

My personal top five would have been:
1. Dark Sun
2. Eberron
3. Planescape
4. Ravenloft
5. Greyhawk


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## Jiggawatts

My List:

10. Birthright
9. Mystara
8. Al-Qadim 
7. Eberron
6. Dark Sun
5. Greyhawk
4. Ravenloft
3. Dragonlance
2. Planescape
1. Forgotten Realms


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## DMZ2112

Wow, Planescape?  Really?  I mean, I wholeheartedly approve, but I've always thought of it as a niche.  Thought Forgotten Realms would have taken it for sure (and secretly pleased to see Greyhawk beat it out!).

Thanks for running the poll, Morrus!


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## dm4hire

I was surprised by the results, but can see why Planescape took 1st.  It effectively could be tied to almost any campaign outside of Darksun, but even then the DM could change that.


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## Dioltach

I think that what this poll shows more than anything is that the EN World crowd are probably not representative of the whole D&D market.


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## scott2978

Awesome poll Morrus, thanks for posting it. Great results. And I think it's interesting how many comments say they are both surprised and agree with the results.


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## havard

Great seeing Mystara (and Blackmoor) in there!


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## Zelkon

I'd take this with a grain of salt. They did this over on the WotC forums and got similar yet still quite different results. Grayhawk was much less popular, and Eberron and FR were the top two in that order IIRC. That said, I like all these settings with the exclusions of the more generic ones like FR, GH, and Golorian.


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## Jan van Leyden

scott2978 said:


> Awesome poll Morrus, thanks for posting it. Great results. And I think it's interesting how many comments say they are both surprised and agree with the results.




Me, I'm just the other way round: I saw it coming, but I never gave a damn about Planescape myself


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## Balesir

Nice poll, great to see the result.

As for my own choices; the first two were easy - Planescape and Birthright. The third was much harder to select just one. It was between Dark Sun and Eberron, and I went with Eberron, IIRC - but it could have gone either way.


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## Klaus

My personal list:

10. Mystara
9. Nerath
8. Forgotten Realms
7. Dragonlance
6. Red Steel
5. Planescape
4. Dark Sun
3. Ravenloft
2. Eberron
1. Greyhawk


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## thundershot

My list...




5. Greyhawk
4. Dark Sun
3. Mystara
2. Planescape
1. Spelljammer


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## bandrewski

Glad Birthright made the list

Mystara should be higher but so few people have read the Gazetteers which were amazing.

Greyhawk > Forgotten Realms = awesome

#1 is a bit of a shock


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## vegaserik01

My Golarion Setting book came out before Pathfinder so it should be considered D&D 3.5

Never bought or played in Planescape but it works for me. I think I'd have Ravenloft near number one myself ... but I find it all depends on my mood. Sometimes i'm in the mood for gothic horror, sometimes grim & gritty (Dark Sun) and sometimes nostalgic (Dragonlance for me) but I'd have to say I've used the Realms most of all.


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## kitsune9

Nice poll. Now go out and poll the other 567,345 campaign settings. I want to know which reached the top 10 there!


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## Morrus

kitsune9 said:


> Nice poll. Now go out and poll the other 567,345 campaign settings. I want to know which reached the top 10 there!




I'll let you do that one!


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## JeffB

These results are  almost as hillarious as the rexults of the  top adventures of all time poll were.

Goes to show how skewed internet popularity is compared to real world sales.


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## Morrus

JeffB said:


> These results are  almost as hillarious as the rexults of the  top adventures of all time poll were.




I'm glad you were entertained.



> Goes to show how skewed internet popularity is compared to real world sales.




What, do you mean to say that Planescape isn't selling strongly right now?


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## JeffB

Heh..

No comment.


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## Lord Rasputin

Ranking the ones I've actually played:

5) Forgotten Realms
4) Known World
3) Ravenloft
2) Greyhawk (tops if you want a more generic fantasy or a standard sandbox)
1) Dragonlance

I like settings I can grasp fast, which is why I like Greyhawk much more than the Forgotten Realms. I'm sure there's something I want in Faerun, but damned if I can muster up the energy to sift through everything to focus on something. Well, other than Waterdeep; I know I like Waterdeep since I just love cities.


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## TwoSix

Manabarbs said:


> Planescape's win is made even more impressive by the fact that it hasn't been directly supported in TTRPG form for so long. I know that EN World skews older/oldschool, but it's almost 20 years since the setting last received a main setting book. (And 14 years since the very popular videogame.) Sure, there are a lot of people who have been playing since 2e, but there are also a lot of people who haven't, so for Planescape to win is all the more impressive.




I've often thought that Planescape is the Mage: The Ascension of the D&D world; a setting that's just as much (or more!) fun to have discussions about as it is to play.


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## szarkel

No love for Jakandar or Ghostwalk?  Cryin shame


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## amerigoV

szarkel said:


> No love for Jakandar or Ghostwalk?  Cryin shame




Ghostwalk was an interesting one. I always held that one in my back pocket if a long-running group ever got TPK'd. I most be soft, as I have not used it yet.


Of the actual results, I have only played in the top 5 anyway for any length of time (I ran/played in the I6/EtCR, but not the setting and played in one or two DL modules)

In the top 5, only Planescape is not to my tastes. I am just not a big fan of planar stuff, other than as to prevent Something Bad from Happening trope. It also seems to me that D&D has drifted too much into planar stuff as a way to "make things interesting" instead of just making something interesting. But I know there is a lot of love there so its just something I do not think about.

Darksun - I have loved the concept from the time I first heard of it. I was a po' college student when I first found out about it and only lightly into gaming at the time, so I never picked it up. I am not a 4e-er, but when they announced the re-release I eagerly picked it up. The fact that 40% of the book was just player option crunch really dampened my view of the book - I seem to have a hard time getting past that to really enjoy reading about the setting itself. But I am keeping an eye on the Dragon Kings (http://www.dragonkingsproject.com/) since its supposed to be the spiritual successor of DS (and them announcing Savage Worlds as one of the support rule sets cinched it for me ).

I have a renewed enjoyment of Greyhawk in the last couple of years. Someone one Dragonsfoot said it best on a discussion of game world there - you need to have something "normal" in which to contrast the fantastical against. Since Greyhawk grew up under the older editions, it just feels closer to the "medieval world with some spikes of magic" that I like vs. "every inch of the world is magical". 

I picked up a lot of FR during 3.x  (I never really like the older stuff). The 3.0 FRCS is one of my favorite books. I love how at the end of each area write-up there are 3-4 little plot hooks to get you going. I know if I have an idea that does not fit any more specialized worlds I can always drop it somewhere in FR - it is truly a kitchen sink setting. None of my players are FR-fan boys so I can always use that world as a rich background without the fear of sticking all that close to Canon if I do not want to.

But if I want a long-term high magic setting, I love Eberron over FR. It just makes more sense to me. If every barkeep can cast a few magic spells and every treasure pile has a +1 sword in it, then I would expect more "magic-tech" than FR seems to have. Eberron is magical and the magic is used for more than just making WMDs  (Weapons of Monster Destruction).

So I would rank the top 4 to be:

4. DS (concept, anyway)
3. FR
2/1 (tie) Greyhawk/Eberron depending on the how "high fantasy" I want something.


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## Greg K

Edited: I had a memory lapse and thought I included Dragonlance. Also, I just read that unofficial settings were not eligible which ruled out Scarred Lands.

My ranking
10.Kara Tur
9. Rokugan
8. Hollow World
7. Birthright
6. Dragonlance
5. Known World
4. Forgotten Realms (1e Grey Box)
3. Greyhawk (Folio or 1e Boxed Set)
2. Ravenloft Realms of Terror
1. Tie: Darksun (orignal boxed set)/Al Quadim


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## megamania

Mysteria and Birthright beat Scarred lands?!?   wow.


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## Morrus

megamania said:


> Mysteria and Birthright beat Scarred lands?!?   wow.




Scarred Lands isn't an official D&D setting. It wasn't eligible.


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## szarkel

It is easy to give props to the older campaigns.  Greyhawk really came to its own (I feel) once 2nd ed came in I love those two box sets and I have Ivid the undying I got off the interweb.  FRG which I  loved from the start had the awful period where they reprinting things.  I love me some Spelljammer but most don't so it like playing game most do not like.  Planescape for atmospheric with its own cant and a real feel.  I love campaigns.  I have a couple of Kalamar Books and I own two of the three Jakandar books.  After 3.0 Scarred lands is my favorite then fanstasy Flights Legends and Lairs.


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## megamania

Morrus said:


> Scarred Lands isn't an official D&D setting. It wasn't eligible.




Good point


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## megamania

However, the first list given has Pathfinder listed as #10.    So why not scarred Lands?


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## Morrus

megamania said:


> However, the first list given has Pathfinder listed as #10.    So why not scarred Lands?




You might want to look at the article again.


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## Blackbrrd

Nice article 

I am surprised Planescape got the top vote. I don't think I have actually played in Greyhawk yet, maybe I should have checked it out?


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## Big Mac

*My Facebook question gave different results*

I created a question on Facebook, three years back called: What D&D campaign settings are you interested in? That gave very different results to the EN World survey.

I had a lot of non-D&D campaign settings added by people responding (before Facebook locked down the question), but the D&D top ten settings are these:

10: Al-Qadim
9: Mystara
8: Eberron
7: Dragonlance
6: Dark Sun
5: Planescape
4: Spelljammer
3: Greyhawk 
2: Ravenloft
1: Forgotten Realms 

You can read the full list of results of my "What D&D campaign settings are you interested in?" question in this post at The Piazza.


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