Quote from: LimperOf the published settings Spelljammer was my favorite and I still use elements of it regularly.

Oh it definitely has some good ideas I don't dispute that.  Its just that its a fad setting.  Its really neat and cool, has some good ideas.  But doesn't really hold up under extended play.

Quote from: KnightcrawlerOh it definitely has some good ideas I don't dispute that.  Its just that its a fad setting.  Its really neat and cool, has some good ideas.  But doesn't really hold up under extended play.

We played 5 campaigns in it two of which lasted for more than 2 years. If you like steampunk its a great system for it.

Now that I have thought on it a bit more I suppose its what you do with the setting that makes or breaks it. We did a LOT with SJ not much of which was in the published books (aside from various hooks).

Quote from: BillyBeanbagI'm a fan of the Realms, even though I feel it's a little overdeveloped at this point.

A little? If by little you mean like Los Angeles County, then yes.  It's way overdone, but it also has so many hooks and micro-plots that you can pull from it is virtually limitless in its offerings. All it takes is a DM who is willing to do it his way, and players who aren't going to quibble when the DM pulls away from any of the hundreds of meta-plots.

Quote from: KnightcrawlerOh and by the way. It so nice to hear some love for the Forgotten Realms instead of the hate I usually run across.

You find people saying bad things about FR?  Must be a matter of "opposites attract", since I seem to run across all the slobbering fan-boys (not directed at you or anyone else).
 
Anyway, my best experiences -- on either side of the screen -- have always been homebrew.  Greyhawk is nice for "stock" D&D and casual play.  I'm starting to really like Eberron, despite the Warforged.
 
For non-D&D/d20, I rather liked the WoD, if taken with moderation.  Shadowrun is also the only magic/tech mix that ever resonated with me.

Quote from: KnightcrawlerOh and by the way.  It so nice to hear some love for the Forgotten Realms instead of the hate I usually run across.  

I don't really get the hate for FR. It is too developed and dense for my taste, but a lot of the support material is very well-written IMO. 3.0 FR was rather poorly balanced in places, but they seem to have fixed that for the most part in 3.5.


I forgot to mention AE and Dark Sun earlier. I've played both recently, and I find both pretty enjoyable. Eberron edges both of them out, but that isn't a slam on them.

Quote from: SobekYou find people saying bad things about FR?  Must be a matter of "opposites attract", since I seem to run across all the slobbering fan-boys (not directed at you or anyone else).
 
Anyway, my best experiences -- on either side of the screen -- have always been homebrew.  Greyhawk is nice for "stock" D&D and casual play.  I'm starting to really like Eberron, despite the Warforged.
 
For non-D&D/d20, I rather liked the WoD, if taken with moderation.  Shadowrun is also the only magic/tech mix that ever resonated with me.

There was always a lot of hate for FR when I brought it up on NTL and ENWorld was even worse most of the time.  Got so bad that I went and found a FR specific forums at one point.

I'm a fan of settings that the Storyteller is into.  If the Storyteller is passionate about the settings, I'll have fun.  

My personal preference is towards fixing broken settings.  I like being somewhere that life is hard and things aren't good to start and to see the effects of success impact on that campaign and have it become a better place.
Examples : Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Darwin's World, World of Darkness, etc...

Quote from: LimperWe played 5 campaigns in it two of which lasted for more than 2 years. If you like steampunk its a great system for it.

Now that I have thought on it a bit more I suppose its what you do with the setting that makes or breaks it. We did a LOT with SJ not much of which was in the published books (aside from various hooks).

I also had a lot of positive experience with spelljammer. I loved the hell out of it, and still treasure my complete collection of spelljammer books & boxsets i've got here at home...

Quote from: Vermicious KnidI don't really get the hate for FR.

I got the original gray box and found it to be a pretty cock-eyed setting.  That was 20 years ago, so I don't remember exactly what bothered me.  I didn't hate it, but I did not think it had anything that'd set it apart, in a good way, from Greyhawk or other vanilla settings (of course, I'm still flabbergasted that "Spelljammer" wasn't laughed out of the design meeting, so what do I know).
 
At some point, probably because of not seeing any reason to use FR of Greyhawk (and liking the latter), FR came to represent all the stupid shit that TSR did during 2E.  I still have a certain amount of animosity toward the setting and still think that it's a combination of sub-par original ideas and stealing things from other settings.
 
I'll admit that I haven't looked too closely at 3E FRCS.  But what I've seen has looked top-notch, in terms of production quality.  I've even enjoyed some FR PBEMs, if the GM kept in pretty vanilla.  I'm afraid that "don't remind me what I'm playing" is about as positive (right or wrong) as I'm likely to ever be about the Realms.  If I knew a good GM were to be running a game in the Realms, I'd suck it up and play along, but it would affect things like my backstory and involvement in politics.
 
I'm basically at the point where I just try to avoid thread-crapping.  Hope this doesn't come off that way, but I figured I'd take a shot at answering the question.

Quote from: AelfinnI also had a lot of positive experience with spelljammer. I loved the hell out of it, and still treasure my complete collection of spelljammer books & boxsets i've got here at home...

Me as well.

Quote from: SobekI got the original gray box and found it to be a pretty cock-eyed setting.  That was 20 years ago, so I don't remember exactly what bothered me.  I didn't hate it, but I did not think it had anything that'd set it apart, in a good way, from Greyhawk or other vanilla settings (of course, I'm still flabbergasted that "Spelljammer" wasn't laughed out of the design meeting, so what do I know).
 
At some point, probably because of not seeing any reason to use FR of Greyhawk (and liking the latter), FR came to represent all the stupid shit that TSR did during 2E.  I still have a certain amount of animosity toward the setting and still think that it's a combination of sub-par original ideas and stealing things from other settings.
 
I'll admit that I haven't looked too closely at 3E FRCS.  But what I've seen has looked top-notch, in terms of production quality.  I've even enjoyed some FR PBEMs, if the GM kept in pretty vanilla.  I'm afraid that "don't remind me what I'm playing" is about as positive (right or wrong) as I'm likely to ever be about the Realms.  If I knew a good GM were to be running a game in the Realms, I'd suck it up and play along, but it would affect things like my backstory and involvement in politics.
 
I'm basically at the point where I just try to avoid thread-crapping.  Hope this doesn't come off that way, but I figured I'd take a shot at answering the question.

I hear you. I just prefer to pretend that 2E didn't happen.

I never played Greyhawk, so to me, Forgotten Realms is the vanilla setting. I also started with AD&D 2e, so that was the standard system for me. Since then I have played AD&D 1e and a bunch of others, but I still think AD&D 2e is a decent system. The problem with it, and Forgotten Realms as I see it, is a lack of consistency and an overall bloated approach. It's the ultimate kitchen sink system and the ultimate kitchen sink setting. Now, if you have a clear idea of a character you want to play and a clear idea of what you want to do with the setting, then it's great. However, I can certainly understand the heartburn some have with them both.

If there's one thing about the Forgotten Realms that never seems to dissapoint, setting threads no matter what they are about always eventually revolve around it. Why is that I wonder?

Quote from: Ragnarok N RollIf there's one thing about the Forgotten Realms that never seems to dissapoint, setting threads no matter what they are about always eventually revolve around it. Why is that I wonder?

It is the most published and most developed setting that is out there, barring White Wolf's WoD.

Quote from: franciscaHomebrew or Greyhawk run with not much more than the 1983 boxed set (which ends up being effectively homebrew.)

What he said but just add Conan to it.