The one where you'd set a campaign, all else being equal; and why?

RPGPundit

Waterdeep, probably, because it has undermountain in it. And I dig undermountain.

Rashemen

I always liked the Silver Marches.

For me its the Vast.. it has that great sense of lawlessness, without being too empty.

Alexandro and GoO you both forgot the "why" part of the question.

RPGPundit

Sembia from the original set.
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But rob there is virtually nothing about Sembia in the original set
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Right Because I created my own history of Sembia and backstory and my players loved it. It integrated with the rest of the realm but had my own touches.

Basically I use cultural, and faction conflicts along with history to generate adventure. With Sembia, at the time, I know I can create a deep history/background without TSR blowing it up.

here is a link to what I wrote all those years ago.

http://home.earthlink.net/~wilderlands/sembia.html

Rob Conley

I like the Silver Marches.  Couldn't tell you why.

I also like Rashemen.

Waterdeep, because I like big, cosmopolitan urban settings. Plus it has Undermountain!

KoOS

Sorry, didn't see the "why".

Rashemen has the borderlands feel to it, with the horde just at their doorstep.
I like the idea of a barbarian culture, but the concept of the Iron Lord (and the witches pulling strings in the background) provides a more interesting approach to it, than a tribal society could (which would be hard to justify as a unified "nation" this large anyway). It has many layers of conspiracy- even if the PCs do NOT know the secret of the Iron Lord there is plenty of power mongering stuff to do.
I also ran the setting like- while there is no evidence of the witches doings- there is a profound superstition about the power of femininity among the populace, making a large part of the male population very deferent of the other sex (the thought of a Conan-type cringing at being scolded by his mother stuck in my mind ).
Then they have Thay as a direct neighbor- oh boy, if you can't make an interesting adventure out of this setup (two magical governments with completely conflicting philosophies) I can't really help you. The idea of a "War of the Mages" ties neatly into the conspiracy tone of the region.

Entire campaigns can take place at the characters doorstep (I dislike the idea of the characters touring vast stretches of the campaign world to get to the good stuff- something I disliked about the Realms (especially) in their 3e incarnation).
I actually like the whole Unapproachable East, but Rashemen is by far my favorite.

Quote from: alexandrothere is a profound superstition about the power of femininity among the populace, making a large part of the male population very deferent of the other sex (the thought of a Conan-type cringing at being scolded by his mother stuck in my mind ).
/QUOTE]


see The Snow Women by Fritz Lieber for a rather chilling take on this.

Forgive me if I use incorrect terminology here; I'm breezing through this on memory and not keen on looking up specifics right now.

The Western Heartlands are where my heart lies.

Reason being as they most closely resemble the rambling, ramshackle world always presented in the earlier D&D materials (my opinion) where the Lord, the Baron, and the King are always "over the horizon" somewhere.

Also, my opinion again, this would be a wonderful place to play out a mercantile cold war between the powers of Amn, the Lords of Waterdeep, and the various "flavors" of nations from the east.  Exciting times for all and for those bold enough to grab for the golden rings, eh?

The North

Because this is where I started gaming in the Realms, and I had completely rewritten and remapped the entire area before 2E came out.

The Moonshae Islands

Its nearly a complete setting unto itself without any of the usual Realms baggage that most people get tangled up in.

I would place my campaign in Waterdeep, if I was going for a campaign that had politics and intrigue, as well as a dash of combat.  I personally like Waterdeep because it reminds me somehow of Constantinople, and I love the maps.

For something more adventuresome and less intrigue, I'd use the Savage Coast for a privateer/pirates theme, or the Dalelands.

Oh yeah, forgot the "why" part.

I don't particularly have a great answer. I think it felt fairly generic enough. I like the mainstay of my settings to have a typical feel to them. Sure it's fun to import other flavors, styles, and cultures, but I like them to be the exception rather than the rule. The Silver Marches seemed just vanilla enough for me. There were dwarven mountain stronholds, elves in the forest, big cities and small towns. There were plenty of ruins, impenetrable woods, and dangerous passes known to be frequented by humanoid bandits. Also in the background, behind the scenes, was a huge orc army slowly amassing and waiting for the proper time to invade the human lands. There was lots of intrigue to be had as well with  Zhent agents popping up everywhere, Red Wizards attempting to establish strongholds and others.

I also kind of liked the frontier feel to it. Having a rugged edge seemed more appropriate for a land ripe with adventure. Still, if you wanted a majestic city, Silverymoon was right there.