Choosing a setting is a vital part of preparing for your next D&D campaign. As a DM you have lots of control, you get to determine the villains, the grand themes, the style, and perhaps most importantly, the setting of your campaign. A D&D setting is the canvas upon which your players paint their story, so it’s a critical part of not just how a campaign feels, but the story itself. With such an important choice before the campaign begins, it begs an important question: How do you choose the right D&D campaign setting?

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What is a D&D Setting?

Before we talk about how to choose a setting we first need to make sure we understand what exactly a setting is. The setting is more than just the place a story happens, it’s also the time and the surrounding world info. In short, it’s the entire context for the D&D campaign. But D&D settings are different because the rules of the game imply a lot about a world before you even have a chance to leave your mark, so let’s take a brief look at the parts of the game that need context in whatever setting you choose. You can play in many of these settings on StartPlaying.games if you want to try them out before launching a full campaign in one as well.

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How are D&D Settings Different?

First and foremost, magic is a vital part of D&D. Magic doesn’t need to be a part of the world, but you do need to be prepared for how characters react to your PCs using it, or what magic looks like if it’s not classic swords and sorcery style magic. Second, your resources for enemies and items from the core rule books are almost all themed around medieval fantasies and myths, which means if you want to move your setting away from those tropes you’ll need to consider where to get your new assets, or how to reskin them to fit. Finally, instead of having one protagonist, you have a group (the party) which will likely hail from diverse backgrounds. That doesn’t mean you need a massive world with a ton of different nations and massive geographical regions, but it does mean you need a way to explain a variety of backgrounds. So we know what a setting is and we know what we need to be aware of when choosing one, now let’s talk specifics.

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Questions to Settle on a Setting

Before you finalize your decision you need to know what is going to serve you best, and for that you need to understand what your setting influences. Here are some specific questions to ask yourself to help narrow down what role your setting is going to play in your D&D campaign:

• What genre is my campaign? Setting is a function of genre and vice versa. If you want to play a sci-fi centered game, it makes more sense to set it on a space station or alien world than in Middle Earth. But even when you’re playing a fantasy campaign, fantasy has many subgenres, all of which can be made more flavorful with the right setting. Look at the variety of fantasy subgenre games you can find online.
• Is my game a low, portal, or high fantasy story? Low fantasy is a story with magic that takes place in our world, portal fantasy is when characters from our world travel to a fantasy realm, and high fantasy takes place entirely in a new world. Naturally, if you want to run a low or portal fantasy you’ll need to know where and when in our world you are. For portal and high fantasy you’ll need to figure out what world the characters are (ending up) in. Note that we’ve referred to these stories in the context of fantasy, but you can run a thriller, sci-fi, mystery, or any other kind of story with the same low, portal, and high style of world set up.
• How much travel and exploration do I want in this campaign? This is directly correlated to the size of your setting. Big worlds make it easier to have the party travel from place to place and experience new biomes and populations. Small settings make it easier for your party to already know a lot about the world.
• Does technology play any role in the story? Technology and magic are fun elements to intersect, especially because they often play a similar role in stories. Whether a D&D setting has access to things like firearms, has gone through an industrial revolution of some kind, has methods of transportation beyond horse and carriage, or even whether magic is represented in your setting as technology (or vice versa).
• How dangerous is this world? If you’re setting up a grimdark story where the party’s main goal is to survive, your setting needs to be more dangerous than the Forgotten Realms. Similarly, if the main focus of the campaign is about wooing the local tavern owner, you probably don’t need as many goblin bands and punji pits as are normally apparent in D&D settings.
• Is it a focal point, or a background? D&D settings can color an entire campaign, picture Ravenloft for instance, but they can also serve as little more than a backdrop. If you don’t know which one you’re after it will be very difficult to pick the right setting.

And finally now that you know what a setting is and what kind of setting you need for your D&D campaign, here are some great settings and the kinds of games they would work best for.

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Settings to Use and Adapt

No setting will immediately be perfect for the story you and your players want to tell, but with a good understanding of what the setting works best for and a few careful edits, here are some cool worlds you can base your next D&D campaigns settings on.

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Official D&D Settings

Wizards of the Coast has developed a number of very cool settings, and being the publisher for the D&D rules themselves these settings are obviously well designed for the game. They still vary in significant ways, just like any other story setting, so we’ve summarized them below.

Forgotten Realms

The base setting for the majority of the official adventures. This is a classic high fantasy world with strange lands, dangerous creatures, wandering gods, and an abundance of magic. It’s very hard to go wrong with using the Forgotten Realms as your setting.

Games the Forgotten Realms are best for:

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• Medium to high amounts of magic.
• Medium to high amounts of travel/exploration.
• Low to medium technology.
• Medium background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Ravenloft

An excellent horror setting, Ravenloft is a collection of dark domains, each presided over by a being of ancient and terrible power. Known primarily from Curse of Strahd, Ravenloft instills fear and suspicion in even the bravest of adventurers. Perfect for thriller, horror, or mystery campaigns.

• Horror fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• Low to medium amounts of travel/exploration.
• Low amounts of technology.
• High background danger.
• The setting is a focal point.

Eberron

A grimdark, war-torn setting designed to include grittier elements and technologies to the game. Still very much built around the fantasy landscape methodology, but in a world that’s recovering from a massive, deadly conflict. If you love robots and steampunk, magic-powered technology, this D&D setting is right for you.

• Grimdark fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• High amounts of travel/exploration.
• High amounts of technology.
• High background danger.
• The setting is a focal point.

Avernus

Hell, or rather, one of its planes. With demons and devils prevalent in D&D, and a great deal of importance played on dark magics and gods, it should be no surprise that there’s a setting designed specifically for the sinners. Less a dimension of torture and pain and more a dimension of Mad Max rage and war.

• Grimdark fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• Medium amounts of travel/exploration.
• Medium amount of technology.
• High background danger.
• The setting is a focal point.

Wildemount

The setting for Critical Role’s wildly popular show, Wildemount is a wonderfully fantastical setting. Much like the Forgotten Realms in that it is huge, with lots of regional and population diversity, with the added bonus of political complexity and a deep history and lore. This setting will be especially tantalizing for fans of Critical Role.

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• High amounts of travel/exploration.
• Low to medium technology.
• Low to medium background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Greyhawk

Another pretty classic fantasy world, Greyhawk is one of the original worlds published way back with AD&D. It stands apart from other classic fantasy settings like the Forgotten Realms and Wildemount because of its more down-to-earth feel and play style. Picture starting as a Game of Thrones commoner rather than a member of the Fellowship of the Ring, that’s where Greyhawk thrives. It’s also famous for its never-ending dungeon, perfect for anyone who wants to run dungeon crawls.

• Classic fantasy.
• High stories.
• Low to medium amounts of magic.
• Low to medium amounts of travel/exploration.
• Low amounts of technology.
• Medium background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Ravnica

Ravnica is a world-sized city. Controlled by guilds and commerce, Ravnica was originally a Magic: the Gathering setting that was adapted for use in D&D adventures. It creates an urban fantasy landscape rather than a classic medieval one.

• Classic or political fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• Medium to high amounts of magic.
• Low to medium amounts of travel/exploration.
• Medium to high amounts of technology.
• Low background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Spelljammer

D&D in space. The equivalent of Star Wars in the sense that you take all of the fantasy tropes and mash them with the sci-fi/space opera tropes, and end up with a colorful and fun astral plane world of Spelljammer. Flying ships and big whacky monsters.

• Sci-fi.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• High amounts of travel/exploration.
• High amounts of technology.
• Low background danger.
• The setting is a focal point.

Strixhaven

A school of magic, take your players to the D&D Hogwarts equivalent. It is essentially just that, a lighthearted magic campus for your players to explore and learn in. 

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• Low amounts of travel/exploration.
• Low amounts of technology.
• Low background danger.
• The setting is a focal point.

Theros

D&D ancient Greece. Epic heroes, crazy monsters, a pantheon of gods, and a chain of islands with city states. It’s a fun way to lean into the mythological side of the rules, and play amidst your favorite myths and legends as if you were Percy Jackson.

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• Medium to high amounts of magic.
• Medium to high amounts of travel/exploration.
• Low amounts of technology.
• Medium background danger.
• The setting is the background.

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Other Fun Settings

If you want to branch out beyond the official settings, here are some quick looks at settings you can use for D&D campaigns. The span from classic fantasy settings to modern cities, take a look for something you like.

Middle Earth

The archetypical fantasy setting, that which pretty much all other fantasy settings are based off of. Naturally, it’s a great fit for D&D campaigns, (it even has its own system!). If you’re unfamiliar with Middle Earth, the Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings, you’re in for an absolute treat.

Games Middle Earth is best for:

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• Low to medium amounts of magic.
• Medium to high amounts of travel/exploration.
• Minimal technology.
• Minimal background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Runeterra

Runeterra is the world that Riot Games has built to house its massively popular MMORPG game League of Legends and supplementary materials. It’s a massive setting, so big that you could very easily play a whole campaign in just one region or city. It also has tons of lore which allows you to draw context when needed, and a prebuilt map with politics and unique creatures. There was already a dedicated adventure set here, but WotC and Riot have ended their partnership and deleted all traces of it. 

Games Runeterra is best for:

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• High amounts of travel/exploration.
• Medium to high amount of technology.
• Medium background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Roshar

The setting for Brandon Sanderson’s wildly popular Stormlight Archive series, Roshar differs from fantasy archetypes in a few ways. Firstly, vegetation is totally different, and there exist little beings called spren that appear based on emotions. It also possesses a massive storm that crosses the entire world semi-regularly. These are big, distinct elements, so make sure you like them before diving into a whole campaign with them.

Games Roshar is best for:

• Classic fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• High amounts of magic.
• Medium amounts of travel/exploration.
• Minimal technology.
• High background danger.
• The setting could be the focal point.

Arrakis

The setting for the massive sci-fi thriller Dune, Arrakis is an extremely thematic world with complex political goings-on and is essentially still a fantasy world. You’ve gotta love deserts and megafauna before committing to this one.

Games Arrakis is best for:

• Sci-fi or fantasy.
• High or portal stories.
• Low amounts of magic.
• High amounts of travel/exploration.
• High amount of technology.
• High background danger.
• The setting is the focal point.

London

An ancient and complex city. London has seen its fair share of magic, mayhem, and monsters which makes it the perfect place for a D&D campaign, since most D&D parties contain all of those elements.

Games London is best for:

• Any genre.
• Low or portal stories.
• Low amounts of magic.
• Low amounts of travel/exploration.
• Variable amount of technology.
• Medium background danger.
• The setting is the background.

Hopefully this has helped you figure out your options for your next D&D Campaigns setting, and how to choose the right one. Regardless of what you go with, remember that the only perfect setting is the one that your players enjoy. 

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Rory Hoffman is the Creative Director at Only Crits, and author of Guillman’s Guide to Speed.