I’m partial to a homebrew setting as much as anybody else is. The first game of 5e I ever ran was in my own one – set eighty years after a previous 3.5 campaign (with no explanation for why Fighters were suddenly viable eighty years later). For a long time, I actually didn’t think I’d ever want to use an official campaign setting. But when I started to run Curse of Strahd, I began to read up more on the Ravenloft campaign setting. Finding that it was actually a great setting, with loads of cool stuff, I started to think that maybe official campaign settings could be alright, and I started to read up on others. As it turns out, over the various editions, Dungeons and Dragons has seen a variety of different and interesting settings. Not all of them have Fifth Edition support yet, but a lot of the information from previous books is flavour rather than rules anyway.

So, if you’re a DM thinking of running a new campaign, and maybe you’re bored of Forgotten Realms or you’re looking for a change of pace, why not look into one of these campaign settings?

Ravenloft

I’m starting with my favourite, I’m afraid. I’ve always been massively into Gothic Horror and Dark Fantasy. Ravenloft, a setting named for the massively influential module I6: Ravenloft, is custom-built for both of those. The location itself is better known as the Demiplane of Dread, or The Land of Mists, but the module was so iconic that materials in later editions would be named after it. The setting is, at its most simple, a prison for those mortal monsters whose actions are so innately inhumane that some cosmic force seeks to punish them.

But rather than the more traditional punishment one might suffer in the Nine Hells, or even the horror of some of the other planes, the Demiplane of Dread inflict something far worse. Each prisoner within the Ravenloft setting is given control of a domain, to serve as its Darklord, but it is a trap. They can never leave, and the domain itself is cursed to make them suffer as much as possible. This traditionally takes the form of some ironic echo of their sins. The most iconic of these belongs to the most iconic Darklord, Strahd von Zarovich. The villain of the original Ravenloft module, and considered by some to be the original vampire in the lore of Dungeons and Dragons, Strahd became a vampire and a Darklord when he slew his brother out of envy and lust for his brother’s betrothed. The betrothed, Tatyana, flung herself from the walls of the eponymous Castle Ravenloft when she was almost within Strahd’s reach. Now, he is cursed for there to be an almost exact copy of her within his domain, Barovia, every generation, and for each of these women with Tatyana’s soul to be ripped away from him when he’s so close to, in his mind, ‘having’ her.

But there are other punishments, almost as famous. Vlad Drakov, a conqueror and mercenary in life, is surrounded by those he cannot meet on the field of battle, either because they refuse, or because their armies are greater than his own. The Lich Azalin Rex is surrounded by new spells, but entirely unable to learn any of them. Every domain within the Demiplane of Dread is tailor-made to be torture to the one who rules it.

This would be fine for many adventurers, and some would even call it just, except that there are others within the Land of Mists. Innocents. Domains have inhabitants who have to suffer the consequences of the constant agony and frustration of their rulers, as well as the predations of the gothic monsters who inhabit the land, such as vampires, werewolves, and ghouls. Thus, there are always those who need to be protected, be it from the land, or the machinations of Darklords, or just the casual cruelty of the Demiplane of Dread itself. Furthermore, the rulers of the Ravenloft setting, the mysterious Dark Powers, sometimes see fit to reach out and pluck adventurers from wherever they are, to bring them to a domain within the Demiplane.

Often, this domain can be chosen to expose flaws within the adventurers. The ruthless inquisitor finds himself in a place where any of the people could be a vampire or a witch, and he has little way of discerning. The power-hungry Wizards finds herself surrounded by powerful secrets, but to take them may warp and corrupt her soul. Even if the adventurers lured into Ravenloft are not threatened spiritually, they will certainly be threatened physically by the monsters who inhabit it, as they seek a way to escape.

So far, the 5e content for Ravenloft is somewhat limited. There is one module set in it, Curse of Strahd, a vast expansion of the original Ravenloft module and, for my money, the best module released for 5e. However, the setting doesn’t require any special classes or races (in fact, it tends to prefer humans), and the rules for many of the iconic monsters (vampires, werewolves, Death Knights, etc.) are already out there and can be tweaked as needed, so the flavour and information from the books about the setting from 2e and 3.5 (and the tie-in novels) should be enough to run a campaign.

Overall, the Ravenloft setting combines a great aesthetic (so long as you like Gothic horror and dark fantasy), with some fascinating NPCs and some of the most nuanced villains in D&D history – including favourites like Strahd and Lord Soth, and the sort of dark danger that can lead to the most righteous or fearsome of PCs being threatened, or beginning a descent into villainy. Whether you prefer combat, or a deep exploration of a character’s psyche (or, as with most people, a mixture of both), a campaign in Ravenloft will have something to offer you.

Dark Sun

Have you ever looked at Dungeons and Dragons and thought “hey, what if this was set in a post-apocalyptic desert dystopia?” No? Most people probably didn’t, because it’s such an out-there idea, until Dark Sun was released. A setting that is like Mad Max on amphetamine, with little dots of 1984 passing for ‘civilisation’ in the city-states ruled by Sorcerer-Kings.

Several things, besides the sheer weirdness of the concept, further differentiate Dark Sun from other, more conventional settings such as Greyhawk, and the Forgotten Realms. For one, Arcane magic has a much-reduced presence, due to its unfortunate habit corrupting the world of Athas (the name of the world Dark Sun takes place in), turning it into a dying world composed of desert. As such, while Wizards exist, they typically try and avoid being too overt with their powers. Other types of Arcane magic are likely similar, but they weren’t as well developed in 2e, when the setting was made. Divine magic is also different, as gods don’t have too much to do with Athas. Instead, Clerics tend to channel the magic of elementals, especially water elementals, due to the whole ‘huge desert’ nature of the world. Druids are pretty similar, but serve spirits of the land, and have specific parts of the land to protect. Paladins don’t exist, but that’s due to the brutal, social-Darwinist nature of the world making Oaths very hard to keep up.

The setting, unless it’s leaning more towards the ‘dystopia’ than the ‘desert’, and taking part in a city, also tends to highlight survival against the elements more than other settings. As mentioned, it’s a huge desert, and so water is often an issue. There’s also the problems of heat, transport, and the fierce natural predators, including Halflings. That’s not a joke. Halflings are vicious and cannibalistic in this setting, and live in the few remaining forests. I meant it when I said Dark Sun was out-there.

Within the cities, you’re less likely to be murdered by a raider who wants to loot you for everything of value you have (which isn’t likely to be much besides water and maybe a weapon), but instead you’re at the whims of the Sorcerer-Kings, who rule with an iron fist and maintain literal militarised police forces of Templars.

So far, there are no official 5e materials for Dark Sun, although presumably some people have homebrewed some conversions (Mike Mearls, notably, has a conversion for his own personal use). A few module adventures offer suggestions for transplanting them to Athas, but that’s all we have. It’s not quite as easy to just use old materials as Ravenloft would be, due to some rule differences, but largely that consists of banning stuff that doesn’t fit in the setting (you’d want to talk to the players first, of course), so it wouldn’t necessarily be too much work. Still, Wizards have said that they want to bring Dark Sun into 5e eventually, so you can always wait for that, so long as the murder-desert-dystopia isn’t calling you too much.

Planescape

Another favourite of mine. It’s also an odd example of a setting, in that almost every other setting is suggested to exist within it (notable exceptions are Dark Sun, and Ravnica from Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica). Planescape is the multiverse of most editions of D&D in some form (notably not 4e), containing the various planes that exist and interact with one another.

The Fifth Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide goes into far more detail than I will on this, but there is a Prime Material plane, which contains all the standard settings such as Forgotten Realms, Eberron and Greyhawk. It is essentially ‘the universe’, containing all the stars and stuff (for more information, look for Spelljammer later down this list). You also have the Feywild and Shadowfell, which are like ‘reflections’ of the Prime Material Plane (dark and terrifying reflection in the case of the Shadowfell, and bright and terrifying reflection in the case of the Feywild), and closer to it in substance than many of the others.

Out from there, you have the Inner Planes, the Elemental Planes (Water, Fire, Earth, Air), and the various places they interact (Frost from Air and Water, Ooze from Earth and Water, etc.). These aren’t too hospitable, so a campaign in them is hard to run, but they work great (depending on the edition, sometimes they’re entirely uninhabitable) for an individual adventure. Further out from there, you have the Outer Planes, and these are usually the ones people think of, based on alignment. The Nine Hells (Lawful Evil), Ysgard (Chaotic Good), Pandaemonium (Chaotic Neutral), Carceri (Neutral Evil), and just so many more, and so many of them are cool. I could seriously write a whole blog post about my favourite planes. Hint hint.

But the jewel of the setting is Sigil, the city at the centre of Planescape. It’s a city basically built in the inside of a ringworld, where there are doors to every conceivable world in every plane abound, and everything weird is there. Seriously, what’s considered unthinkable in other settings might be routine in Sigil. You want to see a Githyanki and a Death Knight running a shop together? It’s probably there somewhere. Every possible people from every possible plane have a place there, and it’s a place of complicated politics and metaphysics that bleed into one another. One of the most enduring and endearing mysteries of Sigil is its leader, the Lady of Pain, an omnipotent (she has fought gods and won) being who has nothing known about her identity, and who painfully murders anybody attempting to worship her. She’s the crowning piece of cool on a cool setting, and one that appeals to people who want factional politics over the weirdest city in existence, and people who want to go hopping all over the multiverse.

So far, there’s some canon support for Planescape – the planes and various rules for them can be found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and a lot of the flavour exists in books from previous editions. Manual of the Planes is the best known. Overall, it should be very playable to do a Planescape campaign in 5e as is.

Oh, and also check out Planescape: Torment, the video game. You won’t regret it.

Spelljammer

Dark Sun is out-there. Planescape can get very weird indeed. But none of those quite holds a candle to Spelljammer. Made in the 80s, a time when psychedelic drugs were popular, and it shows. This setting is basically a naval setting….IN SPACE. Whereas Planescape has you roving the various planes, Spelljammer primarily takes place in the Material Plane, with you travelling between the various stars and physical worlds that exist with that plane. And you travel in a sailing ship that happens to travel through space. There are half-assed physics to describe why it’s not quite that and why it’s possible, but the crux of the matter is that you are sailing a naval vessel through space, and it is awesome.

Besides the weirdness of sailing a pirate ship through the stars, the setting shows some weirdness that is most likely the result of the developers at TSR (the people who made D&D before the rights passed to Wizards) attempting to play with some tropes. You have Elves who are basically the Empire from Star Wars, Mind-Flayers who are more or less peaceful beings, and a Beholder who tends bar, rather than attempting to destroy all life other than him (or keep goldfish). Any setting where you can have a friendly chat with a Mind-Flayer counts as both ridiculous and awesome, in my books.

Other highlights include the Giff, who are huge hippo-folk who act like the British Empire and fire muskets at people. These have entered 5e as of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, one of the many signs that have people hoping for a 5e Spelljammer release.

Overall, if you like the idea of swashbuckling hijinks (IN SPACE), the chance to basically play out Star Wars in D&D (if done right), and maybe the chance to link two or more other settings in a campaign? You will like Spelljammer. Likewise, if you like cheesy 80s fun, this is also a good setting to look for.

So far, there’s been potentially applicable things drip-fed to us in 5e, in books and in Unearthed Arcana (ship rules, anyone?), which you could theoretically use to cobble together a playable Spelljammer campaign. And we would fully recommend you try.

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