D&D Worlds

[an unfinished sandbox]

See also Ripvanwormers list of D&D worlds: http://thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4095&sid=4e88e6dbfe5b76f0ae2b6720fe8648fe

For maps of all the D&D worlds, see my Atlas of the D&D Worlds.

D&D world icons from the 2E Spell Compendiums:

The main D&D worlds:

Dave Arneson's Blackmoor: [as licensed to ZGG, is a stand-alone setting with its own world map; also exists in the past of Mystara with a different world map; also exists to the north of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting; and elements of Blackmoor, as it was originally played in Gygax's and Arneson's home campaign, exist in Oerth, and vice versa: e.g. Thonia = the Great Kingdom]

Greyhawk (+Sundered Empire)

Dark Sun

Dragonlance (+Taladas)

Mystara: (+Blackmoor [also exists as stand-alone setting], Hollow World, Red Steel/Savage Coast, Ghyr, Thunder Rift, First Quest, Karawenn, Dream World of Symslvch)

The official fan-logo, designated by WotC for use by amateurs

Forgotten Realms (Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, Maztica, Malatra, Arcane Age)

3e logo

The Forgotten Realms comics logo featured different colors each issue.

The upcoming logo

The generic 1e OA adventures were also placed in Kara-Tur

Birthright

Eberron

Nerath

Spelljammer

Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon d20 mini-game

[make list/chart all Spelljammer worlds]

Planescape

[make list/chart of all D&D planes, in all Realities. See Roger Moore's 2e-rationalization of the various 1e demiplanes of Greyhawk]

Chronomancer

Lesser-known or obscure settings:

A submission of James Wyatt's for WotC's setting search. The setting proposal is archived here.

Later featured in Polyhedron magazine as a d20 mini-game: Incursion: Knights of the Lich-Queen.

Aerth: mentioned in a Polyhedron magazine article by Gygax as one of several alternate Oerths. Featured in Gygax's Dangerous Journeys rpg. Maps of Ærth (including Inner Ærth and Phæree)

The Realm of the D&D Cartoon Show

Uerth. A "mirror-universe" version of Oerth. Also has a different magic-level than Oerth.

Pelinore

Kolhapur: 2e South Asian mini-setting from The Star of Kolhapur

Land of Arir: 1e Arabian mini-setting from I9: Day of Al-Akbar

Desert of Desolation

Ghyr (the setting of the AD&D action figure tie-ins: XL1 Quest for the Heartstone and AC1 Shady Dragon Inn. Though the figures were branded as AD&D, their rpg tie-ins used Classic D&D rules. Though Ghyr was not clearly placed anywhere on the map, it was implicitly somewhere on Mystara since those characters also show up in the Ierendi Gazeteer, and the Shady Dragon Inn was placed in Darokin.)

Dream Lands of Symslvch (the setting of the Classic D&D Hebrew-language adventures)

Karawenn

Empire of Izmer (setting of the first two D&D movies; some stats and description in web-articles; based on Mystara. In Dave Arneson's own conception, Izmer is located far west of Blackmoor.)

Ghostwalk

Mahasarpa

Chronomancer. Not a setting per se, but did for time-travel what Spelljammer and Planescape did for space-travel and planar travel. And all the 2e settings are mentioned in Chronomancer or its web-enhancement.

Council of Wyrms

Thunder Rift

Islandia: vaporware

Fantasy Forest: The Kids of the D&D Cartoon Show have visited.

The world implied in 3e deities and demigods with the light and dark pantheons

World of the D&D Gamebooks (those Endless Quest, Heart Quest, Super Endless Quest--those books which were set in generic fantasy locales instead of in one of the published settings)

Wonderland (of Alice)

D&D Earth; Gothic Earth (Masque of the Red Death); Chronomancer says this is all one setting, visited by Murlynd.

The other "generic" worlds implied in Dungeon magazine adventures.

The other "generic" worlds in Dragon magazine short-stories.

Non-TSR/WotC Worlds with some formal relationship with D&D:

• • Aquaria: featured in 1e modules written by Frank Mentzer. Was a continent in Gygax's home version of Greyhawk.

  • Black Moon Chronicles by Francois Froideval. Graphic novels whose stories are set on the western side of the continent of Oerik.

  • "Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk": WOG as exactly depicted in Gygax's home campaign and notes.

  • Castle Zagyg (A version of Castle Greyhawk as its own mini-setting. Troll Lord Games suggested a location in its world of Erde/Aihrde)

  • Freeport (When asked, author Chris Pramas gave a suggested location for Freeport in Mystara)

  • Yarth: the near-Oerth setting of Gygax's Sagard the Barbarian books. Mentioned in a Polyhedron article.

  • Lejendary Earth. In a personal email correspondence with Gygax (with myself, the author of this webpage), he confirmed that Lejendary Earth of the Lejendary Adventures rpg is conceivably part of the Oerth, Uerth, Aerth, Earth continuum. A map of LE. I have lost the email when I changed accounts, but as far as I recall, he said the world could be called "Learth" or "Ierth" (I forget which).

  • The Known Realms by Goodman Games: intentionally evocative of the Mystara setting.

  • Kalibruhn: vaporware OD&D Supplement 5 by Rob Kuntz

  • Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Licensed use of 1e rules from TSR. Also, according to Arneson, Blackmoor--a WotC IP--exists to the north of the Wilderlands map.

  • Also the Wilderlands of High Adventure (as opposed to "Fantasy") licensed by Judge's Guild to James Mishler, is a distinct, alternate version of the Widerlands.

  • Melniboné: 1e Deities & Demigods, Kelmain and Nihrain Steed in the Kingdom of Ghyr

  • Cthulhu: 1e Deities & Demigods, later WotC-published d20 CoC rpg licensed by Chaosium

  • Averoigne: Clark Ashton Smith's eldritch horror in a fictionalization of Auvergne province in France. In the Mystara setting, characters from Averoigne have come to Mystara from Earth's dimension and founded the principality of Nouvelle-Averoigne in Glantri. CAS's Averoigne Cycle is further related to HPL's Cthulhu Mythos and REH's Hyborian and Thurian Cycles. Separately, the Hyborian Age setting is also in the past of Marvel Superheroes earth.

  • Lankhmar: published by TSR, 1e and 2e

  • Conan: 1e adventures published by TSR

  • Shannara: 3e Dragon magazine mini-setting

  • Kalamar: published by WotC, licensed 3e setting

  • Rokugan: published by WotC as OA setting.

  • Hackmaster: license agreement to produce parody of D&D rules. Also parodies of classic adventures and settings.

  • Diablo: published by WotC, licensed 3e setting

  • Wheel of Time: published by WotC: licensed d20 setting

  • Dragonfist: was stand-alone 2e-based rpg. Later this WotC IP was transferred to the author, Chris Pramas of Green Ronin.

d20 Modern settings:

[under construction]

Other TSR/WotC rpgs

A D&D Next webpage for each world, with complete downloads:

• • Timeline(s)

  • Complete downloads:

  • rpg books

  • novels

  • gamebooks

  • mag articles (dun, drag, poly)

  • board games

  • coloring books

  • comic books

  • video games

  • videos

  • audio recordings

  • web articles

  • TSR AOL articles

  • web enhancements

  • spellfire cards

  • chainmail cards

  • official fan website

  • gathering of messageboard lore and quotes from present and former designers

  • vaporware and mockups

Little-known one-shot CD&D, 1e, 2e, and 3e?

tsr and wotc employee home campaigns whose elements were published

Dungeon magazine settings (and Dragon mag) link to author's campaign website if available.

Other d20 publishers

Homegrown

past and present TSR/WotC employees campaigns

setting of DragonQuest rpg

Overt influence or features: Barsoom, Dying Earth, Middle-earth