On Using Published Campaign Settings

One thing that kind of bugs me is when DMs or GMs use a published campaign setting, but end up only utilizing the setting canon as backdrop for adventures mostly unrelated to the state of the campaign world. Sure, you might be in Eberron, and if you walk far enough south in Breland, you'll run into Sharn, but the story playing out for the PCs isn't tied to the movers, shakers, and critical events that shape the world. This big lavish campaign world ends up just being a short cut to believable geography should the PCs wander off the beaten path.

I have a few recommendations for using published campaign settings below that might help you have a more satisfying campaign in the world of your choosing. (I'll couch examples in D&D's Eberron as it's a personal favorite.)

The Status Quo Exists to be Altered - If you've purchased a campaign setting, you now have a big book sitting in front of you that tells you about people and places at a very specific juncture in time. Even if the setting doesn't bother to tell you what year it is, you're seeing the state of said campaign world on "Pause." The moment you drop PCs into that world, you're pressing "Play," No, better yet, you're pressing "Record." From that moment forward, the PCs are going to meddle with the state of the world and, if you're running the game to a high enough level of power, will change it dramatically. And that's exactly how it should be. In Eberron, the Mournland exists to be solved! Solved by the PCs in your campaign no less! The 4e D&D Eberron material actually does a good job encouraging this particular point, going as far as providing a Mourning Savior epic destiny for adventurers who would end their careers removing the catastrophic blight left by the Last War.

PCs are a Canon-Violating Force - "But Drizzt does that in book five of the 'Drow are Awesome' series!" is a crummy reason to have fate conspire against having the PCs make a particular change to the world. PCs in your game should exist in a timeline separate from any novels about the campaign setting that aren't already incorporated into the campaign setting as written, and their very existence sets the world on a different course. And beside that, if your PCs existed in the same timeline as novels in the setting, New York Times Bestselling authors would be writing about them, because your PCs are awesome!

Answer Unanswered Questions - Whether deliberately or accidentally, the answers to some questions about the events or nature of a campaign setting will be left unclear. Maybe the author is doing it on purpose, and outlines a few rumored answers to whet your appetite, or maybe he was four cups of coffee into that part of the book at 2:00 am and "It all made sense at the time." Either way, your players should not have to wait for expansion material or novels to fill gaps of information in a campaign setting. Hurl the PCs headlong into the mysterious situation and have them find the truth along the way. If later material contradicts your answer, strike it from your game's canon, or better yet, have that new answer be commonly believed across the world. Now you've got a whole new adventure in spreading the truth and dealing with forces that might be angered by what the PCs are revealing.

The bottom line is that I think you'll have a more satisfying time exploring a published campaign setting if you end up writing parts of it. The game at your table doesn't exist in the same universe as published novels or the play that happens at any other gamer's table. Make the setting your own through play.