I’d like to ask a question of all the Greyhawk fans out there.
Where’s your favorite place, region, etc. to set a campaign? The Great Kingdom? Wild Coast? Keoland? Ull?
More importantly, why?
To answer my own question and get the ball rolling, I personally prefer the City of Greyhawk itself. The proximity to a variety of different terrain types (hills, marshes, forests, desert, and the Nyr Dyv) maximizes adventuring possibilities, and the fact that it is a major urban center is a plus as well. Not to mention the fact that Castle Greyhawk is right there, and I happen to be something of a fan of the megadungeon concept. Ahem.
But I’ve also had a great deal of success and fun with campaigns set in Verbobonc/the Kron Hills (with Hommlet as a centerpoint, naturally), the Wild Coast, Tenh/Rift Canyon, and Highfolk. I’m still dying to do my big Irongate/South Province campaign, which I’ve been talking about for years and never made happen.
That’s one thing I love about Greyhawk. So many possibilities besides the obvious choices.
I spent years running a campaign chiefly set around the City of Greyhawl and its environs. My current game is set in and around Geoff, Against the Giants and we're 91 sessions in and we're enjoying it.
I like running in Dyvers for many of the same reasons as you like Greyhawk, only it isn't as visited by other groups so I tend to have a bit more freedom with new players. I also like running down in the Pomarj.
Ten years ago I started a campaign in the Hold of the Sea Princes at the time when the Scarlet Brotherhood took over. We're still fighting that war, and just now getting to the point where the players may learn the real reason the Brothers in Red invaded.
Dyvers, Greyhawk, and the Wild Coast.
Our college campaign, based on the original Gazetteer, centered on the Vesve, we roamed from Keolan to Ket and north to the Wolf Nomads.
Love the City of Greyhawk. Intrigue in town, plenty of dungeons nearby, and a nice, central location to jump off to nearly anywhere.
I've always had a desire to run a game in Ratik. I like the idea of its underdog status vs. the Great Kingdom.
The City of Greyhawk and its domain, as given in The Adventure Begins.
I usually use the areas around Saltmarsh for U1-U3, or area around Uk2-3 The Sentinel/Gauntlet for my adventuring in Greyhawk. One of these days, i'll get things to last longer than just the modules.
I was always fond of Tovag Baragu as a multi-planar nexus out in the dry steppes. I am also fond of the the Brightsands. I spent a lot of time during Living Greyhawk DMing there including such cheerful places as the Mines of the Eye.
Greyhawk City and The Yeomanry, but pre-Wars. Not really a fan of the Wars.
Greyhawk, for the same reasons you stated.
The Yeomanry is quite similar. It's where I place the Keep on the Borderlands. There's Gargoyle, which I heavily amend.
Right now I'm running Reptile God, so I'm gaming in an area I've never been to before.
I ran a campaign in mist-shrouded Sterich for a few years and treated like Eastern Europe (vampires, werewolves, and gothic creatures).
Greyhawk really is versatile!
Sea of Dust! Anything dealing with the lost Suel Empire was perfect for my games.
I like the Yeomanry, for several reasons. First, it's a good place to plop down the Keep on the Borderlands (as others have noted, and as defined in the "Return to…" sequel). Second, the culture of the Yeomanry is similar enough to modern American culture that players can easily stay in character without having to play against their own beliefs and values. Third, it is centrally located to a diverse array of play experiences: if the players want to play pirates of the Azure Sea, the Sea Princes are right next door; if they want to fight against the Chaos from Outside, it's near enough to the GDQ series adventures that they can do that; if they want to get involved in feudal politics, there's Keoland; if they want to explore the darkest jungles and fight monsters and primitive savages, they can go south to the Amedio; and so on.
Spindrift Islands, the Scarlet Brotherhood, Keoland, and the Verbobonc areas were all favorites back in the day and much trod by my players. (I should add this was pre TOEE and the L-series modules)
Much of my Greyhawkery was around the Ulek states.
Most commonly, the triangle formed by the Kron Hills, Greyhawk, and Highport. That encompassed T1-4 and A1-4, as well as urban and maritime adventures. Almost anything can be fit into the Suss or the Pomarj (with the Bright Desert not too far away).
Next, though, I'd like to try out Ket and the Baklunish West, or return to Ratik and the northeast.
Ull! Wait, no, that's my favorite place to write about. Most of my campaigns have been in Greyhawk City for obvious reasons. Lately though I love the hell out of the Sea Princes and all the south seas.
I've had two favorite locales: Ratik a frontier of civilization surrounded by trouble on all sides. Great opportunities dungeoneering or politics, or both. Also The Lordship of the Isles, which, not surprisingly, involved exploration and sea travel, but also political intrigues against the Great Kingdom.
I usually have mine (always pre-GH Wars) up around Perrenland and The Fellreev. The desolation and possibilities for characters to go up against evil both mundane and strange are limitless.
Back in the day, we were active mainly in the southwestern corner of the map. We ranged from Geoff in the west, as far east as the Wild Coast, as far north as Furyondy, and down to the Hold of the Sea Princes in the south. Never actually made it to the City of Greyhawk.
It used to be between the Gnarely forest and the ToEE environs.
Then I toyed a lot with th ebone MArch and the rough shoreline of the Hellfurnaces south of the hold and north of Cauldron (Jeklea Bay) trying to carve my own niche campaign area.
The past few years I am playtesting a Nyr Dyv mini campaign with various groups so I am reading a lot about it and it is slowly becoming my new fav place
I'd probably lean towards something around the Flinty Hills. Forests + hills + mountains + Bone March + Great Kingdom + Nyrond = adventure.