Read about the world of Garion........The Wyrm Ryders of Andrecht
At first glance, the world Eddings created for the adventures of Garion et al doesn't seem to be suited for a D&:D campaign. the form of magic is different, there are no demihumans, nearly all the monsters are located in one place, and worst of all there's only one dragon! But with a bit of creativity, and some convenient creative licence, the world can be transformed into a wonderful campaign setting.
The Child of Light/Dark conflict enables players to play a good or evil campaign. There's plenty of stuff to base adventures on: Bear-cult uprisings, Grolims making raids into other countries, Tolnedran politics, or simple greed in the Angarak mines. You can also have your players interacting in the whole Light/Dark struggle, either as members of Garion/Torak/Zandramas' parties or to clear the way. Maybe certain EVENTS rely on other events happening, and the PCs could perform them.
So how do we get around the problems? Let's start with the monsters. First of all, we don't know what monsters exist south of Nyissa, or in the mines of Cthol Murgos, or anywhere in Mallorea. The Wood of the Dryads is a good source. I have changed the Jungle on the southern Nyissan border into the Yuan-Ti jungle, just to explain why no-one has gone down there and come back alive. Ulgoland has a region called Dragon Pass, where all sorts of rumours abound about a species of dragon-riders. Drow live in northern Ulgoland and Mishrak ac Thull.
As for demihumans, it's just a question of analysing the country and the character of the people. Drasnians are humans or halflings. Asturian Arends are elves. Ulgos are dwarves and humans. Chereks are mainly human. Sendars are everything. I hate gnomes, so there are none. You can also play with it a bit by giving each nation preferred classes, and giving bonuses to those classes...Drasnian thieves are better, Sendars speak more languages/get bonus NWPs, Asturians get bow bonuses, Mimbrates get bard stuff...
Of course, there's nothing to stop you dropping some elements from other worlds into your campaign map. I have Maragor turned into a mini-Ravenloft, complete with Mara in a very interesting role. The Wyrm Ryders are a mixture of Feist's Valheru and McCaffrey's Dragon Riders. My introductory adventure, which will soon be posted here, pits the party against an impostor Grolim based on the beginning of Brooks' Tangle Box. Be creative, it's your world!
