Homebrewers: Huzzah!

Psion

Adventurer
Okay, is anyone else sick of Arcady and Nightfall doing their fawning over their respective favorite settings?

Lets say a little about the most popular setting choice of all: Roll your own.

As much work goes into various settings, in the realm of fantasy none have compared to experiences in highly modified or totally original settings.

First off, it is a chance to have a bit of mystery. Your players may have heard of the nature of the trappings in FR or KoK or Rokugan. But in a homebrew, the players know what the PCs know, and that helps engender a feel of mystery.

Running in a homebrew world also lets you pick out the elements that you want, that are right for your campaign... again, without foreknowledge of the players. You can do some of this in a published setting, but in a homebrew, you can do it without aggravating the faithful fans who may not like you altering their precious campaign. Some elements of a campaign are central to it (imagine FR without the Zhents or Big E), and it can fundamentally alter it and compromise its usability if you extract the wrong elements. With a homebrew you can pretty much chery pick the good stuff from the existing settings and morph it to your own needs, all without fear of it not fitting and aggravating your players.

Finally, I rarely if ever see the wheels get turning like I do with homebrew campaigns. I have seen more imaginiative things in homebrews than I ever have seen published, for the simple fact that there is a difference between what is fun and what is marketable.

Sure, it is hard to do a setting with a feel of logic and consistency (though I recommend the 2e World Builders Guide to anyone who needs help with details like making realistic climate, ecology, and terrain placements, not to mention it is just loaded with good ideas and filler for those little details that you never have time to flesh out.) But it is thorougly rewarding.

So homebrew DMs. Tell me what you think. Perhaps share a bit of your world (not too much, otherwise we'll get kicked to another forum. :) )
 

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Chairman_Kaga

Founder of the Gourmet Gamer Academy
Hey, it's not All bad...

Hey, I run a HEAVILY modified Realms with quite a bit less magic floating about. Basically, I use the original grey boxed-set as my background starting point and ignore every munchkiny thing produced for the setting since.

From the day I started running the Realms 15 or so years ago, it has been my baby. There was no way in hell I was ruining all my hard work with the whole Time of Troubles nonsense and the sudden preponderance of uber-munchkins.

In the beginning, Elminster was JUST a wizard-sage, and that is how he has remained in my game. Hell, Mystra doesn't even exist in my world.
 

Darkness

Hand and Eye of Piratecat [Moderator]
Okay, is anyone else sick of Arcady and Nightfall doing their fawning over their respective favorite settings?
KoK and Scarred Lands, respectively, right? :cool:

Oh, and here'a s link to a site about world creation that someone posted some months ago. :cool:
And there's Dungeoncraft, of course. :)
(Translation: I'm too lazy to have finished a campaign world yet, but here are my sources. :p)

BTW, a little scoop, while I'm at it:
Next Month: Dragon 293
World Building! Rethink religion and use diminished deities in your campaign. Create a world dominated by planetouched races. Play monster PCs with a list of their ECLs. Structure your campaign like your favorite TV show. Get all the tips you've missed!
:cool:

- Darkness
 

Guacamole

First Post
You know its a good idea when...

The best home-brew idea has been the one in the Runic Story Hour, with it's dreaming deity that affects the physical universe, etc. You know its a good idea when you are jealous you didn't think of it first...

I agree whole heartedly that the campaign one creates is the best one, even if it is a half-arsed rippoff of other things, if for no other reason, the whole mystery behind it......

The world I'm working on is an early renaisance setting, set in a crumbling, decadent empire, which emphasizes intrigue and has the players being simultaneously manipulated by various organizations with their own aims. The first few weeks they figure out that they are being played, then they get paranoid, then they start trying to figure out how not to get played..... I have fewer basic monster encounters, and more encounters with NPC's, outsiders, and the undead than anything else. Most monsters are genuine things of legend which do not appear.

fwiw
Guacamole
 

The Sunderer

First Post
I agree with everything you say - and when your homebrew world takes off it is a fantastic feeling.

My present project Sundered Sky is like nothing seen in the present crop of settings (fiction is another matter) and I am very proud of it.

One thing that has struck me is how nicely all the pieces are falling together, but that is probably more due to luck than any forward planning or genius or my part :D

To discover more about my homebrew world, just click on the link to either my Story Hour or my homepage where all will be revealed.
 

Rune

Once A Fool
Re: You know its a good idea when...

Guacamole said:
The best home-brew idea has been the one in the Runic Story Hour, with it's dreaming deity that affects the physical universe, etc. You know its a good idea when you are jealous you didn't think of it first...

Wow! Thanks for the glowing endorsement! You might consider checking this thread out: it's Jaldaen's Nevermore (another Dreamworld) thread.

Also, I heartily agree that the Sundered Sky as an incredible setting. The next campaign I run will be in that one (with some slight modifications...one inspired by a messege board member, and one by my view of halflings!)!

For what it's worth, however, as much as I like my own setting (see the sig), and even want to publish it, I still think Kalamar is the best I've ever seen. I just don't think I can run it well enough to do it justice. The sourcebook for Kalamar has all of the tension of Europe just prior to World War I. All that is needed from the DM is a spark to set it all in motion. I just don't think that I could keep all of the elements going.
 
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The Sunderer

First Post
Blush

Thanks for the praise Rune :eek: .... I guess I should really get the next storyhour up there then shouldn't I

What are these modifications send them to me privately or on here... I am always ready to rip anothers ideas off
 

Rune

Once A Fool
Alright, I'll post them here...bearing in mind that my players may read sensitive material here, and that I do plan on posting story hours for it (with your permission).

I once read a post in which someone (can't remember who, unfortunately) said that they use the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings as Holy Texts in that person's campaign. I went a step further. I decided that there were four Holy Scriptures written by the prophet J.R.R Tolkien, and two heretical scriptures, supposedly written by him (but, denied by the Church). These are (in order), "The Silmarillion," "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," all of which are available for all to read, "The Rise of the Hobbits," which is available only to the Church, "The Lost Tales," and "The Unfinished Tales." This gives me a thoroughly detailed mythology and puts the burdon of research in the hands of my players.

My other modification stems from my treatment of halflings in most of my games (see the sig): as children. In this setting, they are the overlords; they are the oppressors. I think this is funny as hell. This should make my brother happy; he loves halflings!
 

Psion

Adventurer
The Sunderer said:
My present project Sundered Sky is like nothing seen in the present crop of settings (fiction is another matter) and I am very proud of it.

Yeah, I was going to say... didn't Wiess and/or Hickman do something like that. (They also did the fantasy space starshield when I was planning that, too, so I scrapped that. And then Dragonstar comes along.)

Anyways, your descriptions look interesting and evocative. I like the shipguild thing especially.

I like the floating islands concept. I helped work on the lithomorph world on webrpg (see http://hiddenway.tripod.com/world/ideas/lithomorphs.html for the end result). I have liked the ideas of floating islands, and I have had a story arc waiting in the wings that I have just been looking for an oportunity that I can logically introduce them into my world.

(SNAP! I've got it! It just occurred to me a convenient place to tie it in.)
 


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