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.
)
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.
)
