Descibe your homebrew setting
Goblyns Hoard
First Post
My homebrew is a Magocracy, with the main action taking place on the southern frontier of the magocracy where everything's still a bit uncivilised and rough. In the more established areas there is a magic as technology feel, though this is only just developing so it's only the rich and powerful that have flying carpets, not everyone. Two-tier class system means you have to be able to cast spells in order to have any say in the running of the country, and a wizard if you want any real say in it. However the lower tier isn't repressed - merely disenfranchised (ie their not actively persecuted by the mages - think of citizen vs civilian in Starship Troopers).
Races are all slightly modified - mainly to make them fit into their environmental niche a little better. Halflings are a separate biological species but fully integrated into the Magocracy's culture - so effectively just small humans living in and around the actual humans. Obviously still have their own sub-culture but not viewed as a separate 'nation'. Dwarves live in the mountains, or rather on them - not actually IN the mountains. Elves are closer to wood elves rather than high elves. Gnomes don't exist (at least not yet). Orcs are island dwelling raiders - take the polynesian culture and give them the raiding habits of the norse-men. Goblinoids (with ogres thrown in) are in fact a subterrean hive dwelling insectile race - humanoid ants effectively, with the different races (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear and ogre) playing different 'roles' in the social structure. Kobolds are the magical creation of the last black dragon - an Ancient Wyrm that has threatened the Magocracy for 800 years.
The current campaign feel is set up as a group of heroes out to defend a small town from whatever comes there way. Each of the characters has their own reason for coming here and wanting to defend the town. Some encounters are fairly simple - giant spiders in the nearby forest attacking people on their way to and from the town. Others much more complex - like the recent actions of red dragons and the strange goblin creatures (not going into detail as some players do lurk here a bit), but they all come back to the root cause of helping to keep the town safe.
Away from that the rest of the world is developing slowly, spreading out from the Magocracy to nearby lands as I think of things to put there. I'm thinking of starting a second continent on the far side of the world where I can incorporate some form of steam-jacks or warforged like creatures - just to open up the options. I don't use psionics yet - still too many bad memories of old versions of psionics & I've not got around to looking at the new rules yet. Not that fussed about them as I never really felt psionics should be a part of the fantasy genre enough to get worked up about them. Might include them somewhere at some stage.
Races are all slightly modified - mainly to make them fit into their environmental niche a little better. Halflings are a separate biological species but fully integrated into the Magocracy's culture - so effectively just small humans living in and around the actual humans. Obviously still have their own sub-culture but not viewed as a separate 'nation'. Dwarves live in the mountains, or rather on them - not actually IN the mountains. Elves are closer to wood elves rather than high elves. Gnomes don't exist (at least not yet). Orcs are island dwelling raiders - take the polynesian culture and give them the raiding habits of the norse-men. Goblinoids (with ogres thrown in) are in fact a subterrean hive dwelling insectile race - humanoid ants effectively, with the different races (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear and ogre) playing different 'roles' in the social structure. Kobolds are the magical creation of the last black dragon - an Ancient Wyrm that has threatened the Magocracy for 800 years.
The current campaign feel is set up as a group of heroes out to defend a small town from whatever comes there way. Each of the characters has their own reason for coming here and wanting to defend the town. Some encounters are fairly simple - giant spiders in the nearby forest attacking people on their way to and from the town. Others much more complex - like the recent actions of red dragons and the strange goblin creatures (not going into detail as some players do lurk here a bit), but they all come back to the root cause of helping to keep the town safe.
Away from that the rest of the world is developing slowly, spreading out from the Magocracy to nearby lands as I think of things to put there. I'm thinking of starting a second continent on the far side of the world where I can incorporate some form of steam-jacks or warforged like creatures - just to open up the options. I don't use psionics yet - still too many bad memories of old versions of psionics & I've not got around to looking at the new rules yet. Not that fussed about them as I never really felt psionics should be a part of the fantasy genre enough to get worked up about them. Might include them somewhere at some stage.
Odhanan
Adventurer
Well, "brilliant" is not really for me to say, but rather to the players at the table. I called the setting "The Seven Spires" because it started with Monte Cook's idea of the Spire (above Ptolus), yet I didn't include Ptolus at the beginning.
The Seven Spires is a name that qualifies two things: the spires themselves, and the whole peninsula surrounding them (roughly 2/3 the size of Spain). It is in its basic undertones a blend of Arcana Evolved and D&D. It uses chunks of background of Eberron, Ptolus, Laelith (a French city developed by the magazine Casus Belli), AE, Greyhawk (mainly for the fiends/bad guys), Shackled City, WLD and more.
It's not an original setting per se. See, I'm developing a setting for publication called (at the moment) The Enrill Campaign Setting. I wanted to playtest background ideas for this ENCS (as I abbreviate it) and wanted at the same time to use loads of cool books I have in my RPG library. Yet, I couldn't alter the ENCS itself and was starting the campaign with complete newbies: as a result, I wanted a homebrew that was D&D, felt D&D, yet could support my design concepts. So I created a peninsula to the south of the continent I design. There, I poured all the stuff I loved, and created a background and history that would bind all these together. That's how it started.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
I'm currently using the Cressia setting a collective homebrew created right here at Enworld in the old Fantasy Arms Race thread initiated by Rangerwicket a year or so ago.
Cressia is a druidic theocracy where werewolf paladins (Dog Soldiers) serve the organic Temple cities and where an extensive network of roads are lined with hedges of rose brambles designed specifically to allow entangle to be an effective deterent to invaders. Cressian society is primarily agrarian and technology is late bronze-age, with metal rare. Politically society is divided into four Septs being the Warriors Sept (Fighter, Barbarian), the Wanderers Sept (Ranger, Rogue), the Lamp Watch (Bard, Adept) and Temple Sept (Druid, Paladin, Cleric) each with distinct roles
Cressia is surrounded by three known lands being the Stempa City-states in the northern mountains (occupied by humans, goblins and ogres) and the only society with iron; the Ta'Jinn steepes to the north east (beyond the Hills of Fire which are home to a mix of Griffon-riding Elfs and an expansionist Centaur empire; and the Island of Auselen dominated by Scoerer-Kings and their bodyguards of Monk-Acrobats
Cressia is a druidic theocracy where werewolf paladins (Dog Soldiers) serve the organic Temple cities and where an extensive network of roads are lined with hedges of rose brambles designed specifically to allow entangle to be an effective deterent to invaders. Cressian society is primarily agrarian and technology is late bronze-age, with metal rare. Politically society is divided into four Septs being the Warriors Sept (Fighter, Barbarian), the Wanderers Sept (Ranger, Rogue), the Lamp Watch (Bard, Adept) and Temple Sept (Druid, Paladin, Cleric) each with distinct roles
Cressia is surrounded by three known lands being the Stempa City-states in the northern mountains (occupied by humans, goblins and ogres) and the only society with iron; the Ta'Jinn steepes to the north east (beyond the Hills of Fire which are home to a mix of Griffon-riding Elfs and an expansionist Centaur empire; and the Island of Auselen dominated by Scoerer-Kings and their bodyguards of Monk-Acrobats
RangerWickett
Legend
Tonguez, how cool is that? I loved that thread. Is it still around, or did we lose it in a boards transfer?
For me, the setting as a whole is not what interests me. It's the adventures that take place there, the legends that give insight to the cultures, and the unique locations that are memorable. Who cares what races and classes are available in Eberron? I just know that Sharn is an original idea (a stone skyscraper city built in a pocket of flight energy leaking over from the elemental plane of air), and that the rumors of ancient giants on the continent to the south are very intriguing.
A setting never interests me when I pick up a fantasy novel. What interests me is the storyline, and the characters. It's how you experience the setting that matters.
For me, the setting as a whole is not what interests me. It's the adventures that take place there, the legends that give insight to the cultures, and the unique locations that are memorable. Who cares what races and classes are available in Eberron? I just know that Sharn is an original idea (a stone skyscraper city built in a pocket of flight energy leaking over from the elemental plane of air), and that the rumors of ancient giants on the continent to the south are very intriguing.
A setting never interests me when I pick up a fantasy novel. What interests me is the storyline, and the characters. It's how you experience the setting that matters.
tetsujin28
First Post
I wouldn't consider my old homebrew 'brilliant'. It was an unholy mishmash of Greyhawk and Arduin, with some Tekumel thrown in for good measure. It rocked.
Otherwise, I tend to run historical settings.
Otherwise, I tend to run historical settings.
Ry
Explorer
Well, mine's pretty much a remix of Dark Sun, removing its radioactive flair and presenting a universe more like an all-human Iron Heroes campaign. It's called Legends of the Last Age, and I'm devving it slowly on these boards.
VirgilCaine
First Post
My homebrew world is called Kurania.
I've got a couple areas not "filled in" yet, a couple that are basically Al-Qadim and the Savage Coast.
The most developed area of the huge main continent is a mix of oppressive democracies, anarchy zones, a somewhat better republic and a few more conventional monarchies. Giants, a Goblinoid Empire, a group of Thay-like evil spellcasters, and an area of extraplanar evil incursion round out the points of interest.
Civilized areas are pretty safe, excepting the Underdark forays and the evil cleric terrorists.
The Guild, a civilization-wide confederation of wizards that keeps non-divine spellcasters in line, either through direct action (wizards have to be screened for evil/irresposibility before training) or the fact that there are Hunters looking for spellcasters causing trouble. Churches work very closely (symbiotically so) with the Guild. St. Cuthbert puts in some Hunters, Delleb, Boccob, Wee Jas are the records section, etc.
A continent to the south contains the continent-wide remains of a destroyed magical civilization. Central mountains, mostly desert with some magical accidents, human settlements in the north and northwestern coast. Dragons and similar monsters stalk the deserts. This place together with Al-Qadim constitute the Twin Thrones.
The rest of the world is dominated by Yuan-Ti or underwater threats (Kraken/Morkoth/Sahuagin empires for example).
Orcs and nonhumanoids are somewhat better integrated into society. Orcs are nomadic, aquatic, water-breathing spear-users and aren't automatically evil. Some ogres and misc. nonhumanoids are accepted somewhat--Ogre masons or ferry workers or whatnot.
There are no elves. Elves are legendary creatures, either Seelie/Unseelie, liches, other types of undead or demon-worshipping mutants (drow).
I use the larger, older Greyhawk pantheon.
I've got a couple areas not "filled in" yet, a couple that are basically Al-Qadim and the Savage Coast.
The most developed area of the huge main continent is a mix of oppressive democracies, anarchy zones, a somewhat better republic and a few more conventional monarchies. Giants, a Goblinoid Empire, a group of Thay-like evil spellcasters, and an area of extraplanar evil incursion round out the points of interest.
Civilized areas are pretty safe, excepting the Underdark forays and the evil cleric terrorists.
The Guild, a civilization-wide confederation of wizards that keeps non-divine spellcasters in line, either through direct action (wizards have to be screened for evil/irresposibility before training) or the fact that there are Hunters looking for spellcasters causing trouble. Churches work very closely (symbiotically so) with the Guild. St. Cuthbert puts in some Hunters, Delleb, Boccob, Wee Jas are the records section, etc.
A continent to the south contains the continent-wide remains of a destroyed magical civilization. Central mountains, mostly desert with some magical accidents, human settlements in the north and northwestern coast. Dragons and similar monsters stalk the deserts. This place together with Al-Qadim constitute the Twin Thrones.
The rest of the world is dominated by Yuan-Ti or underwater threats (Kraken/Morkoth/Sahuagin empires for example).
Orcs and nonhumanoids are somewhat better integrated into society. Orcs are nomadic, aquatic, water-breathing spear-users and aren't automatically evil. Some ogres and misc. nonhumanoids are accepted somewhat--Ogre masons or ferry workers or whatnot.
There are no elves. Elves are legendary creatures, either Seelie/Unseelie, liches, other types of undead or demon-worshipping mutants (drow).
I use the larger, older Greyhawk pantheon.
