Homebrew – Where did you start?

[Neo]

I started with a questionairre to my group asking them what they wanted from a campaign setting..then I tried to conceptualise a place in which all those things (or at least, as many as feasibly possible) could be included.

First practical step for me is always the map, it makes it much easier to get an idea of the politics and possible life and conflicts of a new settings world by having some idea of where the peoples are located in comparison to each other.

 

[Greatwyrm]

I started with a questionairre to my group asking them what they wanted from a campaign setting..then I tried to conceptualise a place in which all those things (or at least, as many as feasibly possible) could be included.

That's what I've done most recently, too. I started with one survey that was mainly scoring different adventure types to see what sort people wanted. After that, I asked about the level of magic people wanted to see, how "adult" the game would be, and other kind of scaling factors like that. Then I came up with a long-term story arc. The map actually came near the end.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Map, then uber-plot.

My most recent campaign I have the kingdom where the players will be mapped out, but I'm still working on the plot. Usually such things come to me at unusual times... such as when I'm watching a basketball game. My roomates said it was odd to see me watching an NBA game with D&D books laid out in front of me.

 

[Balrog]

My first homebrew is my current campaign, and I have been running it for my friends for 2 years. But I started working on it about a good 6-8 months before actually beginning to game with it.

The world is a post-Ragnarok setting with extreme climates, old Gods, new Gods, and lots of conflict. The setting was inspired by reading the Death Gate cycle, by Weis/Hickman. That series had several different worlds, separated by magic, that each had significant flaws. Well I twisted that concept and asked what would happen if several different worlds sort of came together in one, and that is what happened in my Midgard campaign. As a result of Ragnarok and the death of the Midgard Serpent, the Elemental Planes have become coexistent with the Prime Material. In each corner of the world, one element rules supreme, and between those extremes there are varying degrees of elemental mixture. In a centralized region, all four elements coexist and a relatively normal climate exists. This region uncoincidentally just happens to be the center of the most conflicts throughout the history of the New World, and where the majority of my campaign has taken place so far.

But where did I start? I began with the theme, and crudely sketched out on a legal pad how the 4 Elements existed as overlapping circles on Midgard. Then I figured how each combination of Elements would result in a certain type of terrain and climate (for example, Fire and Earth formed a very hot, volcanic region of mountains that serve as lairs to many Fire Giants and also hold a portal to Muspelheim.

Step 2 was to draw my first map of the world overall, and fill in details of the central region. Most extreme regions are to this day undetailed, but still sketched out in very general terms in my campaign notebook for future use.

Step 3 was to decide on the cosmology of the planes and the deities of the world.

Step 4 involved what races were generally available (and if any were prohibited), what role would classes (and prestige classes) have in the world.

Step 5 was to outline a general historical overview of the 18 centuries since Ragnarok.

Step 6 was to outline various major conflicts existing in the world, whether it was between races, nations, religions, organizations, etc.

Step 7 was to figure out some overarcing theme (or two) going on behind the scenes, which would somehow impact the campaign and the PCs.

and Step 8 was to figure out where to begin the adventure, and I decided to start with the free PDF adventure the Wizard's Amulet and its followup, the Crucible of Freya.

so far what I have learned is that it is a constant process of upkeep and modification. And I love it.

 

[Balrog]

Map, then uber-plot.

My most recent campaign I have the kingdom where the players will be mapped out, but I'm still working on the plot. Usually such things come to me at unusual times... such as when I'm watching a basketball game. My roomates said it was odd to see me watching an NBA game with D&D books laid out in front of me.

You and me both.....Many times I have been sitting watching something on TV, a game or movie, when inspiration strikes me. I keep my book bags and my notebooks nearby for just such an occasion. I wouldnt want to lose out on a brainstorm. Of course, sometimes I look back a couple of days later at my notes and think to my self, "what the heck was I thinking with this??!!"

 

[Shallown]

I usually start off with a map. I have several stock world/campaigns that have maps and info on the major cities etc. Then I find something that interest me. My recent campaign I was reading a D&D book "white plume mountain" and liked the imagery of the post greyhawk war world. Burnt villages, salted fields etc. So I took that as my back ground and made a short history of a recent war applying that "what if" to my world and ran the campaign based on war coming to my pre existing world. It made it more dynamic for me. The other thing I did, as far as plot goes, was establish some boundaries to the magic that made sense and were consistent without nerfing certain spells. Ie I made a in game plot/reason why divinations didn't hold all the answers. They are still very useful but are not be all end all cures. I did the same with scrying and teleporting. All are very useful and used most every session just not the answer to all life's problems.

I usually have some worlds I built at some point that I apply a plot or history to then develop the campaign. I think if I did both atthe same time it comes out artificial since the history/plot influences the world too much instead of naturally developing.

Later

 

[Greatwyrm]

Usually such things come to me at unusual times... such as when I'm watching a basketball game.

I finally started carrying a little notebook/planner thing with me. I'm amazed at how much I've actually managed to stuff in there in the past few months. I wonder how many good ideas I lost before I started carrying it.

 

[Desdichado]

Starts always with a concept for the setting. After that, it could be a map, it could be some adventure ideas, or I could even start tweaking the rules right off the bat (my current campaign, for instance.) I don't believe in too much preparation, frankly, as you may want the flexibility to change things midstream.

 

[robberbaron]

Step 1: Basic premise - what sort of world is it?
Step 2: What is the political arrangement - countries, species, etc.
Step 3: History - major events and anything on-going.
Step 4: BBEGs
Step 5: Where the PCs come into it.

It's a long time since I created a world (16 years) but I think these are the steps I went through before I let the players trash it.

 

[cotton]

For my latest campaign it started with a gimmick, like many others here. It needed to stand out and I stole an existing idea from a video game to do it.

The campaign used the basic premise from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. If you haven't played it, the game world is covered in a poisonous gas-like substance called Miasma and is lethal to men and animals. Only a special type of magical crystal can keep it at bay. The basic and overlying problem seems natural for adventurers to try to work on and potentially even solve!

I decided to make a deity responsible for bringing forth Miasma, and other gods who supported (or opposed) him. Thus, a pantheon was born.

Next, I came up with some organization of civilized lands: how would humans and other races be able to adapt? This led to the "founding" of some cities, and also precipitated some changes to the basic races and classes.

Finally, I drew up a map, connecting some of important landmarks and cities that I had in mind. I realize that this is a lot later in the sequence than most others who have posted!

This campaign has only really started in the last month or so, so I can't say how successful it will be. But this is how it all came together.