Ingredients for my Homebrew

[Ion]

The last time I played in a homebrew world of mine, I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed the fact that outside of the small area the PCs were in, the majority of the world was a mystery. I liked discovering what was on the other side of the mountain pass along with the PCs. It was quite a fun game.

On the other hand, it never hurts to have an idea of where things fit into your world, so I've been brainstorming some ideas, or just more general concepts of how things are going to fit into the next homebrew I DM. Here is what I've got so far; please feel free to comment or list things you think are cool, etc.

*I really like warforged. They need a place in this world. I like the idea that they are fairly new, (or maybe just recently discovered?) but that's as much as I've got for them.

*I want to include a group of people like the Tuatha Dé Danann. I think that either a) they are a long lost nearly fallen race, just shadows of their former selves. (which means that they are a PC race. ie. Elves), or I like the idea that the Tuatha De Danann are a group of something like Old Elvish demigods, and that they rule over all the fey and elf type creatures. I want there to be seelie and unseelie courts, sidhe, slaugh. I want goblins and redcaps to be the foot soldiers of the unseelie court, striking out at the enemies of the Queen of Air and Darkness, or just whoever pisses her off. Eberron's changeling's probably fall into this category somewhere.

*I also want to include some Native American supernatural flavor. peoples like the manitou (perhaps the rest of the fairies and elves that' don't fit into the seelie/unseelie courts. Wild elves definitely belong here. Lead by their own race of gods the Gitche Manitou or Wakan Tanka, who definitely have names like "the white buffalo woman", "old man coyote" and "grandmother toad"

*I'm not opposed to the idea of an oriental based culture. Maybe they are ruled by the Lung Dragons, (who could make great feudal lords). Monks, Samurai, Ninjas, Wu-Jen, fallen Ronin searching for a way to redeem themselves in the eyes of their dragon lords. It could be cool.

*Vikings are also cool. Giants and Dwarves come mostly from their mythology anyways. Longboats, and raids, runes! They could be slave traders, or just people who trade in general. They would have all the best maps, because they've sailed from one end of the world to the other. I am picturing people like Cerdic and Cynric from that King Arthur movie.

*Since we've already got vikings, dwarves don't need to fulfill that role. They can get back to their roots of the people under the mountain, who thirst for gold and make all the best treasures. Often the artifacts wielded by the gods themselves are dwarven made!

*I also happen to love the concept of Spellfire from the forgotten realms. Maybe it's exclusive to a particular culture, or bloodline, or something like that?

 

[Blue]

Use what you want, where you want.

Think of how you want these all to fit together. For example, in my homebrew there are naturally occurring portals to other worlds that come and go over the centuries through the elemental planes. Humans, dwarves, elves, etc. have come to the land through these (though they didn't know it originally.)

So I have an sidhe court, which is an elven demi-plane that's currently close and portals to it can be opened. Interestingly, it's not the plane where the elves of the land ("the Lost") originally came from, but many are going there and pledging allegiance anyway just to be back in a court and not stuck on the material.

One thing I see people doing is multiple flavors of human races, and then one generic feel for each other race. Instead mix and match. Maybe your halflings fit the Native American mold you were talking about. Or even mix several of your ideas from above, mashing Oriental and Native American thoughts together. (For example, my Hobgoblins are Socialists with a Caste structure (!!) with a strong lawful neutral druid presence that think the best way to protect animals and plants is to domesticate them, my kobolds are a chaotic and fast changing meritocracy, the gnolls Native American-esqe with a healthy dose of hyena, orcs have multiple cultures as do humans, and the halflings are bigots that have closed the borders to the other races and use lethal force to keep them that way.

Mix and match fun things from various cultures you like, but don't keep them recognizable, instead make them wholly your own.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[Phlebas]

Think of how you want these all to fit together. For example, in my homebrew there are naturally occurring portals to other worlds that come and go over the centuries through the elemental planes. Humans, dwarves, elves, etc. have come to the land through these (though they didn't know it originally.)

My homebrew has ice ages doing similar things (sea goes up, sea goes down. Mountains passable, impassable) to explain how very different cultures formed and how races relate to each other. think of a reason and then just run with it. Do decide on whether you want points of light, the great empire, or some mix of the two concepts. you can always run between the two

One thing I see people doing is multiple flavors of human races, and then one generic feel for each other race. Instead mix and match. Maybe your halflings fit the Native American mold you were talking about. Or even mix several of your ideas from above, mashing Oriental and Native American thoughts together. (For example, my Hobgoblins are Socialists with a Caste structure (!!) with a strong lawful neutral druid presence that think the best way to protect animals and plants is to domesticate them, my kobolds are a chaotic and fast changing meritocracy, the gnolls Native American-esqe with a healthy dose of hyena, orcs have multiple cultures as do humans, and the halflings are bigots that have closed the borders to the other races and use lethal force to keep them that way.

Very good advice - don't be afraid to make fundamental changes to the book races (including removing any you cant make fit - with class levels you do not need all the humanoids to make for decent encounters) and It will be easier to explain differences in cultures as based on race rather than just different groups of humans. Personally i'd be tempted to avoid a humano-centric world as it doesn't tend to leave much space for others.

Decide on what being a citizen actually means - can you have multiple races as citizens of a culture (eg Eberron default) or is the culture defined by its race.

ask yourself how stable the culture is. Is this a recent revolution or a decaying order. Is change easy or hard. Not all cultures will be 'nice' in traditional senses of the word. The oriental might be bent on civilising the world using paladins, regardless of wether the rest of the world wants it or not. the ends justify the means.....

Turn traditional alignments on their heads without changing the fundamentals - if the orcs are plains dwelling nomads they might have very strict hospitality rules on how to treat strangers (abuse them and they might revert to cannibalism). Halflings might shoot on sight. Elves may believe in slavery. Maybe Humans have only just been emancipated from the great gnome beguiler empire?
If you're going for warforged then shifters might work well as the Native American culture, especially if you have their tribes reflect their particular talents (eg Brutegore clan). might explain how they've been marginalised but not defeated.

try and find a place for druidic faiths, a common foe for the party to start against (orcan viking raiders?), some black and white issues for the early levels before bringing in shades of grey and political realities.

 

[Emirikol]

I've always approached "material" from a player character development standpoint. Since we play in Hyboria (CONAN), about anything goes for culture..but I'm not going to spend a long time developing oriental stuff unless a player asks that they want to be a character fro there.

For the main location of the campaign, I've developed a sentence or two about 20 or so different clans and jarldoms. That way each human can feel different from the next (besides having to be a different "human race").

Spend your time on what counts to the players and your upcoming adventures.

jh

 

[cr0m]

A brief note that saying "I want Native American mythology" is a bit like saying "I want European mythology". Unless you want the cultural equivalent of the Holy Grail, Koschei the Deathless and Valkyries running around together, you're better off picking a particular cultural group and running with it.

My favorite is the Anishinabek.

 

[Ion]

Well, I did say "supernatural flavor", but your point is well taken. I've never been a fan of shifters in eberron, on the other hand, casting them as a race of manitou from the otherworld is starting to grow on me.

I've also been inspired by Xorvintaal (terrible name.... but whatever the great game of the dragons is called in the MM5.) I think it's kind of a fun element to have floating around in a game.

I'm not sure what the PC's perspective is going to be yet, because I don't have any players lined up for this game, mostly I'm just trying to come up with the equivalent of "house rules" for flavor, instead of vanilla D&D. To give perspective players a place to start from.

 

[Phlebas]

Well, I did say "supernatural flavor", but your point is well taken. I've never been a fan of shifters in eberron, on the other hand, casting them as a race of manitou from the otherworld is starting to grow on me.

I'm playing a shifter so i'm into them at the moment - I think they make for a good 'undeveloped' culture with a good logic as to how they've remained un-assimilated into other cultures.

If you really want supernatural, then i read a book (can't find it - no idea of author) which basically had humanity hiding away in magically protected enclaves from a fey dominated natural world. Maybe a neat twist on Points of Light if whats between is fey run, and the normal races are in the minority - its not that its dangerous outside, its that you come back... changed.

I've also been inspired by Xorvintaal (terrible name.... but whatever the great game of the dragons is called in the MM5.) I think it's kind of a fun element to have floating around in a game.

I'm not sure what the PC's perspective is going to be yet, because I don't have any players lined up for this game, mostly I'm just trying to come up with the equivalent of "house rules" for flavor, instead of vanilla D&D. To give perspective players a place to start from.

keep it simple then - jot down some basics for each playable race, a couple of major cultures and some background themes. only develop them when you have players to work with or a plot. Try to keep the basics to a single sheet of A4 (even with a sketch map) for now.

So you could have a draconic empire (oriental) pushing into wilderness populated by various nomadic peoples (Native American) & incurring the wrath of the seelie court under who's nominal protection it lies. is this liberation for the inhabitants or conquest?
The coast is being raided by sea-faring barbarians - (viking orcs - you know it makes sense {Edit - or maybe warforged in clockwork 'cogs'}


See what the PC's like the sound of and work with them on the rest of the detail

 

[Shallown]

*I really like warforged. They need a place in this world. I like the idea that they are fairly new, (or maybe just recently discovered?) but that's as much as I've got for them.

I Like them to and made them a race that lives on a cliff face in a metallic citadel. Some have just started wondering in the past 40-50 years so people know about them but they sprang full cloth from nowhere. The reason they did is a group of Technology/craft worshipping clerics created them fusing their souls with constructs to create the first ones now new ones are built and gain souls like other races. Why they were built was to fight the necromancer and his undead horde since they make good undead fighters but the necromancer dissappeared so now they are seeking their own purpose.

*I want to include a group of people like the Tuatha Dé Danann. I think that either a) they are a long lost nearly fallen race, just shadows of their former selves. (which means that they are a PC race. ie. Elves), or I like the idea that the Tuatha De Danann are a group of something like Old Elvish demigods, and that they rule over all the fey and elf type creatures. I want there to be seelie and unseelie courts, sidhe, slaugh. I want goblins and redcaps to be the foot soldiers of the unseelie court, striking out at the enemies of the Queen of Air and Darkness, or just whoever pisses her off. Eberron's changeling's probably fall into this category somewhere.

I have a Vale island with elves who are different and more fey like. The island is the last large fey area on my world. You can't find the isle without a vale elf leading you. I haven't done much else though I have had a few Vale elves as PC's and have explained them as ones who want to wander and explore the Material world.

 

[jgbrowning]

Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast.



joe b.

 

[GreatLemur]

For example, my Hobgoblins are Socialists with a Caste structure (!!)

All hobgoblins are equal, but some hobgoblins are more equal than others.

If you really want supernatural, then i read a book (can't find it - no idea of author) which basically had humanity hiding away in magically protected enclaves from a fey dominated natural world. Maybe a neat twist on Points of Light if whats between is fey run, and the normal races are in the minority - its not that its dangerous outside, its that you come back... changed.

Crap, that does sound interesting. Do you remember even a fragment of the title? Or a character's name?