Pre-designed world Vs Starting from scratch

[Vedic Wizard]

Hi, I'm new here so I'm still finding the lay of the land.

I run a number of games in a world I designed from scratch (albeit borrowing heavily from various influences). It's very story based, but this seems to give the combats extra edge - and a couple of years in its going really well.

I've always found both running and playing in the self-developed settings more rewarding, the stories seem to have more depth and the characters get fleshed out more. Where as using the preset realms seems to result in campaigns that lack real involvement.

I was just wondering how many fellow roleplayers start from scratch, and how many prefer working from a pre-designed world (Forgotten Realms Etc.)? What do you find works better in one Vs the other?

 

[Rothe]

Started from scratch because when I started you had to unless you consieder City State of the Invincible Overlorad a setting. That said, I'd start from scrath again and love home brew settings. In the beginning it was half the fun to share your world maps and ideas with friends. I'd rather take my friends half-imagined world from the heart than a stiff commercial product with great graphics.

 

[Stormborn]

Right now I am using Ptolus, but with lots of homebrew elements added. Generally, however, I tend to create settings from scratch (as you say borrowing heavilly where apporpriate). It allows me to tweak classes, magic, creatures and their role in the setting, etc. and not conflict with anything established. I find it easier for me to GM because I feel I know the world better and can better incorporate player's desires into the world.It also allows me to alter anything the players dont already know about the larger world to better fit the play experiance. I also feel more comfortable with homebrew adventures (again with the borrowing).

 

[Scribble]

I always have grand intentions of creating a homebrew but not nearly enough time.

So inevitably I end up with a partially completed setting, and trying to find ways to distract my players from going to "the city through the mountain pass" because I haven't detailed it yet...

 

[delericho]

I've done both, and enjoyed both. In general, I prefer running in a homebrewed setting.

One thing I have noticed is that a setting built from the ground up to include <element X> will always feel more natural than one that has had that element added later. So, psionics feels better in Dark Sun than Forgotten Realms, since it's already designed to fit. In effect, this means that the likes of Bo9S and Incarnum will basically always feel more natural in specific homebrew worlds than in any of the published settings. Whether this is enough of a gain to offset the extra work of designing a homebrew world, I don't know.

 

[Piratecat]

I like to start from scratch, and then liberally steal the best parts of other settings and adventures. That lets me add what I like best, and dismiss or change details that I don't.

And welcome to the boards!

 

[talien]

Years ago in high school and college I had the time to create a world where I could easily plug in any adventure. It also meant I could accommodate any class/race with a bit of handwaving, even changing the world to match:

"Oh, you want to play a minotaur? Well, it turns out there's this island off the coast that is run by a minoatur society..."

Nowadays, with a full time job and family, I just don't have the time to devote to creating said world. Enter Arcanis, a broadly accommodating world (Flintlocks! Romans! Lizardfolk! Psionics!) with a strong narrative arc that allows for some great storytelling.

See http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=103252 for how it played out. Given that just about everyone in my group is a working professional, I'm pleased to see the campaign progress as much as it has.

 

[Li Shenron]

I use published settings to have certain things, such as a geography that makes enough sense or a pantheon with developed relationship between different faiths. These kind of things help me keep some high-level consistency that otherwise would require me a lot of effort.

I used to write down a lot of homebrew ideas until a couple of years ago, but then I found that it didn't seem to make a better game than the published settings, and at least my gaming friends don't appreciate one more than the other, so nowadays I go with what costs me less time and effort.

The only drawback of using published settings is that if a fan of such setting comes to play with us he's probably going to be horrified by how I use it

 

[Psion]

I like to start from scratch... but I am doing so again for the first time in a long time. Doing so has reminded me how much work is involved. It takes a lot of thought and creativity to assemble a satisfying world, and the experience is serving to remind me that when I did it the first time, I did it over a long time.

But yeah... I agree with the notion of it being more satisfying in some ways. I think compared to a fully detailed world, it provides some creative "elbow room."

 

[Snotlord]

Munchkin and loving it

I was a homebrewer for 15 years before turning to the Forgotten Realms, and have enjoyed both.

The time issue made me run FR, but running prefab settings has grown on me in unexpected ways, as Faerûn keeps throwing surprising at me in unexpected ways. Let me explain:

I like a certain style of fantasy, and running my homebrew got a bit stale and predictable as the years passed, although I did not notice it. Faerûn offered new material and a new style, in addition to other benefits.
Faerûn is huge setting with years of established lore, and where everything (it seems) is allowed or included in some way. For me this is a good thing, as I find new stuff to include all the time and my plots gets reworked constantly in to fit the new-discovered lore. Constraints and limitations makes me creative, surprises me and saves me lots of time.