Why Homebrew?

[Tinker Gnome]

Very interesting responses so far. This will just be a quick reply because I am very tired right now.

Another thing I like about playing in an established setting is that I can talk with other people about it. I like Dragonlance a lot, so I go to the Dragonlance forums and can discuss all of the elements of the setting with the people there, in addition to talking about my game. Where as with a homebrew, no one really cares.

I am not meaning to put down the hombrewers here. I am just giving my reasons. I will respond to the other posts tomorrow. I am exhausted.

 

[Jack7]

This is my homebrew.

I, and my players, have used it for historical research, training purposes, historical wargaming, tactics, analysis, teaching, writing, invention, and of course rpg play.

You don't necessarily have to limit your world to being a divorced from reality fantasy world. It can have whatever purpose and uses you and your player wanna make of it.

It's up to you and your players how you want to use it.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I prefer homebrew (both setting and adventures) because it's more satisfying creatively and better matches my vision (because it *is* my vision), and because it's easier than reading/learning/preparing/remembering another person's creation.

I sometimes enjoy reading published settings and adventures, but mostly for inspiration and entertainment, rather than to use them.

Also, note that I don't find it necessary to create a *complete* setting with a whole world of maps, history, religions, philosophy, et cetera. I tend to start with a very basic and local setting (e.g. a barony or kingdom sized area and some wilderness), some broad-stroke ideas of the world-at-large, and expand/detail things as needed.

 

[Quickleaf]

@ Jack7, that's one amazing setting you've created!

@ Galeros, actually there's a very active group of folks on the net who support each other's homebrew worlds. I'm sure someone can chime in with the link.

 

[TwinBahamut]

But, can anyone tell me any compelling reasons to create my own world beyond just the satisfaction of it?

If you are not already inclined to homebrew on your own, then I really don't see any reason for me to persuade you to do otherwise, and I certainly can't come up with a reason that would convince you to do so...

Still, I homebrew because I simply can't really imagine playing D&D any other way. Other than the occasional impulse to run something in Eberron (which usually involves significant campaign elements entirely of my own creation), I create settings for my campaigns simply because I find it to be fun. Actually, it may be more correct to say that for me, the processes of creating a setting and creating a campaign are inseparable. The settings that emerge in my head are always directly linked to particular campaigns, and thus my desire to run any particular campaign automatically leads to a desire to run the campaign in its matching homebrew setting.

It is something similar to how you really can't translate the story of The Matrix into a different setting. You certainly couldn't set the plot of The Matrix in a more generic and well-known setting like real-world Earth.

 

[Nellisir]

Very interesting responses so far. This will just be a quick reply because I am very tired right now.

Another thing I like about playing in an established setting is that I can talk with other people about it. I like Dragonlance a lot, so I go to the Dragonlance forums and can discuss all of the elements of the setting with the people there, in addition to talking about my game. Where as with a homebrew, no one really cares.

I am not meaning to put down the hombrewers here. I am just giving my reasons. I will respond to the other posts tomorrow. I am exhausted.

I can't give you a compelling reason to create your own homebrew. I can tell you what compels -me- to create -my- homebrew, but it looks like you just don't have the creative urge or desire. And there's nothing wrong with that. Different strokes for different folks, 'n all that. My homebrew is pretty generic in alot of ways, and I could run 99% of the adventures in GH or FR...but it wouldn't ever feel right.

I like the act of creating the world. I like shaping the feel of it, and incorporating the elements and ideas I find exciting and interesting, and it gets to a point where it's easier to write things onto a blank slate than to hand out 40 pages of notes on how you've rewritten greyhawk or the forgotten realms. Do my players care about my world? I think so. I think they care about it just as much as they care about the published worlds - after all, they didn't create them either, so it's not like they're personally invested in Forgotten Realms or something. And sure, it's hard to find an audience that'll sit and listen to you brag, but every once in awhile you'll find someone, and it makes your day like nothing else.

Also, people are alot more receptive if you make it interesting, and it has to interest YOU to be interesting to other people.

 

[fba827]

But, can anyone tell me any compelling reasons to create my own world beyond just the satisfaction of it?

Some of what I was goign to say has already been said by others, but, none the less, since you asked ...

*I* do it because ...
a) creative outlet
b) it's easier for me to remember cause-effect-history of my own imagined creation, otherwise, it turns in to me saying a lot of "wait, let me check the book..."
c) I don't run in to players knowing all the secrets (oh, that NPC was killed and replaced by a Doppleganger in book X two years ago ...)
d) I don't run in to players knowing more _general_ knowledge about the setting than I do ("DM are you sure you want to do that? because according the treaty between the orcs and the goblins during the ten year war, they do not cross the neutral zone ..." -- sure, i can understand it when players want to be helpful, but it can get annoying depending on the method used by the player)
e) this is a seperate item than creative outlet (where it is the satisfaction of creation) but also the creative freedom -- I am not confined by the history and events. If I need to make some on the fly change, I can do so without worrying about how said change will impact other world events
f) you can put a personal stamp on it to make it more memorable (maybe everyone is always tired of dungeon crawls through mountains and forests -- what if your campaign world has airships -- it is suddenly a new landscape of scenery and plot concepts that could be touched upon.. and players will remember the time that one PC died heroically defending the ship but fell overboard to his death while grappling with a pirate ...)
...

I am sure there is probably more, but that is what I can think of at the moment.


But all in all -- sure, a player invested in a published setting will like a published setting more, and a player not investedin a published setting will have no reason to be more or less invested in your own world ... but making your own does have its own perks.

All that said, if you personally don't have the drive or desire to create your own, then, well, it won't be worth it and the setting you "half-heartedly create" will suffer (as will the whole campaign as a result).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But, can anyone tell me any compelling reasons to create my own world beyond just the satisfaction of it?

Simply put, I find that there are some stories that cannot be told within the frameworks of extant campaign settings.

Were that not the case, there would only be one RPG campaign setting to start off with.

A homebrew may contain or eliminate fluff or mechanics that simply don't mesh with extant campaigns as they are written- different races, Heroic Paths (of Midnight 2Ed), no humans, no elves, whatever.

For instance, what would Dragonlance have been like if Warforged and the various repair spells been as available in that setting as they were in Eberron while clerical healing magics had been rare?

 

[Gwaihir]

I homebrew for several reasons

1. for me "world" and "campaign" are synonomous. I rarely run two campaigns set in the same world.
2. I enjoy world building at least as much and probably more than DMing the actual play.
3. I recently discovered I have a character flaw: I care way to much about canon. While playing Pathfinder, Rise of the Runelords, I got very bogged down in the details to the point where it slowed gameplay and my players noticed. Hence it is better for my game to be able to make up stuff on the fly as needed. I guess playing a Greyhawk or FR campaign are no go for sure...

 

[Jack7]

@ Jack7, that's one amazing setting you've created!

Thanks QL. Over time it is, according to my players anyway, becoming more and more of a separate game. I guess I still think of it as a setting first though.

@ Galeros, actually there's a very active group of folks on the net who support each other's homebrew worlds. I'm sure someone can chime in with the link.

I wouldn't mind getting in on something like that. You can get a lot of good ideas from others. Herzog just gave me an idea for a new type of Prayerbook for the cleric. I like ENWorld for all of the good ideas floating around.

Simply put, I find that there are some stories that cannot be told within the frameworks of extant campaign settings.

I think that's very true.