D&D General Decision paralysis: how do you homebrew?

[pukunui]

Okay, you've made the decision on Eberron, in the Eldeen Reaches. Great!

Looking at the map, the NE section (as opposed to SW) looks appropriately empty if you wish to avoid overwriting existing data. If Khorvaire is only Western Europe sized, you have plenty of room. (I note a lack of scale, and sort of recall there was some kerfluffle about that.)

Are there any mountains, rivers, or other such physical terrain that are important in the module?

Here's a map of Elsir Vale (the mini-setting for the adventure):

Spoiler

The bulk of the adventure takes place in the eastern half of the map.

For comparison purposes, here is a map highlighting the Eldeen Reaches, with the 5e map scale included:

Spoiler

And here's a map of the Eldeen Reaches with a map of Elsir Vale superimposed over it for scale comparison purposes:

Spoiler

 

[pukunui]

If I just wanted to run one specific adventure, I wouldn't bother creating a setting for it at all.
When running an adventure in 5th edition, I would just tell the players to pick whatever races and deities they want from those listed in the Player's Handbook. Those will do.
Maps, locations, and NPCs should already be provided by the adventure, and if things happen during play that requires adding new ones, I'd just keep them in the same style.

Homebrewing a setting makes sense when you really want to go explore the setting with the players. For reflavoring an adventure that already has its own flavor, I think it's really not necessary.

It's not going to end up just being one adventure, though. RHoD is for levels ~5-10. I want to include some adventures before and possibly after. These could potentially take the players out of Elsir Vale and into the wider world.

 

[Yora]

In my opinion, good setting homebrew is always all about deciding on a specific style and tone, and setting the environment and culture of the world up to reflect that and bring it to life.
When you start setting up a new world, you have infinite options to pick from for races, classes, cultures, landscapes, creatures, gods, planes, factions, magic items, and so on. Not everything fits the same worlds or works well together when combined.
Making a big list of all kinds of things from existing settings that are really cool is a good first step. But the second step has to be to narrow down a specific style and tone that the new setting is meant to have, and then ruthlessly purging that long list of everything that doesn't really fit into that concept or even just play a meaningful part. I've been working on the same setting idea for over a decade, and mostly the process of refining it consists of identifying more things that need to be thrown out because they are diluting or distracting from the main concept.

 

[Baron Opal II]

It looks like at first glance that Lake Rhestin would fit snugly slightly south of the "I C E" in the "Icehorn Mountains". Rotate the map ~30 degrees counter-clockwise and that should fit nicely.

Here's a map of Elsir Vale (the mini-setting for the adventure):

 

[el-remmen]

How do you homebrew?

 

[Li Shenron]

If the latter, do I want to have the gods be greatwyrm dragons? If yes, do I want that to be known or a secret? (I did try running Odyssey of the Dragonlords for one of my groups not that long ago, but we gave up before the big twist reveal.) Or do I just want to have the usual pantheon of squabbling gods? Or do I want something a bit tighter? Another question is: do I want the gods to be a real, knowable force like in the Realms or do I want the matter of their existence to be up in the air like in Eberron? If the latter, do I want to make it so there are no clerics or paladins? I've done that before, and it was fun and different, but do I want to do that again for this campaign? If I get rid of clerics and paladins, do I want to keep things like divine soul sorcerers and celestial warlocks?

The answer to all of the above questions is: I don't know and I can't decide!

Then don't decide at all

Are you running this new campaign for an established gaming group?

If that's the case, how about asking the players if they have a preference on the setting?

If it's not the case, are you sure they actually care for stuff like pantheons and the nature of gods? You do not have to tell them anything upfront. You can start the campaign locally, and wait for them to discover the world later on. If you have a Cleric in the party, you only need ONE deity to be defined, and you could ask the player to choose anything instead of planning a list for them.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Same. However, sometimes all I get in return is "we would be happy to play in whichever game/setting/campaign you want to run." Which, while I appreciate their confidence in me, doesn't help when I've got decision paralysis!

I ask my players. "Do you guys want to play in Eberron, or would you prefer we make up a new world for this campaign?"

Some advice I recently heard (talking about DCC RPG, but it can apply elsewhere) is "don't wait to do the cool thing." If your ideas mashed together from Eberron and Dragon Age are giving you some "oh, this is so cool, I can't wait to see it come to life with my players," then that's what I'd say go with, barring a firm choice from the group.

 

[TwoSix]

It's not going to end up just being one adventure, though. RHoD is for levels ~5-10. I want to include some adventures before and possibly after. These could potentially take the players out of Elsir Vale and into the wider world.

I'd definitely use Eberron, then. If the worst thing that happens is that the Eberron official map and the Elsir Vale map don't line up properly, I don't think that's a huge loss.

I prefer the map found here to the official map, personally; I would use either Eastern Breland above Darguun or Valenar instead of Eldeen Reaches, but using the Reaches with the barbarians from the Wastes definitely works too.

 

[pukunui]

Then don't decide at all

Are you running this new campaign for an established gaming group?

If that's the case, how about asking the players if they have a preference on the setting?

If it's not the case, are you sure they actually care for stuff like pantheons and the nature of gods? You do not have to tell them anything upfront. You can start the campaign locally, and wait for them to discover the world later on. If you have a Cleric in the party, you only need ONE deity to be defined, and you could ask the player to choose anything instead of planning a list for them.

I don't think either of my groups particularly cares about setting details. In terms of gods, though, it's not just about what deities the cleric can pick. I find that the gods are really one of the most fundamental aspects of the setting. They help inform the way the world works, its legends and cultures and mores and all that. There are also a number of NPC priests and religious buildings in the adventure itself, and since I don't want to use the default Greyhawk gods, I need to come up with some replacements.

Same. However, sometimes all I get in return is "we would be happy to play in whichever game/setting/campaign you want to run." Which, while I appreciate their confidence in me, doesn't help when I've got decision paralysis!

Precisely! And this thread isn't really helping either, since some people are saying "Use Eberron!" and other people are saying "Go homebrew!"

I'd definitely use Eberron, then. If the worst thing that happens is that the Eberron official map and the Elsir Vale map don't line up properly, I don't think that's a huge loss.

I prefer the map found here to the official map, personally; I would use either Eastern Breland above Darguun or Valenar instead of Eldeen Reaches, but using the Reaches with the barbarians from the Wastes definitely works too.

Yeah, I've seen that alternate map, and I really like it too. The reason I like the Eldeen Reaches the best is because it's one of the more isolated areas, there aren't any lightning rail lines (unlike in eastern Breland) and the theme of a mostly rural, agrarian society led by druids fits really well with Elsir Vale.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't think either of my groups particularly cares about setting details.

Ok, and let's try to take this positively: it means whatever you choose eventually, it'll make a fine game.

But do you mean you have TWO groups you are going to run RHoD for? Could this mean you have the possibility to play it in one setting for group A and another setting for group B? Because that could give you a way out of your indecision.

In terms of gods, though, it's not just about what deities the cleric can pick. I find that the gods are really one of the most fundamental aspects of the setting. They help inform the way the world works, its legends and cultures and mores and all that. There are also a number of NPC priests and religious buildings in the adventure itself, and since I don't want to use the default Greyhawk gods, I need to come up with some replacements.

All right so even if it's just you as DM who want gods, then you definitely need to make a choice.

We can't help you pick a fantasy setting because each one of us has its favourites and RHoD will run fine probably in almost all of them. So let's focus on homebrewing.

You CAN pick just the pantheon from a published setting and put it in your homebrew world. But again each one of us will suggest their favourite. Let's try building a pantheon from scratch instead.

There's a list of basic questions you can go through, each of which contribute to the aspects of the setting:

• do you want a few big deities (3-5), a moderate sized pantheon (<20), a large pantheon (tens) or a myriad pantheon (hundreds)
• do you want the deities to be very clearly defined, mysterious or largely unknown (leading to religions being alternative theories rather than simple allegiances)
• do you want deities to be clearly separate entities or blurred
• do you want character-like deities or more abstract/conceptual
• do you want the pantheon to be static (deities never change) or to have new deities being born, disappear, change portfolio or even alignment
• do you want different pantheons for different worlds, regions or races of creatures
• do you want the possibility of mortal ascent to godhood
• do you want portfolios to be simple ("god of justice") or mixed ("god of justice, bogs, cloud giants, bakery and juggling")

At least some of these questions will give you a draft of a list or table to fill in with the specific of each. This is just but one possible structured and "engineering-like" approach to building a pantheon.

An alternative is to steal existing deities from published setting following your guts and sense of cool, then change some details including the names to make them your own. Switch the gender or the alignment, merge two deities together, add one very unrelated item to the portfolio and so on.