D&D General A paladin just joined the group. I'm a necromancer.

[Aldarc]

And rightly so. There is a difference between setting which is homebrew to start with, even if official. A setting is homebrew. A corebook can be applied to any setting without changing the rules. XGtE, MToF are such books. We are talking about settings here. A setting can change just about anything that is assumed in the base games. Additionnal corebooks will not change the rules, but will clarify or add more rules.

Sure, I get what you are saying, but I still think you are wrong here, because I don't think that your sense of "homebrew" is the conventional understanding or usage for the term "homebrew" even when it comes to settings. WotC, for example, does not contrast between official homebrew settings and unofficial hombrew settings in their pollings. It was between the number of people who run official settings versus those who had homebrew settings. It may be helpful for you to say that there is common "core," homebrew, and official settings that may vary the core assumptions. But it seems inaccurate and misleading to call official settings "homebrew."

 

[Helldritch]

Sure, I get what you are saying, but I still think you are wrong here, because I don't think that your sense of "homebrew" is the conventional understanding or usage for the term "homebrew" even when it comes to settings. WotC, for example, does not contrast between official homebrew settings and unofficial hombrew settings in their pollings. It was between the number of people who run official settings versus those who had homebrew settings. It may be helpful for you to say that there is common "core," homebrew, and official settings that may vary the core assumptions. But it seems inaccurate and misleading to call official settings "homebrew."

But they are. All settings started as personnal homebrew setting at one point or an other. Forgotten Realms was the brainchild of Ed. Wildemount and Taldorei are the setting of Mat. Ravenloft was just an adventure that was so good that it turned out into a setting with rules of its own. A setting is homebrew in the sense that it can change what is assumed in the base game. That the homebrew is officilized or not isn't relevant. There are things in Darksun will not apply in Eberron that would not apply to Krynn that would not apply in an other setting (and so on). There are a lot of setting that have specific rules and/or classes/races that would not fit in other settings. Orcs are part of the base games, but you won't see them in Krynn.

A setting can add or remove anything from the base game as it needs. It is in that sense that I consider an official setting as homebrew. In addition, you can homebrew a setting even further by modifying it to your own personal taste. A setting is just that a setting. Because let's face it. At one point or the other, any setting were homebrew, even my dear Greyhawk and Mystara.

 

[Maxperson]

Exceptions are not the rule though.
Edit: And aren't they specific to a setting (in other words, homebrew per definition?)

No, but they do negate a claim of "always, no matter what."

 

[Maxperson]

Sure, I get what you are saying, but I still think you are wrong here, because I don't think that your sense of "homebrew" is the conventional understanding or usage for the term "homebrew" even when it comes to settings. WotC, for example, does not contrast between official homebrew settings and unofficial hombrew settings in their pollings. It was between the number of people who run official settings versus those who had homebrew settings. It may be helpful for you to say that there is common "core," homebrew, and official settings that may vary the core assumptions. But it seems inaccurate and misleading to call official settings "homebrew."

Sure. They would differentiate between official settings and homebrew settings because 1) they want to know who will buy their stuf, and 2) it would be confusing to call both homebrew for a poll. That doesn't change the fact that they are equivalent. Call the official settings wizardsbrew if it makes you feel better, but both "wizardsbrew" and homebrew are functionally the same. They change the default of the game specifically for the setting only.

 

[Aldarc]

But they are. All settings started as personnal homebrew setting at one point or an other.

But they're not. Regardless of how they started, it's not the conventional understanding of "homebrew." Most people would not see an official setting as "homebrew." Based on someone's homebrew setting maybe not a homebrew setting. Hopefully you can get the distinction so you can learn how most people actually understand and use the term homebrew setting.

Sure. They would differentiate between official settings and homebrew settings because 1) they want to know who will buy their stuf, and 2) it would be confusing to call both homebrew for a poll. That doesn't change the fact that they are equivalent. Call the official settings wizardsbrew if it makes you feel better, but both "wizardsbrew" and homebrew are functionally the same. They change the default of the game specifically for the setting only.

I disagree with that perspective, Maxperson. It's still not the conventional usage or understanding of homebrew. Sorry, but it's not.

 

[Helldritch]

I disagree with that perspective, Maxperson. It's still not the conventional usage or understanding of homebrew. Sorry, but it's not.

Ho but it is. What is going in one setting might not work in an other. How a white robe wizard from Krynn would get his additional spell slots in Ebberon? No ever saw a Draconian in Forgotten Realm. How to explain the Defiler magic of Darksun in Mystara? Or the strange powers of Azalin in its realm of darkness into Wildemount? Homebrew. As I said, every settings were at some point a homebrew. When Wizard (or TSR) takes a setting and makes it its own; it creates a game out of the base game that is assumed by the core/rule books. However minor or major the change, it is a change.

You might not agree, but it is a fact nonetheless.

 

[Aldarc]

Ho but it is. What is going in one setting might not work in an other. How a white robe wizard from Krynn would get his additional spell slots in Ebberon? No ever saw a Draconian in Forgotten Realm. How to explain the Defiler magic of Darksun in Mystara? Or the strange powers of Azalin in its realm of darkness into Wildemount? Homebrew. As I said, every settings were at some point a homebrew. When Wizard (or TSR) takes a setting and makes it its own; it creates a game out of the base game that is assumed by the core/rule books. However minor or major the change, it is a change.

You might not agree, but it is a fact nonetheless.

Your post seems like incredibly detached hot air from what I wrote. My point is that I don't think that you are using "homebrew" in a conventional sense when you apply it to official settings or when you say that official settings are "hombrew." You are free to disagree with conventional usage, but let's not pretend that you aren't somehow going against the grain here. And I don't understand why you are so reticent to abandon this when you could easily shift your language in a manner that still lets you continue your pointless, win-nothing-from-it fight about necromancy.

 

[Maxperson]

But they're not. Regardless of how they started, it's not the conventional understanding of "homebrew." Most people would not see an official setting as "homebrew." Based on someone's homebrew setting maybe not a homebrew setting. Hopefully you can get the distinction so you can learn how most people actually understand and use the term homebrew setting.

I disagree with that perspective, Maxperson. It's still not the conventional usage or understanding of homebrew. Sorry, but it's not.

So tell me. What is the functional difference between, "Wizards creates a setting with changes to the rules default" and "I create a setting with changes to the rules default."?

 

[Aldarc]

So tell me. What is the functional difference between, "Wizards creates a setting with changes to the rules default" and "I create a setting with changes to the rules default."?

I wrote more in response trying to answer this question, but I don't think that answering question actually is the right approach. So I'll just say this. Regardless of how anyone answers this question, it seems disingenuous to suggest that there is no difference in the common usage or understanding between a "homebrew setting" and an "official setting."

My friendly opinion, Max, is that your argument just seems ridiculous to me and the wrong approach to take. As an observer to this conversation, I don't see why you feel obligated to double-down on an unconventional use of "homebrew" to apply to official settings when you want to argue that official settings may alter the default assumptions of the core rulebooks. There's no need to equivocate our understanding of "homebrew" at all here to accomplish that, Max. Just drop the unconventional usage of "homebrew" and move on to your previously unproductive conversation about necromancy. There are many other ways to argue what you want to argue without forcefully applying an unconventional understanding of "homebrew" to official settings. It seems to needlessly make the conversation more confusing than it needs to be while also leaving people who are reading along like me scratching their heads.

 

[Maxperson]

I wrote more in response trying to answer this question, but I don't think that answering question actually is the right approach. So I'll just say this. Regardless of how anyone answers this question, it seems disingenuous to suggest that there is no difference in the common usage or understanding between a "homebrew setting" and an "official setting."

This is a deflection. There is one and only ONE difference between the two things I posted. One is official and one is not, and being official is not a functional difference. That means that there is no functional difference between them.

You are playing semantical games for some reason. If someone calls a WotC setting homebrew, all that is being said is that the official setting is functionally identical to a setting you or I invent. That's it.