Homebrew - Where Do You Start?

[DragonLancer]

Start with an idea, even if its just an idea that came to you while reading that new module. Then go with the overland/continent map. Don't name anything yet though.

Keep a notepad and pencil with you, and when you have an idea make sure to write it down. I can't stress that enough, otherwise you are likely to forget all that cool stuff.

Then start putting names to cities, mountains, nations...etc.

Start topside and work down.

 

[Stormborn]

Resist the urge to go into too much detail. You will over do somethings and leave out others, you can never trust players to find the same things interesting that you do.

It all depends on what you want to accomplish. As has been said before, starting small is the way to go, but you have to ask where you want to wind up.
If you just want to have a homebase for the PCs, a reason for their to be dungeons, and some bigbads roaming around then thats all you need to figure out.
If on the other hand you want to do politcal intrigue and vast conspiracy then you probablly do need to work from the top down.

You should check out Monte Cook's articles in recent Dungeon Magazines.

 

[Henry]

If it's what I think it's for, I would work with geography first in loose strokes (mountain ranges, rivers, etc.), and then add the cultures to that, being mindful of how the geography will influence them. If your world is low-magic, then the geography will be even MORE influential to the cultures than most fantasy worlds.

P.S. and if it's TMI for me to contribute to this thread, then I'm Audi.

 

[Torm]

P.S. and if it's TMI for me to contribute to this thread, then I'm Audi.

No, it's for that New Edition thing I was talking about.

And before you bring up Bobby Brown, I'll go ahead and say, "Cool it, now".

 

[barsoomcore]

Cool stuff.

A "Homebrew campaign" is best defined as "A whole bunch of crap related only by the fact that the DM thinks it's cool." That's what it's going to be, anyway, so you may as well start there.

Make a "Things I Think Are Cool" list. Don't try to associate anything, just make a big list of stuff you think is cool. Spend a couple of days on this, and resist the urge to take anything out or restrict yourself. Just add stuff whenever it occurs to you.

After a few days of this, you ought to have a pretty good-sized list (if you don't reconsider why you want to run this campaign). Now you can start grabbing stuff out of it and working on it as your interest strikes you. Even more importantly, a few months down the road, when you're bogged down in details about something that is totally boring but needs to be done and you're losing interest and thinking to yourself, "Why the heck did I start this stupid campaign?" -- you'll have a document full of excellent reasons. And you can review that, find cool stuff you haven't gotten to yet, and yahoo!

Also, as you come up with more cool stuff, instead of (as Mercule mentions) derailing your entire campaign so that you can show off your ideas, you can just stick them in your Cool Stuff list and get to them some other time. Since you've got a whole store of cool ideas, one more won't excessively derail your attention.

The List of Cool Stuff. It is your best friend.