Homebrew worlds and "borrowing"...

[Umbran]

Borrow? Heck no! I outright steal. I take it home, file the serial numbers off, slap on a new coat of paint, and my players don't know the difference.

I generally take from works of fiction, rather than published game settings. Most of my players read lighter fiction. So, my penchant for epic fantasy means I have loads of source material my players have never seen.

 

[klofft]

I also noticed that every cool idea I had was already present in a published setting. Eventually, I got over it. I steal wholesale from lots of settings. While I tweak the material to fit my continent, I'm not even all that concerned about changing names. "Why is the Initiate of Ilmater a feat for clerics of Pelor?" "Well, Ilmater was a saintly priest of Pelor who was martyred..." You get the idea.

So now my world is loaded with material unique to Greyhawk, FR, Eberron, and most recently, Dragonlance. I have no illusions about its uniqueness; I just to like to play in it.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Forgotten Realms borrowed Lolth and the drow from Greyhawk.

Were drow GH specific, or just generally D&D (if there really is such a big distinction, anyway).

To add to this, I think most of the non-human pantheons/deities were originally from GH, and only after some time developed away from their GH counterparts. (Corellon putting out Gruumsh's eye is probably a general thing, but Clangeddin bearing a grudge on Labelas is something uniquely FR)

 

[Voadam]

Keep influences out. Pfah Hah Hah hah. No.

My main group is a post-apocalyptic Greyhawk that turned into Ptolus on the site of old Greyhawk about 10,000 years after the GH wars. Ptolus Gods and Empire with GH gods as the Old Gods, and a dwarven pantheon picked by a PC from on the web rounding things out (plus lots of fiendish goodness).

My Oathbound Wildwood campaign has had influences from Warhammer, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Sci-Fi/anime and other games/genres interwoven.

I like using lots of stuff as source material.

 

[Edgewood]

I definately take from surrounding fiction and literature although I steer away from what has been done in other settings already. Morvia is pretty vanilla however so I don't know how different it really is. I bank on the fact that the NPCs, political theatre and events are unique to Morvia so that it stands apart from the other settings, but if it was ever published, it would not sell well, its just another middle-europeanesque-Tolkienesque-Greyhawkesque-Forgotten Realmsesque hombrew. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

My attitude is....

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Borrow? Heck no! I outright steal. I take it home, file the serial numbers off, slap on a new coat of paint, and my players don't know the difference.

I generally take from works of fiction, rather than published game settings. Most of my players read lighter fiction. So, my penchant for epic fantasy means I have loads of source material my players have never seen.

Oh, from fiction I do the same, but I figure since there isn't a game built around the fiction, people are less likely to make assumptions about the number of similarities and how they fit into the campaign.

There is one author out there who, if she saw my homebrew would probably either be very flattered by my borrowing or throw a fit at the changes I made, depending upon her temperment.

 

[Ry]

It's actually a really big problem for my games; I feel like I HAVE to make the whole thing original. This has been alleviated somewhat by writing a novel, where I keep to the "must be original" code. My current campaign is an attempt to break my habit (which has in the past lead to gaming droughts for my group). So it's Ptolus, plus Greyhawk, plus Realms, Spelljammer... a little Arcana Evolved... the list goes on and on.

 

[DragonLancer]

I always borrow and add stuff to my homebrews and regular campaigns. Theres just too much good stuff out there not to.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Eric hit the nail on the head as far as my intent goes with this thread.

To illustrate my point a little, my homebrew features my own version of Thay but with the Circle of Eight as the rulers of the nation. No gods, but special guest appearances by Vecna and Orcus (possibly others, later on). My main bad guys up until recently were Rakshasa and far realms critters. So, pretty much every WotC published setting is touched on.

I used to want to get published, but I just find way too much inspiration in non-OGL stuff and end up using it.