Homebrews - Stealing the best - what to steal?

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I don't have a homebrew but I do tend to use stuff from other settings in my FR or Greyhawk campaigns. I imported Ptolus into the Forgotten Realms as the High City of Zazesspur. The Low City is full of shops from Bluffside. I also added wolfen from Confrontation into the same campaign.

In my Freeport game, set in Greyhawk, I've attached Rokugan to the western edge of the Plains of the Paynims. The PCs are currently in the spirit realm of Yomi looking for the Peach Tree of Immortality (featured in Atlas Games' Occult Lore). In the last session, I lifted an encounter with a dragon from an old OA module.

More stuff as I think of it!

Cheers


Richard

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is there a detailed review of Five Fingers out there? I'm wondering if it'd be a good fit as one of the other cities in Praemal.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Don't do that much setting-theft from other D&D campaign settings that much, anymore. However, I still borrow liberally from books & CRPGs, as well as various elements of my childhood.

Skara Brae: Of Bard's Tale & Ultima fame. Originally the capital of my homebrew setting, now a ruined, abandoned city full of wonders, oddities, and horrors. Even has the White House of Zork fame.

The BBEG: Nice mix of Skeletor, Mumm-Ra, and Sauron. His phylactery is an magical adamantine ring. Based him off of Klaus's rendition of Skeletor (or Thorskel) on his site.

Demihuman Homelands: Influenced by the home "regions" mentioned in the old Might & Magic III game: desert-dwelling dwarves, arctic-dwelling gnomes, swamp-dwelling half-orcs, and (still) forest-dwelling elves.

Changelings: The most recent addition to my homebrew. Always liked the concept of them since they were introduced in Eberron, so I decided to bring them over. Not the only Eberron-influenced idea I've borrowed.

Pantheon Worship: Like the idea from Eberron where one can devote themselves to a pantheon/group of deities instead of a single deity. Mixed & merged this with the idea of philosophically-devout clerics from the PHB, & came up with the 4 major religions in my homebrew.

Nehwon Ghouls: The clear-fleshed living race of Ghouls from Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser stories. Always liked the look of this race, & thought it was a neat angle. They'll be a surprise encounter for the PCs (as well as a chance encounter with Ningauble and his reality-spanning labyrinthine caves).

Moongates: Another big element from the Ultima games. Thought they'd be a nice travle option for PCs (especially once the PCs figure out how they work), to allow for diminished travel time for world-spanning adventures.

Grues: The bane of adventures in the Zork games creep around the ruins of Skara Brae. Still trying to figure out how I'll stat them up.

Wild Mages: The prestige class in Complete Arcane seemed open & generic enough to adapt to other settings (rather than having FR-specific mechanics tied to it). Now wild mages serve as the "priests" of a cult to adveturer from the past (and the only religion to exist that doesn't have or want any divinely-empowered adherants).

Just a few of the things I've scavenged from other places.

 

[Psion]

Skara Brae: Of Bard's Tale & Ultima fame. Originally the capital of my homebrew setting, now a ruined, abandoned city full of wonders, oddities, and horrors. Even has the White House of Zork fame.
(...)
Moongates: Another big element from the Ultima games. Thought they'd be a nice travle option for PCs (especially once the PCs figure out how they work), to allow for diminished travel time for world-spanning adventures.

I use both of these... and other Ultima cities, and the map... in my last major game world.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Grues: The bane of adventures in the Zork games creep around the ruins of Skara Brae. Still trying to figure out how I'll stat them up.

I redid the Ethereal Marauder with Plane of Shadow flavor and the result is a pretty good Shadow Grue. (I still need to work out a good Ur-Grue.)

 

[johnnype]

Wildwood from Bastion games certainly sound interesting. I don't own it mind you but that's not for lack of trying. I've been searching high and low for a copy and am about to give up and just buy a copy directly from the company.

As far as Five Fingers is concerned, sorry, I haven't seen any reviews.

 

[Psion]

Wildwood from Bastion games certainly sound interesting. I don't own it mind you but that's not for lack of trying. I've been searching high and low for a copy and am about to give up and just buy a copy directly from the company.

As in a hardcopy? Yeah, they had a pretty limited print run. I don't know when oathbound.net will be up; they've been promising it for a while.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'll second that suggestion on the Nehwon Ghouls- players won't know what hit 'em.

From published stuff:

1) AU/AE Oathsworn, Greenbonds, and Mage Blade- very nice takes on the unarmed combatant, nature priest, and magic-using warrior, respectively.

2) Iron Kingdoms Steamjacks. Kinda like Warforged, but not.

3) AEG's Swashbuckling Adventures & Rokugan and Atlas Games' Nyambe & Northern Crown as D20 "alt-hist" FRPG versions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America all have a lot to offer.

4) Midnight 2.0- AFAIK, the closest thing to Middle Earth in terms of feel right out of the box.

5) Second World Simulations' Second World Sourcebook is probably the 3rd party supplement for combining fantasy and modern roleplaying. Its take on modern fantasy matches very closely things like Lewis' Narnia, Rowling's Harry Potter, DC's Tim Hunter stories, Gaiman's Neverwhere, Green's Nightside books, Barker's Imagica and so many others: the world of magic invisibly parallels the world we know...and those who cross the boundaries are forever changed.

 

[Nightfall]

Well I am seriously considering stealing the following (I do use it just don't get a chance),

AGMG stuff on weapons, special materials (specifically sovereign materials), and maybe magical powers.

Book of Fiends, well fiends of course!

Anything Scarred Lands related will be used. But only after I run Age of Worms. At least in some other campaign.

And yeah Beyond Countless Doorways, and AE's Mageblade. (Cause duskblade doesn't cut it for me.)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Mage Blade is, IMHO, the best take on the (single-class) magic-slinging warrior in any D20 product I've seen.