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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrZombie" data-source="post: 1342619" data-attributes="member: 15640">Improvise, don't stick to what you've planned. I cannot stress this enough.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> I know this is difficult, but there are probably as much different styles as there are dm's. Allright, my two cents. since your player is a newbie, talk to him. Ask him what he wants to play, what he expects. Broadly sketch out your homebrew, tell him the general feel of the world. Ask him what kind of settinhn he'd like to start in. Does he want to start in the "middle age europe village", or in the"elven forest town" or in the "great and dirty metropolis". Let's say he really really digs the "ostrich riding barbarians" you casually mentioned when describing an area. Work  out the culture with him. Ask him how he sees it. let's hang on to this idea for a second. Make the background of his character together. Work out a simple tribe with him, brainstorm. Does he want to be the eldest son of the tribal chief, just coming of age? Does he want to be the apprentice of the shaman? What does he think the shaman is like? Do they folow totem spirits? What's the totem spirit of the tribe... Now you've got a setting that's part of your homebrew that your player is intimately familiar with. He'll have the feeling he contributed, that it's his world as well. Now throw in a few vague settings that are feasably nearby. The player doesn't really need to know about the evil kingdom half a continent away, but the nearby town of peasants that burn down the  tundra to plant their crops, and thereby taking in territory that belongs to the tribes, now that's something different. The kobolds that steal the ostrich eggs, the neighbouring tribe that bested the tribal champion in single combat on the grand moot last year.... Now for the first adventure : leave some options that you can work out later : on his visionquest as his initiation as shaman, he hears something. Does he follow the sound, thereby seeing some kobolds preparing to ambush some farmers? What will he do? Does he ignore it and does he find a totem spirit?  Leave your player some choices, loosely prepare two or three options that your player can explore; If he doesn't follow up on one of 'em, keep your notes, you'll be able to adapt it to another adventure later. Hope this helps a little.</blockquote>

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