Question for Players: Commercial or Homebrew?

[Hussar]

I prefer published campaign settings; I haven't tried to create a homebrew in a long, long time (high school maybe?), but most of what I produced didn't satisfy me or I lost interest. Besides, I like hanging my personal touches on a well crafted framework.

So you're the one who likes to walk through art galleries with a spray paint can?

I kid, I kid.

 

[Gizmoduck5000]

So what would you consider "completely different"-enough to warrant homebrewing? It seems from what you say that you just want DMs to stick to the core options, but is that just because you don't see their settings as being different enough to warrant changes?

In my experience, the homebrewed campaign worlds that I've had foisted upon me have been almost identical in theme and feel to Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms, the only differences are pronouns and that certain things that the DM in question finds distasteful aren't allowed, I.E. classes and races, etc.

My problem, is that bottlenecking player options like this doesn't add anything to the game, but rather diminishes it. And maybe some DM's feel that the game needs to be diminished in some capacity, but why should they be the final arbiters of what should get cut and what should stay? My feeling is that D&D is supposed to be a collaborative effort.

But personally, if I were going to create a homebrewed setting, which I'm not going to do because there are plenty of ready made campaign worlds out there that suit my needs just fine, it would be completely different from the WotC or 3PP published settings.

 

[S'mon]

I prefer a well-done homebrew; the GM will know the setting intimately, it will be tailored to his/her style and preferences. Also it will likely have much more space for player input in world-building; though a sketchy published setting like 1983 Greyhawk + accommodating GM can be similar.

 

[Parlan]

There's been a lot of "good homebrews are best, bad homebrews are worst" kinda comments. To expound a little bit on that concept a little bit, let's discuss what we don't want to see in a homebrew.

Personally, if I'm playing D&D, I basically want a D&D-type world (admittedly, a very fuzzy concept). I hate annoying changes, and excessive changes.

Annoying changes are things that mess with D&D tropes for no apparent reason. Difference for the sake of being different. E.g., "all halflings have bright purple skin and hair." Why?! Does that really *add* something to the setting? Halflings are the same mechanically, so I suppose I should get over it, but I just can't. I keep wondering why the heck that change had to be made. Because imagining little purple pecks running around only makes me hate halflings more, something I didn't think possible. <j/k>

Excessive changes are when the DM wants to make his homebrew "special" so he makes sure that it conforms to *no* stereotypes. This makes it impossible for me to wrap my head around the world and get "into" the homebrew. If all paladins are Chaotic Evil, the world is all a polar icecap so everyone lives in igloos, people are enslaved by sentient seals, and there are no gods...

...that's an awful lot to digest.

My suggestion boils down to this:

1. make your homebrew your own, but don't make changes for no reason
2. don't feel like you have to change *all* aspects of a world to make it your own. Stereotypes are good b/c they give people a framework for understanding the the world.

 

[Ginnel]

Meh, setting doesn't really matter, but I do have a quick question what do you mean by published setting? do you mean the basic backstory and then adding your own bits in? do you mean the everything happening in the published timeline? when does a published setting become a homebrew?

I've played games in the Star Wars universe, in M&M universe but based on the real world, in a marvel/DC/any graphic novel universe, Shadowrun universe Tribe 8 universe, planescape setting.

The similarities they all used a setting as a base then picked and chose what they wanted to add in to it where I would be tempted to call most of them homebrew and used their own designed adventures and all were amazingly good fun to play.

So Ill reasert my view, campaign setting doesn't matter adventures on the other hand it where its at and there is nothing, nothing like a good homebrew adventure ran by a good DM

 

[Mallus]

While I've enjoyed campaigns set in published settings from 1e Greyhawk to Eberron, I prefer homebrews. I just like the DIY aspect of D&D.

 

[Cincinnatus]

I very strongly prefer playing and DMing in published, commercial settings. I strongly agree with many of the points raised by Gizmo in this thread, and I do understand that it's not really a popular position.

The homebrew campaigns that I've played in have been uniformly disastrous. Every session, I got the uncomfortable feeling that every aspect of the setting was in the DM's head, but we didn't get any of it. It was like we were being run through someone else's imagination but we had no idea what was going on.

One campaign, the DM had (seemingly) a pretty detailed world. There were many different nations with their own cities and cultures, but the problem was, we the players didn't know any of it. There were no maps, no background, no knowledge, no anything. The DM might have just been making everything up on the fly as we went.

I want, as a player, to have some basic background knowledge of the geography, politics, culture, customs, etc. of a setting before I play. Well-known published settings do that and establish an equal footing for everyone. Good homebrew settings might be capable of that, but honestly, I've never encountered it.

 

[Greg K]

I want, as a player, to have some basic background knowledge of the geography, politics, culture, customs, etc. of a setting before I play. Well-known published settings do that and establish an equal footing for everyone. Good homebrew settings might be capable of that, but honestly, I've never encountered it.

That's a shame that the homebrews you have been in don't supply that information. I have encountered it on occassion, but I just decline to play in such situations. Be assured though that some of us do take the time to include such information for our players.