Magistus71
Explorer
So what is it that makes your homebrew special over one that can be purchased? Basicly tell me about your homebrew campaign setting.
D&D 5E What makes your homebrew setting special?
Voi_D_ragon
Explorer
It's free.
Voi_D_ragon
Explorer
But seriously.
In all honesty, I don't know much about published settings, so I can't really compare it to anything I've experienced. plus, it's still in the making, so it doesn't have a definitive structure or feel as of yet. I must admit I like to gather cool monsters/subclasses/general homebrew I find on the internet and invent a reason such a thing would exist in my world-the results are pretty good, for what little I have so far.
In all honesty, I don't know much about published settings, so I can't really compare it to anything I've experienced. plus, it's still in the making, so it doesn't have a definitive structure or feel as of yet. I must admit I like to gather cool monsters/subclasses/general homebrew I find on the internet and invent a reason such a thing would exist in my world-the results are pretty good, for what little I have so far.
If you count standard settings modified as homebrew also, my greyhawk campaign tries to be historical accurate in technology, weapons and armor available to a renaissance time ~1550 -1600 A.D just without gunpowder or firearms.
You can buy things like pocketwatch, sextant, lanternshield all the goodies which came up around on a regular that time IRL
You can buy things like pocketwatch, sextant, lanternshield all the goodies which came up around on a regular that time IRL
ccs
41st lv DM
It's also authored by the people actually sitting at the table. So it fits our specific tastes.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
The setting for my last completed campaign strongly fit into the overall plot arcs. I had the concept of ascension, of local deities (very similar to the Roman concept of genius loci) tied in with a Fisher King ideal of "The King is the Land, The Land is the King".
But there was also a concept of universal archetypes that the gods fit into (domains basically), and with more power became less choice - with godlike power you needed to fulfil (and stay within) your archetype. (Think a bit like Tim Power's Last Call and related books.)
Also Fey Courts were demiplanes that wandered in and out of contact, and for the first time in a while there was one that was connected. There was a difference between souls and spirits in this world, and elves were immortal but had a limited supply of spirits - no new elves could be born when they were all "in use" so elders would feel "the call" and "travel home" - kill themselves to release their spirits back into the pool. The pool which was a physical place.
The "big bad" of the campaign was actually the first-born of the Mother of the Gods / Gaia / Mother of Monsters, born prematurely with neither spirit nor soul - and no godlike powers, just potential. The campaign had no dopplegangers but this one could steal the souls of others and it's unfinished body would become on the outside as they did on the inside.
Any way, because this was the one creature that predated the original gods, if it ascended it would not need to fit into any archetype and would have true and unlimited cosmic power.
It was causing those of the "prime" plane and the Fey Court demiplane to fight and was trying to get access to their Pool of Souls for the "raw magic" of it, while also having eaten the soul of a new emperor to an "evil" kingdom and was putting in place a bunch of reforms and making it a nicer place to live - because needed people willingly accepting him as the authority over them as a different part of the Ascension rites.
In the end, we had a player getting the blessing of the King of the plane that humans originally came from back before they settled here, whom the elves can defeated ina war and were keeping alive, mentally broken, as a jester in their Fey Court, as a way of "salting" the land permanently (since the land was the king, so it was twisted), and he started ramping up a whole Fisherking thing himself, getting frontier towns and giant enclaves and such to grant him authority. Not expected at all, but great fun to run with.
But there was also a concept of universal archetypes that the gods fit into (domains basically), and with more power became less choice - with godlike power you needed to fulfil (and stay within) your archetype. (Think a bit like Tim Power's Last Call and related books.)
Also Fey Courts were demiplanes that wandered in and out of contact, and for the first time in a while there was one that was connected. There was a difference between souls and spirits in this world, and elves were immortal but had a limited supply of spirits - no new elves could be born when they were all "in use" so elders would feel "the call" and "travel home" - kill themselves to release their spirits back into the pool. The pool which was a physical place.
The "big bad" of the campaign was actually the first-born of the Mother of the Gods / Gaia / Mother of Monsters, born prematurely with neither spirit nor soul - and no godlike powers, just potential. The campaign had no dopplegangers but this one could steal the souls of others and it's unfinished body would become on the outside as they did on the inside.
Any way, because this was the one creature that predated the original gods, if it ascended it would not need to fit into any archetype and would have true and unlimited cosmic power.
It was causing those of the "prime" plane and the Fey Court demiplane to fight and was trying to get access to their Pool of Souls for the "raw magic" of it, while also having eaten the soul of a new emperor to an "evil" kingdom and was putting in place a bunch of reforms and making it a nicer place to live - because needed people willingly accepting him as the authority over them as a different part of the Ascension rites.
In the end, we had a player getting the blessing of the King of the plane that humans originally came from back before they settled here, whom the elves can defeated ina war and were keeping alive, mentally broken, as a jester in their Fey Court, as a way of "salting" the land permanently (since the land was the king, so it was twisted), and he started ramping up a whole Fisherking thing himself, getting frontier towns and giant enclaves and such to grant him authority. Not expected at all, but great fun to run with.
Bitbrain
Lost in Dark Sun
First things first, me and my dad had to quit our D&D group due to a multitude of things beyond anyone's control.
I offered to DM a home-game for my dad and he happily accepted, even created a party of adventurers consisting of a Barbarian, Rogue, Druid, and Wizard.
What's so special about my setting?
It consists of two inhabited planets orbiting the same sun.
The first planet (and the one closest to the sun) is basically Dark Sun without psionics.
It is a desolate, sunburnt world where everything is crumbling into dust beneath a sky poisoned by sorcery.
The dwarves claim descent from the now-extinct duergar.
Town guards are often corrupt.
Everyone is terrified of the mage-Kings and their sorcerous agents, the Templars.
Yuan-Ti cults perform human sacrifices, collect the blood of their victims, and reanimate the fluid as "Blood Oozes" to fight for them.
Bloodthirsty gnolls prowl the wasteland alongside their allies: the horned Minotaurs and the skeletal Babau.
What very, very little remains of the Underdark is controlled by the grimlocks, trolls, and their hideously mutated masters the Fomorians.
City-state slave soldiers charge into battle alongside noblemen riding bulettes, while tamed dragons swoop overhead offering air support (the closest my dad's PCs have yet come to a TPK was against such an army disguised as a band of desert nomads. It was an INTENSE fight).
Halflings claim descent from the now-extinct wood elves, and yes, those of evil alignment are notorious for cannibalism.
You can be a Sea Elf here. The cultural history goes that your people fled the oceans after the waters became too acidic, and as the oceans have now mostly evaporated, your people wander the desert, although you are a bit more magically-inclined than the other sub-races of elves.
^this is the place my dad is currently adventuring, and he is really enjoying it. He LOVES how it is such a bleak, seemingly hopeless world.
The second planet is currently experiencing a global ice age so intense that everyone has fled to the Underdark to stay warm.
I'm still working on this planet, so it isn't quite as detailed as the first one.
I offered to DM a home-game for my dad and he happily accepted, even created a party of adventurers consisting of a Barbarian, Rogue, Druid, and Wizard.
What's so special about my setting?
It consists of two inhabited planets orbiting the same sun.
The first planet (and the one closest to the sun) is basically Dark Sun without psionics.
It is a desolate, sunburnt world where everything is crumbling into dust beneath a sky poisoned by sorcery.
The dwarves claim descent from the now-extinct duergar.
Town guards are often corrupt.
Everyone is terrified of the mage-Kings and their sorcerous agents, the Templars.
Yuan-Ti cults perform human sacrifices, collect the blood of their victims, and reanimate the fluid as "Blood Oozes" to fight for them.
Bloodthirsty gnolls prowl the wasteland alongside their allies: the horned Minotaurs and the skeletal Babau.
What very, very little remains of the Underdark is controlled by the grimlocks, trolls, and their hideously mutated masters the Fomorians.
City-state slave soldiers charge into battle alongside noblemen riding bulettes, while tamed dragons swoop overhead offering air support (the closest my dad's PCs have yet come to a TPK was against such an army disguised as a band of desert nomads. It was an INTENSE fight).
Halflings claim descent from the now-extinct wood elves, and yes, those of evil alignment are notorious for cannibalism.
You can be a Sea Elf here. The cultural history goes that your people fled the oceans after the waters became too acidic, and as the oceans have now mostly evaporated, your people wander the desert, although you are a bit more magically-inclined than the other sub-races of elves.
^this is the place my dad is currently adventuring, and he is really enjoying it. He LOVES how it is such a bleak, seemingly hopeless world.
The second planet is currently experiencing a global ice age so intense that everyone has fled to the Underdark to stay warm.
I'm still working on this planet, so it isn't quite as detailed as the first one.
Phion
Explorer
My world, Terra (creative naming isn't my strong point) has been expanding for a long while now, I did a one off about 3 years ago (was beta material at that point) which was basically the end of the world in a kingdom called Argentum and I kind of mixed a lot of established d&d lore (I would like to say it was intentional, but in truth I just do what I want when it comes to campaigns). My party played for 14 hours straight as they fought against Devil's that had breached through the planes and I decided that the generals would be based on the seven deadly sins and similar names such as Greed, lust, wrath and so on and so on.
I could write a short novel about that session, my players role-played to a level that I was actually proud of them, the kingdom was familiar but interesting to fantasy settings and the last 2-3 hours was a well managed war that took place which blended combat while maintaining roleplay with the loss of loved npcs (the eccentric druid Terrace who lived in a mushroom along with the trents will be missed, they defended a point in the mountains and in a final act of defiance upon seeing his treant friend kyle being burnt down, Terrace used earthquake to wipe out a large number of cultists and demons. That passage later went on to be named as Terrace pass). Not bad for my first time as DM.
Getting to the point, I started to expand on the world with new locations and themes such as detective work, survival etc but we went back to the past before everything was ruined. My players grow to love everything and everyone in the world but the occasionally reflect on the fact that they know that in the future everything they will see is pretty much killed/ruined and they all go quiet for a while taking it contemplating it. So it short a world that I have not fully realized yet that develops as we all do as players.
I could write a short novel about that session, my players role-played to a level that I was actually proud of them, the kingdom was familiar but interesting to fantasy settings and the last 2-3 hours was a well managed war that took place which blended combat while maintaining roleplay with the loss of loved npcs (the eccentric druid Terrace who lived in a mushroom along with the trents will be missed, they defended a point in the mountains and in a final act of defiance upon seeing his treant friend kyle being burnt down, Terrace used earthquake to wipe out a large number of cultists and demons. That passage later went on to be named as Terrace pass). Not bad for my first time as DM.
Getting to the point, I started to expand on the world with new locations and themes such as detective work, survival etc but we went back to the past before everything was ruined. My players grow to love everything and everyone in the world but the occasionally reflect on the fact that they know that in the future everything they will see is pretty much killed/ruined and they all go quiet for a while taking it contemplating it. So it short a world that I have not fully realized yet that develops as we all do as players.
Oofta
Legend
My world has a long history, influenced by the actions of heroes from campaigns long gone. Old PCs show up as NPCs, tales of PCs of players the current group has never met still make a difference in the world and the current group knows that their stories may live on as legends throughout history. There are no Elministers or Drizz'ts, there's Bob's old elven character and my wife's old paladin (now a Valkyrie). The people that stopped Ragnarok are not some name I made up, they're the PCs from the last campaign with their children and grandchildren being played by the players that ran or ran with the original PCs.
In addition to that, the world is ours to build and explore. I don't have to worry about someone at the table having an encyclopedic knowledge of the world because they've read every supplement and novel. They want an ancient order of knights that is fading out that they can help restore? Great, I have one I mentioned briefly in a previous campaign, or we'll just add one that's always been there.
I've always enjoyed the creative aspects of creating my own world. How do the gods interact (or not) with the general populace? How can I tweak Norse mythology to fit a D&D style of play? What would a city of tinker/rock gnomes be like in my world (hint: think Gnomish Las Vegas)? If I ever do feel like using a supplement I can always change a bit of set dressing and use it in my world, I would feel more constricted doing it the other way around.
So what makes my homebrew special? It's a shared story built over decades (eep! I'm old!) with multiple groups spanning multiple states.
In addition to that, the world is ours to build and explore. I don't have to worry about someone at the table having an encyclopedic knowledge of the world because they've read every supplement and novel. They want an ancient order of knights that is fading out that they can help restore? Great, I have one I mentioned briefly in a previous campaign, or we'll just add one that's always been there.
I've always enjoyed the creative aspects of creating my own world. How do the gods interact (or not) with the general populace? How can I tweak Norse mythology to fit a D&D style of play? What would a city of tinker/rock gnomes be like in my world (hint: think Gnomish Las Vegas)? If I ever do feel like using a supplement I can always change a bit of set dressing and use it in my world, I would feel more constricted doing it the other way around.
So what makes my homebrew special? It's a shared story built over decades (eep! I'm old!) with multiple groups spanning multiple states.
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