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<blockquote data-quote="Wombat" data-source="post: 1274253" data-attributes="member: 8447">I'm rather interested in the range of reactions here.Personally, I have been satisfied with only three pre-made worlds, one of which barely counts -- Paranoia, Ars Magica (but that's history with a few bells &amp; whistles, and I even alter the bells &amp; whistles massively), and RuneQuest's Prax.&nbsp; I think I would like Blue Planet, but I've never had a chance to run that game; same would go for more or less for Star Trek, but again I have A) never had a chance to run it and B) several personal visions I would want to change in it.I have never cared for Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, or any of the other &quot;core&quot; campaigns for D&amp;D.&nbsp; Too much magic, far too many intelligent races, too many types of monster, too much whizz-bang for my tastes.&nbsp; Cultures sit side-by-side without interacting (other than warfare), religions have no interaction, and there is far too much of a meritocratic, modern social attitude to the worlds.&nbsp; (Realistically, this is also a major gripe I have against most (but not all) modern fantasy writing.)&nbsp; I also find that playing in someone else's world leads to, &quot;But in X supplement and Y novel, this happens!&quot;, rather than allowing separate visions of what is true.&nbsp; And, personally, I never want a world where I have to worry about, &quot;But where is Drzzt/Elminster/Merlin/Wolverine/whathaveyou&quot;.Now a homebrew campaign, conversely, I am able to address all the problems I find with other worlds.&nbsp; Equally I am able to tailor matters so that the world reflects the notions I want to play around with in the campaign (both in terms of philosophy and heroic style).&nbsp; This includes not only the world itself, but also (obviously) the rules used.&nbsp; My group does not care for the miniaturization of D&amp;D, so we run a swifter, simpler combat system -- this was a joint decision.&nbsp; Examplex include not using battleboards, not worrying about AoO, and accepting GM decisions about how close various parties are in combat.&nbsp; But homebrew doesn't mean creating 100% from wholecloth either.&nbsp; For example, in my current campaign I use the maps from Harn, the basic religion (in the major, civilized regions) of The Book of the Righteous, and other &quot;known&quot; quantities.&nbsp; On the other hand, I have altered both dwarves and elves so that they are ECL +1 races and placed a restriction that players may only take play these races after they have met them in the game and see how the act different from humans to various situations.I try not to overload my players with material about any given new world.&nbsp; I start off with small bits of material and each game sessions I hand out another 3-8 pages of background notes.&nbsp; Equally all the players are allowed to add material, as long as it does not cancel out previously supplied material.&nbsp; This means that this is not &quot;my&quot; game, but rather &quot;our&quot; game.Overall I find greater creative and gaming satisfaction in a homebrew campaign.&nbsp; I understand why others prefer pre-made campaigns:&nbsp; they are in some ways easier to run and, if you have limited time, required less effort to run, which is no bad thing at all.&nbsp; For my tastes, however, I shall stick to my own worlds.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wombat, post: 1274253, member: 8447"] I'm rather interested in the range of reactions here. Personally, I have been satisfied with only three pre-made worlds, one of which barely counts -- [I]Paranoia[/I], [I]Ars Magica[/I] (but that's history with a few bells & whistles, and I even alter the bells & whistles massively), and [I]RuneQuest's[/I] Prax. I think I would like [I]Blue Planet[/I], but I've never had a chance to run that game; same would go for more or less for Star Trek, but again I have A) never had a chance to run it and B) several personal visions I would want to change in it. I have never cared for [I]Greyhawk[/I], [I]Forgotten Realms[/I], or any of the other "core" campaigns for D&D. Too much magic, far too many intelligent races, too many types of monster, too much whizz-bang for my tastes. Cultures sit side-by-side without interacting (other than warfare), religions have no interaction, and there is far too much of a meritocratic, modern social attitude to the worlds. (Realistically, this is also a major gripe I have against most (but not all) modern fantasy writing.) I also find that playing in someone else's world leads to, "But in X supplement and Y novel, this happens!", rather than allowing separate visions of what is true. And, personally, I never want a world where I have to worry about, "But where is Drzzt/Elminster/Merlin/Wolverine/whathaveyou". Now a homebrew campaign, conversely, I am able to address all the problems I find with other worlds. Equally I am able to tailor matters so that the world reflects the notions I want to play around with in the campaign (both in terms of philosophy and heroic style). This includes not only the world itself, but also (obviously) the rules used. My group does not care for the miniaturization of D&D, so we run a swifter, simpler combat system -- this was a joint decision. Examplex include not using battleboards, not worrying about AoO, and accepting GM decisions about how close various parties are in combat. But homebrew doesn't mean creating 100% from wholecloth either. For example, in my current campaign I use the maps from Harn, the basic religion (in the major, civilized regions) of [I]The Book of the Righteous[/I], and other "known" quantities. On the other hand, I have altered both dwarves and elves so that they are ECL +1 races and placed a restriction that players may only take play these races after they have met them in the game and see how the act different from humans to various situations. I try not to overload my players with material about any given new world. I start off with small bits of material and each game sessions I hand out another 3-8 pages of background notes. Equally all the players are allowed to add material, as long as it does not cancel out previously supplied material. This means that this is not "my" game, but rather "our" game. Overall I find greater creative and gaming satisfaction in a homebrew campaign. I understand why others prefer pre-made campaigns: they are in some ways easier to run and, if you have limited time, required less effort to run, which is no bad thing at all. For my tastes, however, I shall stick to my own worlds. [/QUOTE]

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