your homebrew - what's your motivation?

[Pinotage]

For me its a combination of two factors. Firstly, I only play PbP games. This implies that at any given time you've don't have to be as prepared as over a table. You can make things up as you go along, starting only with rough ideas on a few pages. Secondly, I think it's laziness as well. I can't be bothered to read the vast amounts of material for published settings and get it right, that I'd rather just create something that I can't get wrong. It's just easier.

Enjoying the creative process, sure, but I think it's easier to create a quick and dirty world than it is to spend ages reading up on Greyhawk or FR, not even talking about all the supplements. Sure, you could set in in a reason, but I still think the entry level input it too high and too time consuming.

Pinotage

Edit: Cross-posted with die_kluge. :\

 

[Turanil]

So once again, what's your motivation? Is it to get your setting published? Is it for the love of creating? Is it for your players?

Well, mot of the time I have had delusions of grandeur (as a DM), and pretentiously believed that I would make something so great that everything else would pale in comparision. However, over time I have seen that: a) it takes too much time and effort to bring to completion; b) it's not worth it; c) players don't care; d) worse of all, I quickly tire of the setting and want to create a new one (I would have one great and well developped setting if I had devoted all my time to a single one, obviously the first one); d) since the d20 OGL many settings have been published, some of them really excellent and to my liking.

So now I have decided to use a published setting to ease my pain. These will be Dragonlance (typical D&D 3.5) and Warhammer (d20 Grim Tales + houserules). But these two will nonetheless have additions and houserules, so won't be canon at all.

Are you indepently wealthy and don't have to work so you need something to do all day?

Hey, I am certainly not wealthy, but certainly have free time to devote to campaign design!!

 

[GlassJaw]

Well it's seems we are pretty much in agreement on all points Turanil, although it does seem we are in the minority.

Good point on the boredom factor too. I've definitely had that feeling as well. I like to change settings (and games/rulests) with every campaign so I can't see having "one homebrew to rule them all".

To those with homebrews: Do your players help? How much are they involved in the world itself? What kind of feedback do you get from them? Do you create places/areas/NPC's, etc that they may never encounter in-game?

 

[Wombat]

Ah, creating worlds! What a wonderful adventure!

When I started off, years ago (1971 or 72), with miniature wargaming, I loved developing the scenarios for the battles much more than actually fighting them out. Over time I became the referee, settling rules disputes and creating the terrain and victory conditions, never actually fighting on one side or the other.

Any wonder why it was easy to work over to being a GM?

When I first got D&D, there was no setting. There was only the idea of going into a dungeon and, after the fact, of going into the wilderness and randomly slaughtering monsters and taking their treasures. With time this became a bit dull and I created a world to fit this into. By the time Blackmoor came out I already had my own world that functioned a bit differently from what Arneson and Gygax saw as a "real" D&D world. I saw a couple of the early adventures, wasn't too impressed with them, and simply went my own way.

Now, after nearly 30 years of rpging, I simply cannot imagine running someone else's world. It would be like wearing someone else's suit -- it might be okay, but the fit isn't quite right. So over the years I have created a couple dozen worlds, some as one-shots, some as part of long campaigns.

The interesting thing that I have found is that my players now have less and a less interest in places like Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, and the rest -- they prefer being in our own world, the one we jointly create. Food for thought.

 

[TerraDave]

As others have stated, it has to be an end in and of itself. In fact, at points my main motivation for playing D&D has been to develop my campaign world.

Still, when I look at what my co-creator and I have done, I do sometimes wonder: what were we thinking

 

[Storyteller01]

Expand on a world, or explain an unknown (why DO dragons covet!?). My players always seem to find those holes. SOMEONE has to fill them in.

 

[Tonguez]

Love of creating. Homebrewing has always been one of the primary motivators for my interest in D&D and roleplaying games in the first place, not to mention GMing.

Yes thats what I say in public too

the real reason is my megalomania and deepset desire to be a a god in my own lifetime

(hence I actually enjoy world creation MORE than RPG-ing )

 

[kigmatzomat]

My homebrew is a true brew; one part existing setting, one part non-continuity affecting rewrites, a double handful of left-handed thinking, and simmered over the greenish flames of player unpredictability.

Truth of the matter was, it was fairly easy to completely change the backstory; most settings are laden with contradictions, internal continuity errors, and people acting far out of character. I distilled those contradictions into a scenario that made them completely logical. Other than my fast-forwarding the setting timeline ahead 400 years past the books available (at the time) the players didn't really feel like it was a homebrew for six or seven months. By that point the setting seemed familiar and they had the appropriate reactions when they discovered my handiwork. ("holy crap, the gods have lied to us for 5,000 years?!? Y'know, that explains so much...")

 

[Ibram]

There are a few reasons I've gone throught the trouble of creating my own campaing world...

1) Like most others have said I love creating, just the act of dreaming up lands, creatures, and histories is something I've always enjoyed dooing.

2) I've never found a setting that was perfect for me. There are some good ones out there, Conan, Ravenloft, CoC, Warcraft, but they were all lacking something. So I took what I wanted from them all and built the campaign setting I wanted to run.

 

[The Shaman]

Love of creating. Homebrewing has always been one of the primary motivators for my interest in D&D and roleplaying games in the first place, not to mention GMing.

I'll go with that, too.