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Grim
Sergeant
482 Posts
    
 | | 05/04/2005 10:26 PM |
| | I tend to start with a rough continent outline, then zoom in to a small section and base the campaign there. The home region gets detailed first and those that surround it, and things develop naturally from there depending on the parties goals and desires. | |
I am a leaf on the wind...Urrk!!--Wash, "Serenity" | |
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vesivus
Sergeant
487 Posts
Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | 05/17/2005 11:40 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Grim
I tend to start with a rough continent outline, then zoom in to a small section and base the campaign there. The home region gets detailed first and those that surround it, and things develop naturally from there depending on the parties goals and desires.
This is almost identical to what I do. I have a 2nd edition supplement -- "World Building" with a black cover or something like that. I use that to create the "world", pick a continent, and zoom in for a local campaign and grow it out as needed.
Of late, I've been using the Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, etc. to "flesh out" the world... :) | |
Vesivus - The Natural 20 of Game Stores - Miniatures Sales (Singles/Boosters/Cases), WARMACHINE, RPG Supplies, Dice
http://www.vesivus.com | order@vesivus.com | eBay Gold Powerseller
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Username
Warlord
5692 Posts
| | 05/17/2005 1:09 PM |
| | I go homebrew since I'm new to RPG and DMing. Plus, it's cheaper and allows me to write and use my imagination. | |
Originally posted by Schooly_D
Username - he deals in minis
Champion of Lhesh Haruuc Shaarat'kor | |
| The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
13069 Posts
Mud Lick, Kentucky
| | 05/17/2005 1:24 PM |
| The second edition World Builder's Guidebook has some good stuff in it about world design.
Not necessarily a good substitute for good ol imagination, but everyone gets that creative block from time to time. | |
WotC - making me wish more and more every day for a return to the TSR days. :(
I fought the snark and the snark won. I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Some of my favorite Maxminis quotes
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
Could somebody explain Snatch to me? I understand the basics, but not how to enter/use it. - Posted by orcmonk220
G's the man. - Posted By greyhaze on 11/11/2008 8:58 AM
I dont mind butting heads every once in a while. It makes thing interesting. Thats why I'd be heartbroken if Ghendar ever left - Posted By Count Dooku on 04/03/2006 11:58 AM
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Captain Harlock
Sergeant
450 Posts
| | 05/17/2005 1:38 PM |
| For me, the choice of Homebrew vs Published all depends on the work put in by the creator of the Homebrew. A good homebrew, to me, is much superior to a Published as the creator/GM not only knows it better, but has put part of their heart and soul into it and that really helps the world come to life.
Dan Cooper | |
Dan Cooper
For there is surely nothing so beautiful than the sight of a lone man facing single-handedly half a ton of angry pot roast.
You will all go directly to your respective vahallas, Go directly, do not pass go do not collect two hundred dollars
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Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 05/17/2005 7:05 PM |
| Speaking of Homebrew:
I just recently spent a few hours writing up my Anthropomorphic race. There are, of course, more details stuck in my head, but I've got a PHB-style write up done. It was an interesting excercise to write that up. It gave me a more defined outlook on them than I previously had. It's also weird how some pieces of information just "come out" while you're writing.
Now, all I have to do is write up their animal classes, and work out all the tables for dealing with size variations. | |
Champion of the Werewolf Lord, Knight of Anything Duergar, and Squire of Things Gnollish
List reset with the start of previews for each new set...got Chainmail®? | |
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warty_nosed_goblin
Underboss
1384 Posts
| | 05/17/2005 11:51 PM |
| Errm, I play "homebrew ultra lite" then, that is, its not in a published campaign world or anything. On the other hand it doesn't have any sort of real structure, organizations, churches, holy days (which I would not have thought of) etc. Except the two I'm about to spring on my unwitting PCs, Death's Faithful, and The Hand of Light, just to avoid confusion over who's the good guys[:)]
That and I'm thinking about how to work in some orc fighters in really heavy plate armor (for those of you who played the original age of wonders, I'm kinda thinking the orc warlord) as some sort of elite bodyguard, and an order of paladins of some sort...now that finals are over maybe I have time... | |
Call me: W.N. Gobo!
originally posted by grim:
While he is clearly insane, he does have a point. | |
| Iconomancer
bassman2972
Underboss
1675 Posts
The ville IN. AKA Hell on earth
| | 05/18/2005 3:17 AM |
| | Home Brew. It allows more freedom of the imagination to develope an interesting world. | |
183 Completed trades with the best people on the net! | |
| The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
13069 Posts
Mud Lick, Kentucky
| | 05/18/2005 7:23 AM |
| I have found that I LOVE to create game worlds but I'm not so keen to DM them. I much prefer to play D&D rather than DM. As I'm creating, I get all motivated and excited about the world but when it comes times to DM it, I lose most of my enthusiasm. Kind of weird huh?
When I play, I like to play in an established world unless the homebrew is highly detailed.
I like, as a player, being familiar with the world. There is definitely an appeal though to playing in a homebrew and everything is new to me. However, the world, even if it's only a small campaign area, NEEDS to be well developed. | |
WotC - making me wish more and more every day for a return to the TSR days. :(
I fought the snark and the snark won. I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Some of my favorite Maxminis quotes
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
Could somebody explain Snatch to me? I understand the basics, but not how to enter/use it. - Posted by orcmonk220
G's the man. - Posted By greyhaze on 11/11/2008 8:58 AM
I dont mind butting heads every once in a while. It makes thing interesting. Thats why I'd be heartbroken if Ghendar ever left - Posted By Count Dooku on 04/03/2006 11:58 AM
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| The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
13069 Posts
Mud Lick, Kentucky
| | 05/18/2005 7:26 AM |
| One of the guys in my gaming group created his own world and it was very different, had some interesting twists but after putting in all this work to develop it, he decided for a variety of reasons to stop playing it.
Very frustrating. Our Pc's only got up to about 3rd level before he ended it.
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WotC - making me wish more and more every day for a return to the TSR days. :(
I fought the snark and the snark won. I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Some of my favorite Maxminis quotes
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
Could somebody explain Snatch to me? I understand the basics, but not how to enter/use it. - Posted by orcmonk220
G's the man. - Posted By greyhaze on 11/11/2008 8:58 AM
I dont mind butting heads every once in a while. It makes thing interesting. Thats why I'd be heartbroken if Ghendar ever left - Posted By Count Dooku on 04/03/2006 11:58 AM
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brazenwood
Sergeant
386 Posts
Etowah NC
| | 05/18/2005 11:14 PM |
| For some DMs (myself included), world design is a hobby unto itself and provides sheer enjoyment that goes beyond role-playing...and then when time comes for a game and the party gets going you have all these moderners screwing with your world...and you feel less inspired, especially if they can't get into the setting...
Don't get me wrong I have several players in my group right now who have multiple characters who have retired and now become great NPC's in my world, there's Semere, the ranger that became a captain of the high seas for the royal navy hunting down enemies as a privateer, there was Cobbletoss the halfling traveler who fell in love with the halfling island of Tanglore that he never left, set up shop as a tavern master baking pies fr his fellow halflings...the list goes on.
But I know what you mean by the difference between world design and actual playing with a group of players. Something about the D20 system takes away from world immersion I think, maybe it's too miniatures combat oriented, I had one new player recently quit my campaign (a young 21 year old) who was used to ROLEPLAYING more and hardly ever had his character pick up dice for combat, so he was a DM who made combat so deadly that characters always thought twice about engaging in battle...
But the system itself lends itself to heroic fantasy battle ( Cleave feat for example, chop one goblin dead, get to chop another one for free) What's that got to do with roleplaying, okay so your'e a bad arse...
I enjoy making combats memorable and exciting and taking it to the wire and having the players come up with solutions that are creative in order to survive, but after realizing what turned him off about my game, I wanted to rethink things, so I started only giving 1/3 XP for combat and more for story awards, and I have not heard the end of complaining yet, so some players are more about the cool feats, and skills, and character advancement...others want the deep candle lit room with deep character immersion...like on Mazes and monsters, so what does one do. I almost threw in the towel last week and told my players I wanted to just quit and do world design, I'd be happier...but that's a cop out...they wouldn't let me quit, and I'm not burnt out I just want it to be more about the story, and character development, and the D20 system wants it to be about dice and checks, and penalties, and combat...what's a frustrated DM to do? What would Scooby doo as a DM? Laugh a lot? | |
Kelly Lee Phipps
Visit my New Fantasy World Website: www.astrofantasy.com
Email: kellyleephipps@gmail.com
My Have/Want List: http://www.maxminis.com/hw_list.asp?user=brazenwood
My Reference List Link: http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6375 | |
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FeranEldritchKnight
Sergeant
385 Posts
Kansas City, MO USA
| | 05/19/2005 1:55 AM |
| I am DM for two parties-- one set in a homebrew world, and another set up in FR. I only started playing in FR because my first DM wanted to run a FR campaign for our first world, and the logic was to use the same world. I really regret having that party in FR now, because I feel I need to leave the campaign setting as I found it-- everything belongs somewhere and doesn't belong somewhere else. So I find myself looking through the FRCS for hours trying to find a place to put my dungeon or plot that I've already come up with. I recently converted an old 2e module over into 3e and into the FRCS, and I spent days trying to decide where to place it and how to adapt the plot so it didn't feel oddly contrived. I'm much happier for having it done to my satisfaction, but it was an unneccessary struggle.
I really like that my players are comfortable playing in FR because they've read the novels, but I don't feel like I belong in their world. The flip side of that is the players enjoy my world, but they don't understand all the back stories I've come up with because they aren't as interested in my history or who the characters of interest are. I'm just happy when they remember the demon-slayer guild they've ran into three times already. But their memory usually consists of, "Oh yeah, haven't we met this group before?" As a DM it's my job to make them more memorable, but I think it's partly the players' memories to blame besides my stressing how important this group is.
Anyway, my point is that you have to be comfortable as a DM in the world you run. If you feel comfortable knowing a premade CS and are OK jacking up their plot and timelines, then by all means use the world. It's much simpler for the DM. But if you're like me where you don't feel right running Elminster or trying to explain why he hasn't stepped in to fix everything for you, then homebrew is better. Your players aren't going to ask why your high level NPCs aren't getting involved, and you certainly don't need to consult a manual to decide if a church belongs in a particular city or anything else trivial. | |
Completed trades: Gausse, Mazra, Pagansexy, Galerians, Lord_Raven, Drakkengi, Temujinn x2, Random Sasquatch, elf_ranger, Azuretide, Hung4treason, Griffrat (face2face), Nasamonkey
Carpe Forum! | |
| The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
13069 Posts
Mud Lick, Kentucky
| | 05/19/2005 7:03 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by brazenwood
I had one new player recently quit my campaign (a young 21 year old) who was used to ROLEPLAYING more and hardly ever had his character pick up dice for combat, so he was a DM who made combat so deadly that characters always thought twice about engaging in battle...
I can certainly understand wanting to role play more instead of just combat all the time, but combat, when done right, is one of the most enjoyable aspects of D&D, IMO.
I will never understand the role player, like the one you mentioned above, who doesn't like combat.
Just don't get it????
If I went several sessions without a combat encounter, I think I might quit that group. Just my thoughts. | |
WotC - making me wish more and more every day for a return to the TSR days. :(
I fought the snark and the snark won. I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Some of my favorite Maxminis quotes
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
Could somebody explain Snatch to me? I understand the basics, but not how to enter/use it. - Posted by orcmonk220
G's the man. - Posted By greyhaze on 11/11/2008 8:58 AM
I dont mind butting heads every once in a while. It makes thing interesting. Thats why I'd be heartbroken if Ghendar ever left - Posted By Count Dooku on 04/03/2006 11:58 AM
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| Hero of the Force
Siddartha of Suburbia
Underboss
2277 Posts
| | 05/19/2005 7:21 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Ghendar
I can certainly understand wanting to role play more instead of just combat all the time, but combat, when done right, is one of the most enjoyable aspects of D&D, IMO.
I will never understand the role player, like the one you mentioned above, who doesn't like combat.
Just don't get it????
If I went several sessions without a combat encounter, I think I might quit that group. Just my thoughts.
I tend to agree. There is nothing wrong with no combat in a single session. Some of the best roleplaying moments happen in such a day. But combat can be a big part of it all. Living up to the challenge. I think you need to find the balance in both. | |
"We can't stop here...This Is Bat country!"
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