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View Full Version : What constitutes a Homebrewed world to you?



NineThePuma
2011-03-21, 06:51 AM
I think the title says it all, honestly. I mostly ask because I've been working off and on with an attempt to build my own setting that draws on a variety of sources, and am curious as to what others would consider a minimum.

The Rose Dragon
2011-03-21, 07:00 AM
Well, if it's not released officially, it's a homebrew setting. The moment it is released officially, it stops being a homebrew setting.

Eberron, for example, was a homebrew setting until it was published by WotC, at which point it became an official setting.

dsmiles
2011-03-21, 07:17 AM
Well, if it's not released officially, it's a homebrew setting. The moment it is released officially, it stops being a homebrew setting.

Eberron, for example, was a homebrew setting until it was published by WotC, at which point it became an official setting.

Doesn't get any simpler than that. Not published = homebrew.

Xuc Xac
2011-03-21, 07:17 AM
If you take the Forgotten Realms and play it as is, that's not a homebrew. It's a published campaign setting.

If you take the Forgotten Realms and say "PCs can also use the classes and races from Eberron", that's not a homebrew either. That's a published campaign setting with some house rules.

A home brewed world would be one that has a setting made up by the group that's playing (with the GM likely doing most of the work if it's a typical group). A home brewed world would have a new map with nations and history defined by the GM instead of taken from a book. The pantheon of gods, if any, should be given some thought instead of just saying "Pick anything from the book". Everything in a home brew setting should either be created from scratch or modified. Nothing should be cut and pasted from another setting. At a minimum, you should change the names. If you want to include Jedi, Kai, or Shaolin monks in your setting, then do it but call them something else so they sound like they belong to your world instead being imported from another setting.

That's the key, really. If you just cut and paste things from different published sources, it looks like a patchwork quilt instead of a new world. You need to blend the different sources together so they look like they belong to the same setting. Stir well and let it ferment. That's the "brewing".

Yora
2011-03-21, 07:24 AM
I'd say homebrew is not comercially published. There's a lot of homebrewing going on in this forum, and when it's compiled into a free pdf, I consider it published. But I still consider it homebrew. An amateur publication.

KillianHawkeye
2011-03-21, 07:32 AM
The pantheon of gods, if any, should be given some thought instead of just saying "Pick anything from the book".

I agree with everything you said except this. While a lot of settings DO have unique deity rosters, I also don't see any problem with making up a world that worships the "standard" deities, either.

Erom
2011-03-21, 08:18 AM
Yeah, the gods thing tweaked me too, especially since my gaming group couldn't care less about the foofy made up dnd religions anyway. Most of my players just leave the god box blank (Divine classes excepted of course.)

Honestly, I usually make up one generic fatherly over-deity, say the dominant religion is a monotheistic church dedicated to this god, have players pick "religious" or "not very religious" and go from there.

Xuc Xac
2011-03-21, 08:21 AM
I agree with everything you said except this. While a lot of settings DO have unique deity rosters, I also don't see any problem with making up a world that worships the "standard" deities, either.

You still need to determine what the "standard" deities are. The PHB pantheon? One of the pantheons from a published campaign setting like Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Dragonlance, etc.?

KillianHawkeye
2011-03-21, 08:23 AM
The standard deities ARE the ones from the PHB. At least, that's why I meant by "standard."

Kiero
2011-03-21, 08:51 AM
Anything that someone has made up themselves, from scratch.

PsychedelicBard
2011-03-21, 09:03 AM
A setting the GM created himself.

Tyndmyr
2011-03-21, 11:27 AM
A world what got made up by someone.

I will admit to a slight bit of caution if the GM is the one that made it up and it's heavily customized. It's like discovering the teacher for a class wrote the textbook. It's all going to make sense to him, but that doesn't mean anyone else will like it.

The Rose Dragon
2011-03-21, 11:30 AM
Anything that someone has made up themselves, from scratch.


A world what got made up by someone.

So, from what I can tell, this means that all non-historical settings are homebrew, even those such as Eberron or Rokugan. Am I correct?

Tyndmyr
2011-03-21, 11:31 AM
Nah, once it's published, it's out of the homebrewed stage.

Ravens_cry
2011-03-21, 11:41 AM
Oh don't you know, Eberron was made by machines man, that's why there's all those magical robots man, it's a sign man, like symbolism, man.:smalltongue:
But seriously, any significant change to a world or setting is homebrew to me. My first campaign, a loosely strung together collection of dungeons, was in little isolated glacier valley of gentrified Viking analogues with ties to local Dwarf and Orc clans with Norse names for everything. It was technically in Galarion, the official Pathfinder setting, but I made it up myself. Never got too deep into it, but I would like to return some time. We didn't start in a tavern, but instead I made the players militia members on patrol. Ain't I a stinker? :smallbiggrin:

dsmiles
2011-03-21, 01:46 PM
Oh don't you know, Eberron was made by machines man, that's why there's all those magical robots man, it's a sign man, like symbolism, man.:smalltongue:That rug, man. It really tied the room together, man. :smallwink:

Ravens_cry
2011-03-21, 02:17 PM
That rug, man. It really tied the room together, man. :smallwink:
People said 'man' before The Dude, man.

Kiero
2011-03-21, 02:17 PM
So, from what I can tell, this means that all non-historical settings are homebrew, even those such as Eberron or Rokugan. Am I correct?

Nope, not unless you're playing them with the author of the setting as GM.

If I play an Order of the Stick game GM'd by Rich Burlew, it's a homebrew because the setting is essentially in his head since its his work. Run by anyone else, then not a homebrew because its derived from an external source.

dsmiles
2011-03-21, 04:16 PM
People said 'man' before The Dude, man.
Yeah, but nobody said it better, man. :smallwink:

Tyndmyr
2011-03-21, 04:17 PM
If I play an Order of the Stick game GM'd by Rich Burlew, it's an invitation for me to stab you and take your place.

Fixed that.

Ravens_cry
2011-03-21, 04:18 PM
Yeah, but nobody said it better, man. :smallwink:
'Nuff said, True Believer, 'nuff said.:smallamused: