Why is it some folks post homebrew here instead of the homebrew section?

[Blackbando]

Title says it all. I'm not asking this out of disdain or anything--I'm legitimately curious.

Is there just a preference for board? Does it get better attention comparatively? Do people just forget the homebrew section doesn't exist?

[Tiadoppler]

Do people just forget the homebrew section doesn't exist?

It could be:

Preference for board culture/focus. If you're trying to balance something for 5e specifically, you might want a 5e-focused area to talk about it in.

or

The subtle and ambiguous distinction between a Houserule and a Homebrew. A Houserule might fit in fine on this board: discussing a modification or extension to an existing rule, or a consistent but non-standard ruling. A Homebrew is new content/options, like a new class/subclass/race/etc.

[Sigreid]

Since the homebrew section is basically homebrew for all editions if you post there you are likely going to not only vanish faster but get lots of comments from the perspective of other editions.

[mephnick]

There's a lot of people that post in the 5e section whose views I respect that I likely wouldn't hear from in the homebrew section. I also don't need 3.5 and 4e players commenting on 5e homebrew.

Not that I post homebrew, but if I did I'd be tempted to post it here.

[Anonymouswizard]

It is really something that gets me. Partially because there's others who post Homebrew in the correct ****** subforum. Notably I go to the Homebrew subforum and see that most of it is 5e.

I think it's because they think/know that more people will see it here. I think others don't want the more balance focus seen in the Homebrew board, which confuses me but I suppose some people don't care about balance.

I mean I'd love to visit the Homebrew subforum more, but I'm not really interested in D&D homebrew these days, and that's the majority of what's there.

[Oramac]

Title says it all. I'm not asking this out of disdain or anything--I'm legitimately curious.

Is there just a preference for board? Does it get better attention comparatively? Do people just forget the homebrew section doesn't exist?


It could be:

Preference for board culture/focus. If you're trying to balance something for 5e specifically, you might want a 5e-focused area to talk about it in.

I've posted homebrew here several times. There are many reasons one might do it. I know for me it's a combination of a couple reasons.

First, yes, I prefer this board over the homebrew board. The people here, though still occasionally nasty, tend to be more helpful overall.

Second, it absolutely, 100% gets more attention. Something posted in the homebrew forum might get 5 replies in 5 days, whereas something posted here might get 5 replies in 5 hours.

Third, as Tiadoppler pointed out, if you're making something for a specific system, it helps to get feedback from the people most familiar with that system.

Just my .02

[strangebloke]

Grod posted a social combat rules thing in the homebrew section a few months back. He got 1-2 generic replies

He posted the exact same thing here a few days ago. He got like 20 replies and a lot of in depth discussion.

I don't look through the homebrew forum for 5e stuff because there is not a whole lot there, typically, but if I see some here I will click on it. 5e is a pretty small culture here, and there's no particular need for a homebrew subforum.

[MrStabby]

Title says it all. I'm not asking this out of disdain or anything--I'm legitimately curious.

Is there just a preference for board? Does it get better attention comparatively? Do people just forget the homebrew section doesn't exist?

Generally its attention seeking I think.

In homebrew I find that you get many fewer replies but more high quality replies. People who go there are actually genuinely interested in homebrew, some answers may be a bit generic but you are more likely to get the responses that really make you think and reevaluate your work there.

It's just a trade off between quantity and quality of replies I think. Not to say that there might not occasionally be a good reply here though. It has been known to happen.


It is something that I do find frustrating - looking at the homebrew boards it doesn't appear like there is any shortage of people with the self discipline to post this stuff in the right place so when some people clutter up this forum with that stuff it does seem a little self entitled. It isn't like it is newcomers who haven't found the other forum exists yet.

[Anonymouswizard]

In homebrew I find that you get many fewer replies but more high quality replies. People who go there are actually genuinely interested in homebrew, some answers may be a bit generic but you are more likely to get the responses that really make you think and reevaluate your work there.

It's just a trade off between quantity and quality of replies I think. Not to say that there might not occasionally be a good reply here though. It has been known to happen.

This. I'd take quality of replies over quantity, in my one attempt to homebrew for 5e (might do it again at some point) I placed it in the Homebrew forum and the replies didn't flood in, but there was good discussion from 'this rule is a bit wonky' to 'this ability doesn't fit your archetype' to 'this is just broken and doesn't work as you intend'.

I have a lot of good experience with the Homebrew section calling out what doesn't work, which is something I value a lot. It even got down to at one point mentioning that the entire core system I was using didn't have the probability distribution that I wanted. Very valuable, and I've posted very little in there but feel like the feedback I got helped me grow as a designer. I'm trying to get something to the level I'd post it in there again.


Now the problem is that for some things, especially less mechanical things (but occasionally other things) just aren't what the community in Homebrew is about. Plus sometimes it just doesn't fit for one reason or another. However 5e is the only time I often see Homebrew outside of the Homebrew subforum, so why does it seem to affect 5e more? Is it just a case of quantity of Homebrew?

[Oramac]

In homebrew I find that you get many fewer replies but more high quality replies. People who go there are actually genuinely interested in homebrew, some answers may be a bit generic but you are more likely to get the responses that really make you think and reevaluate your work there.

It's just a trade off between quantity and quality of replies I think. Not to say that there might not occasionally be a good reply here though. It has been known to happen.


This. I'd take quality of replies over quantity, in my one attempt to homebrew for 5e (might do it again at some point) I placed it in the Homebrew forum and the replies didn't flood in, but there was good discussion from 'this rule is a bit wonky' to 'this ability doesn't fit your archetype' to 'this is just broken and doesn't work as you intend'.

I have to disagree here. I've made a relatively large amount of homebrew (see sig), all of which was posted in the Homebrew section at one point or another. Much of it got some good discussions, but some of it got entirely ignored. I've even gotten personal insults over there.

I've posted most of my 'brews in this subforum as well, and gotten equally useful, quality, replies.

In my experience, there is no difference in quality between the two subforums.

[Scripten]

I posted some homebrew in the subforum a few months back and didn't get any feedback at all, so I could understand someone posting in here instead. Better to break a minor etiquette rule than waste time posting when there's no response.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I posted some homebrew in the subforum a few months back and didn't get any feedback at all, so I could understand someone posting in here instead. Better to break a minor etiquette rule than waste time posting when there's no response.

This has been my experience as well.

Things I post in the general Homebrew subforum get ignored (the World-Building sub is better), things here at least get looked at. I tend not to post much homebrew here, because I'm Lawful and like to follow rules though.

[Lombra]

Personally I don't like it when I see it, for the sake of order and coherence, but I understand the need for more eyes to criticize your work.

[mephnick]

On one hand I'm not sure it needs to be separate, as homebrew has been integral to the hobby since it began. It's not some extra thing, it's part of it.

On the other hand I like that the forum isn't flooded with art and homebrew like reddit..

[Falcon X]

There's a lot of people that post in the 5e section whose views I respect that I likely wouldn't hear from in the homebrew section. I also don't need 3.5 and 4e players commenting on 5e homebrew.

Not that I post homebrew, but if I did I'd be tempted to post it here.
This is pretty much it.

[Mongobear]

I think it's mainly because the Homebrew forum is out of the way, and hard to find. And even if you do find it, it isnt divided for each edition, its just all lumped together, so you end up with AD&D, 2e, 3.PF, 4e and 5e as well as M&M, Savage Worlds, SWSE, Shadowrun, and all the other various TTRPG material in the same forum.

Imo, whoever organizes these forums should delete the current Home-Brew forum, and create a subforum in each of the various RPG pages for homebrew specifically for that edition.


Also, In the rare cases I actually post any homebrew, I usually post it in both, the full version in Home Brew, and a TL;DR version in the relevant gaming forum for discussion and comparison versus official material. Simply put, the Home Brew forums dont have anywhere near the traffic as the actual Edition forums, where I could post a thread and get 10 replies in an hour here, it could take days or weeks to get anyone to comment in the Home Brew page.

[Oramac]

Imo, whoever organizes these forums should delete the current Home-Brew forum, and create a subforum in each of the various RPG pages for homebrew specifically for that edition.

I fully support this idea.

[Mongobear]

I fully support this idea.

Likely would never happen though. Ive never ran a forum before, but Im assuming the logistics of migrating all of the threads in the pre-existing homebrew forums to their new spots would be a massive PITA.

They'd almost have to just cut and run, and hope people repost everything in the right spot after it was done.

[Theodoxus]

All these. Last time I posted in homebrew, even though I tagged it 5E, I got replies saying things like "That rule doesn't exist in 3.P" or "How would you make that a daily power?"

At least in the 5E forum, you're getting a 5E perspective on answers. The answers might not be as nuanced or looked at as holistically as the homebrew crowd would, but more eyes are here and some of the best folk on Giant lurk here.

At least we don't do A2A, that'd get annoying :smallwink:

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: The line between a house rule and homebrew is a fuzzy one, but in general, people should post homebrew in the appropriate forum and people should report homebrew posted here instead of there.

Usually we just move it without comment, but Warnings and Infractions will be issued for people purposefully or repeatedly posting in the wrong forum.