Anyone want to help build a homebrew world?

[BooNL]

Hi there,

I've been thinking how much fun it'd be to create a new world. I have no interest in DMing though and I'm a bit tight on time to write everything.

So I'm looking for others to help build this world, preferable someone who would DM it as well. Maybe a third or fourth person, depending on how extensive we want this world to get.

I'd leave all the campaign specific details up to the future DM, so I wouldn't have any advantage as a player. I just want to build a world :smallbiggrin:.

I have a few ideas, mostly about player races. I'll post them when there is interest.

[Mr.Moron]

I'm actually working on my own homebrew world currently. Helping somebody with theirs would probably provide some perspective on my own. I'd be happy to help in capacity you want, but I probably wouldn't DM it. I'm reserving that for my own.

[BooNL]

Thanks for the offer Mr. Moron, I'd appriciate it if you'd help out a bit. :smallsmile:

Alright, a few random thoughts. Maybe this will inspire someone to help. If no one wants to help, fine. I'll finish it on my own, but I'd still need a DM to do a PbP with it. :smallsmile:

I'm not planning on building a whole world, more like a single continent, for obvious reasons.

A few bits and pieces I've come up with so far:

Predominance of vermin. I'm talking giant beetles, mantice, wasps, etc.
They'd take a place similar to animals, providing nurishment, clothes and armor (Chitin armor from RoTD) and maybe even animal companions. There's even an insectlike race, similar to Dromites (but without the whole psionic shtick).

World has a history. Gnomish archeologists have found a large number of objects belonging to an ancient race. This is the world's only source of magic items.

Magic is old in this world, no one knows how it works or has been able to study it. Though some individuals are able to wield the Power, it is unclear how they do it. That means wizards are out, sorcerers are in.

Races are (so far): Humans, obviously the dominant race, with the insectfolk(needs a name) as close second. They live in (near)perfect harmony. Insectfolk live in human cities, though hive queens reside in closely guarded lairs, no human has ever seen a queen.

Gnomes have specialized in archeology and are shrewd traders when it comes to selling excavated magical goodies.

I feel like I should add at least 2 more races, but I'm unsure which.

I have one warrior race, the insectfolk, a jack of all trades race, the humans and a skill based race, the gnomes.

I dispise elves, so they're out. Dwarves conflict with the insectfolk, unless reworked. Halflings... well I already have one small race. I have considered adding in a winged race, but that'd prove a lot more work in combat situations for a future DM. So, suggestions?

Religion will most likely be pantheon based. I'm thinking 2 pantheons, one which the PCs are able to revere and one opposed, most likely belonging to a warring nation.

I like the idea of another nation, not an evil one, but one with opposed views. Haven't explored the idea and not sure if they'd have the same race set up.



That's what I have so far, comments welcome :smallsmile:

[Lucio]

If I can just start by stating the obvious:
If you're considering two opposing nations, then they need something to be opposed over.

If the opposing nation is an NPC one (as in, no PCs come from there) then the use of magic could be the main source of contention. Alternatively, a good source of contention could be the control of those magic item mines the gnomes operate. If they're expecting or afraid of a war, they will obviously want to gain as much power as possible. (Not to mention that it provides plently of potential plot hooks for DMs)

If the opposed nation isn't going to be particularly 'evil' as such, then maybe consider the possibility of the two nations simply not liking each other on a historical basis. It's always fun to have two sides that hate each other because they've always hated each other, regardless of what else happens.

[Mr.Moron]

Predominance of vermin. I'm talking giant beetles, mantice, wasps, etc.
They'd take a place similar to animals, providing nurishment, clothes and armor (Chitin armor from RoTD) and maybe even animal companions. There's even an insectlike race, similar to Dromites (but without the whole psionic shtick).


Where does this leave standard animals? Normally insects are something rather strange to all us mammalian folks. If they're no the standard maybe the normally familiar animals can be something freaky! Perhaps this opens up the opportunity to have giant monstrous dogs and the like as primary monsters. Maybe there could be some kind of historical event that pushed most non insects in the background in the wild, maybe even with crazy mutations!

[quote]
World has a history. Gnomish archaeologists have found a large number of objects belonging to an ancient race. This is the world's only source of magic items.

This would mean you're there is something non-standard about magic in your world. What prevents spell casters from making magic items, there should be some kind of "mechanical" explanation behind it.

I'll throw in an example from my own world, just to illustrate the point.

What's different about magic:

Magic is very common, but limited in it's scope. Just about every bumpkin farmer can probably use a cantrip or two, once a day. Casters have lower max spell levels (Standard max is 6, some special abilties grant 7th level spells) but gain spells per day much faster.

The reason why:

Mortals basically nearly blew up the whole danged multi verse screwing around with too much high level magic. The quickly made replacement world was soaked in magic, but the gods were careful to limit the power mortals could acquire.

I think there needs to be a clear why. A basic assumption in this system is that casters can create magic items, if they can't something unusual must be up!




Magic is old in this world, no one knows how it works or has been able to study it. Though some individuals are able to wield the Power, it is unclear how they do it. That means wizards are out, sorcerers are in.

This makes the previous point a bit easier, seeing as how magic is all mysterious. There should still be some stories about what has happened when these sorcerers have tried to manipulate magic into some more more tangible form. Really somebody MUST have tried it, do they just fail, do they blow up?



Races are (so far): Humans, obviously the dominant race, with the insectfolk(needs a name) as close second. They live in (near)perfect harmony. Insectfolk live in human cities, though hive queens reside in closely guarded lairs, no human has ever seen a queen.

A hive society and living in human cities would normally seem conflicted to me. What is the connection between the hives and these insect folks? Does it have a role somewhat like a medieval church? Are they are something like their own nations? Do the hives provide some kind of universal telepathic between single tribes/groups?



I feel like I should add at least 2 more races, but I'm unsure which.

Don't feel the need to cave in to variety for its own sake, I've seen settings do fine with just 1 race.



I dispise elves, so they're out. Dwarves conflict with the insectfolk, unless reworked. Halflings... well I already have one small race. I have considered adding in a winged race, but that'd prove a lot more work in combat situations for a future DM. So, suggestions?

I think you're fine with what you've already outlined. If you really feel you've got a gap in your world, define it more clearly. You don't want to just add race and try to find a place for them, find a place and find the race that fits it.

[BooNL]

Where does this leave standard animals? Normally insects are something rather strange to all us mammalian folks. If they're no the standard maybe the normally familiar animals can be something freaky! Perhaps this opens up the opportunity to have giant monstrous dogs and the like as primary monsters. Maybe there could be some kind of historical event that pushed most non insects in the background in the wild, maybe even with crazy mutations!


I was thinking along the lines of natural evolution (or creationism, whatever you prefer). Us humans are basically animals, so what'd happen if insects and vermin evolved as well? I don't think regular animals should be forced into the background, since they share a common link with us roleplayers. If I removed animals I'd also have to find a reason why there'd be humans and gnomes, both mammals.

There'd still be cows in pastures, wolfs in the woods, birds overhead. But alongside vermin, I can see the insectfolk raising beetles for food and their chitin, for example.



This would mean you're there is something non-standard about magic in your world. What prevents spell casters from making magic items, there should be some kind of "mechanical" explanation behind it.

I'll throw in an example from my own world, just to illustrate the point.

What's different about magic:

Magic is very common, but limited in it's scope. Just about every bumpkin farmer can probably use a cantrip or two, once a day. Casters have lower max spell levels (Standard max is 6, some special abilties grant 7th level spells) but gain spells per day much faster.

The reason why:

Mortals basically nearly blew up the whole danged multi verse screwing around with too much high level magic. The quickly made replacement world was soaked in magic, but the gods were careful to limit the power mortals could acquire.

I think there needs to be a clear why. A basic assumption in this system is that casters can create magic items, if they can't something unusual must be up!



This makes the previous point a bit easier, seeing as how magic is all mysterious. There should still be some stories about what has happened when these sorcerers have tried to manipulate magic into some more more tangible form. Really somebody MUST have tried it, do they just fail, do they blow up?



Yeah, the whole low magic thing is more my aversion for all the high magic stuff out there these days. There's about 20 different spellcasting classes, all doing the same thing in a different way. I want to limit that somewhat, magic shouldn't be easy in this world. It's either gifted by the gods, or found from ancient scrolls.

Sorcerers could be descendants from these ancients, explaining there powers. Or, better yet, they could have studied scrolls, ancient devices and found out they were able to cast spells. But I have to work on this idea some more.

In that line, I was thinking of only having spontaneous casters: favored souls, sorcerers, bards, etc. That'd change magic into something more intuitive than studied.




A hive society and living in human cities would normally seem conflicted to me. What is the connection between the hives and these insect folks? Does it have a role somewhat like a medieval church? Are they are something like their own nations? Do the hives provide some kind of universal telepathic between single tribes/groups?



This would come from my idea of vermin evolution. We, as mammals, have started using tools and building cities, what if these insectfolk did the same? Granted, maybe it's strange for a hive race to spread it's hive, but let's look at some explanations:

- Hivefolk in itself have evolved so far they're unable to defend themself through natural means, much like us humans need weapons, the insectfolk need them too.
- traders are sent from the hive to do business with the humans. Work goes faster if they live closes together.
- The hives are overgrown, there's more than enough insectfolk to protect and take care of the Queen, so the others are sent out into the world, free from their duties to the hive.

I'm looking for a natural reason why they'd leave the hive and pretty much live like humans.

Also, in regards to religion. I want a single pantheon for all creation. So there's the Father who created the humans, gnomes and insectfolk, the daughter who's the god of war, etc. etc.

The pantheon was larger, but split long before the current age (maybe during the ancients time?). The Mother divorced the Father and remarried, instant confliict faction.




Don't feel the need to cave in to variety for its own sake, I've seen settings do fine with just 1 race.


I think you're fine with what you've already outlined. If you really feel you've got a gap in your world, define it more clearly. You don't want to just add race and try to find a place for them, find a place and find the race that fits it.

You're right, I'll probably settle for 3 PC races then. I'm thinking of adding something like a wasp race, similar to the insectfolk, but only as NPCs. More specifically, as enemies to the insectfolk, they'd be created and worshipped by the Mother. Can you see the plothooks forming? :smallbiggrin:

Humans and waspfolk would live in the same way as humans and insectfolk, only with completely different outlooks on life. Coupled with having different pantheons, they'd be square opposed to each other.

However, the idea of total war doesn't sit well with me, it's too easy. What if both factions were forced to work together? That'd change waspfolk to a PC race, but it'd add a bit more dynamic to the group, as well as even more plothooks.


If I can just start by stating the obvious:
If you're considering two opposing nations, then they need something to be opposed over.

If the opposing nation is an NPC one (as in, no PCs come from there) then the use of magic could be the main source of contention. Alternatively, a good source of contention could be the control of those magic item mines the gnomes operate. If they're expecting or afraid of a war, they will obviously want to gain as much power as possible. (Not to mention that it provides plently of potential plot hooks for DMs)

If the opposed nation isn't going to be particularly 'evil' as such, then maybe consider the possibility of the two nations simply not liking each other on a historical basis. It's always fun to have two sides that hate each other because they've always hated each other, regardless of what else happens.

I like the idea of gnomes behaving somewhat like weapon smugglers, offering their goods to the highest bidder. Secretely serving both nations, only to become more powerful themselves. Hmmz, have to work this out a bit.

[levi]

While I'm not willing to DM your world (I have one (and a half) of my own, plus several third party worlds I'd like to run), and am too involved with other world building (and other sorts of) projects to play a major role, I'm more that happy to help you brainstorm and stuff.

General World Building

In general, you seem to be off to a good start. One thing that can help make a game world more than just another generic fantasy setting is a theme or themes that haven't been used a whole lot. You have several of these that are combining nicely to bring some distinction to your world.

There are two basic approaches to world building, known as the bottom-up method and the top-down method. The bottom-up method starts small and works it's way out to the larger picture as needed by the campaign. The top-down method starts from the big overview (the world, or universe, or even multiverse) and works it's way down to the small details. Both have thier advantages and disadvantages. A combination of these techniques can often be used with good results. (As can either method be used alone and work well.)

You've opted for a mixed path, with some leaning towards a top-down method. Rather than detail the whole planet (or larger space), you've decided that one continent is all you'll need. That is bottom up. However, you're developing that continent in a top down way. I've used (and seen) this style and it tends to lead to a coherent world whilst focusing on the parts a player actually interacts with.

The decision to focus on the world rather than the campaign (aka the metaplot) is a solid one. While a metaplot can be good, it can also destroy a perfectly good world for what amounts to one blaze of glory. Focusing on world building leads to a setting than can be used for multiple adventures or campaigns and is generally more productive unless one has a really good metaplot that needs and can support it's own world. (Which, apparently, you don't.)

Perhaps the most interesting thing you've produced so far is an emphasis on what DnD calls "vermin". Arthropods and other invertebrates cause an instinctive reaction in most humans which causes the average person to have adverse feelings towards them, ranging from apathy to hate. By integrating them into your world, you've turned the usual expectations of the players on thier head, which can be a good thing.

While the "us vs them" theme of the two nations could be a little generic, it is also very historical and if well done is a ripe source of future plot points and developed backstories and history. A general dislike/distrust rather than open war makes for more interesting plot possibilities while still allowing for conflict, without restricting the game in the ways a warzone ineveitably does.

Races in General

Your ideas for races are quite good, especially as "bug people" are usally generic "bad guys" and as a PC race, you'll be taking them in a new direction. Don't be afraid to limit the number of races as you see fit. The vast majority of fiction has only one race (humans) and it works fine. Even much fantasy fiction has only one race that would be a PC race if it were a RPG (humans, again).

Furthmore, many "alien" or "fantasy" races are little more than funny looking humans anyway and have little real impact on a world. This is especially true in modern fantasy imatative of Tolkien, of which baseline DnD is an especially generic variety.

From a rules perspective, races may seem important, but after the first few levels, they tend to impact a character much less than class, equipment, and other character creation options. (This is supposed to change in 4th Ed, but for now, that's how it is.)

Races in Specific

So far you seem to have settled on four races: Humans, Gnomes, Bug People, and Wasp People. Of these two or three are going to be PC races, correct?

Humans are, well, humans. A lot can be done with them, but they can also simply be left as is. I'll hold off discussing them until you've dicided what direction you want to take them.

The gnomes are serving the role of mysterious deizens of the deep, bearers of ancient knowledge, etc. This is a fundamental archetype and can be useful to have for various sorts of plots and such. However, simply leaving them at that will lead to them being (as one RPG spoof puts it) a "random etherial old man".

Obviously, they have a great focus on archeology, but they don't keep the artifacts they dig up for thier own use. Why is that? Culturally, I can understand that they have a drive for knowledge and they belive (with good reason) the ancients where more advanced, so they've focused on researching the past, rather than developing in the present.

This makes for an interesting worldview, but how does it work out in pratice. Especially, how does the enconomy of gnome existance function and why do they allow valuable artifacts to come into the hands of other races, rather than keeping them for themselves? I can think of several ways this could work, but this is something you should think about for yourself.

Or am I completely off base and the gnomes are simply miners who do some grave robbing on the side?

I like the idea of the PC bug people and am wondering if you have any specific ideas as to what sort of bugs they are based on? You've mentioned that they live in hives, but beyond that, not many details have been given.

From what I know of, there are three types of bugs that live in large, structured colonies. Bees, Ants, and some Termites. (I'm sure there are others, these are just the one's I know about.) As you've already decided to make the other bug people Wasp based, that leaves Ants, Termites, or something else entirely. Along what lines are you thinking?

I happen to have an interest in colonial insects, so I can point out a few things about how a hive usually works and then you can decide which of these apply to your races.

In general, insects (and many other "vermin") have a multi-stage life cycle. They are first laid as eggs. Then they hatch into a larva which usually has very little resemblence to thier adult form. After developing for a time, they go into a pupa state where they are inactive for a period of time. Once they exit the pupa, they have metamorphosised into thier adult form. Specific creatures can have a life cycle that is more or less complex than this, but that's the norm. (I'm sure you proably learned all this in grade school or something, but I'm bringing it up as it's something important to think about with a insect or similar creature based race.)

With colonial insects, the cycle is the same, but there are some changes, mostly related to the caste system. I'm most familiar with bees, so I'll base this explanation mostly on them. Eggs are laid by the queen caste, of which, there is usually only one per hive. These eggs and the resulting larvae and pupae are cared for by the worker caste. In addition to caring for the young, the workers also tend to the queen (who's often very large, sometime even helplessly so) and perform other labors for the hive, such a gathering (or farming) food stuffs, building the hive, etc. The soldier caste is responcible for protecting the hive from invaders and other threats. They are similar to workers in most repects, but they tend to be larger, stronger, and have more powerful natural weaponry. Interestingly, all of these castes are exclusively composed of females. (Although, since workers and soldiers don't mate, thier gender is of little importance.)

The final caste is the only male caste, the drones. Drones (usually only one) mate with the queen (usually only once) to fertilize her eggs. In bees this happens once the queen can fly. She leads the drones on a mating flight similar to a race or chase. The goal is to tire out all but the fittest drones (who are larger and slower than a young queen) until only one remains which is allowed to mate. Once mating is complete, the drones die off.

Which caste a larva becomes is determined by the food fed to it by the workers. They select which castes to raise based on the needs of the hive (and, apparently, some unknown or random factors). Queens are produced when they are fed royal jelly. Usually there is only one queen. If another queen is born, the reigning queen usually kills it while it is still young and cannot protect itself. If multiple young queens are born without an older queen to kill them off, they usually fight for control of the hive.

If a hive grows too large, it will either swarm to a new hive or split into two seperate hives. I don't know how they decide which to do. If a hive splits, a young queen, her consorts (some drones), and a portion of the workers and soldiers fly off to form a new hive while the old queen and the majority of the hive remain behind. If they swarm, they simply leave en mass.

How (and if) these various proccesses apply to a sentient race is an interesting though experiment and can be handled in several ways. You should consider the lifecycle and hive structure of each of your "bug people" races. The possible results are endless and will have a great impact on the culture and other aspects of the races.

Geography

It can be useful to nail down the natural geography of your world (or at least the continent you're developing) at an early stage. This will allow you to position nations, settlements, and other such features in realistic locations. It also provides for a more coherent world if the geography predates the peoples, rather than being made up later.

Settlements (villiages, towns, castles, hives, etc.) tend to form at locations of natural resources. People require food and water to live and settle in areas with easy access to both. As civilization develops, settlements can arise for other reasons (economic, religious, strategic, etc.), but even these settlements usually grow out of older settlements who's function was survival.

National borders are usually demarcated by natural boundries (rivers, mountain ranges, etc.) and the front lines of past wars. Treaties and ethnic backgrounds can also be an influence, but they usually tend to follow similar lines. Of course, many modern borders are specified by lattitude or longitude, but even today, that is still a minority.

Ecology

As you develop your giant vermin and other creatures, put some thought into the elcology of these creatures. DnD is often filled with critters that don't have an adequate food supply or haven't had thier ecology considered at all. While it is a lot of work and has relatively little direct game impact, the indirect effects in the form of a more coherent world can be great.

You've mentioned that you intend to keep normal animals (mammals mostly from what you've mentioned) alongside the giant vermin. As you do so, consider how these creatures interact. For example, a giant spider could very well become a given ecosystem's apex predator, displacing the large mammals who tend to hold such a spot in the real world. Don't forget types of animals other than mammals and bugs (avians, reptiles, amphibians, dinosaures, fish, etc.) and even plants.

You've mentioned the idea that the humans would domesticate mammals while the bug people would domesticate bugs. While that does lead to a tidy system, I think a more varied approach would be more realistic. Historically, humans domesticated birds first, followed shortly thereafter by various mammals. Since then, we've managed to domesticate (to some extent) pretty much every sort of animal there is.

We've domesticated some insects, but not very many. However, this is mainly due to the lack of useful varieties. (We tend to domesticate somewhat larger animals and real insects have a strict maximum size limit.) If giant bugs existed, I'm sure we'd have domesticated them too.

Also, I don't think there's any reason the bug races would restrict themselves to only keeping anthropods. Just like humans, they would domesticate any species they found useful.

Don't forget, we've also domesticated plants and fungi.

Conclusion

I could keep going on and on, (world building is a great interest of mine), but this post is already long enough. I'm sure what I've mentioned so far will give you some things to consider. As you've develop specific ideas, I'll be glad to provide some input (as I find the time).

Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to what you come up with.

P.S. Wikipedia can provide more information than you'll ever need on most topics. It's a great tool when doing research to suppliment your world building.

[Icewalker]

Well, although I skimmed the second to last post and skipped the last one for now (don't have a lot of time currently) this seems to be a ver interesting idea. I particularly like the insectoid society idea. I would be somewhat interested in DMing these, and slightly contributing to the world, if you need my help there, although I am pretty busy with my own world in construction.

I just found an excellent map-making program though, which I can find and link to. It has a fractal line option, so you can draw a line and it looks jagged, similar to a coastline.

Here we are: AutoREALM (http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/index.php). I used it for my world map. It's kinda confusing at first.