Do you like playing homebrew settings?

[Wihzerd]

One of my players asked me about the cleric situation (who are the gods of the setting, how is the church organized, allowed domains, etc.). I told him that was all up for grabs, he could create it and tell me. He shrugged, said, "I'm not sure I'm up for all that work," and went with a sorcerer instead.

I did that once. I was playing a ratfolk noble with the leadership feat. One of the many, MANY ratfolk followers I had was a cleric. I called him Monterey Jack, high priest of The Big Cheese. It wasn't a state-recognized religion, so my characters were effectively cultists.

Lord Thomas, the right honorable Baron of Muenster was mechanically overcomplicated, but was a fun exercise in taking a silly concept seriously.

[Lord Foul]

I have to say, I struggle to comprehend the rationale behind running a homebrew setting but then asking the players to do a load of the world-building and creative stuff. Surely that's the main purpose of a homebrew setting; because you love the creative part and want to make it live! If you can't be bothered with all that, why not save yourself even more work and run a book setting?

[BottledViolence]

I have to say, I struggle to comprehend the rationale behind running a homebrew setting but then asking the players to do a load of the world-building and creative stuff. Surely that's the main purpose of a homebrew setting; because you love the creative part and want to make it live! If you can't be bothered with all that, why not save yourself even more work and run a book setting?

What I got from our DM was first, he was a total improv DM. No prep, no established setting. He just made it up as he went along. Second, he was all about "collaborative story telling." He wanted us to create a story together. This is where things went off the rails for our group. He was used to getting buy in from creative types which didn't go over very well for a bunch of problem solvers. They loved "creating a story together" where as we wanted to be challenged by interesting and difficult situations.

[Azhrei Vep]

I have to say, I struggle to comprehend the rationale behind running a homebrew setting but then asking the players to do a load of the world-building and creative stuff. Surely that's the main purpose of a homebrew setting; because you love the creative part and want to make it live! If you can't be bothered with all that, why not save yourself even more work and run a book setting?

Because in some groups multiple people enjoy world-building and creative stuff, and collaboratively building elements of the world together can (not will, can) make things more interesting and give people a stronger investment in it, since they all helped build it.

But it does require at least most of the group to be into it, not just the GM.

[clintmemo]

Pretty much every campaign we have run or played in for the last 30+ years has been homebrew.
We started in Greyhawk and were always confronted with trying to find a way to insert the plot/characters/geography in the (what was then relatively sparse) setting.

We have only recently started getting players to contribute to the setting and even then only in a collaborative way. There is no "you tell me." It is more of "how can we add what you are looking for?" process.

[VaMinion]

Because in some groups multiple people enjoy world-building and creative stuff, and collaboratively building elements of the world together can (not will, can) make things more interesting and give people a stronger investment in it, since they all helped build it.

This was the entire point of one of our most successful campaigns.

I've also players pitch something that I either don't have enough knowledge about or interest in to properly execute. Building that part of the setting becomes their job since they have a much better idea of what they want.

[Wayne]

Not homebrew rules for a setting, but using an established game but setting it in a homebrew world. I can see the appeal for a DM since it takes a ton of work off of them and they can just BS their way through anything unexpected, but as a player, I find it much more difficult having to consult the DM for everything. I also enjoy delving into a setting and researching it and reading about it.

I pretty much exclusively do this as player and GM. Generally there is a world-building session so while the world is home-brew you don't have to ask the GM for everything because everyone had a part of it. I find it WAY more difficult playing an established setting that I don't know because I do have to ask about everything. In a setting we world build I feel like I can just throw things out there, but with a defined setting I am more likely to ask.

World-building provides a type of buy-in that pre-established settings do not. When it comes to published settings I feel limited and like I have to know everything about it.

[BottledViolence]

I pretty much exclusively do this as player and GM. Generally there is a world-building session so while the world is home-brew you don't have to ask the GM for everything because everyone had a part of it. I find it WAY more difficult playing an established setting that I don't know because I do have to ask about everything. In a setting we world build I feel like I can just throw things out there, but with a defined setting I am more likely to ask.

World-building provides a type of buy-in that pre-established settings do not. When it comes to published settings I feel limited and like I have to know everything about it.

We've never had player buy in with world building sessions. At best they turned into dungeon crawls that really had no setting. Our current group is doing a homebrew setting but none of the players seem to have much interest in contributing to it. I'm not running it, and I have no interest in doing any world building myself beyond shooting down the more absurd ideas that other players have come up with.

[clintmemo]

Two phrases from old episodes that belong in this conversation.

1) Plot wagon
2) Baby bird syndrome

[BottledViolence]

Two phrases from old episodes that belong in this conversation.

1) Plot wagon
2) Baby bird syndrome

Cliffs notes?