by Clyde Starr

Created on: April 18, 2009   Last Updated: April 20, 2009

There are a lot of published campaign settings out there. They exist for just about every role-playing game imaginable, from D&D to RIFTs, there are sourcebooks for playing in preconceived worlds, even if they are just variations on the current real world. Outside of this comfort zone lies the Homebrew campaign setting.

Homebrew you might ask? Where do I get that setting, I've never heard of it before? The homebrew setting is the one that is created specifically by the Game Master(GM or DM for Dungeon Master) to express his or her own unique vision of how the campaign should be. A homebrew campaign gives the GM carte blanche when it comes to designing its history, back story, geography, political structure, and what components are and are not available for use within.

Every official setting out there had its start as a homebrew setting. Greyhawk, probably the oldest RPG setting in existence is based on the homebrew campaign put forth by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the co-creaters of D&D, the game that started it all. Many of the "Name" spells in the Player's Handbook are named from actual characters that took on Castle Greyhawk back in the day. Bigby, Tenser, Mordenkeinan, Otiluke, Tasha, these names are familiar to just about any long term player, but few realize that these were characters just like theirs originally, and built up from level to level until they created the great spells that carry their names into history.

Now, the pros to playing in a homebrew setting are that you have complete freedom of expression as a GM. You can make anything you want possible in your world. If you don't like Paladins as a class, they don't exist. If you want player character Thri-Kreens (A Man-sized intelligent praying mantis warrior) you can come up with the statistics for them and include them in your game. If your players have a unique background for one of their characters, it is no trouble at all to fit it into the history and society of your world. Basically, you create it, so you can use it however you like.

The cons to playing in a homebrew world on the other hand are a little bit daunting. First, you are responsible for making it all work together. You have to write the history, plan the political structures, decide what to include and not include, develop a custom pantheon of gods for the characters to worship, etc... The more different you make your homebrew campaign, the more work you are making for yourself as a GM. Now, your players can help with

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