One of the best parts of DMing in Dungeons and Dragons is homebrew: the ability to create your own world within the existing game mechanics.
Personally, I homebrew almost all of my campaign — it’s fun, and it allows me to express my creative side. Over the years, I have begun to notice a few commonalities that always help me get started on a new world.
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Here’s a list of what I see to be the essential elements of a D&D homebrew:
A struggle
The party needs something to fight for, and it needs to be important. It could be a god, a force of nature, or something else entirely, like a large-scale curse. Even in a one-shot, the party needs a goal from the beginning to channel their energy towards. The possibilities are endless, but the struggle needs to be:
(a.) bad enough to warrant being stopped — moral quandaries encouraged, though!
(b.) something that the party feels a desire to stop, preferably a personal one.
A setting
The world should be interesting and unique. Really, that can take you anywhere, but a good way to start is to decide on an overall theme or feeling that will dominate your campaign — find the vibe. Some questions that can help you discover this are:
(a.) What genre is this story (horror, thriller, high fantasy, sci-fi, etc.)?
(b.) What is the first “Big Reveal?” Depending on whether it’s the identity of the BBEG or the knowledge of a new way to fight, the first Big Reveal is crucial.
A cast
The world doesn’t only belong to the party (unless you’re running some kind of twilight-zone thing, in which case, that is cool).
So make interesting non-player characters, dumb characters, random and sundry characters. The NPC’s don’t all need to be important, but they should feel like people with real stories and their own problems and agency. Remember that everyone is the hero of their own story, even if they’re the villain of yours — or just the farmer across the street.
The best way to make an interesting NPC is to give them a struggle of their own… whether or not their goals align with the party’s is a fast way to create a dynamic between characters.
A history
The world didn’t begin with your heroes, so having a few historical figures/ events to call back gives the world depth (it also makes it easier to disguise villain backstories!).
Having a structure to tie your PC’s backgrounds to makes them feel a lot less shoehorned in or isolated. Their family was killed — but in what war, and why? They stole from the king — and what were the effects of that?
It’s always fun to twist something that your players create, and creating consequences for their actions makes the entire story feel more rich.
Homebrewing an entire world can feel really overwhelming, but hopefully these four tips can help you to find a place to begin. Once you have somewhere to start, it’s more manageable than you’d think — and it is incredibly rewarding to see a whole world spring up from the mere power of your words and creativity.
– Lilybet, @lilybet.writes
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