I'm running my first campaign and decided to go homebrew setting where anything goes and I Need some help finishing out some of the basic details of the world.
The world was created by a god of possibilities that looked into the multiverse incorrectly and it shattered his mind and he gained multiple personalities who are aware of each other. He got bored one day and created his own world pulling from things he had seen. His main personality has entered into a wager/game with another strong person and will pull adventurers from other realities and put them into his world to see if they can collect all 8 pieces to this magic item that will let them enter the central zone of chaos and return home if they choose.
The world has 3 types of magic storms. Basic magic storms cause all magic that is cast above the level of the storm to have to roll on the wild magic table. Magic thunderstorms have a chance for the caster to get struck by lightning that increases for every spell level above the level of the storm. Magic hurricanes that can strike at magic items depending on the level of the storm and the rarity of the item. Magic transport vessels avoid these storms and if they can't they will power down to avoid getting struck. Magic storm clouds constantly shift colors so they can be easily seen.
The starting city is what New York City would be if it had been founded by Romans and survived to "modern day" with hints of Sharn. It has glass and metal skyscrapers next to magically tall stone buildings. The harbor master is a kraken named Bob, well that's what everyone calls him. The Dock Master is a Beholder with a scottish accent who wears a kilt and hard hats, who's name is Angus McFife (yes I stole the name). The harbor uses dragon turtles as tugs. The mayor is a mouse whose secretary is a cat that is also his daughter-in-lawand is pregnant. There is a eccentric wizard who is actually an ancient gold dragon whose current apprentice is a cockroach named Matilda. She also happens to be his apprentice that has lasted the longest before quitting/dieing. Pop culture references abound as do artificers and wizards.
There are ships, arcane powered ships like in Ebberon and arcane powered hover craft. Airships and arcane powered aircraft exist as well. The players managed to get their hands on an arcane horse and cart. The Lightning Rail is in here as well.
The starting city is called Chimera and is the capital of this region of the continent and each region capital has a "unique feature" that can impact the players if they aren't careful. Chimera's is if the characters use profanity or racial slurs they get struck by lightning even if they are underground. The damage is equal to the number of times they have cursed in the past month D6s.
I am pulling from anything and everything. There is a map below of what I have so far. I'm keeping it basic on what is established to allow myself the ability to put a dungeon anywhere I want it so the players can't avoid certain things.
The party has left the starting area which was the material plane and have entered another area that has the property of fire and cold spells having their damage types reversed and anyone not of fiendish blood or decent will magically freeze in 15 min they don't have the proper magic cold weather gear. Also water is lava and is cold. You can have a lava river with snow next to it. The city of Pelagoria is a ski resort town run by a few devils/demons.
I haven't come up with the quirks of the other capital cities yet and I need help coming up with silly quirks that can impact the players if they don't keep it in mind. As well as better names/themes.
Going clockwise from the bottom
1. Starting area: material plane. No unusual magic in the region. Capital city is Chimera. Use profanity within the city limit and get struck by lightning. The island near the capital is a place where the dream plane manifests itself and has a group of kalashtar who guard the area and hand out jobs to adventurers who are licensed.
2. Magic volcano area: Cold and fire damage spells have their damage types reversed. Freeze if not of fiendish blood/decent without the right gear. Need quirk for capital city of Megithos. Architecture is Greco-Romano in style.
3. Cold tundra area: regular cold zone, requires cold weather gear. Capital City of Limani Toundra. Need capital city quirk. Nordic style architecture with a Jamaican influence.
4. Sky Nation area: floating island with an abundance of airships of all types and flying races and creatures. Architecture is Ancient Egyptian mixed with Feudal Japanese. Need quirk for the capital of Kefalaio.
5. Underdark: this region has no above ground cities. it Rises 20kft into the air and the above ground is toxic and will kill people quickly. No name or quirk for the capital.
6. Its the Fey Wild. I need a better name for the capital here and a quirk.
7. Bread Basket: A mixture of fey wild and material plane where pants grow from seed to harvest time in 6 weeks no matter the actual speed. The lake near the capital is made of very fine wine.
8. Underwater: water rises to a height of 20kft above sea level. There are 2 major currents and 2 minor ones. The major two rush at 40knots while the minor ones are 20kts. The capital city is Atlantida and is a domed city to allow all races to be able to live there. I need a quirk for the capital. This area will prob be the last place the party reaches the halfling rogue has a severe phobia of open water due to backstory.
The areas are not scaled the same so distances can be different in each zone.
I need help with the quirks and some ideas for the world areas.
I would say my honest advice, stop where you are for now, focus on the town that the characters are going to start in. If you consider the way a campaign evolves then it may well be a year of real time before they get out of the starting couple of areas. In fact whole areas of your world may never be explored in this campaign.
I have a world I have been DMing in for 15 years, and still I haven’t taken adventures to parts of it yet. You have a great starting canvas now focus on the starting stories you want to tell, get your players together, figure out where they come from and the stories they want to tell. But I would also say, the more detail you go into now, the more you lock yourself in and maybe lose a bit of on the fly creativity to just make stuff up mid session.
my players are probably getting to the 2nd capital in the next session. I'm just after basic stuff. I'm not putting in much beyond the capitals in the regions until the players start getting to them. Its just basic world building. I create lists of NPCs in a spreadsheet that has names, race, gender, location, and a spot for notes and just pick and choose at random from the list.
I'm running my first campaign and decided to go homebrew setting where anything goes and I Need some help finishing out some of the basic details of the world.
The world was created by a god of possibilities that looked into the multiverse incorrectly and it shattered his mind and he gained multiple personalities who are aware of each other. He got bored one day and created his own world pulling from things he had seen. His main personality has entered into a wager/game with another strong person and will pull adventurers from other realities and put them into his world to see if they can collect all 8 pieces to this magic item that will let them enter the central zone of chaos and return home if they choose.
The world has 3 types of magic storms. Basic magic storms cause all magic that is cast above the level of the storm to have to roll on the wild magic table. Magic thunderstorms have a chance for the caster to get struck by lightning that increases for every spell level above the level of the storm. Magic hurricanes that can strike at magic items depending on the level of the storm and the rarity of the item. Magic transport vessels avoid these storms and if they can't they will power down to avoid getting struck. Magic storm clouds constantly shift colors so they can be easily seen.
The starting city is what New York City would be if it had been founded by Romans and survived to "modern day" with hints of Sharn. It has glass and metal skyscrapers next to magically tall stone buildings. The harbor master is a kraken named Bob, well that's what everyone calls him. The Dock Master is a Beholder with a scottish accent who wears a kilt and hard hats, who's name is Angus McFife (yes I stole the name). The harbor uses dragon turtles as tugs. The mayor is a mouse whose secretary is a cat that is also his daughter-in-lawand is pregnant. There is a eccentric wizard who is actually an ancient gold dragon whose current apprentice is a cockroach named Matilda. She also happens to be his apprentice that has lasted the longest before quitting/dieing. Pop culture references abound as do artificers and wizards.
There are ships, arcane powered ships like in Ebberon and arcane powered hover craft. Airships and arcane powered aircraft exist as well. The players managed to get their hands on an arcane horse and cart. The Lightning Rail is in here as well.
The starting city is called Chimera and is the capital of this region of the continent and each region capital has a "unique feature" that can impact the players if they aren't careful. Chimera's is if the characters use profanity or racial slurs they get struck by lightning even if they are underground. The damage is equal to the number of times they have cursed in the past month D6s.
I am pulling from anything and everything. There is a map below of what I have so far. I'm keeping it basic on what is established to allow myself the ability to put a dungeon anywhere I want it so the players can't avoid certain things.
The party has left the starting area which was the material plane and have entered another area that has the property of fire and cold spells having their damage types reversed and anyone not of fiendish blood or decent will magically freeze in 15 min they don't have the proper magic cold weather gear. Also water is lava and is cold. You can have a lava river with snow next to it. The city of Pelagoria is a ski resort town run by a few devils/demons.
I haven't come up with the quirks of the other capital cities yet and I need help coming up with silly quirks that can impact the players if they don't keep it in mind. As well as better names/themes.
Going clockwise from the bottom
1. Starting area: material plane. No unusual magic in the region. Capital city is Chimera. Use profanity within the city limit and get struck by lightning. The island near the capital is a place where the dream plane manifests itself and has a group of kalashtar who guard the area and hand out jobs to adventurers who are licensed.
2. Magic volcano area: Cold and fire damage spells have their damage types reversed. Freeze if not of fiendish blood/decent without the right gear. Need quirk for capital city of Megithos. Architecture is Greco-Romano in style.
3. Cold tundra area: regular cold zone, requires cold weather gear. Capital City of Limani Toundra. Need capital city quirk. Nordic style architecture with a Jamaican influence.
4. Sky Nation area: floating island with an abundance of airships of all types and flying races and creatures. Architecture is Ancient Egyptian mixed with Feudal Japanese. Need quirk for the capital of Kefalaio.
5. Underdark: this region has no above ground cities. it Rises 20kft into the air and the above ground is toxic and will kill people quickly. No name or quirk for the capital.
6. Its the Fey Wild. I need a better name for the capital here and a quirk.
7. Bread Basket: A mixture of fey wild and material plane where pants grow from seed to harvest time in 6 weeks no matter the actual speed. The lake near the capital is made of very fine wine.
8. Underwater: water rises to a height of 20kft above sea level. There are 2 major currents and 2 minor ones. The major two rush at 40knots while the minor ones are 20kts. The capital city is Atlantida and is a domed city to allow all races to be able to live there. I need a quirk for the capital. This area will prob be the last place the party reaches the halfling rogue has a severe phobia of open water due to backstory.
The areas are not scaled the same so distances can be different in each zone.
I need help with the quirks and some ideas for the world areas.
I would say my honest advice, stop where you are for now, focus on the town that the characters are going to start in. If you consider the way a campaign evolves then it may well be a year of real time before they get out of the starting couple of areas. In fact whole areas of your world may never be explored in this campaign.
I have a world I have been DMing in for 15 years, and still I haven’t taken adventures to parts of it yet. You have a great starting canvas now focus on the starting stories you want to tell, get your players together, figure out where they come from and the stories they want to tell. But I would also say, the more detail you go into now, the more you lock yourself in and maybe lose a bit of on the fly creativity to just make stuff up mid session.
Here's some quirks for wherever you need:
Within city limits everyone's eye/hair color changes with their mood. Charisma (Deception) checks have disadvantage unless magic is used to disguise.
Gold is not worth very much in this city, instead, silver is the main form of currency. (Silver become gold value, gold replaces silver value)
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
my players are probably getting to the 2nd capital in the next session. I'm just after basic stuff. I'm not putting in much beyond the capitals in the regions until the players start getting to them. Its just basic world building. I create lists of NPCs in a spreadsheet that has names, race, gender, location, and a spot for notes and just pick and choose at random from the list.
2nd one is too complicated and game changing. the first one I'll def use.