I was wondering about is how do you guys incorporate established lore into your own homebrew games? For example if I wanted to create a world where magic didnt exist untl a few hundred years ago, that would kinda making using any of the established background lore for the races or gods much more difficult to do. Like, I get that you can use or not use whatever you want, but I was curious how it is that you would go about creating a unique setting, but still stay true and draw from established information.

I tend to stray away from shit that completely messes up a lot of abilities (say the act of binding,the magic of ulralter,divine magic and hemomancy had to be added to the create a world setting for some magical distinction and do actually allow those who hate spirits to do magic,of course almost all of these are still spirit magic but with extra steps.)But otherwise I just go all out I can homebrew shit all day and have plenty of tools and time to brainstorm worldbuilding,Plus playing pbp has advantages for pulling things out from nowhere.

Okay. Let's think this through. So magic didn't exist until a few centuries ago. First you'll need to decide why it didn't exist. Did a leader (like a king or a high priest) ban the use of magic due to some cultural fear, like maybe they saw it as a threat to their power? Were the Divine gates destroyed in a war between deities, so now deities cannot access the Material Plane? Had magic simply never existed? Next you'll need to decide what happened to change that status quo. Was there a popular uprising? Did a new deity emerge offering new magic? Was an ancient artifact discovered that unleashed a Pandora's Box of magic upon the world. 

So... now... you've got a powerful new force in a world that's not prepared for it. What would you naturally expect to happen? Right... the people with access to this new power will use it for their own advantage, either killing or enslaving those who oppose them, and using their new powers to acquire wealth and control. Next, those with this new magic will probably try to contain its spread, so others don't rise up to threaten their positions of privilege. So what does that look like in a game world? Well, your world will be some kind of authoritarian dystopia with a very small group of people having enormous wealth and power while the masses suffer under their yoke. Magical knowledge will be tightly controlled and restricted to the chosen elites. Wizards will be rare among adventurers and if they exist they are former elites who ran away for some reason. While those characters who acquire magic more directly (clerics, druids, sorcerers, warlocks) will have to be careful about how and when they use their magic. If they get too flashy they may find themselves being hunted down for violating a law or for threatening the power of the elites. 

So the campaign goal develops rather easily from that - the party are the Rebellion trying to take down the Empire. (That's assuming they are generally good aligned.)

As far as races - you may want to restrict it to some of the more basic low-magic-friendly races like human, dwarf, half-orc, goblin, goliath, and maybe halfling. Because the more magically-interconnected races (like elves and gnomes and tieflings and the more exotic races) have probably long ago left this non-magical realm. Or maybe those races are just now starting to return. Maybe your party will be a group of elves trying to sow and propagate magic in this realm. 

As far as the pantheon of gods - you can use whatever normal pantheon you want, whether it's a D&D pantheon or something based on our own cultural histories. But the gods of magic will probably be considered outsiders and maybe renegades among the gods. Like maybe it was a god of magic that tried to make some super powerful magic but screwed it up and basically blew a fuse and short-circuited the Weave of magic across the entire world. Maybe that's why magic didn't work for so long. So that god is probably a pariah now. Rather than thinking "good vs evil" I think the dynamic would be more of "order vs chaos". In that dynamic, Order represents the status quo - magic is tightly restricted to a handful of elites and everyone else is expected to fall in line or else. While Chaos would be represented by the Rebellion who are trying to spread the gifts of magic to everyone. there's a very "2112" feel to that story dynamic. Heck, you could even call the elites who control the magic the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx. 

Basically, magic is power. Just try to imagine what would happen in our world if a small group of people suddenly discovered a tremendous new power source that no one else had. And if that doesn't just absolutely terrify you, then you're probably giving people way too much credit.

Or think about magic along the lines of scientific advances over the past century mostly involving computation.  Did the already established power structures devise new ways to maintain power by patronizing those new developments.  Yes.  Was there a new class of elite who mastered and sort of internally regulated the discipline of these new tools?  Also yes.  It's "disruptive" but not necessarily apocalyptically disrupted.

As far as sticking with established lore.  Well, your world is your world.  So you're free to pick and choose from what you like and deviate where you want.  If you want a century to be enough time for magic to flourish to the point it's at in a standard D&D. game, go for it.  Of course magic's not limited to arcane magic.  Almost every class has spells as a standard feature or can gain them through subclassing.  

Quote from Deaconfrost2100 >>

Like, I get that you can use or not use whatever you want, but I was curious how it is that you would go about creating a unique setting, but still stay true and draw from established information.

 If you wanna make your own setting while keeping true to D&D lore, I'd say the only things you'd have to keep is the other Plane of Existence, and even then you could come up with reasons as to why some aren't accessible from your setting.

Much of D&D lore -- especially recent lore -- is Forgotten Realm centric, but you have to remember that each setting plays by it's own rules. All the Gods don't exist in every settings, nor does every races and creatures. You can have a world where there's no God and magic doesn't exist, it doesn't break any rule per se -- it would need some explanation from a larger point of view if you wanna stay true to some lore but it's not the worst.

If I wanted to make my own setting, I'd create the world however I wanted it to be, than figure out how it would fit into the D&D multiverse and find so explanation (or even loophole) as to why some things happen or don't happen -- especially regarding Gods & Magic.

Thanks so much for all the useful information! I'll try my best to use this information as I continue to work on my setting. Just for reference, the overall concept I was trying to work with is as follows. Gonna have to keep it kinda vague so I don't spoil it for my players if they come across this thread lol...

All the deities started off with equal rule of the material plane before they did a mass exodus to each of their own respective planes of existence. This mass exodus basically gives birth to magic in the material plane which had already existed for a long time without magic. The deities cannot come back to the material plane for fear of (reasons).  The timeline before magic was similar to our own here on Earth, with there being a stone age, bronze age, etc. up to medieval times before *suddenly magic is a thing* all at once and everywhere. The entire planet from existing races and plant life to weather and time were drastically changed.

So as an example of where I was getting stuck is, I really enjoy the lore they have for Elves in DnD. But in my world they basically would have existed as an additional race with long lifespans on the planet alongside Dwarves and Humans, but they wouldn't have had magic. I was feeling this might interfere with the established lore if just one day they got their magic. Or how to explain the trance they do instead of sleep (or specifically how the reverie functions). I hope this makes sense! XD

Elves are interesting. The differences between elves and humans is generally accepted to be that elves are more "magical" than humans, whatever that means. But in a world with little or no magic, most of the differences could be explained by simple biology. We often get stuck in our mindset that "Humanity" is this single monolithic thing. We think that way because we are the only species of human on the planet. But! We weren't always! Up until the last Ice Age there were at least two completely different species of humans living on this planet. And at one point there were as many as FOUR distinct species of human on the planet (sapiens, neanderthals, denisovans, and heidelbergs). Elves and humans may share a very distant common ancestor. But millennia of divergent evolution has resulted in two very different species today. 

But what is it about elves that is truly intrinsically "magical"? (I'll use high elves as the example). On average, elves are more dextrous than humans. big deal. That's biology, not magic. They can see in the dark. Big deal, lots of animals can see in the dark. That's biology, not magic. They have heightened senses (prof. in Perception). Big deal, lots of animals have better senses than humans. Dogs can hear and smell better than we can. Heck, even mantis shrimp can see ten times more colors than we can! That's biology, not magic. But then there's the trance. The PHB describes the trance as "mental exercises" that require years of training to master. Again, that's not magic, that's just training. And maybe elves can see around them during the trance because they still have nictitating membranes in their eyes. So their outer eyelids are open but the transparent nictitating membrane protects and moisturizes the eyes during the trance.

We humans actually used to have that exact same thing. Look in the mirror. See that tiny red lump of flesh in the corner of your eye closest to your nose? That's a vestigial remnant of your nictitating membranes. Way way back when we were water-based creatures we had nictitating membranes just like most other reptiles and amphibians have. But after so many millennia living on land we didn't need them anymore, so those genes simply became dormant. But DNA never actually eliminates genes. It just turns them off. So maybe the elves spent enough time in or near the water that their nictitating membranes stayed active. 

So really, 95% of the differences between elves and humans has nothing to do with magic. It's all just plain old biology. We're very similar, but slightly different animals. Any increased connection that elves feel toward magic could easily be explained by mere cultural traits. Maybe elves gravitate more to magic because they tend to be smaller and thinner so they like letting magic do the heavy lifting, while humans and dwarves are physically stronger so we tend to look to brute force to solve problems. And maybe elven culture values a cooperative connection with nature, so they are more attuned to druidic magic, while humans (unfortunately) tend to see nature as a resource to be exploited for short term gain. 

Literally the only difference between the two species that might cause a conundrum is the elves' long life span. But again.... the Greenland shark can live for nearly 400 years. Atlantic tube worms can live to 250. A bowhead whale was discovered to be 211 years old. Some Koi fish have lived over 200 years. There's a tortoise named Jonathan in the Seychelles who is 187 years old. So long life span may simply be a biological difference too. 

So elves and even dwarves can easily exist in a non-magical world. No problem. And when magic gets introduced, elves may gravitate mroe quickly and more easily to that magic not for any inherent reason but simply because of cultural reasons. 

It's your world. You make the rules. Have fun!

Have you thought about a Shadowrun-esque awakening?  Basically the more magical races devolved to humans when magic went away, then poof their children's quite removed grandchildren suddenly returned to elves, dwarves, trolls, whatever when magic returned.

Maybe the elves were left in the wake of the departure of a deity or group of deities (your elven pantheon).  So they'll be a "new people" though have that trance connection to magic etc.  Some of your world conflict may be the rest of the world adjusting to their presence.  Their lands were "reserved" by whatever deity put them there.  Gnomes may be a similar thing.  Both (and maybe some goblinoids) can be your worlds bridge to the Feywild, if that's going to be in your game too.

Quote from Deaconfrost2100 >>

Thanks so much for all the useful information! I'll try my best to use this information as I continue to work on my setting. Just for reference, the overall concept I was trying to work with is as follows. Gonna have to keep it kinda vague so I don't spoil it for my players if they come across this thread lol...

All the deities started off with equal rule of the material plane before they did a mass exodus to each of their own respective planes of existence. This mass exodus basically gives birth to magic in the material plane which had already existed for a long time without magic. The deities cannot come back to the material plane for fear of (reasons).  The timeline before magic was similar to our own here on Earth, with there being a stone age, bronze age, etc. up to medieval times before *suddenly magic is a thing* all at once and everywhere. The entire planet from existing races and plant life to weather and time were drastically changed.

So as an example of where I was getting stuck is, I really enjoy the lore they have for Elves in DnD. But in my world they basically would have existed as an additional race with long lifespans on the planet alongside Dwarves and Humans, but they wouldn't have had magic. I was feeling this might interfere with the established lore if just one day they got their magic. Or how to explain the trance they do instead of sleep (or specifically how the reverie functions). I hope this makes sense! XD

One option here could be that magic, and more magic-attuned races like elves, existed in a parallel world/plane that got 'merged' with its non-magical mirror image when the gods left.

That way you can keep all the lore you want, and just attribute it to the other, magical realm pre-divine exodus.