So I’m working on a home brew world for my home brew campaign (while my party plays through LMoP and PotA) I was looking for some tips and tricks and the steps to homebrewong a world)
Great question, kudos to you for seeking advice. Some of the best ideas in worldbuilding come from working with/building off other people. As far as a process, i don't really have many definitive steps, but these are some good ones to start with:
Do you want to tell the story of how your world was created? If so:
Who created it? Was it the gods, a magical force, or is it a mystery?
If you'd rather start with some more modern details directly related to the world:
Establish countries
Try to set up some basic countries and empires. The DM's guide has some very good tips on how to set up a government, which type to choose (theocracy, oligarchy, aristocracy, etc), and how to set up leaders. With stuff like this, it's important to establish the basics, and go from there. When setting up your world, country, or city, here are some basics to be thinking through:
How was it founded (see above for world)? If it was a country or city, what ideals did it's founders hold to? Does it have a governor, or mayor type figure, or is it ruled by a corrupt mob boss or crime syndicate? What are the people like? How diverse are the races? Is magic regulated, or is there free use of all magic?
Once you have cities laid out, which will likely play a part in your adventure settings, You can start setting up organizations, important figures, and some history.
Organizations could be anything from a local crime syndicate, to an adventurers guild, or a high profile group, such as the Lord's Alliance or the Harpers, whose decisions influence more than just their local area. This really goes hand in hand with establishing leaders and important figures. Once you have a city or village, and some organizations, you can set up their leaders. Personality, ideals, flaws, very similar to creating one of your own characters. Something important to remember with all of this, is to not be afraid to draw ideas from some of your favorite fiction. Favorite movies, books, shows, and even other DnD adventurers can be very inspiring when trying to create a world. Draw on elements from your favorite villains, heroes, and settings to help create your world. Taking inspiration from other ideas isn't bad, especially when you're starting out. Most worlds, even in really successful franchises, draw on other works and ideas to inspire the elements they want. For example, when George Lucas created Star Wars, his idea of The Force was inspired by magic from Frank Herbert's Dune. Basically, create your own ideas, have fun, and don't be afraid to draw from your favorite sources for ideas for worldbuilding.
History is another important aspect of a country or city. Be thinking through it's founders, why they cam there, possible complications for establishing the country, etc. From there you could describe how the country's government or form of government was established or decided upon. Was it a benevolent theocracy, ruled over by shape-shifting copper dragons worshiping Bahamut, or was it a dark tyranny, obsessed with conquering the rest of the continent and enslaving those who stand in their way. This is also a great point to draw on real world history. Have your country somewhat fleshed out, but no idea how it was founded? Take America for example. Your country could be one founded on war and conflicting ideas between separate parties (sorry to any Brits out there). You could go in any direction you wanted though.
So to recap, some basics of worldbuilding:
start with the minimum. Use tips from the DM's guide, as well as your own creativity to set up countries, continents, and people.
from there, set up people and organizations. You can Npc building tips, characters from pop culture, and real world examples.
Finally, you can work on the individual stuff. Monsters in local areas, magic in your cities, and anything that might be important to your adventurers.
Some of my favorite resources, movies, books and shows for worldbuilding
Any book by Brandon Sanderson. Easily one of the best fantasy authors I've ever read, certainly better than the average DnD author. His worldbuilding is phenomenal, and his characters are amazingly designed. Would highly recommend.
Obviously I have to mention Tolkien here. He's considered one of the first greatest worldbuilders of all time, as well as the source to which many modern fantasy creatures, such as elves, dwarves, and goblins as we now think of them are attributed.
Star Wars and Dune. Dune, as I mentioned in my previous post, had a direct influence on Star Wars, and the two are some of the best worldbuilders I've seen. Dune has a fantastic setting, as well as use of politics, magic, and characters to shape the world. I shouldn't have to tell you why Star Wars is so good. Episodes 4-6 are great, and while 3 gets viciously memed for bad acting, it has a fantastic story. More on that below
Star Wars the Clone Wars and old expanded universe. A long time ago, in a galaxy where Kathleen Kennedy didn't ruin everything of value in the world we once loved, there was a show called Star Wars the Clone Wars, which is literally one of my favorite things of all time. The Clones are given the attention they deserve, and are given great story opportunities. Watch this show. The individual story arcs and settings are amazing. Any books or old expanded use material, which is harder to find but I'm sure you can dig up online, had some really cool story arcs and fun characters, at least it did before Lucasfilm threw canon out the window... I'm not mad.
Marvel and DC. In recent years, both these have gotten lots of attention, and I'll describe what I like about both. DC, I have always loved for its phenomenal villains and for its dark and mysterious heroes. While DnD is a fantasy game, you can still draw upon modern story techniques to perfect a world. I grew up watching Marvel kid's show (Spectacular Spider man, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Iron Man Armored Adventures) and I was hooked on its colorful characters and the compelling lives of its heroes both with and without their masks. It's great to now see great resources like Loki and Wandavision, which are both phenomenal examples of worldbuilding (see: the Hex, and, the TVA).
Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, Lockwood and Co... Any kid's series that you grew up loving, especially the ones like Harry Potter with an interesting Magic system and funny characters.
1) How much time do you have to put into this? I built 2 or 3 homebrew worlds years ago when I was young, single and had more time than I do today - today I run a world basically an alternate fo the Forgotten realms so I don't have to do all the work of updating it and filling it out and filling it in. Modifyiing a section of an existing world and letting WotC do the massive amount of work to keep it running is much easier and less time consuming.
2) why are your people where they are? Folks, be they dwarves, elves, humans, etc, don't just live/settle anywhere - there are reasons - what are they in your world? Waterdeep and New York are both deep water harbors. Baldurs Gate and St. Louis are both at crossings of trade routes and river systems, Virginia City, NV and a dwarf hold are both built on rich mineral deposits. what are the reasons for the places folks live in your world?
History - assuming that magic items are mostly relics from fallen cultures what were those cultures and where were they? What happened to them? Actually it might be interesting to build a low magic campaign in a "young world" where there are no ancient civilizations and folks are just starting to master magic, metals and civilization. your characters could be having to figure out how to do things like use the Magic weapon spell to permanently enhance a sword to make a + sword.
I also have a campaign where magic is basically limited by certain governments. Because, if you think about it, it can't just be legal for people to wander around the city casting fireball and geas whenever they want to. So some of the more controlling governments have limited spells of 3rd level or higher, if not banned them outright, and selling scrolls of those spells is illegal. In that world, the government has task forces created to hunt down illegal spellcasters and black market spell scroll dealers. it's a small detail but you'd be surprised at how much it changes the world and the way you build it
Start with a one-sentence elevator pitch for your world. Mine is, "Aarakocra dwelling in mountaintop cities dominate business and the political scene, because they control the flow of goods on airships over the rugged landscape."
Add a starting city and a starting incident that kicks the players into action.
Create a couple NPCs with roles in this crisis. What are their goals and motivations. What gods do they pray to? Do the gods answer?
Who wants something that conflicts with what the players want? What do they want? Is it a physical thing, or represented by a physical thing?
So I’m working on a home brew world for my home brew campaign (while my party plays through LMoP and PotA) I was looking for some tips and tricks and the steps to homebrewong a world)
Mythology Master
Great question, kudos to you for seeking advice. Some of the best ideas in worldbuilding come from working with/building off other people. As far as a process, i don't really have many definitive steps, but these are some good ones to start with:
Do you want to tell the story of how your world was created? If so:
Who created it? Was it the gods, a magical force, or is it a mystery?
If you'd rather start with some more modern details directly related to the world:
Establish countries
Try to set up some basic countries and empires. The DM's guide has some very good tips on how to set up a government, which type to choose (theocracy, oligarchy, aristocracy, etc), and how to set up leaders. With stuff like this, it's important to establish the basics, and go from there. When setting up your world, country, or city, here are some basics to be thinking through:
How was it founded (see above for world)? If it was a country or city, what ideals did it's founders hold to? Does it have a governor, or mayor type figure, or is it ruled by a corrupt mob boss or crime syndicate? What are the people like? How diverse are the races? Is magic regulated, or is there free use of all magic?
Once you have cities laid out, which will likely play a part in your adventure settings, You can start setting up organizations, important figures, and some history.
Organizations could be anything from a local crime syndicate, to an adventurers guild, or a high profile group, such as the Lord's Alliance or the Harpers, whose decisions influence more than just their local area. This really goes hand in hand with establishing leaders and important figures. Once you have a city or village, and some organizations, you can set up their leaders. Personality, ideals, flaws, very similar to creating one of your own characters. Something important to remember with all of this, is to not be afraid to draw ideas from some of your favorite fiction. Favorite movies, books, shows, and even other DnD adventurers can be very inspiring when trying to create a world. Draw on elements from your favorite villains, heroes, and settings to help create your world. Taking inspiration from other ideas isn't bad, especially when you're starting out. Most worlds, even in really successful franchises, draw on other works and ideas to inspire the elements they want. For example, when George Lucas created Star Wars, his idea of The Force was inspired by magic from Frank Herbert's Dune. Basically, create your own ideas, have fun, and don't be afraid to draw from your favorite sources for ideas for worldbuilding.
History is another important aspect of a country or city. Be thinking through it's founders, why they cam there, possible complications for establishing the country, etc. From there you could describe how the country's government or form of government was established or decided upon. Was it a benevolent theocracy, ruled over by shape-shifting copper dragons worshiping Bahamut, or was it a dark tyranny, obsessed with conquering the rest of the continent and enslaving those who stand in their way. This is also a great point to draw on real world history. Have your country somewhat fleshed out, but no idea how it was founded? Take America for example. Your country could be one founded on war and conflicting ideas between separate parties (sorry to any Brits out there). You could go in any direction you wanted though.
So to recap, some basics of worldbuilding:
start with the minimum. Use tips from the DM's guide, as well as your own creativity to set up countries, continents, and people.
from there, set up people and organizations. You can Npc building tips, characters from pop culture, and real world examples.
Finally, you can work on the individual stuff. Monsters in local areas, magic in your cities, and anything that might be important to your adventurers.
Best of luck
Updog
Some of my favorite resources, movies, books and shows for worldbuilding
Any book by Brandon Sanderson. Easily one of the best fantasy authors I've ever read, certainly better than the average DnD author. His worldbuilding is phenomenal, and his characters are amazingly designed. Would highly recommend.
Obviously I have to mention Tolkien here. He's considered one of the first greatest worldbuilders of all time, as well as the source to which many modern fantasy creatures, such as elves, dwarves, and goblins as we now think of them are attributed.
Star Wars and Dune. Dune, as I mentioned in my previous post, had a direct influence on Star Wars, and the two are some of the best worldbuilders I've seen. Dune has a fantastic setting, as well as use of politics, magic, and characters to shape the world. I shouldn't have to tell you why Star Wars is so good. Episodes 4-6 are great, and while 3 gets viciously memed for bad acting, it has a fantastic story. More on that below
Star Wars the Clone Wars and old expanded universe. A long time ago, in a galaxy where Kathleen Kennedy didn't ruin everything of value in the world we once loved, there was a show called Star Wars the Clone Wars, which is literally one of my favorite things of all time. The Clones are given the attention they deserve, and are given great story opportunities. Watch this show. The individual story arcs and settings are amazing. Any books or old expanded use material, which is harder to find but I'm sure you can dig up online, had some really cool story arcs and fun characters, at least it did before Lucasfilm threw canon out the window... I'm not mad.
Marvel and DC. In recent years, both these have gotten lots of attention, and I'll describe what I like about both. DC, I have always loved for its phenomenal villains and for its dark and mysterious heroes. While DnD is a fantasy game, you can still draw upon modern story techniques to perfect a world. I grew up watching Marvel kid's show (Spectacular Spider man, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Iron Man Armored Adventures) and I was hooked on its colorful characters and the compelling lives of its heroes both with and without their masks. It's great to now see great resources like Loki and Wandavision, which are both phenomenal examples of worldbuilding (see: the Hex, and, the TVA).
Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, Lockwood and Co... Any kid's series that you grew up loving, especially the ones like Harry Potter with an interesting Magic system and funny characters.
Updog
Thanks for all of the advice!
its also nice to see mention of some authors I really enjoy
Mythology Master
things to consider:
1) How much time do you have to put into this?
I built 2 or 3 homebrew worlds years ago when I was young, single and had more time than I do today - today I run a world basically an alternate fo the Forgotten realms so I don't have to do all the work of updating it and filling it out and filling it in. Modifyiing a section of an existing world and letting WotC do the massive amount of work to keep it running is much easier and less time consuming.
2) why are your people where they are? Folks, be they dwarves, elves, humans, etc, don't just live/settle anywhere - there are reasons - what are they in your world? Waterdeep and New York are both deep water harbors. Baldurs Gate and St. Louis are both at crossings of trade routes and river systems, Virginia City, NV and a dwarf hold are both built on rich mineral deposits. what are the reasons for the places folks live in your world?
History - assuming that magic items are mostly relics from fallen cultures what were those cultures and where were they? What happened to them? Actually it might be interesting to build a low magic campaign in a "young world" where there are no ancient civilizations and folks are just starting to master magic, metals and civilization. your characters could be having to figure out how to do things like use the Magic weapon spell to permanently enhance a sword to make a + sword.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I also have a campaign where magic is basically limited by certain governments. Because, if you think about it, it can't just be legal for people to wander around the city casting fireball and geas whenever they want to. So some of the more controlling governments have limited spells of 3rd level or higher, if not banned them outright, and selling scrolls of those spells is illegal. In that world, the government has task forces created to hunt down illegal spellcasters and black market spell scroll dealers. it's a small detail but you'd be surprised at how much it changes the world and the way you build it
Updog
Start with a one-sentence elevator pitch for your world. Mine is, "Aarakocra dwelling in mountaintop cities dominate business and the political scene, because they control the flow of goods on airships over the rugged landscape."
Add a starting city and a starting incident that kicks the players into action.
Create a couple NPCs with roles in this crisis. What are their goals and motivations. What gods do they pray to? Do the gods answer?
Who wants something that conflicts with what the players want? What do they want? Is it a physical thing, or represented by a physical thing?