A homebrew setting is something special, and it says a lot about a person. With it, ambition is shown, and interesting stories created. Best of all is the fun time’s with your group. The first homebrew setting I made was rough, it took heavy inspiration from Matt Colville’s videos and minor inspiration from Critical Role. But it had magic that shined through it all, and I feel like I will never be able to truly recapture it. How it feels to wing an entire session with nothing but a description of a town, or letting my players do whatever they want with a wish spell. Here I will outline what the setting was in the beginning, and how it was at the end. Hopefully, this inspires your next homebrew setting some.
The World, an Important Part of any Campaign Setting
For my first homebrew setting, the continent of Fair Isle is sizable, each hex is a day’s travel. It has three primary Empires: The Elven Glade’s, The Kingdom of Praiwen, and Ajax’s Empire. These three superpowers are bordered by a series of Dwarven clans in a civil war. A marshland that is home to Dragonborn. The Merchants Republic of Oyolon in the south supplies the kingdom’s across the large Channel that separates the two halves of the continent.
The Countrie’s
The Draconian Kingdom
Ruled by a group filled with the magic of the ancient bloodlines. They are an isolationist kingdom and have an ancient alliance with the elves founded on that shared policy. But unlike the elves, the draconian’s hardly ever ventured out of their kingdom. Obsessed with learning ancient magic. When a draconian commits a heinous crime, a magical brand is placed on the draconian by an elder. They are rather unwelcoming of guests.
Ruled by a council of draconians elected by their Chieftains., with a King in place as a figurehead nothing more. The draconians live in tribal cities scattered across marshes. They do have two major cities: The capital, and their trading hub. The trading hub is the one place one can see a draconian without risking their lives.
The Elves
They do not like politics or trust the human’s. Isolating themselves from the rest of the world, they protect their glades. Some young elves wander often out into the world, against the wishes of their elders. Elves are not as rare a sight as a draconian, and travel as artisans or craftsmen. Always learning more of a trade, or gathering new knowledge of the world. The elves are ruled by the eldest of their race in a position known as the Eldest. The position is a voluntary one. Currently, the third oldest living elf holds the position of the Eldest. They have a council of the next eldest, also all voluntary positions, that help the Eldest. The current Eldest is over 1,000 years old.
The elves have three major cities, with many smaller settlements scattered around the forests they own. The memory of the War of Human Aggression is still fresh in their minds. Many still hold grudges against humans.
The Dwarven Clans
The dwarves used to have a massive kingdom made up of all the mountains in the east but, after the last Dwarf King Died they split into three major factions, each lead by a Clan. The Clans have been at war for close to 15 years now, and some are starting to get weary of killing their own. Clan VoltWing is led by a dwarven mage, Thoradin VoltWing. He wants the wealth of a kingdom under his command. Clan StoneBrow, led by Bruenor StoneBrow. They are legendary masons who have crafted the greatest dwarven cities, and just want to be recognized for their hard work. Clan Kraghammer, led by Rurik Kraghammer, is a clan of warriors. Rurik just wants his people to be united again and this civil war to end. Of course with him as the winner.
StoneBrow is currently negotiating with Kraghammer for peace, and if they do make peace VoltWing doesn’t stand a chance of winning. The dwarves normally keep to themselves, but the civil war has led to an influx of refugees heading into Praiwen.
Kingdom of Praiwen
Ruled by King Gavinough. He presents himself as a benevolent ruler who prefers to let his people govern themselves. On the inside, he is a deeply troubled individual who is paranoid the elves will kill him. He has two sons, who are more warlike than he is. Praiwens minister has made peace with all their surrounding kingdoms and works day and knight to keep it so. Praiwen was founded by humans 400 years ago. They took the lands by force from the elves and aarakocra who inhabited them. It has now become partly dwarven due to the mass amount of refugees fleeing from the civil war. While it is temporary most of the Humans have openly welcomed the dwarves.
The Merchant Republic of Oyolon
It is made up of many mixed species. Almost any race can be found in this kingdom focused on Trading. They run caravans throughout the entire continent and across the Seas. They have a Senate made up of elected merchants. This country is the home of the Adventurers Guild.
The Empire of Ajax
It is founded around one man. An ex-adventurer he used his wealth to return to his home, a failing kingdom in the north and took control of it. After he declared himself Emperor, his empire was founded. With the help of his old adventuring party, he swiftly conquered the hobgoblins and other local tribes. With their help, he took the northern mountains, home to more monstrous races. His empire now controls goliaths, ogres, orcs, humans, and many other races. The empire is held in control by his sheer power, and will.
The History of the Homebrew Setting
These countries were in a massive war 400 years ago where the humans seized much of the land from the Elf’s, the natives of the continent. The war was bloody and is known by two names. The War of Human Aggression by the elves, and the Praiwen Conquest by the humans. Ajax’s empire formed in the last 20 years and united the northern tribes. Many of the northern tribes are monsters, with a spattering of humans. The Dwarven king died 15 years ago, and with no clear successor, the clans splintered around the three strongest candidates. Now they fight in an endless civil war.
The Villains of the Homebrew Stetting
Kaleral The Vile
The Player’s started in a village so small it had no name. In it, they encountered this opening from one of Matt Colville’s videos. Except instead it was an elf named Kaleral. Now Kaleral was a veteran of the war of Human Aggression. His sister was killed during the war, he began to dive deep into necromancy. He earned the title of Vile by raising human’s as undead. He now leads a group, made up of aarakocra that want the mountains of Praiwen back, and other disgruntled species.
Ajax
The leader of his own Empire, Ajax is a high-level antagonist always teased to be there watching. Unfortunately, the campaign ended before I could properly put him against the players. But he was a lot of fun to threaten them with.
How It Was Left
Kaleral The Vile became the king of Praiwen after the player’s assassinated the king. He turned it into the Kingdom of The Vile, making it a benevolent place where all were welcome. The player’s from this point on always had a safe haven there. After this, the players joined an adventuring guild and made a name for themselves supporting Kaleral the whole time. This got the attention of a god called The Wanderer.
The Wish
The Player’s hot access to a wish spell, which they used after debating to create dragon riders. It was pretty much just Eragon. I loved it and it showed a lot of ingenuity. Since they wished to a God I allowed the more complicated spell. It destroyed any balance since they had dragons, but we ran it like this for about a month. The fortress Vrongaurd was built, dragon egg’s secured, and many riders recruited. Along the way, they managed a village and the problem player joined. That person caused the end of the campaign, it was my fault for not realizing sooner.
Problems
I’m gonna be honest there are so many with this setting. After I reread my notes for this I don’t know how I survived. The word documents where formatted so poorly. I didn’t even bother with gods. A lot of it focused on me winging it, and yeah it shows. The characters were all shallow and one dimensional, the towns had no description. Rule of cool trumped all. It was fantastic and terrible, so make the decision of which for yourself.
Thats it!
I wish I could say more, but this is it. This is all of the setting info I wrote down. The rest exists in the heads of me and my players, which is where it should be. It’s why I consider this so special. It’s something that continues to exist and has a life outside of normal sessions. It should also be the goal of any dungeon master as the early days of winging it can quickly turn into a magical world like this.
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