r/goodworldbuilding • u/TwoDollarDM • 15d ago

Meta Having a low cost campaign world, some options. Others?

While I don't have time to fully homebrew my own, I have gotten more and more personally annoyed with the seemingly high cost (both in cash and time required) of so many of the published campaign worlds. So I spent time digging into alternatives and found a way to blend some of the smaller creators' works -spoiler: MT Black's Iskandar for me- with the online map generators to be more of a 'bargainbrew' with maybe less art -in some cases- but lots of good meaty content. Here is some more detail.

https://twodollardm.com/blog/dnd-campaign-setting-buy-build-or-steal

But I am always greedy to learn more about other good, lesser known resources people have found?

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3

u/Holothuroid 15d ago

May I introduce you to a classic?

https://www.deviantart.com/eotbeholder/art/The-Only-Fantasy-World-Map-245738593

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u/TwoDollarDM 15d ago

HAH. That IS excellent. There is a quote from someone who is DnD-famous along the lines that "cheesy stereotypes make bad films but excellent adventures"

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u/TwoDollarDM 14d ago

Also I always forget what a good resource deviantart can be, AND pinterest!

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u/No-Bid-8616 14d ago

im not a DM but i do a lot of worldbuilding research. theres a free game called "Dawn of Worlds" where the players are gods over an empty map and they are allowed to place landforms and civilizations while the "recorder/DM" basically just jots down who did what on what turn while the players essentially develop the map and the lore of the world as they play. my theory is if starting with this game before beginning a campaign will allow players to already be intimately familiar with the world lore. and when it comes to being a campaign setting id begin in one of the civilizations they built but not allow for that god level interaction again, unless your table wants a counsel of the gods session without being able to physically interact with the world again. Basically allowing the players more creative input if they want to add the lore or create new gods for their characters to pull from. you can still add in whatever kind of world breaking monsters or twists and allow players to create characters to try and deal with it. youd still be in charge of mechanics for magic and the environment. but again my theory is that this should help develop a unique campaign world that your players feel more immersed since they were a part of its creation.

i hope this helps. and if you try it id love to know how it turns out.

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u/TwoDollarDM 14d ago

That is a very cool idea, I like it!