Introduction and getting started

Hey guys! I hate introductions, but still, I guess I gotta write something...

So I've decided to run a D&D game. However, I want it to be in a homebrew setting, cause, well, I prefer it that way, and I'm addicted to creation either way, might as well do it right away.

But why am I doing that on my blog? Your players will be able to see everything? Yeah, and? Actually I have quite a few reasons: (1) it makes it more likely that I will finish the damn thing; (2) Blogspot makes it somehow structured, with its posts and all; and (3) others might look at this and see it as a tutorial for world creation. If it is the first D&D setting I create, I've created many, many worlds for other stories or games, and I've gotten quite an amount of experience. When I was starting though, I was always looking for a tutorial of how to create a world. Here you go, that's one more for you guys.

Let's get this started right away, with Step 1: The Defining Aspects. If you create a world, you have to have an idea behind your head. What do you want in that world. How is it different from the others? Where are you taking this whole thing? This is step 1 because it has to be clear in your head before you can start, because those are the foundations of your world.

For me, here are my 3 defining aspects:

   First, this world is not led by humans. Actually, there are very few racial factions: One’s race does not dictate its belonging to a group in particular. Actually, several factions prefer having a wide variety of races, given the fact that each race has its own specializations. A consequence of this is that language is not race-defined, but geographically defined. This brings an interesting naming convention: family names will be, by definition, race-defined, while given names will be dictated by geography.

    Second, the idea of a pantheon of deities is not that spread. Gods, if they exist, are subtle about it. Like in the real world, many different religions claim to hold the truth, but they all are mutually exclusive (if one is right, the others aren't). Divine magic therefore does not come from the gods, but from a cleric’s own devotion, not unlike a sorcerer’s arcane magic. As such, clerics and paladins exist outside of organized religions, devoting their lives to an ideal, and still have all the class benefits of other clerics.

   Third, it will follow the relative approach to good and evil. Alignments do not exist, only sets of values. Paladins follow an ideal and act according to it, rather than following a lawful stupid code. A paladin of Freedom and a paladin of Order will act differently, but will always try to portray the ideal that they believe in. While some values are deemed evil, and other good, these two concepts are not absolutes.What one may consider good, the other may consider evil. After all, there are more than 9 moral codes out there.

For you students, write down a few of these aspects that will define your setting. Is it fantasy in a modern setting? Is it a world with two continents, an evil one ruled by orcs and red dragons and a good one ruled by the kind human king? It it a world where humans can become super sayians? What wil important to your game/story?