Ways to Sort Campaign Settings?

[Soup Nazi]

Perhaps you should mention Genre, for Post Apocalyptic or Horror or what not. Basically, if the Genre is anything but basic fantasy, then it should be mentioned for better organization.

The genre will almost certainly be apparent within the core ethos statement (it should be anyway). I'm just trying to keep things from getting too complicated.

Imagine I listed Sulos like this: SULOS (MM/MP/HT/HF/Ho)

Would people even know what the heck I was talking about? Medium magic, medium psionics, high tech, high fantasy, with a smattering of horror. It seems clumsy, and I doubt people would grasp the abreviations right away.

Perhaps we could put a sticky in the homebrew forum entitled Homebrew Posting Guidlines. It could include a template for a core ethos. If everybody who posts a new homebrew follows the same template for their core ethos we could have an up front (and universal) format for determining such things.

Maybe something like (mind you this is super basic)

1. Theme: The genre, look, and concept of the setting

2. Tone: The feel of the world (oppressed, fatastic, mysterious, etc)

3. Magic: The role and frequency of magic in the setting

4. Tech: The role and advancement of technology in the setting

5. Other: Various other concepts, systems, and ideas key to the setting (like pact magic, psionics, incarnum, and so on)

-Nasty-

[Ishmayl-Retired]

nate's got the best idea so far, I think.  We can still use abbreviations inside of those, but I think each of those topics should be explored.

[Arnkel]

Nasty Nate: We'd also have to come up with definitions for those terms(High Magic, High Fantasy, etc.). Additionally we'd also want to add a part to it about the amount of house rules/optional supplements used to power the setting. Some settings are a bit more core rules based than others(which could easily affect which ones people look at). A possible alternative would be to have a single short hook sentence, sort of like what WotC did when they were choosing Eberron in that contest a few years back.

[Soup Nazi]

nate's got the best idea so far, I think.  We can still use abbreviations inside of those, but I think each of those topics should be explored.

Care to help me make the template Ishy?

-Nasty-

[Soup Nazi]

Nasty Nate: We'd also have to come up with definitions for those terms(High Magic, High Fantasy, etc.). Additionally we'd also want to add a part to it about the amount of house rules/optional supplements used to power the setting. Some settings are a bit more core rules based than others(which could easily affect which ones people look at). A possible alternative would be to have a single short hook sentence, sort of like what WotC did when they were choosing Eberron in that contest a few years back.

Almost completely agreed. I don't think those little hook sentances really suffciently sum up a setting though. I think Eberron's was something like a world of pulp noir action adventure, or something along those lines. Eberron was nothing like what I had envisioned after reading the hook though.

What else should be added to the core ethos template?

-Nasty-

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Yeah, I'll help, but I'm really only available from after 5:00 PM until around 10:00 PM EST on most nights (not even all nights).

[Soup Nazi]

That's okay. I'll email you a rough draft, and maybe you can spruce it up

-Nasty-

[Xathan]

Something worth adding, IMO, would be the degree of core used: are we talking everything core is good, or limited, or none?

[Soup Nazi]

Core Ethos Template

Theme:

The first aspect of the setting that should be established within the core ethos is the general theme of the world. The theme should include descriptions about the genre of your homebrew such as horror, post apocalyptic, war ravaged, and so on. You should address geography or environment issues that play important parts within the setting (if any), such as subterranean, desert worlds, or multiple suns and no nightfall. A few general concepts about the setting should also be a part of your theme, like collapsing empires, lost knowledge, or gods that walk among mankind hidden among them.

Tone:

The second aspect of the setting that should be established within the core ethos is the general tone of the world. Unlike the theme which describes how the world looks, the tone describes how the world feels. Some good examples of tone include tyrannical oppression, the optimistic turning of an age, or god fearing people that go to any length to please their deities. The tone deals mainly with the underlying emotional state of the people who live within the world, and how they react to, and feel about the things around them.

Magic:

Magic is part of D&D, but the role magic plays in this setting specifically should be explained. Some things that should be addressed include how powerful, influential, and common are the forces of magic actually are within the world. It is important to put magic in context with the common people of the setting as well; have they only heard hushed whispers about magic, or is it something fundamental to their daily lives. If any additional sources of magic drawn upon, other than those presented within the core rules, they should also be mentioned. Additional supplements like the Expanded Psionics Handbook, Tome of Magic, or Incarnum that play important roles within the world should be explained in the context of the world. Likewise if any core systems have been removed, mention them and explain why.

Technology:

Every civilization makes use of technology of some kind or another. In the core ethos there should be some kind of acknowledgement made to the level of technological advancements made within the world. While the default D&D world has technology that falls somewhere between the Dark Ages and the Renaisance in terms of armor, weapons, sailing, construction, and so on. Not all settings are this advanced, and they may not have developed heavier armors like full plate, or weapons like crossbows. Other setting may have gone beyond this point and heavy armors are no longer used due to the prevalence of superior firearms. Some may have even begun using alternate forms of technology without any historical parallel, like dimensional gates, symbiotic living weapons and armor, or androids. Make sure to describe the kind of technology your settings makes use of.

Alternate Rules:

You should also describe within the core ethos how close or how far you have deviated from the core rules. Some settings stay as close the core as possible; they use the core races, core classes, and the same combat mechanics. Others completely deviate from the core using entirely new races, classes, spell casting systems. Most fall somewhere in between. Make sure to give a brief run down of the alternate rules systems that have been used within the setting. Usually a few new feats or a couple spells wonâ,¬,,¢t require any mention. However if in your setting there are completely different races, new rules for armor class, and there are no cross-class skills, itâ,¬,,¢s a good idea to address the changes up front in your core ethos.

How does that look?

-Nasty-

[Xathan]

That looks perfect Nasty.

[SA]

Darn, that's great and all, but I had more than my fair share of trouble summing up my core ethos the way I did, let alone ascribing to a new template...

Will this be mandatory, or merely recommended?

[Soup Nazi]

Just recommended. Or the settings already posted could be grandfathered in. I'll revise my core ethos though if this gets stickied. I wouldn't want to be hypocritical now would I?

-Nasty-

[Túrin]

Looking good here. So will this be combined with or replace a system of abbreviations to be used in your setting's title?

[Soup Nazi]

Looking good here. So will this be combined with or replace a system of abbreviations to be used in your setting's title?

Exactly. I don't think this system requires the abbreviations, but if we still want to include them, that will work too.

-Nasty-

[Epic Meepo]

Hmm.  I really like the idea of a sticky where people can post a quick summary of their settings, and someone should look into the idea.

On the other hand, a sticky like that will quickly become like the Rogue's Gallery: multiple pages with lots of wordy posts in no particular order.  It's nice to read through to get a feel for what's on these boards (which I like), but it's not particularly conducive to sorting dozens of threads into groups.

I'm tempted to volunteer to make a thread that includes links to settings arranged into various lists (such as "high-tech settings" and "horror settings", with a link to each setting appearing in every group to which it belongs), but I'd have no way of keeping such an index up to date.  In particular, each setting's stage of development will change radically over time, making that almost untrackable in an index-type set-up.