At what point do you say Homebrew becomes original worldbrew? I guess meaning, at what point do you say it quits being for an existing game and become something original? Is it from the get-go for you, or at some point down the road? I’ve over the last few years started creating gaming worlds I’ve wanted to play in that aren’t in the “more popular” regions of games that are out there, so I’ve created my own mythos around them. At what point do “you personally” quit calling them an extension of an existing game, and start calling them something new or more?
Funny, I’ve never thought to distinguish between “my version of X” and whole-cloth world building. Always called both “homebrew.” But maybe that’s because I’ve almost always built from scratch (the sole exception was creating a Xanth campaign as a kid). Hmm… I hereby steal your nomenclature as my own!
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Pretty much the point you pick up the dice. You have to take ownership of the game to get a good game. Doesn’t matter if you wrote every jot and tidde or you have Forgotten Realms books for the last four editions.
Personally, created my world. There were no “Worlds” to buy in 1976. Even dungeons were scarce. Judges Guild. Their wilderness maps highly informed my own. Thindacarulle is the result of 46 years of game play and planning.
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Haven’t heard that phrase since I retired but its soo true. It was a mandatory process when we were assigned a project. As the lead on a project we were required to “take ownership” not just for a point of contact or someone to blame for the errors. When you take ownership you become possessive and work harder to ensure its quality. I still remember most of all the campaigns or scenario I’ve created. I cant say the same for purchased modules or settings that came with my books.
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Even there. I know I preach this pretty hard. But the minute you start playing a pre-written setting you alter it. There after it is your game based on that setting.
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I usually homebrew, but remain in a setting “worldbrew” because players don’t really care if I write up a dozen original gods with myths and backstories, or civilizations, or world history. If it doesn’t affect their campaign/game, they generally don’t care. But I have never been in or ran a game that lasted much more than a year, or had a player interested in the setting.
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I’m sorry for the former. For the later most players are not into the world building aspects. I’m less concerned abut the gods as the political landscape, that affects the PCs more.
Thindacarulle developed organically. I never sat down to “build a world” It happened as we played.
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About 95% of all of my GMing has been in personally created worlds, what the OP is calling “Worldbrew” (a term I’ve never seen before). About 99% of my D&D-specific GMing has been my own worlds. I’ve not been as strict in worldbuilding when running other systems like WoD, SW, or other such non-D&D games. D&D has always had a looser connection to a specific setting than many other RPG games. This is probably due to the TSR era when they were actively publishing what felt like dozens of different settings, all using the same rules.
Aside: The term homebrew has always meant “your own world”. If you read TSR publications, whenever they used “homebrew” it was in reference to a GM created world. The lack of a specific term for “a GM modified version of a published setting” is due to the publisher-stated expectation that GMs would tweak their house campaigns so as to make each table’s version of a published setting slightly different. The closest term would be “houserule”, but that refers to the system, not the setting. Houseworld? House setting? The idea of needing a term for this feels weird to my brain due to decades of assuming each GM’s game was adjusted to taste anyway. 
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I guess for me, “homebrew” is ones take on a pre-existing world (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, whatever), whereas “worldbrewing” for me would be just using an existing ruleset (like the old West End Games D6 or Wizards D20, or many of the other rulesets out there) and creating an entire world to play. And worldbrew is just the term I thought of to describe what I consider to be something different than homebrew. Not that there is really much difference between them, but I just needed something to say “this is what I consider this and what I consider that.” Appreciate your response.
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Thank you to everyone who has responded so far. It’s appreciated.
I’m going to throw a curve in here because I’m interested in the answers (that is, I’m not trolling).
Does the label even matter to you? Why (yes or no)?
To me it’s just “my game” at the end of the day.
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To me personally, no it doesn’t matter. I just wanted to differentiate what I considered to be a scale difference. One, in my opinion, is changing an existing world; while the other is basically creating something totally non-existent beforehand. But I would also agree that there really isn’t a lot of difference between the two. I guess I make a distinction because I’ve worldbuilt several personal games and slapped a ruleset on them. So, it would be a true homebrew, but on a massive scale.
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Point. It really only matter as a matter of definition when talking to other people, a common vocabulary within the gaming world.
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Once you change something it’s no longer the “original”.
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This is called Game Mastering. Game Systems are skeletons to hang the meat of you game world on. Settings are pre-made meat kits if you will. Still you are the one that hangs it. Your game play fleshes it out and makes it alive. A good living game takes designer, GM and player alike to make.
Something like Forgotten Realms is a huge resource for the game master than wants to dive in with a whole world under their belt. All the fluff a world would need. Give me a writing and editing team I’ll give you Thindacarulle to the same degree. These things take time. And I do not discourage there use. But it is still your game.
Phoenix – Rising Above the Flames
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LOL GO ahead. Won’t repeat myself, as my difference between the two is in another reply. But, “Huzzah” nonetheless!
Homebrew. Part of the fun - sometimes even more than the playing - is creating. Make it your own, but of course influenced by what others have done before.
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What an interesting question!
The more I think about it, the more I think that the player contract determines this.
For me, the first time we play in any game world, I make it clear to my players that we won’t be playing in be the precise canonical version of that world. I just don’t have the time to learn that much about any game world.
I’ve played games in existing campaign worlds and in homebrew worlds, and sometimes on the “edges” of campaign worlds. Because my groups have understood that we’re playing in my best estimate of that world, nobody expects it to be canonical, so we can easily play as we go.
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I be honest, my first thought was, "is that even a question? "
Every human perceives and interprets what they input differently from the next. Thus every creation is technically a new personal creation.
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