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Starting a Homebrew D&D Project with Gaming Brew
Episode 6422nd September 2022 • How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM • Justin Lewis
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Warmup: From Tanner to Gaming Brew

Intro

Welcome back to How to be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis here with my cohort Tanner Weyland to bring you the best resources for you to become the world’s best DM. We want to help you craft better stories for yourself and your players as you DM sessions of D&D. Today we have an awesome guest with us today but before we get into that let’s talk about a few announcements.

The first announcement is that we had to move the September one-shot to October first at 4:00 PM Mountain time. If you want to watch that, head over to betterdungeonmaster.com/watch. Due to a number of unforeseen circumstances, we had to move it.

Next, we will be doing a giveaway soon on our Instagram so head over to at how to be a better dm on Instagram and make sure to follow us. If you’ve ever heard of the software Dungeon Alchemist, they’ve given us a download key to giveaway and all that will happen over on our Instagram :).

We also still have one slot open as of this recording for the October one-shot so if you want it to come and claim it. After that fills up, we’ll start prepping for November’s one-shot so come and bask in the glory!

I think that is enough announcements for today. So let’s get into today’s main topic: homebrewing. Today I have a veteran of homebrewing here with us and he can introduce himself as he so chooses but let’s dive in with the first question.

Main Topic: Homebrew Content

How did you first think up the “Erenel Fiction Universe,” and what is its premise?

How do you make a homebrew class

How do you make a Homebrew Race

How do you make a homebrew monster

How much time does it take to make a Homebrew project.

Do you make homebrew items for campaigns specifically or do you make things and then find campaigns to fit them in?

What are the biggest mistakes you’ve made when making your homebrew projects?

What tools have you used in making Erenel?

What type of non-D&D research (politics, military tactics, economics) have you done for Erenel?

Would you describe your playtest methods?

How much have you revised in Erenel and changed?

What is your favorite homebrew creation and why?

What was the hardest homebrew creation for you?

How do you determine time periods (does your World contain different eras with different technological advances)?

Intermission

Main Topic Continued

Do you think DMs are daunted by the idea of homebrew? Why or why not?

Is home brewing hard, in your opinion?

How should beginners approach their first project?

How to Reach out to GamingBrew:

Twitch: Gaming Brew

Gamingbrew.com

Conclusion

Mentioned in this episode:

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Always Have Your Sessions Prepared!

You work 8 hours a day. You spend time with your family when you come home. You do work around the house and it seems you never have as much time as you would like to prepare your D&D sessions. Does this sound like you? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have endless material prepared for your D&D sessions anyways? That’s where Roll and Play Press comes in. Roll and Play Press provides D&D 5e Compatible materials for any type of session. Running a one-shot? Check out their One Shot Wonders book with over 100 one-shot ideas. Getting started with your new sci-fi campaign? Get their Game Master’s Sci-Fi Toolkit to have your games much more prepared. Why reinvent the wheel? Check out Roll and Play Press at rollandplaypress.com and get 10% off when you buy something by using the code BETTERDM10.

Transcripts

lewis]:

boose i don't

weyland]:

yeah you can

[brews]:

m

weyland]:

boomicaboos any time

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

yeah you're fine

lewis]:

oh yeah

weyland]:

okay well welcome to the podcast real quick bruce let's start with a warm up

weyland]:

your ready

[brews]:

i'm ready

weyland]:

perfect okay so oftentimes at the start of an adventure the players have kind of

weyland]:

an inciting event m and oftentimes that's like someone near and dear to them you

weyland]:

know something happened to happens to that person i want you to come up with

weyland]:

an inciting event and if it's connected to an individual you know flesh that out

weyland]:

a little bit but just something that would be emotionally impactful enough to get a

weyland]:

bunch of players going on in it venture

lewis]:

ah

[brews]:

the most exciting event in the history running table top games people are sitting in

[brews]:

a tavern you now i'm just getting

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

amazing

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

where did you

lewis]:

okay

weyland]:

come up with it

[brews]:

i personally like to start my games my campaigns with like new players this combat

[brews]:

happening in the first five to ten minutes what

weyland]:

nice

[brews]:

i'll do is i'll have the meat up in some way usually away from town

[brews]:

times on the road

weyland]:

oh

[brews]:

and some of some of the old school sky room where you're on the wagon

[brews]:

you're just waking up like

weyland]:

yep

[brews]:

to throw them in the combat immediately right away let them get the jitters out

[brews]:

of ther system and push him

weyland]:

love

[brews]:

from there

weyland]:

it great and so you just show up immediately with combat give us an example

[brews]:

one of my previous combats was sort of inspired by one of the disiomodules one

[brews]:

of the old ones the dragons

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

they are in the city kind of exploring the city slowly meeting each other looking

[brews]:

to each other through the crowd and the red dragon attacks starts to burn the

[brews]:

city around them and it forces them to run for cover dive into some ends

[brews]:

in some taverns or

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

the nearby chapel fight their way as all the kobolds and the draconic usually i

[brews]:

kind of like to start my stuff something something that really

weyland]:

i

[brews]:

gets

weyland]:

love

[brews]:

the

weyland]:

that

[brews]:

blood pumping

weyland]:

yeah i like that because it's like it's action but not i mean i think

weyland]:

a lot of people when they think of action like right from the get go

weyland]:

they think oh it's got to be like a group of goblins or wolves something

weyland]:

but you're like oh no they're going to be a doin mix they're gonna be

weyland]:

fighting some people sure but they're also running for cover which is like a very

weyland]:

intense like interesting start i love it love it love it love it um but

weyland]:

let's just you know going from here let's just hop into the into the podcast

weyland]:

so listeners welcome back to how to be a better dam i am tanner wayland

weyland]:

and i'm here with my co host justin lewis as well as bruce from gaming

weyland]:

bruce he is a wonderful content creator and we'll have some more more in depth

weyland]:

introduction for him later but first some announcements first off we just wanted to say

weyland]:

that the september one shot got pushed to october first at four p m mountain

weyland]:

time as we mentioned earlier you will be able to watch that just go to

weyland]:

better dungeon master dot com forward slash listen ah

lewis]:

sorry that's that's forward slash

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

watch totally

weyland]:

for

lewis]:

my

weyland]:

lash

lewis]:

bad

weyland]:

watch okay i was wonder was like oh

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that changed um

lewis]:

yeah my bed

weyland]:

yeah you're good we had to change it just because schedule issues um so justin

weyland]:

will running that one i'll actually be out of town in chicago at that

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

time but

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

but it should be great honestly very excited for that m other is as far

weyland]:

as it goes we're going to be doing a give away soon on instagram it's

weyland]:

our how it's at how to be a better d m on

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

instagramum make sure to follow us we'll give you some more info but it has

weyland]:

to do with the software dungeon alchemist um as they've been so kind and they've

weyland]:

given us a key so that you can download it so we're goin doing a

weyland]:

little competition a little give away

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

on instagramso keep your ears and eyes and phone screens open

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

okay also another we have one more announcement we have one slot opened for the

weyland]:

recording in october um that's going to be with rob from this dungeon is occupied

weyland]:

or bone daddy as people call them over there so yeah we're super excited for

weyland]:

that it's going to be horror theme you're going to love it definitely sign up

weyland]:

for that otherwise we'll definitely catch you in the next one near the end of

weyland]:

the year in november december is um otherwise let's just hop into is so bruwseintr

weyland]:

use yourself a little bit

[brews]:

guys bruce from gaming brew i'm a

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

edition content creator make a lot of supplemental stuff glasses up glasses so have a

[brews]:

pretty good gore following we run west march living world game i run a bunch

[brews]:

of adventures for our team

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

stream it

weyland]:

oh that's

[brews]:

all

weyland]:

awesome

[brews]:

on twitch it

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

it's a great time

weyland]:

great great

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

and we'll have you say it again at the end but what's your how can

weyland]:

people reach you on twitch what's your handle

[brews]:

twitch

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

it's

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

a gamin brew use a game across

weyland]:

same thing

[brews]:

the board you can go to gaming

weyland]:

great

[brews]:

bred

weyland]:

you killed

[brews]:

dot com

weyland]:

it

[brews]:

and find all my stuff uh

weyland]:

man it's great don't love it when you find a good handle just cross the

weyland]:

board

[brews]:

was at least surprised

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

you're like has no one come up with us

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

we our whole approach was just make a lot of words and no one's got

weyland]:

to have the same same order of war it's really

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

um

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

how to be

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

a better dam uh anyway

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

so yeah honestly we loved

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

your your instagram is just amazing i've been looking over it right and it's just

weyland]:

like you're so good at creating content and looks so professional and like the the

weyland]:

polish and shine on it is incredible um i guess my question is did you

weyland]:

well first off how did you first get into d and d m

[brews]:

i've been lucky enough to play an d since second i've been playing d indiana

[brews]:

for over twenty years got my start

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

amazing

[brews]:

way back in high school freshman er high school

weyland]:

great so did did a friend invite you is that how it you know invite

weyland]:

you over

[brews]:

my my next or neighbor my buddy's older brother and all his friends house always

[brews]:

play down in the basement yeah kind of went from there

weyland]:

that's awesome that's great and so was it pretty soon after that that you started

weyland]:

you know home brewing content

[brews]:

it was a once third edition came out all those years ago edition is

weyland]:

h

[brews]:

to hold

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

i mean

lewis]:

ye

[brews]:

did a lot of home bred for that then when fifth edition came around and

[brews]:

with the rise of stuff like critical role in adventure time

weyland]:

yep

[brews]:

i really got back to the roots and i really started to dive in to

[brews]:

seeing how how big

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

many people were joining the genre

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

yeah honestly it's incredible

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

and so uh so i was curious specifically because a lot of your stuff if

weyland]:

not all of it is it's the aran fiction fictional universe right

[brews]:

that's correct

weyland]:

so like tell me how that came about like what that something you been working

weyland]:

on for years or have you branched out from that like what was kind of

weyland]:

the inciting incident with that with creating that

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

so

lewis]:

ah

[brews]:

and critic as getting really big

lewis]:

kay

[brews]:

my my fiancee and her brother were getting into it and they wanted to start

[brews]:

playing and and they had never played before so i wanted to give

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

them a home brew experience started to write aron basically around their characters as we

[brews]:

ran the campaign and over a time it just kept growing and growing and i

[brews]:

kept having to add more stuff and then more friends wanted to come and play

weyland]:

uh

[brews]:

it's kind of snowball from there nd then it's just turned into this huge campaign

[brews]:

setting

weyland]:

that's amazing

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

how many people are playing right now

[brews]:

and so i run a campaign every other friday with five really close friends then

[brews]:

we have a couple of great deems in our dis core that also run campaigns

[brews]:

inside the fictional world an we all come together

weyland]:

amazing

[brews]:

there's about thirty of us that do the living world west march

weyland]:

snap

lewis]:

tenner can i ask question real quick

weyland]:

please do

lewis]:

awesome so bruise what you said just sparked a big like interest in me personally

lewis]:

because i'm actually trying to kind of flesh out one of my own home brew

lewis]:

world and obviously that's the selfish reason why i'm asking this question but more for

lewis]:

the listener more for the listener quote quote in creating a home brew project a

lewis]:

home brew world it is a pretty intense undertaking and the way you described it

lewis]:

was very interesting you said you created it around their characters and then started fleshing

lewis]:

it out from there so if i can dig a little deeper on that was

lewis]:

it you had your girl friend and her brother create characters and back stories and

lewis]:

then you use those elements to start creating and kind of as the seed for

lewis]:

eronel or did you supply them details and that also became the seed for air

lewis]:

now like welcomes through that

[brews]:

i know there's there's two ways that people usually go about creating worlds they usually

[brews]:

go top in like they start with the big universe

lewis]:

hm

[brews]:

in the dates or they go

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

like regional and expand from there i started

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

top in and i had a couple of ties for my head like it overarching

[brews]:

content form and then i waited to

weyland]:

nice

[brews]:

see kind of what classes grabbed him one of them one person was like really

[brews]:

into like druid circles so i was like i need to make a bunch stuff

[brews]:

about druids and nature stuff another one was really big into holy light and clear

[brews]:

stuff so i started toss like a aspect to them too and then after seeing

[brews]:

were they went and just find tune there and then i just built all the

[brews]:

details around their characters and then let it expand out from that direction

lewis]:

that makes sense

weyland]:

yeah that's that's great so like do you think that that's the best way you

weyland]:

could i mean i'm not i don't have any issue with that but i'm like

weyland]:

looking back are you happy that started it like that just kind of took what

weyland]:

they were interested in and built on that versus just i don't know

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

doing a world just off the cuff that isn't necessarily regarding them

[brews]:

worked really great at the time and then about a year

weyland]:

h

[brews]:

and a half or so and

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

when we started to have more and more people interested i pulled back a bit

[brews]:

i went

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

started very broad built our pantheon a lot of the nations and the armies and

[brews]:

really started at the time lines and the universe then i built down that way

[brews]:

i figured

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

that doing that way it's

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

made it a lot more accessible to everybody you know i went with the

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

s a pretty major of things a lot of pomebrewers use and they go you

[brews]:

know geography religion

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

adomics politics

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

and so structure and i really dove into those five things so i had a

[brews]:

idea of like made my said in unique

weyland]:

yeah i see that you put out a lot of content as well and so

weyland]:

with that in mind like because because you do all kinds of content right like

weyland]:

you do you do the monsters you do races sub races you know the sub

weyland]:

classes just just basically everything right

lewis]:

eh

weyland]:

um how do you like what's your process going into that because i imagine that

weyland]:

if your process was poor you could only do a few you know every once

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

in a while right

[brews]:

yeah it's definitely been

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

fine to after a couple of years of doing this but now it's to the

[brews]:

point where put out poles or themes everyone to vote on what they want me

[brews]:

to focus on for the month for example

weyland]:

that's great

[brews]:

this month is our our theme is thieves killed so it's all about rogues and

[brews]:

thieves skilled stuff and that gives me like a good action always need a little

[brews]:

bit of direction for doing create outlet then

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

i'm lucky enough to i can make classes or races or monsters whatever really a

[brews]:

whole of me that day than i have awesome team to play test and i

[brews]:

have like a method that i used to play test content comes out hope it's

[brews]:

retty balanced i feel like it's pretty balanced

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

it comes out in a very polished state

lewis]:

yeah yeah

weyland]:

i mean i feel like you do a lot more than most people going

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

into home brew

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

right

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that's great though because because i do love that you get input because frankly the

weyland]:

same for me if i have perameters given to me by someone else or like

weyland]:

a general kind of thrust of what i should be working towards so much easier

weyland]:

like twenty times you're to come up with ideas you know

[brews]:

helps to corral

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

the brain

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

exactly

lewis]:

h if we can dive deeper a little bit could you describe let's say with

lewis]:

the example of you know magic item maybe not magic item i don't like a

lewis]:

a tree monster i don't know what would be your method for play testing that

lewis]:

monster okay

[brews]:

if i was to do a monster to play test t once you kind of

[brews]:

have the cr that you want to do even though car is a little little

[brews]:

yank for five once you ave

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

that cr

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

you you

lewis]:

yah

[brews]:

play tested i have a lot of different sit in training dummies a lot of

[brews]:

set classes

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

and sub classes built that i can just toss in and i run combats with

[brews]:

myself and with other people just

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

it off that way it's also once you make so much content and since i've

[brews]:

been fifth edition now for so long it's always a good idea to try to

[brews]:

mold it around stuff that wizards has already made wizards gives a nice once you

[brews]:

understand like the theme and how they kind of make their content you can kind

[brews]:

of keep yours really close to theirs

weyland]:

yeah so kind of using them as similar temples or genera to like you know

weyland]:

create alongside it so you're not going crazy

[brews]:

i just like a tense you can kind of see they

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

have ranges for their health and maget put in the back of the d m

[brews]:

g that really helps out to you so you know you don't go to to

[brews]:

extreme on damages or too light we're getting

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

into the power creep of the it

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

perfect honestly that's like that's a great way to to put it you know like

weyland]:

hey with home bruin you don't have to learn everything from scratch right you kind

weyland]:

of need to base it on other examples you know that's that's how most everything

weyland]:

starts right if you're gonna if you're going to write a story you gotta you're

weyland]:

probably going to base aspects on it on other stories you've read you know same

weyland]:

if someone is like making making a game you know you can't just don't expect

weyland]:

to start from scratch certainly not at the start right so other than that what

weyland]:

do you find i mean since you have so much experience with us what are

weyland]:

some major mistakes or missteps

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that you've had when you've been home brewing

[brews]:

my my biggest one and i was lucky

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

enough to be corrected by some of our very well read and

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

good proof

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

readers in our discord but wizards has very say things a

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

certain way how they

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

present themselves in their features and their abilities and their sub classes and you want

[brews]:

to make sure as a home brew that you match what they say and all

[brews]:

of your stuff an try to you try your best to have the same kind

[brews]:

of warding so that people that still learning the game or new to the game

[brews]:

and reading your home brow can pick up on the ideas understand what you're trying

[brews]:

to get across in your home brew

weyland]:

okay yeah that's that's great you know just making sure that that you're just like

weyland]:

being very clear because that's the thing that wizard kills at they have that of

weyland]:

saying things that makes it so incredibly clear that you know you're not going to

weyland]:

have players just confused or um or you know questioning or trying to break things

weyland]:

you know certain

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

ways yeah because that just happens all the time

lewis]:

yea

weyland]:

and so when you've been like creating all of these different parts of aranelum what

weyland]:

like so aside from like turning to wizards products are there any specific products that

weyland]:

were like very useful

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that you reference all the time or any other tools in general or or places

weyland]:

for content just just like where what tools do you use typically

[brews]:

try to just be a sponge and just read as much about different campaign settings

[brews]:

as i can or like checking out of the new kick starters the biggest

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

one that's been extremely helpful for me is midguard world book cobalt press

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

have a very

weyland]:

hm

[brews]:

large i think it's

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

like a five hundred page campaign setting just seeing how they laid out their content

[brews]:

to make it easily accessible been ge for me and setting and planning like what

[brews]:

i need to hit out going like two to detailed because you want to give

[brews]:

m you know room to add their own when they run their games but giving

[brews]:

them just

weyland]:

exactly

[brews]:

enough detail like they do in their products been massive for me

weyland]:

that's great and i was very curious specifically about so i noticed that you i

weyland]:

mean you kind of kill it when it comes to matching the look you know

weyland]:

like each of your posts on instagram like so this isn't from the book you

weyland]:

know like how do you how do you like go about creating that is there

weyland]:

like an app or do you just kind of uhphotoshop that together have you been

weyland]:

doing that so far

[brews]:

so i use a mix a website called home brewery

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

you that does a like b b code that you can use to kind of

[brews]:

put stuff in there and then i export out of that into my photo shop

[brews]:

and then make sure everything thinks up and looks the same

weyland]:

that's great

[brews]:

i've

weyland]:

awesome

[brews]:

been lucky to i'm not much of an artist but ive been lucky enough

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

to meet some artist that are really good

weyland]:

oh

[brews]:

like an send stuff to you and we're awesome and get back to me real

[brews]:

quick

weyland]:

that's great um so justin do you have any questions

lewis]:

yeah this is one that kind of just came up you know in building out

lewis]:

an how have you kind of determined you know whether or not an has different

lewis]:

time periods and eras like have you just decided to focus on one specific era

lewis]:

or have you already established that technology will change or things like that i'm

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

just kind of curious

[brews]:

i was always really interested in players could watch technology like evolve in front of

[brews]:

them in real time for arne was this this this big event that shifted the

[brews]:

era to the era that the players are in now the era that the players

[brews]:

are in now it's only been seven hundred years so it's still very a very

[brews]:

new world and people are still exploring but in all these lost ruins and what

[brews]:

not ah we've been slowly introducing a big part of the world is there are

[brews]:

multiple universes

weyland]:

oh

[brews]:

and one universe is very far along in technology and they just started coming to

[brews]:

aran nd these are like here called exiles in arbor but hose are kin of

[brews]:

like our war forged they've

lewis]:

h

[brews]:

been

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

slowly bringing

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

this technology in and then the players have been reacting in real time to you

[brews]:

like how goes from flint lock pistols to actually like war bots walking around and

[brews]:

thought

lewis]:

yah

[brews]:

that was always like a really

lewis]:

h

[brews]:

cool

weyland]:

amazing

[brews]:

way

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

almost like before it hit steam punk but kind of a steam punkyvibe what they're

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

h

[brews]:

getting to now

weyland]:

m wow

lewis]:

fascinating so then because based on some of the things that i've seen as well

lewis]:

there are classes and sub classes that are geared towards kind of the low fantas

lewis]:

as well as high fantasy um so do you just kind of have like reservoir

lewis]:

of resources for any time period and then you just kind of slot your players

lewis]:

in and wherever they fail or wherever you want them to fit

[brews]:

that's that's pretty way look at it a lot of it is some because the

[brews]:

air is so new

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

and they're still kind of getting

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

the field for it some

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

kingdom some civilizations are you know much more far along than others that are so

[brews]:

kind of prehistoric and then players can kind of pick you know they want to

[brews]:

come from this prehistoric lace compared to like some that's really far along where they're

[brews]:

starting to build like airships they can kind of mold it together

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

that way

lewis]:

yah yah that's really cool um another question real quick and in doing all this

lewis]:

how much i guess what types of research have you done outside of the d

lewis]:

n d research you know like research on politics or military tactics or economics like

lewis]:

have you done anything like that or has it just been kind of all mostly

lewis]:

focused on just learning what is in the space right now

[brews]:

always tell everyone that if i wasn't a unique creator i'd probably a history teacher

lewis]:

uh

[brews]:

i

weyland]:

ah

[brews]:

just love diving

lewis]:

uh yeah

[brews]:

into

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

all kinds of warfare and cultures have evolved over time and it's that's been really

[brews]:

big too for putting the world together

lewis]:

any particular resources that you'd recommend to the listener

[brews]:

i have my head think a big thing of it is as long as you

[brews]:

just always have a hunger to read whatever you can get your hands on then

[brews]:

you can if you can find parts of history

lewis]:

yah

[brews]:

that you think might mess really

lewis]:

h

[brews]:

well like if you were really even to like as

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

tech you could read about some of the old

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

as tech and man

lewis]:

ah

[brews]:

stuff or if you're

lewis]:

i

[brews]:

in too like there's just so much that you

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

can dive

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

into if you could just take little little bits of real history

weyland]:

oh

[brews]:

and mesh it into your world only like adds details to it but lets players

[brews]:

kind of that they know what it is

weyland]:

m

[brews]:

and it lets him feel more part of the world to which has always been

[brews]:

a big deal

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

yeah that's oh first off before we continue we actually typically take a little intermission

weyland]:

and

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

continue grilling you now

[brews]:

uh

weyland]:

we

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

can

[brews]:

uh

weyland]:

but we like

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

to you know

lewis]:

yah

weyland]:

take an intermission stretch

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

our creative muscles a little bit

lewis]:

h oh yeah

weyland]:

one thing we would like to do

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

is

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

h now since you're so good at home brewing um let's let's have you home

weyland]:

brew um yourself for a moment

[brews]:

oh

lewis]:

uh

weyland]:

uh

[brews]:

man

lewis]:

h

weyland]:

yeah so uh first off do you feel like you have a fairly distinct damning

weyland]:

approach

[brews]:

i think i do good

weyland]:

okay perfect perfect that makes this easier if you were to create a class to

weyland]:

describe your deming style what would it be

[brews]:

class i think it would be something very

lewis]:

oh oh

[brews]:

i was putting like a mix between like a sorcerer and a wizard

weyland]:

okay love it

[brews]:

i'm a big foundry v t t user i like to do a lot of

[brews]:

online right now i like to have

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

all

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

those flashy graphic and spell effects

weyland]:

uh

[brews]:

and animated maps and stuff

weyland]:

h

[brews]:

so i think that kind of fits with the spell caster little flashy

weyland]:

yeah totally

lewis]:

my

weyland]:

you know like i think a lot of people do really well at the you

weyland]:

know the censory like impact of campaigns yeah i love that oh oh

[brews]:

probably give myself some sort of ability called the rule of cool i'm always preaching

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

about the rule of cool

weyland]:

it's

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

true it's a really important rule

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

honestly just

lewis]:

does that

weyland]:

rule

lewis]:

rule

weyland]:

of cool

lewis]:

mean that either you can be cool or you can be effective is that how

lewis]:

that would

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

work mechanically

[brews]:

yeah it's like a wild magic search you never

lewis]:

exactly

[brews]:

know what yo're

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

gonna get

lewis]:

either you look cool doing something or you actually do something

weyland]:

it's

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

like if you get over a ten do the coolest thing that you can think

weyland]:

of

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

um

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

oh i love that yeah that's great so kind of a mix of

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

sorcerer wizard in terms of just the flashy

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

abilities and everything love it well justin should we continue then yeah

lewis]:

of course we should yes indeed

weyland]:

good good good okay

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

so getting away kind of from your experience home brewing and more you know let's

weyland]:

talk more about like people that are new to home brewing

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

first off do you find that a lot of people are just intimidated

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

by how good you are at home brewing

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

hope not i get a lot of questions people

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

asking like tips and tricks

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

all the time through social media and on discord i hope i

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

hope i answer their question as well

weyland]:

okay

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

that's

[brews]:

like

weyland]:

good

[brews]:

put

weyland]:

i

[brews]:

their

weyland]:

mean

[brews]:

mind dates

weyland]:

yeah and do you feel like do you feel like anybody that is you know

weyland]:

maybe daunted by the idea of starting home brewing um i mean is it is

weyland]:

it a scary thing is

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

home brewing hard would you say

lewis]:

yah yah

[brews]:

say home brewing is like the learning any other trick of the trade he's got

[brews]:

to

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

do it nd then you're

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

gonna fail at it and ten you on to do

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

it again then the internet until you suck then you do it again

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

you'll get better at it

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

just can't be afraid

lewis]:

that's

[brews]:

to fail because you can always tweak the numbers

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

that's how you know you're making real progress in something when there's enough people out

lewis]:

there that know you're doing something that at least one of them thinks you suck

[brews]:

that's true

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

it's absolutely true you know because like especially with the amount of content you're putting

weyland]:

out there there's no way like i was reading a comment actually was reading multiple

weyland]:

comments on instagram because

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know troll through comment

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

sections and see

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

what can make me angry

lewis]:

yes

[brews]:

uh

weyland]:

but

[brews]:

h

weyland]:

i saw a few people who are like you know you had a very cool

weyland]:

you know

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

sub race or sub class i saw this a lot where you were like you

weyland]:

know at this beautiful thing um

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

and then they were like it's just this you know

[brews]:

yeah good

weyland]:

it's

[brews]:

point

weyland]:

just like oh

lewis]:

ay

weyland]:

that already exists and it's like i just thought it was so funny because i

weyland]:

was like this isn't going to stop him from creating you know but like

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

easy to be like oh am i that creative you know

[brews]:

like

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

one of the things with home brew is

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

you want to make stuff that isn't there that you that your players are really

[brews]:

into so

weyland]:

yeah

[brews]:

if it like you're making a sorcerer sub class and it touches a bit on

[brews]:

the bard that's okay because they want to be a sourceer you know where

lewis]:

hm

[brews]:

the coast makes the official stuff and we we feel the lines in the cracks

[brews]:

as the home bees

lewis]:

yeah and actually i would even add that it's also important to like for your

lewis]:

home brew project to say yeah there are elves in this world but they're different

lewis]:

in these specific ways and none of these ways are mechanical they're all narrative but

lewis]:

these are important reasons why this elf is different in aronel or any other brew

lewis]:

project and and that's in my opinion that's still worth creating that content because someone

lewis]:

is going to read that and be like wow i really want to be this

lewis]:

kind of elf even though none of the game mechanics change the narrative and the

lewis]:

way you act will change so i do think that even even if it is

lewis]:

the same exact mechanical thing having a different narrative is still important or even if

lewis]:

it's the same naive just that way people know for

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

your home bred project right

[brews]:

a hundred percent especially because usually when people turn to homebrew they've already played

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

addition and they've played through a lot of the standard stuff for so long they

[brews]:

want something a little fresh and that's really

lewis]:

h

[brews]:

what i'm just trying

lewis]:

m

[brews]:

to give an sure all the other hombres are too just a fresh new experience

[brews]:

in the same game

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

and what i love is that with a view point you know it's very approachable

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

for for new for new dams for new home brewers

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

because like i was one post that you had was

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

or comaronel race and i love

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that like i hadn't even read it when i first looked at it and i

weyland]:

was like oh i love that you know that

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you essentially were like he is an they're different you know you have a different

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you know different ability slightly but as far

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

as it is it didn't work you know but you can stick get into it

weyland]:

you can still you know scratch

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

that creative itch and make them unique to your to your campaign in your world

weyland]:

without having to be like no it's not nor i a lark

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

with an l

lewis]:

ah

weyland]:

you know like or something right

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

ah

lewis]:

i love that

[brews]:

i mean that's that's a big part of it

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

people identify like they know they have an idea what orchis and then people

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

will will feel attached

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

to the york and then the

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

home bred weekend you feel a little different so it's not

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

like every other or that they always

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

play my

lewis]:

uh

[brews]:

ores are from out of space

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

so it

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

just a little little tweak

weyland]:

love it

[brews]:

of what it is

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

no

weyland]:

and changes like so much and in a way it actually makes those changes

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

more impactful because you're like

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

hey you know what this is it's in or however you're stereotyped in your assumptions

weyland]:

don't quite fit it's it's different in a certain way right

lewis]:

and honestly i think that's one of the reasons why i would encourage the listener

lewis]:

to give a try you know try their hand at home bring

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

because m we all played d and d to have adventure at least you know

lewis]:

in a fantasy way and kind of have that escape and i feel like by

lewis]:

doing home brew you are making it so you are the only person that can

lewis]:

provide particular story in a sense and in a way you're giving something to the

lewis]:

world that no one else can because it's only coming from you right

[brews]:

great point like i've made a spartan fighter you know shield and spear ancient greek

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

and home brewers that's like one of the first things that they make but you

[brews]:

know i wanted to make

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

one and a little different han everyone else is but you definitely want to encourage

[brews]:

next one brew also make one and see how fun there's it's just a and

[brews]:

your your creative creative mind

lewis]:

exactly

weyland]:

um oh so we're just about to end here but i did have a question

weyland]:

that you just something you said just brought it up so with you being the

weyland]:

d m and also kind of the main person charge of creating for this world

weyland]:

how often do you invite your players to you know take an active part in

weyland]:

creation

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

do so in a couple of ways one is a lot of people in our

[brews]:

discord have made sub classes in some of the races that are on my patron

[brews]:

all credit actually have a couple of guys that we're making a couple of things

[brews]:

for my patron and they've kind of branched out now and they're starting to make

[brews]:

their own been great too

weyland]:

amazing

[brews]:

because we have we have multiple d ms

lewis]:

ye

[brews]:

the way that they go because they use the setting so whatever they do in

[brews]:

their setting we try to incorporate to get their

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

notes try to incorporate their law into the law

lewis]:

oh

[brews]:

it's

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

just at always want to make your players

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

feel part of the setting so whenever a major event happens like one of our

[brews]:

players became the king of the north lands like a like a viking establishment so

[brews]:

he is forever submitted character is now

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

on the on our campaign setting

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

page as art and he's he's part of the world so the story he told

[brews]:

in game we tried to add it to

weyland]:

oh

[brews]:

over done

weyland]:

well

lewis]:

that's

weyland]:

i'd love

lewis]:

really

weyland]:

that

lewis]:

cool

weyland]:

m

lewis]:

can i ask one question on that how and this is me speaking from my

lewis]:

my ego brain how do you manage to delegate that creative control to other people

lewis]:

who aren't you i know that i might have

weyland]:

oh

lewis]:

particular problems being like yeah take my home bred project and do something with it

lewis]:

that i may not like but it might be permanent

[brews]:

question i'm also a little bit of a control freak with it too i just

[brews]:

tell

lewis]:

uh

[brews]:

them going in that i might

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

tweak it a little bit

weyland]:

oh

[brews]:

so just be aware which as you get into it that

weyland]:

h

[brews]:

i might make some changes

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

h

[brews]:

pretty okay with it it's been working really well so far

lewis]:

i like it

[brews]:

being oh friend beforehand with it

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

yeah

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

i love that i mean what i love especially what during

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

our talk today obviously you are very experienced you're very good at at home brewing

weyland]:

and you have this whole um

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

you know patroon with wonderful content but you also seem very ah very chill about

weyland]:

you know you're not like a perfectionist obviously and also m

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

you know just like hey you can get better at this

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

i love that because i

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

think i struggled the other way where i'm

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

like oh i probably

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

have to be great at this before i show

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

it to anyone

lewis]:

oh yeah

[brews]:

i've

lewis]:

ah yeah

[brews]:

we have a channel in our discord that's solely for people to feel out of

[brews]:

form and give feedback and i always read the feedback and if it's you know

[brews]:

ve had a lot of really good responses and we've tweaked and changed a lot

[brews]:

of my home to match their responses all these class up dates because classes are

[brews]:

the most intensive by far

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

and just keep updating and play testing into old content making it better

weyland]:

i mean if anything that kind of shows that you know if you're insecure about

weyland]:

your work you should be showing it more right because the more feedback it's like

weyland]:

hey if you're so insecure about it then the only way you can actually make

weyland]:

it better

lewis]:

yeah

weyland]:

or one of the main ways is getting that feedback right

[brews]:

absolutely and you'll you'll find too as your home brewing that some people just have

[brews]:

better ideas and you can better ideas with what you've already made and then you

[brews]:

can mix it in and just improve what you made

weyland]:

yeah absolutely like some of my the best home bring i've done has been when

weyland]:

i've just bounced you know simple ideas off of you know friends because i'm like

weyland]:

oh i think this is okay but i'm not sure and then they suddenly have

weyland]:

like something

lewis]:

m

weyland]:

that makes so much more sense and yeah

lewis]:

hm

weyland]:

i love that um well honestly i think that we've we've just learned a lot

weyland]:

from you today we're just so grateful that you came on to the podcast bruce

weyland]:

honestly

[brews]:

excuse

lewis]:

yes

[brews]:

me if i really enjoy it's been great talking to you guys

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

was really excited coming up to it had it marked on calendar rat

weyland]:

me too

lewis]:

awesome

weyland]:

me too

[brews]:

yeah

weyland]:

so

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

how can people reach you

[brews]:

so the easiest way to reach me is to go to gamin brew dot com

[brews]:

i'll

weyland]:

kay

[brews]:

give you the links to all the goods the campaign setting

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

call it the content the patron with a lot of free and paid stuff so

[brews]:

you can still go on to join you can still download we have almost three

[brews]:

hundred different pads now you can dialed for free lot of creatures lot of sub

[brews]:

classes

weyland]:

that's great

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

that's

[brews]:

and

weyland]:

awesome

[brews]:

you can find me on twitch every tuesday wednesday

lewis]:

yeah

[brews]:

and friday so on cambrewdaca

weyland]:

that's awesome so gave me gaming bre dot com um and so yeah i'm definitely

weyland]:

gonna be checking out that twitch everybody else you should as well

lewis]:

oh

weyland]:

and till then everybody let's roll initiative

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