As a fan of homebrew settings I am looking at creating a collaborative project aimed at creating a new setting.
Current basic framework is that the world would be a fantasy one without technology past late middle ages tech. So really primitive guns would be a new concept. Second is that I want to limit the number of sentient races to a relatively small number (probably around 10). Beyond those 2 factors I am open to whatever people participating decide on.
So to start things off I have some things that i feel should be decided relatively quickly.
1. Gods: how many, and their involvement in the material world?
2. Magic level: Is magic common or a thing of legend?
While I'm not actually interested in actively working on a world-building project, I don't mind offering suggestions occasionally.
1. Gods: how many, and their involvement in the material world?
Depends on what sort of classification you wish to use. These classifications come from the excellent World Builder’s Guidebook by Richard Baker:
1. Universal: The world has one religion. While different cultures may emphasize one god or aspect of the religion more than another, everyone generally believes the same gods or religious truths exist.
2. Overlapping: The same basic religion exists throughout the world. However, different cultures and groups may refer to the gods by different names, have different approaches to achieve the same religious truth, or have slightly different stories about the gods.
3. Contact: Each culture may have its own religion(s) and all of these religions truly exist in the game world. The gods of one culture know about the gods of the other cultures. They may even help or conflict with each other. Generally each set of gods has its place (Asgard, Mt. Olympus, the Abyss, etc.) in the game universe’s cosmology/planes.
4. No Contact: Each culture may have its own religion(s) but deities of different religions do not know each other. Mortals may play a role here settling conflicts between the religions as each religion tries to have more influence than the others
I use option #2 in my homebrew setting.
2. Magic level: Is magic common or a thing of legend?
I always treat magic and science as opposite ends of a spectrum - the greater the presence of one, the lesser the presence of the other.