World Building: Culture World Hooks

Cultures are a good world hook as well for a new D&D campaign. So much in history that can be used. Something different than what you are used to can cause some research on your part but it can be fun to learn about. And you never know a new kind of culture might just be what you need to get your players highly interested in a new game.
To start you could create an African culture. Arid land, nomadic people, lots of sun in your world. An Arabian culture might be fun on the other hand. Sand and sun so your PC’s must know how to survive in the heat of the day and the cold of night. Water could be a precious resource, even more than money. It could be modeled after 1001 Arabian Nights if you wanted.
If you are a fan of Conan, you could have a culture based off of Barbarians. Vikings are sometimes lumped into this group. They are similar but not identical. Although if you desire they could be warring sides that started out originally as the same group. Both groups worshipped multiple gods so for a standard D&D campaign it would be easy to create a pantheon. Ancient cultures such as Egyptians, Greek, or other well known cultures can bring interesting flavors to your campaign. In these kinds of worlds, the gods are already created so that part of the work is done. You just have to make the land and people. Tribal or savage people could make an odd world. Who is really the bad guy in something like that when what one group does for their gods, another thinks is against the gods? War might be constant and groups might be friends one day and enemies the next.
Feudal or Renaissance times from England are some standard cultures used in D&D campaigns, but there is nothing that says you can’t create one as well. If you know the history well enough you will not have to do much research to create everything you want. There is even Post-Renaissance where gun powder is in control and knights are no longer the ruling fighters.
An Oriental culture could go with several other cultures. You can have a Medieval China, Japan, or India. Or perhaps a combination of all three if you wanted to mix elements you liked from each one. Native American worlds would be another interesting culture to use. The people hunt to survive and don’t waste anything. There could be those who are trying to get out of this lifestyle or even those trying to exploit one aspect of the culture for their gain over everyone else.
And of course you could have a mercantile world where trade and commerce would rule the world. Or even a seafaring world where most of the people own or work on boats. It might actually be better to add this with another culture like Feudal for a different kind of world.
Any of these can be combined for a new flair. Even the most famous cultures can be changed slightly to make it more fun and really get your players wanting to play. You might even ask them for some input. They could come up with ideas you didn’t think of.