Eberron Setting?

Given that a fair number of the people who play on ISRP do not play D&D, the concept of "levels" is really not one to consider. That point has been made, though, in the acknowledgement that it would be problematic in limiting power in a free-form role playing room.
Also, I think some of the current room concepts were intended to be low level - well, lower than they are. I have some characters who are decently powerful, but, I also have some who are pretty much low level NPC classes. If any of them ever get in a fight, they'll die. We all know the jokes about power in ISRP. . .
Maybe a room that does *specifically* limit power in its setting rules might help with that - one could hope.

I don't know enough about Eberron to have an opinion one way or another about it being used as a setting (I know, *gasp* - I've been gaming for over 15 years and haven't played Eberron - we usually play on worlds our DMs create). If it is to be used, a FAQ page or a link to a good summary would be helpful. Just like the other rooms - it can get decidedly uncomfortable to play in a setting about which you know nothing. Yes, yes, I know, no-one says you have to play in the setting. But, if I followed that, I wouldn't be able to play on ISRP at all - I don't know Oerth or Faerun well either. From what little I've heard of Eberron, though, it sounds like a good amount of familiarity would be required.
After all, even if the character comes from another world, eventually, said character should gain some knowledge of the place in which he or she has found him or herself.

Mortonia said:

I would have to say yes, at least from my point of view. Not that I don't play powerful characters at times (ignores Toni's hand waving and jumping up and down) but there are altogether different and exciting challenges in running a low level character.

The real problem is not so much one of support, but one of enforcement. How do you insure the setting isn't abused? How do the Magi keep tabs on the "power" of any given character, especially in a world where character sheets are (for some folks) a laughable concept.

Could it work? Perhaps. I'd certainly like to think so. But given my experience with the more power-hungry and less regulated characters on ISRP (and you know who you are ) I'm not sure.

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Well yeah, I play some powerful characters myself, and some not so powerful ones. The major problem is enforcement and definition of what is 'too powerful' in a free form setting. I mean, you COULD pin it down to a character sheet concept, but for some people that just wouldn't fly because they never knew 'time stop' had a spell level.

That said, there IS a desire for a low challenge (well, I think, I know I get sick of maximised meteor swarms getting thrown around casually), and Eberron IS the setting for that. The real question is: IS it doable?

Beyond capping use of abilities above a certain level, I can't think of much more honestly. Is that enough? The lazy part of me would like to think so.

So maybe lets change the perspective: Eberron Setting. Lets take the 'Lightning Rail Coach' Room as an example:

Sitting on the lightning rail with a character you've already climbed into a bag of worms: Why is your character on a lightning rail? Some journeys via lightning rail can take days, if your character is powerful enough to simply 'teleport' or 'jump planes', why the hell is he/she using easily available relatively slow public transport?

So, your character gets in a fight with another character. To stop the screaming of the Warforged barman (...because it would SO be a warforged bot) the characters climb the hatch (or, if it was extremely violent, jump out the window) and find themselves up on the roof of the train, fighting toe to toe in classic Eberron style action.
Maybe one of them is flying, and throwing fireballs, and maybe one of them is riding a glidewing (pterodactyle like creature) and throwing battle axes! Sounds ridiculous, but is all doable with low level characters (fly and fireball is a 3rd levels spell, and druids/talenta halflings could have trained mounts).

Justification/moderation: passengers see someone flying around throwing spells, they're going to be upset, but not more then seeing spells thrown around in a tavern (CRT) or local market place (Bazaar). Chances are the driver is going to keep driving that elemental powered vehical, because there are lots of paying customers that shouldn't be kept waiting due to a minor set back such as that.

Now, lets say that instead of flying and throwing fireballs, one of those characters has transformed into a Baalor, and the other is riding a fully grown dragon. Clearly a violation of the power level for that setting (why either would be riding a lightning rail coach, after all?)
Few passengers see a how many foot tall demon with a firey sword and a dragon breathing fire, chances are its going to mean trouble. In terms of moderation and justification of why that shouldn't be in the room: that means the driver stopping the coach from too many complaints/ risk of being imploded by stray dragon tail.

Does this mean you can stick up a sign saying: "Nothing above 15th level!". No. Does this mean that with some thought out guidelines that the concept is doable? I would like to think it is.

Tyrian_Spellstealer said:

So maybe lets change the perspective: Eberron Setting. Lets take the 'Lightning Rail Coach' Room as an example:

Sitting on the lightning rail with a character you've already climbed into a bag of worms: Why is your character on a lightning rail? Some journeys via lightning rail can take days, if your character is powerful enough to simply 'teleport' or 'jump planes', why the hell is he/she using easily available relatively slow public transport?

So, your character gets in a fight with another character. To stop the screaming of the Warforged barman (...because it would SO be a warforged bot) the characters climb the hatch (or, if it was extremely violent, jump out the window) and find themselves up on the roof of the train, fighting toe to toe in classic Eberron style action.
Maybe one of them is flying, and throwing fireballs, and maybe one of them is riding a glidewing (pterodactyle like creature) and throwing battle axes! Sounds ridiculous, but is all doable with low level characters (fly and fireball is a 3rd levels spell, and druids/talenta halflings could have trained mounts).

Justification/moderation: passengers see someone flying around throwing spells, they're going to be upset, but not more then seeing spells thrown around in a tavern (CRT) or local market place (Bazaar). Chances are the driver is going to keep driving that elemental powered vehical, because there are lots of paying customers that shouldn't be kept waiting due to a minor set back such as that.

Now, lets say that instead of flying and throwing fireballs, one of those characters has transformed into a Baalor, and the other is riding a fully grown dragon. Clearly a violation of the power level for that setting (why either would be riding a lightning rail coach, after all?)
Few passengers see a how many foot tall demon with a firey sword and a dragon breathing fire, chances are its going to mean trouble. In terms of moderation and justification of why that shouldn't be in the room: that means the driver stopping the coach from too many complaints/ risk of being imploded by stray dragon tail.

Does this mean you can stick up a sign saying: "Nothing above 15th level!". No. Does this mean that with some thought out guidelines that the concept is doable? I would like to think it is.

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Taking the logic of what would be seen and accepted by random people (who would essentially be NCPs like the dancers on the dance floor in TMP) isn't really a limiter. If it were, the Roads would have been burned to the ground several times over for all the drow, demons, vampires. . . .

Sienna_Rose said:

Taking the logic of what would be seen and accepted by random people (who would essentially be NCPs like the dancers on the dance floor in TMP) isn't really a limiter. If it were, the Roads would have been burned to the ground several times over for all the drow, demons, vampires. . . .

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Well, thats exactly my point. The restrictions in the CRT stop the drow and demons and the vampires from being seen, because the people of fords keep would take them to the stake or hang them in the middle of town, or whatever it is they do if they showed their faces. Or at least, isn't that the idea, and the justification on why there is setting restrictions in the CRT?

Perhaps a similar approach is needed, at least in that example: something too powerful that shouldn't be there... the random NPCs (people riding the train, and conductor of the train) would clearly be distressed by sights of epic power (even if it is out the side of the window they are sitting at, or just the sounds of demon feet on the floor of the roof above them). Same sort of deal, except instead of rallying to storm the tavern and remove the evil vampire spawn, the conductor of the train would simply stop the train and hope the velocity picks up on the offending character

...still throwing out ideas though, as said, train idea was simply just an idea. The real question and inevitable debate would be: what is acceptable in terms of power, and how do you define it in freeform terms?

eberron room?..yes!

i am sooo for an eberron room as well, like tyrian and others have said, it is less restrictive on character types... and i also agree with the idea of power capping characters..the only..the only way i know of enforcing this capping issue is to make everyone post stats along with thier character description..if u dont have em, then no one will interact with u..any other way of enforcing capping issues is impossible...stats place all of your powers and abilities right in the open for everyone to see

cameroth said:

i am sooo for an eberron room as well, like tyrian and others have said, it is less restrictive on character types... and i also agree with the idea of power capping characters..the only..the only way i know of enforcing this capping issue is to make everyone post stats along with thier character description..if u dont have em, then no one will interact with u..any other way of enforcing capping issues is impossible...stats place all of your powers and abilities right in the open for everyone to see

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I don't know ANYTHING about D&D. Can't buy the books, 'cause they don't sell them here. Can't use SRD, 'cause it's just a bunch of numbers, and without a proper explanation... and I have been given PDFs of the books, but I'm just mentally incapable of reading long things on the computer. Sooo, stats won't be the solution.

And, for me, ISRP having stats of it's own would just turn it into another rule-based RPG, and ruin the 'magic' it has.

And again, ignoring people is definetly -not- the solution. Why? Because it's wrong. And if that's not enough... because as they said, it has to be played by a number of people. Ignoring would turn the masses into a few. Not to mention new players, who maybe come with no idea of the rules (because there are lots of people that don't know about descriptions when they first come) and, when ignored, will just leave the first day. And this place SO needs new people... it's so empty! Anyway. Back to the point.

I think we should try out. What is delaying this project is that people reads and automatically thinks, "what if they break it? what if they breaks the limits 'cause they are not firmly stated?". I say we should trust in people's good sense. You know that if you can't play superpowerful characters, your ghoul-halfling-demon-regenerating-godmoding villain won't do, simple as that. Neither your level 218941380 paladin, so there.

The rules thing IS an important problem... well, state vague rules! If the setting does not progress, well, just erase it. And if it progresses, you can start thinking about this again. But you can't just poof! have the whole thing in a second. Let them work out on themselves.

cameroth said:

the only way i know of enforcing this capping issue is to make everyone post stats along with thier character description..if u dont have em, then no one will interact with u..any other way of enforcing capping issues is impossible...stats place all of your powers and abilities right in the open for everyone to see

Click to expand...

That is unfortunately out of the question. Not everyone who uses ISRP uses stats. It's a freeform based system, and some don't even know what dnd is. This would isolate and alienate part of the community, and that is something we don't want to do. I would like to think that it is possible to enforce it, using a few rules and common sense...

...so, heres my try. Some basic ideas of setting restrictions for an Eberron Room.

Note: this is a DRAFT

1: Death. Death in Eberron is a frequent and unfortunately difficult circumstance. Few temples in Eberron possess clerics or priests powerful enough to raise people from the dead, and those few that can do not usually sell their services regularly. That is not to say that death is permanent, but rather an extremely difficult situation to get out, even for well-connected characters. Bringing back a character from the dead is fine, but such an event is considered miraculous at best.

2: Characters of Epic nature and power are not allowed, or must conceal their power whilst in the Eberron rooms. Specifically this includes refraining from the use of extremely powerful spells, abilities and items.

3: Creatures of nearly any sort are allowed in Eberron, but powerful creatures are few and far between. Celestial Solars, Demonic Balors, Pit Fiends and adult dragons for example are not allowed, unless they disguise both themselves and do not draw attention to themselves by using powerful abilities that might reveal their nature or power.

4: Spells and supernatural abilities of high power and epic nature are not allowed. For example, effects that stop time, kill everyone in a 10 foot radius, trap souls, imprison people in extra-dimensional planes, or summon creatures of epic/high power are not allowed. Epic spells that can summon swarms of dragons or destroy entire buildings are similarly not allowed.

5: Abilities and skills of high power are limited. Characters cannot slice someone a hundred times before they blink, nor stop an opponent’s heart beating by touching a simple pressure point. They cannot have their returning axe decapitate everyone in the room before returning to the wielders hands, nor can they use their charming charisma to convince someone to kill themselves.

6: Magic items of incredible power are not allowed. Specifically major magic items and items of artefact power are not allowed. Rings that grant three wishes, scrolls that generate earthquakes and spheres of annihilation, for example, are not allowed.

7: No Gods or God Avatars allowed. Period.

Restrictions that could help using the ‘lightning rail coach’ example:

8: If it’s bigger then a train it’s not allowed. Some creatures are just too big to fit through the doors, and creatures any larger then 15-feet tall cannot fit into the lightning rail coach.

9: Area-specific duration spells don’t stay. Lightning Rail Coach’s move at a speed of about 25 miles per hour. This means that spells that affect a specific area over a course of time do not last. Fog or cloud like spells, for example, are simply left behind as the train keeps moving. Spells with instantaneous durations, or Spells that affect or are centred on a specific person are allowed.

10: Spells or effects that transport people, either through planes or across a given plane, are not allowed. Because of the moving nature of the lightning rail coach, it is impossible to transport onto the moving location*. Such spells can be used if leaving the coach.

*I could be very wrong on this point. I always assumed you could only teleport into stationary locations.

So, suggestions… is it too broad? Unfortunately it involves the use of common sense, similar to how the CRT restrictions do, but maybe a bit more so. I know if it were me I’d be abusing the hell out of it, but it’s a starting point to say the least.

In terms of combat, the free form nature makes this kind of simple. In a Freeform fight, no one is keeping track of how many times someone can hit per round, or what their sneak attack damage bonus is. This makes defining the nature of high level abilities easier, but also easier to abuse perhaps.

Bari said:

I think we should try out. What is delaying this project is that people reads and automatically thinks, "what if they break it? what if they breaks the limits 'cause they are not firmly stated?". I say we should trust in people's good sense. You know that if you can't play superpowerful characters, your ghoul-halfling-demon-regenerating-godmoding villain won't do, simple as that. Neither your level 218941380 paladin, so there.

The rules thing IS an important problem... well, state vague rules! If the setting does not progress, well, just erase it. And if it progresses, you can start thinking about this again. But you can't just poof! have the whole thing in a second. Let them work out on themselves.

Click to expand...

...so, am I the only one who thinks when a new setting comes up: "OOooh, new setting, where are the loop holes and how can I abuse it?"

If it can be made to work, I think a power restricted room could be interesting, but on the other hand -can- it be made to work?

I'm sure many of us remember the gods and goddesses that used to frequent Juxta, heh -_-';

However, I'd sure be willing to give such an idea a shot. A fight played out on the top of a lightning rail coach sounds like fun ^_^