What Would Your Eberron CRPG Feature?

So far, there have been two Eberron computer games, Dragon Shard and DDO: Stormreach. I haven't played the full versions of either, but somehow I've been left with the distinct impression that while they are both good games, neither is a very good substitute for a real CRPG set in Eberron. I suppose if you were a game modder, you would say that it would probably be easy to adjust the NWN2 engine to Eberron, but, well... quite you! This thread is about what you would do for a whole new CRPG based in Eberron.

Personally, I think I'd go for 28 pt buy, turn-based. I'd feature most if not all of the dragonmarked houses (ones like Thuranni, Vol, maybe Vadalis and the pseudo-house, Tarkanan, would be left for an expansion campaign). Since I want it to feature many of the technological elements of Eberron, it would set anywhere from as small a region as the the northern area of Breland from Blackcrag to Starilaskur and New Cyre, plus a small part of southern Thrane, to most of Breland, Zilargo, Thrane and Darguun. Alternate beginnings for different races and classes might be nice. I'd really try to push the " noir " we keep hearing about, and though it would probably have a full party, I'd at least toy with the idea of giving it a similar perspective as KoToR, as opposed to top down. Also, I'd refer heavily to " lots of roleplaying broken up by climactic battles " theory and the Eberron campaigns section of the ECS. Lots of secret organizations would make appearances, but I don't want to tread too much with the Emerald Claw and the Blood of Vol. The Aurum, the Lords of Dust, the Swords of Liberty, Cults of the Dragon Below... they're more the style. As for psionics, well, it would have to have psionics, but balancing would be tricky...

Rule 1: Place it in Khorvaire ...where everything in the ECS and the "feel" and "soul" of Eberron is.

Rule 2: see rule 1.

These ideas might not be practicle, but this about what I'd want to see.

I have two directions I'd like to see:

1) Set it in Sharn. There is so much in Sharn that you could have a long involved game without leaving the city.

2) World-spanning James Bond-like campaign. Like your typical James Bond movie, have the heroes moving from exotic area to exotic area chasing down the plot. Scenes on lightning rails & airships are a must.

You need to feature the transportation system, as well as the magical feal. Sharn isn't too bad a spot, but it's all city, and you can find that elsewhere, even if it's a HUGE city.

You need all the Dragonmarked houses.

You need Conspiricy and things happening behind the player's back.

You needn't leave Korvairre, there's plenty there.

I think you should get a 30 point buy, but that's me.

I'm debating on a single player with henchmen/cohorts (like NWN) or a party style game where you make most of your characters.

More Thoughts

I was thinking about this more yesterday, and I think I would actually leave the psionic classes out of the core game, though all the psionic feats a kalashatar or someone with wild talent could take with out class levels would be in. The psionic classes would be left for the first expansion, which would feature an epic (but not epic level) campaign set on the continent of Sarlona, where psionics is the only real game in town.

This part of what idea might be some years off yet, but graphics as good as Elder Scrolls IV (should I buy that game? it will eat up my time, yet it is so the kind of game I profess to love!), in their own way. So, even if its basically top down, the scenery should be relatively as good looking. The harder part to go with that would be continuous loading, ala Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege 2, though *completely* seperate areas would have a load time probably, like if a portion of the game required you to take the lightning rail or an airship to the Shadow Marches.

Depending on how good backgrounds work in NWN2, those would be in, though they would be more limited to how the world interacts with you, or they would be very limited, like the regional learning for Breland and Morgrave University from Five Nations (I think). Also, I'd like to actually have some craft or profession skills that are used to tie the character into side quests instead of mostly for making stuff. Like say, for instance, you have craft (stonemasonry), and there is some " down time " featured in the story, like a few days here, or a week there, and your character can get paid to work on the restoration of the city from war damage (this is why I was thinking to base the area around Lake Brey, and maybe start in Starilaskur, because it would of seen a lot of combat in the war). Now, while most characters would just have that free time pass without event (unless they were crafting items, maybe), suddenly, for that character with the requisite number of ranks in craft (stonemasonry), a side quest and event take place, contained in their own area of the city. This could be that perennial, " We were digging up some foundations and released a fiend from the pits of Khyber! " quest, or something a little more original, but I think you get the point.

This just comes to me right now, but I think religion should also play a larger part in the game... In NWN it was just, " Tyr this, Tyr that, " and if you even chose to write in a deity, it meant nothing. You could of put in Cyric, and when you met that priest of Cyric in the yuan-ti's lair, it made absolutely no difference to the game itself. In this hypothetical Eberron game, if you are a fervent follower of Balinor or Arawai, you're probably going to get a little better treatment from druids, and if you follow the Shadow, you may get to learn some unique spells, or get an Eberron shard that enhances existing ones. And if you're a follower of the Silver Flame, obviously the portion of the game that deals with border issues and bad feelings between Breland and Thrane, you're going to all set to go!

That also reminds me... random treasure has to make more sense, if there is any at all. Instead of pulling a +2 shocking spear of dwarf bane off of that low level axe wielding gnome berserker, you're going to pull it off a Jhorash'tar orc chieftain, every time. And if you want to add an element of randomness to it, maybe in one game, Sakech Yagir has weapon focus, weapon specialization and improved critical in greatswords, and wields a +1 byeshk keen greatsword of aberration bane, but when you play through it with a different character, he has weapon focus (light flail), improved shield bash, improved trip and wields a +1 byeshk thundering light flail and a +1 mithral shield of blinding.

Anyway, I guess that is all for this post.

Ah, The Villains...

Oh how I lament the lack of success of most of my threads. Oh well, I guess I will continue on alone. If nothing else, I can brainstorm here without killing more trees.

As per the title of this thread, I want to think about villains... and the Blood of Vol is intentionally cut from the get go, as a major villainous organization in the game at least. They can have their side quest, but that's it. I just bought the newest Eberron paperback (ah, about the only Eberron thing I haven't bought are the adventures... but thats a topic that has already been discussed many times, hehehe...), and it is about a plot by the Blood of Vol! Wonder of wonders! That makes it the *third* series to feature them of how many? Five? The Lost Mark trilogy, the Crimson Talismon, and now the Blade of Flame trilogy... Don't get me wrong, I don't hate them or anything, and they are a worthy organization, its just that I want to focus on something *else*.

Also, some of the organizations are limited by geography, and as I stated before, I'd like this game to be centered around Lake Brey/Starilaskur. Anyway, though they aren't my personal favourite bad guys of Eberron, the Daelkyr would make a good driving force, especially from the perspective of it giving you a good reason to explore -ancient Dhakaani ruins- and hunt down real -sinister types- ... Perhaps Mordain the Fleshweaver will make an appearance. One thing I wonder about though, is why a lot of the material seems to draw some sort of corellation between the Daelkyr and the Cults of the Dragon Below... I mean, huh? Sure, the Daelkyr Lords were sealed into Khyber by the Gatekeepers, but the relationship ends there. If anything, I imagine that the Rakshasa Rajahs and their servants, the Lords of Dust, despise the Daelkyr and the Quori as much as the goblinoids, orcs and kalashtar do. Someone else trying to usurp *their* turf.

Rant aside, an interesting twist on that might reveal a powerful member of House Vadalis to be allied with Mordain or perhaps even a resurgent Closed Circle in hopes of exploiting Daelkyr research and magic in order to subtlely strengthen house animals in new and exciting ways. And come on, House Vadalis needs the love!

I'd be interested in hearing anyone else's thoughts on the appropriate driving villains, and why they would choose them.

Features I'd want:
* All PHB and Eberron races included.
* All PHB classes, plus the Artificer and psionic classes included.
* Single-player, and turnbased.
* FOLLOW THE DAMN RULES. Almost every D&D-based CRPG seems to feel the need to change the D&D rules around, with stupid things like letting all casters cast stuff spontaneously, real-time combat, and so on. If I buy a D&D CRPG, I want it to be D&D, not D&D plus the developers' modifications.
* Have the player control a party of up to six characters, which you generate at the start of the game. Possibly, allow the player to generate four characters and leave two slots for cool NPCs, Torment-style.

I Just Can't Let This Go...

Recently I've come back to the idea of an Eberron CRPG. The problem is, I kind of need Secrets of Sarlona before I can really flesh it out. That is because, predictably, I've changed my mind to thinking there shound be a game based on Kalashtar and psionics, placed on Sarlona.

Now, I don't want to go into specific details of the ultimate plotline, because I would like to hold onto my delusions that this could actually happen, but I was thinking that it would go level 1-20, would feature bards, clerics, monks, psions, psychic warriors, soulknifes, wilders (those classes being the suggested ones in Races of Eberron), all of the appropriate Eberron prestige classes, and the appropriate Psionics prestige classes from Expanded Psionics Handbook. I don't know if I'd put in the stuff from Complete Psionic. I haven't really heard many good things about that book.

Anyway, the player would start out as a student in a monastery in Adar, run by shadow watchers. Maybe the most prominent or second most prominent one. The first part of the game, taking them to level 3 or 4, would consist of them finishing their training. Then the main plot would get under way, leading them into Rierdra to fight the Chosen and the Inspired. Based on an idea I had for another thread on the WotC boards, since the computer games aren't truly canon, I think one of the high level chapters would be spent travelling through the astral and shadow planes to another planet or alternate world that has been trapped in conjunction with the plane of Dal Quor, because of the actions of the giants. That way, you would get a chance to fight the Quori in the flesh, without actually going to Dal Quor, which the kalashtar and unable to do.

Anyway, the game would be designed to take you right up to level 20, and if you did everything, any extra experience you had past that could be used for crafting items, or maybe even as a requirement for a special extra quest.

Any more thoughts on this kind of thing? I realize the first time around this thread received minimal interest, but maybe this sort of stuff will get people a little more riled up and willing to reply.

Err, edit, I realize leaving a lot of stuff out may be contentious, especially having kalashtar as the only available race for your starting character, but there would be NPCs of Adaran and Rierdran descent, any maybe some other races, though *NOT* the psionics handbook races. In my opinion, adding most of the extra races from the various books to Eberron is a big mistake. Exceptions might include ones like the glacial dwarves, supposedely native to the Frostfell, maybe the goliaths in Xen'drik, if they could be related to the giants and similar instances where they fill a need, as opposed to just being put in there. Rierdran and Adaran NPCs might also have access to the barbarian, fighter, paladin and rogue classes, while the kalashtar hero of the game would not (on Khorvaire, a case can be made for a kalashtar in any class, but this game has a focus, and I think limited the classes to the ones that would be taken up by a kalashtar in Adar is fitting).

Customers who would buy it in sufficient numbers to make it profitable.

Steel_Wind said:

Customers who would buy it in sufficient numbers to make it profitable.

Click to expand...

I thought I read that despite the large number of game-crippling bugs, the shovelware that was Temple of Elemental Evil had sold rather well.

If they just fixed the bugs on that engine I'd buy every game they published using it.