DMing Eberron Campaign

[Superj3nius]

I have DMed a few campaigns for my friends and I'm starting an Eberron 3.5 edition campaign at level one with 3 or 4 players. I have never done anything associated with Eberron and I'm new to the campaign settings and whatever differences it has from setting-less based 3.5. I was wondering what things would people recommend, add or takeout/ignore.

Also I was planning on starting with the campaign from the back of the Eberron Campaign Setting book and then venturing into the "Shadows of the Last War" as the next campaign. Is there anything I should fix/change or just be informed of? I am just looking for good campaigns that really show off Eberron because my players and I have never experienced it. Any ideas on other good campaigns?
I know I have a lot of questions, sorry.

 

[71gamer]

Eberron is pretty similar to D&D in most respects, as far as what you beat up, what treasure you find, etc. Where it's different is the tone, kinda low-magic fantasy noir meets fake steampunk (there's trains, airships, etc). You'd be best serving your group by familiarizing yourself with the factions and a one-paragraph short history of the world (or at least the great war).

Eberron get s a lot more interesting if you play up the faction/country differences, step into the mournland, fight some warforged, torment your party with some changeling, visit Xen'drik, and beat up some HALFLINGS ON DINOSAURS!

But seriously, like Keith Baker suggests, Eberron is a place where nothing ends quite the way you want it to. Let the party win, but in the end get ed over by some dragonmarked house that they then have to fix. Etc etc.

Good luck!

 

[RainOfSteel]

In Eberron, overall levels are lower than in, say, Forgotten Realms. Higher level characters, upper-teens and above, are rare.

I would consider a longer-term advancement system, like the Pathfinder slow experience chart.

Using that chart, your players would stay in Eberron's primary target level range for longer.

 

[Hitman187]

Ebberon is fun, but there are A LOT of factions, (I may be off a tad but) 13 nations in Korvaire, 13 religions (counting each of the sovereign host and dark six), 13 Dragonmarked houses, 3 or 4 other continents besides Korvair, the remaining of the 5 original nations all have secret organizations and groups trying to overthrow their our government or leadership, and global secret organizations that are doing who knows what.
With out reading a massive amount of Ebberon books, your game will lack the knowledge of what any one random group is, or their view on every other group and how that would actually play out in game. On the other hand if you do read all these books it is really hard to not possibly meta-game knowing game altering decisions. Say for example knowing that the king of Karrnath is really a vampire that is pretending to be his grandson, and wants to free his country from the Blood of Vol. Or that the arch cardinal of the Silver Flame is evil.

Oh and I disagree with 71gamer completely Ebberon is anything but low magic. Sharn, is a damn floating city. Spells have becoming living essences in placed like the Mournlands.

 

[Wyvernhand]

Everything you wanted to know about playing in Eberron, but were afraid to ask.

Also, remember, in Soviet Rierdra, you no fork road...ROAD FORK YOU!

Think of the pulpy-est, actiony-est over-the-toppy-est movie you've ever seen. Now turn it into a game and set it in Eberron. Indiana Jones? Xen'Drick is great for that, and the Karnathi make great NAZI's. I once played in a game the DM literally titles "3:10 to Wroat", a spoof on "3:10 to Yuma". I played another game where we started one game in media res right before a soarsled drop over the Karnathi No Fly Zone on orders from a mysterious fellow named The Fury who sounded an awful lot like one Samuel L Jackson.

Seriously, go wild. However you stretch the setting, Eberron is big enough and resiliant enough to take it.

 

[71gamer]

Oh and I disagree with 71gamer completely Ebberon is anything but low magic. Sharn, is a damn floating city. Spells have becoming living essences in placed like the Mournlands.

Low magic was the wrong word, everyday magic is common around Eberron, but high-level casters and magic are very uncommon (hence the lack of casters who can cast resurrect spells, etc).

I agree with the poster above who states that you might want to use slow progression, or you will rapidly outpace the content (assuming you're using pathfinder). I did the quick-and-dirty pathfinder conversion to the bad guys just to make sure the players had a challenge.

Make sure and play it secret, make sure your players don't always get what they want, or once they get it, it isn't what they expected.

The EPG sums up nicely what makes eberron different from other fantasy:

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Excerpts: EPG Introduction)

Have fun!

 

[Superj3nius]

Thanks everyone! I figured since that this was a huge campaign setting with a really deep plot and setting, I am having all my players write their backgrounds more specific to the campaign, Hoping that his gets them more into role play more but also familiarizes them not only their land but an organization associated with their class and a rival organization, leaving an option for later campaigns. If they are really well written and include a lot of Eberron plot pieces and info I will award exp? I figured this way everyone brings their own knowledge of the land and setting and hopefully having a nicely diverse group.

Wyvernhand! Great link and thanks for the great examples, I dig it a lot and may sample some of those ideas

 

[Hitman187]

If you use action points reward thoese instead of exp, as ebberon defenitly needs people to do Indiana jones moves just to live.

Edit:
Oh and if you are converting to pathfinder, there is a feat that reduces gold cost of item creation, don't allow this feat. Also do not let anyone have a dragonmark of making. Because pathfinder removed the exp cost of creating magical items, this feat and dragonmark are do broken.