[Eberron] Timeline Advancement?

[Hellcow]

...some sourcebooks could come out with possible events for Eberron (Last War reignited, Quori invansion, the Silver Flame's last flicker), without making any of them mandatory.

Indeed. The idea of a modular approach to the future is certainly a fun one, especially with the idea of DDN as a modular system to begin with. And, of course, I've always wanted to explore a number of periods in the past. Of course, it may be quite a while until any sort of decision is made! In the meantime I'm working on a personal project, which I'll be announcing on HDWT sometime in the next few months.

 

[RangerWickett]

That's very clever -- multiple possible futures. Pick your poison.

Also, in my opinion what you need to offer folks who've already got the Eberron setting books is not future versions, but adventures. Eberron is pulp-inspired, and people never really got thrilled about the setting of pulp. Certainly not by the geopolitical status. They got thrilled by the action.

Pulp is full of cliches. We know there are crazed cultists, evil soldiers, mad scientists, femme fatales -- and whether they're Nazis, or Indians, or Elves, or Quori, the setting is less important than what adventures the hero undertakes.

That's not to say that Eberron isn't valuable as a setting. It's a clever creation that lets us fit 20th century pulp conventions into a fantasy setting, in ways that don't work as well in Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk. But the way you convey that pulpy feel is by providing quality adventures -- ideally ones that help teach new GMs how to evoke the mood.

 

[Ranganathan]

In the meantime I'm working on a personal project, which I'll be announcing on HDWT sometime in the next few months.

Damn your teasing.

 

[Hellcow]

But the way you convey that pulpy feel is by providing quality adventures -- ideally ones that help teach new GMs how to evoke the mood.

I agree, and I'd love to have the opportunity to write more Eberron adventures. Unfortunately, WotC hasn't been producing a lot of setting specific adventures, and it's not something I can do on my own. But it's a good point; perhaps it's a policy they'll change with DDN, whether by producing more in-house or licensing the setting to others.

 

[Kaodi]

Now who the heck would go and start a topic ab- uhhh, hi, Hellcow. ( )

998 YK. Fine just where it is. And 1000 YK is too important a year to take out of the hands of DMs, if you ask me.

But if you absolutely had to change the setting, I would say go into the past. -1500 YK, the Quori Invasion of Sarlona and the War of the Mark are underway, all of the Dragonmarks except for Finding have been discovered, and the Twelve is newly established. Pre-Galifar, so the continents are likely much less well explored. Both Khorvaire and Sarlona have major "things to do" . Almost perfect.

 

[Ranganathan]

I agree, and I'd love to have the opportunity to write more Eberron adventures. Unfortunately, WotC hasn't been producing a lot of setting specific adventures, and it's not something I can do on my own. But it's a good point; perhaps it's a policy they'll change with DDN, whether by producing more in-house or licensing the setting to others.

But you can write pulp-noir fantasy adventures without WotC's approval under the OGL.

 

[jadrax]

From what I have seen, advancing a setting time-line is a reliable way of persuading half its most dedicated fans to become hate filled fanatics who send you anthrax through the mail. Of course, YMMV ;o)

 

[Klaus]

I agree, and I'd love to have the opportunity to write more Eberron adventures. Unfortunately, WotC hasn't been producing a lot of setting specific adventures, and it's not something I can do on my own. But it's a good point; perhaps it's a policy they'll change with DDN, whether by producing more in-house or licensing the setting to others.

Since we had Dark Sun month in May, maybe you suggest an "Eberron month"?

 

[DEFCON 1]

From what I have seen, advancing a setting time-line is a reliable way of persuading half its most dedicated fans to become hate filled fanatics who send you anthrax through the mail. Of course, YMMV ;o)

I think that was a Forgotten Realms-specific difficulty, because of the decades of player-generated campaigns and their history that "went away" with the 100 year jump (if you look at it that way).

Eberron is just now coming up on 8 years... so there has not been as wide-spread "fanaticism" attributed to the setting as there was for FR. So a 20 to 50 year jump I don't think would have as vocal a disparagement as the FR jump did.

Of course, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong.

 

[Kaodi]

I think that was a Forgotten Realms-specific difficulty, because of the decades of player-generated campaigns and their history that "went away" with the 100 year jump (if you look at it that way).

Eberron is just now coming up on 8 years... so there has not been as wide-spread "fanaticism" attributed to the setting as there was for FR. So a 20 to 50 year jump I don't think would have as vocal a disparagement as the FR jump did.

Of course, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong.

You are probably wrong. One should not confuse the calm engendered by good decision making with a lack of fanaticism. I mean, while anthrax might be going a little overboard, screwing around with advancing the timeline is not going to make anyone any friends. And it also lowers the bar to making other horrible changes, like novels being considered canon. And once that happens, the entire setting might as well go to Fernia.

Dungeons & Dragons has always had settings with advancing timelines. Is it really too much to expect that there be one that remains static? (I am suddenly feeling deja vu over this conversation.) There are other ways to make the setting different as well, by just changing the focus of the books. You could practically make an entirely different setting by just making the perspective of the outside looking into the Five Nations rather than the Five Nations looking out. Or, as psionics are supposed to be in the 5e PHB, you could massively flesh out Sarlona and make that a core "setting" in the way Neverwinter was done. That might even be preferable as a psionic setting option to churning out another Dark Sun book.