Introducing Eberron to Newcomers

[d2OKC]

So, my home 4E campaign is humming along nicely and I'm starting to gear up for the final push. I've already decided that I want to try out Eberron next (the current one is almost completely homebrew), but I've kind of run into a problem.

None of my players have any experience with, or knowledge of, Eberron. I think it is a near-perfect setting for our particular group's tastes and tendencies, but I've only recently started looking into it myself, so we've never played with it before. Now, I've got the Eberron Campaign Setting and the Player's Guide to Eberron (and got them pretty cheaply) as well as the 3.5 books about Sharn and the Five Nations (which, I kind of want to focus on those aspects of the setting for the first go-round). So I have a working knowledge of it now, but the players still do not, and this is kind of an important part of playing in a world - knowing about it.

So, what is the best way to introduce the world to them? Obviously, the ECG has a nice intro section which gives some of the major details, but what else is important for them to know going in to the campaign? How can a group of players make characters that fit into the world if they don't know anything about it?

We play pretty casually, but consistently. About once a week for four or so hours each time. I don't want them to feel like I'm assigning homework or something (though, I've already tinkered with the idea of rewarding extra XP for certain things, if that will motivate them).

Anyway, what advice do you guys have to offer? Thanks.

 

[Nyronus]

So, my home 4E campaign is humming along nicely and I'm starting to gear up for the final push. I've already decided that I want to try out Eberron next (the current one is almost completely homebrew), but I've kind of run into a problem.

None of my players have any experience with, or knowledge of, Eberron. I think it is a near-perfect setting for our particular group's tastes and tendencies, but I've only recently started looking into it myself, so we've never played with it before. Now, I've got the Eberron Campaign Setting and the Player's Guide to Eberron (and got them pretty cheaply) as well as the 3.5 books about Sharn and the Five Nations (which, I kind of want to focus on those aspects of the setting for the first go-round). So I have a working knowledge of it now, but the players still do not, and this is kind of an important part of playing in a world - knowing about it.

So, what is the best way to introduce the world to them? Obviously, the ECG has a nice intro section which gives some of the major details, but what else is important for them to know going in to the campaign? How can a group of players make characters that fit into the world if they don't know anything about it?

We play pretty casually, but consistently. About once a week for four or so hours each time. I don't want them to feel like I'm assigning homework or something (though, I've already tinkered with the idea of rewarding extra XP for certain things, if that will motivate them).

Anyway, what advice do you guys have to offer? Thanks.

Sit down with them and help them each make characters for the setting. Make it simple and try not to show off to many details. Then run them an intro adventure which will blow their socks off.

Their on a lightning rail to Sharn when its high-jacked by Shifter Terrorists looking to pay the humans of Eberron back for the Lycanthrope Purge.

Set them up on an airship drop in the middle of a huge battle against Karrnath near the Cyran border on the Day of Mourning. Cap the battle off with a stunning bright white light and a deafinging bang and the Mourning wipes Cyre off the map.

The party is caught up between a street fight between a pair of rival gangs in Sharn's undercity over a single unmarked package. Things get even stranger when one gang leader opens the box to reveal and powerful and ancient artifact which drives him insane. The party learns that the package was meant to be delivered to a noble in Sharn, and when they go to investigate, they find his home wrecked and everyone there killed... by being flash frozen. The only other clues why include great reptillian claw marks all over the place, and an obsidian alter hidden in the noble's bedroom of a five headed dragon which has been smashed to pieces by something with phenomenal strength...

Give them a worm's eye view of the setting at character creation. Then thrust them into what makes the setting rock their socks. Something with pulp action, adventure, and intrigue. Something that also thrusts them into the conflicts of the setting: Political Struggles, The Last War, the shadow war between the Dragons and the Lords of Dust. The intro should sell the setting to them by showing them exactly what it has to offer. If your party digs it, keep going.

 

[jimmifett]

Take the A-Team approach. They are a band of spec ops during the last war.

I have a summary of nations and religions from a campaign email some where...

Religion
 The Sovereign Host; Good; All the world, focused primarily on civilized life. Generally the whole pantheon is worshipped.
  Arawai; Good; Agriculture, fertility, the Wilderness as natural resources.
  Aureon; Unaligned; Knowledge, law, arcane lore and magic
  Balinor; Unaligned; Beasts, the hunt, the cycle of life
  Boldrei; Good; Community, home, hearth
  Dol Arrah; Lawful Good; Light (physical and metaphysical, the goodness of the soul), honor, selflessness, military strategy, war
  Dol Dorn; Unaligned; Courage, duty, physical prowess, soldiers and warriors, war
  Kol Korran; Unaligned; Wealth, trade, commerce
  Olladra; Good; Fortune, luck, success
  Onatar; Unaligned; Forges, crafts, industry, fire
 The Dark Six; Evil; All the world, especially the primal wilderness and anture's destructive forces. Generally the whole pantheon is worshipped.
  The Devourer; Chaotic Evil; Storm, flood, famine, other aspects of nature's wrath; also the sea.
  The Fury; Chaotic Evil; Wrath, Passion, vengeance
  The Keeper; Evil; Gluttony, greed, necromancy
  The Mockery; Evil; Violence, betrayal, dishonorable victory, love of carnage, war
  The Shadow; Chaotic Evil; Ambition, dark magic, corruption
  The Traveler; Unaligned; Change, cunning, innovation, deception
  The Silver Flame; Lawful Good; Protection, generosity, destruction of evil and the unnatural
 Elven Religion
  The Undying Court; Unaligned; Immortality, elven society, history
  The Spirits of the Past; Unaligned; Glory, elven history and heroes
 The Blood of Vol; Unaligned or Evil; Divine power of the blood, immortality, undeath
 Cults of the Dragon Below; Chaotic Evil; Madness, destruction, aberrant creatures, darkness
 The Path of Light; Lawful Good; Light, progress, self-improvement, freedom
 
Nations and Dragonmarked Houses 
 Khorvaire
  Five Nations
   Aundair; Monarchy, Mage Universities, Lots of rural farms, hard working honest common folk.
   Breland; Monarchy / Parlimentary government. More rights for the common man than other nations. Highly loyal to Monarchy.
   Cyre; Gem of Khorvaire. Excellent artisans, crafters, and magewrights. Rich in trade.
   Karrnath; Tradition, discipline, proud military history. Unfortunately hit with plagues and famine due to focus on war.
   Thrane; Benevolent Theocracy, tolerating other religions fairly, Home of the Church of the Silver Flame.
  Other Territories
   Darguun; Loosely held nation of goblinoids, ruled by Lhesh Haruuc, a powerful and wise Hobgoblin. Populated by tribal clans and very honor bound.
   Demon Wastes; An area of cursed land, high cliffs, low valleys, and volcanos. Rumor has it demons are buried beneath.
   Droaam; Nation of monsters, ruled by three fearsome Hags that carved out thier own nation during the war.
   Eldeen Reaches; Dense woods and home of druidic sects.
   Lhazar Principalities; Cold, tough coasts filled with a hardy folk that ply the seas. Plenty of pirates.
   Mror Holds; Dwarven clanholds and banking vaults
   Q'barra; Hot steamy jungles, home of dragonborn and refugees of the war.
   Shadow Marches; Shadowy marshes and swampland guarded by orc druids, and home to many Cults of the Dragon Below and other things that bubble up from beneath the swamp.
   Talenta Plains; Open plains and desert populated with all sort of reptile behemoth, large and small. Home of the nomadic halflings.
   Valenar; Plains and desert occupied by the fiercest warrior elves.
   Zilargo; Home of the gnomes and the library of Korranberg
 Aerenal
  Aerenal; Home of the elves. An isolated, large island off the south east coast of khorvaire. Thick jungles and humid climate, home of the Deathless and the Undying Court.
 Sarlona
  Adar; Hostile and mountainous terrain, home of the Khalashtar and others desperate enough to seek refuge in it's peeks.
  Reidra; An agrarian society that has simple traditions. Free of war and violence of khoravaire and the birthplace of human culture, Reidra is now ruled by the Inspired.
 Xen'drik
  Storm Reach; Port town an entrance to the mad jungles of Xen'drik.
 Argonessan
  Barbarian Tribes; Dotting the coasts are barbarian tribes the guard the rest of the continent of dragons from the rest of the world.

 

[Spatula]

Well, I would find out what kind of game that they are interested in. Or maybe you know this already. Then, with their permission, I would say something like, "The setup for this campaign is that you are all members of the Royal Lanterns." Or whatever nation/organization you prefer that fits the desired game style. That way, they already have a place in the world and some direction. Then as the campaign progresses, they can discover other parts of the world through regular game play.

 

[Baz King]

There's a fantastic book: Adventurers Guide to Eberron (I think?) that you can pick up for next to nothing on eBay. It's very slim and 90% art. On release the pricing was absurd for what was basically a hardbound advert. Now, it's a perfect steal. Slap that down on the table, let your players flip through, job done.

 

[Aenghus]

Do find out what your group are interested in. Eberron has a bunch of themes available and not all of them can be emphasised at the same time e.g. over the top pulp adventure doesn't gel well at the same time as gritty noir, or non-pulp horror, and all these are offered by Eberron, amongst other themes.

I would pick one theme offered by Eberron and go with that mostly, with the occasional touch of the other themes offered.

 

[Chzbro]

The suggestions here are very good, but I would try something slightly different. You don't want to have to assign your players "homework," but they don't know the setting. So I would organize the campaign around a group of adventurers from a different continent (Xen'drik, Argonnessen, Sarlona, the bowels of Sharn, etc.) who, for whatever reason, find themselves in Khorvaire.

This allows you the classic strangers in a strange land situation in which the players get to discover Eberron at the same pace as their characters. It also takes some pressure off you as the DM in that you can introduce them to the parts of the world in whatever order and whatever pace you choose.

One of the reasons I like Eberron as a setting is the nice blend between fantastic detail and areas left for you to define yourself.

 

[Delgar]

This was how I introduced eberron to my players:

<Screen fades to black>

<A deep booming voice echoes>

Eberron

<images begin to slowly appear on the screen>

Peasants work the fields in a small farming community.

A grand ballroom filled with well dressed nobles dancing to a light tune.

A dozen knights kneel before a young girl in a grand hall

<the voice booms again>

Your typical D&D campaign

The peasants begin fleeing towards the town as a horde of goblins swoops in on the village.

One of the nobles begins to spasm and collapse on the dance floor.

The knights raise their swords to the girl queen.

<the voice booms again>

I think not

<The images start appearing faster>

Huge towering castles reach into the sky like skyscrapers on the top of a cliff.

A troop of Halflings rides across the plains on the back of dinosaurs.

An elf leaving the elven court bows to a skeletal guard.

<the voice booms again>

This isn't your fathers D&D

<the images begin appearing even faster>

A train racing along a track, leaving a trail of lightning in it's wake, with several shadowy figures jumping from the top of one car to another

A huge galleon floating in the air is being attacked by two other smaller airborn ships. A figure can be seen swinging from the rigging of one ship to the other.

An army of humans and skeletons charges another army of humans and human like constructs. Off in the distance a mushroom cloud can be seen and the blast wave knocks them all prone.

<screen fades to black>

<pause>

<a few images flicker on the screen>

The face of a human man

The face of an elven female

The face of a feral Halfling

The face of a warforged

The face of a dour dwarf

The face of a screaming gnome as he falls to his death, just as he is about to hit the ground

<screen fades to black>

<The voice booms>

How will you leave your mark

 

[d2OKC]

Well, I would find out what kind of game that they are interested in. Or maybe you know this already. Then, with their permission, I would say something like, "The setup for this campaign is that you are all members of the Royal Lanterns." Or whatever nation/organization you prefer that fits the desired game style. That way, they already have a place in the world and some direction. Then as the campaign progresses, they can discover other parts of the world through regular game play.

Yeah, I've got a pretty good grasp on what kind of game I want to run. Honestly the Lanterns really was my idea, but I was wanting to kind of spin it from there - King Boranel has been replaced with a doppelganger (a member of the Church of the Silver Flame) who is using them to help reignite the Last War, which would take them from nation to nation, and I could kind of introduce each one to them as they visited.

There's a fantastic book: Adventurers Guide to Eberron (I think?) that you can pick up for next to nothing on eBay. It's very slim and 90% art. On release the pricing was absurd for what was basically a hardbound advert. Now, it's a perfect steal. Slap that down on the table, let your players flip through, job done.

I have seen this book, and totally forgot about it! Thank you, that might actually work very well for what I want!

These are some great ideas, guys, thanks. I think what I have planned may be a bit ambitious, but I'm really excited about it, and I could easily see my group falling in love with Eberron. I'm very excited about it.

Aenghus mentioned all the themes in Eberron, and how it's impossible to explore them all, which he's right about. Which ones do you guys prefer to use, and what's the best way to get certain "feels" (the gritty noir, the high action pulp, the political intrigue, etc.) across to your players? More importantly, what is the best way to get them to contribute to those themes or atmospheres?

 

[Aenghus]

As to what theme to emphasise, it comes down to your tastes and those of your group.

The theme chosen has consequences for the campaign, and it's good not be be blindsided by them. One of the themes of Eberron is ambiguity - the power groups don't have simple good guys and bad guys, and individuals may not be what they seem. While this can make for interesting characterisation, a little betrayal goes a long way, and it can dive some players into a paranoia mode which can paralyse a campaign. They need NPCs they can rely on, most of which don't go out of their way to betray them. I find a single betrayal some way down the line by a trusted associate works far better than constant betrayal by everyone they deal with (and I have seen the latter far too many times, followed by plaintive cries from the referee when the PCs take the logical course of not talking to anyone, or killing off all lootable NPCs).

By and large, players tend to simplify, and put too much emphasis on their personal experiences. If group X is hostile early in the campaign they will tend to hold grudges. Even if most of group X are neutral or could be helpful, it can be impossible to get the group to cooperate with other elements of group X once they are established as hostile. Similarly, if a faction of group Y cooperate early with the PCs, the group can be very resistant to the idea that most of group Y are hostile to them.

Unless the theme is exporation and wandering (another strong Eberron theme), it's important that the PCs have strong background connections to the setting, while still remaining at least minimally compatible with one another. The right level of intrigue and individual motives that conflict with other PCs depends on the group - it could be no intrigue, or lots of it. Lots of intrigue means contingencies need to be in place to keep the group together, or acknowledgement that the campaign may end early in a morass of double dealing.