D&D 5E Please Support Eberron!

[Pentegarn]

I've never met a person who "got" the setting that didn't love it.

Meet me then. And if you were here, I'd introduce you to all my friends who play with me.

I'd have to agree with Perigorn, in that it was my least favorite setting. I'm just not a fan of the lore at all, and I absolutely hate idea of the Warforged race. Golems are one thing. They've been part of D&D for many years. But they're rare, and make a good monster. Picturing a bunch of "cyborg" running around my D&D campaign just ruins my immersion. The only games I've ever played that mix a sci-fi and fantasy in a way that feels right to me are Numenera, Star Wars, some Cthulhu settings, (N)WoD, and maybe Shadowrun. When I play D&D, I don't really want to see guns and robots, or anything else that puts me in mind of things of that nature, no matter how it's passed off in the lore. Hated the whole Zeitgeist thing Pathfinder started focusing on.

I understand there's plenty of players out there who like that type of thing. More power to them. Whatever floats your boat and lets you have fun. It's just not for me.

 

[RealAlHazred]

My interpretations of 5E versions of a lot of Eberron stuff can be found here.

 

[Paraxis]

My interpretations of 5E versions of a lot of Eberron stuff can be found here.

I like a lot of what you have done there.

 

[Hellcow]

Picturing a bunch of "cyborg" running around my D&D campaign just ruins my immersion.... When I play D&D, I don't really want to see guns and robots, or anything else that puts me in mind of things of that nature, no matter how it's passed off in the lore.

I'm certainly not trying to change your mind here, Pentegarn - it's chocolate and peanut butter, and not everyone likes it. But to call out a particular point, Eberron very consciously doesn't have firearms. The eternal wand is in some ways the equivalent of a musket in that it's a magical attack that can be used once and then recharged... but a wand can only be used by a spellcaster and they're far too expensive for common use. And physically, it's a wand. As for warforged, they're nothing about them that would classify them as cyborgs unless you're holding to the rumor that they might have human souls. They are golems, primarily made of wood and metal; it's simply that the wood components are "alive" enough to respond to healing.

The goal of Eberron was never to mix magic and technology, but rather to look at ways that existing D&D magic could be expanded to serve similar functions. The speaking stone "telegraph" is based on whispering wind, a spell that delivers a short message to a specific point. We have a slightly more efficient form of wand. Golems have been mass produced. But steam power, firearms, and similar things were consciously kept out of the setting. If you have a clear image of a fantasy setting with firearms, you could be thinking of Iron Kingdoms or even Pathfinder, which IIRC has a gunslinger.

Again: I'm not trying to convince you Eberron is your thing - I'm sure you've seen enough of it to know if it's not. And I understand that what you're saying is that it doesn't matter if it's actually a golem if it feels like a robot to you. But in particular, it's NOT a world of robot gunslingers, because the goal was always to explore the long-term evolution of magic - not to put magic and technology in the same world.

 

[am181d]

I never ran an adventure in Eberron, but most of my late 3e era campaigns used Warforged, Shifters, and Changelings as core races. Eberron is good stuff.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I like a lot of what you have done there.

Thank you kindly! Feel free to comment -- I'm still mulling over everything, how it can be made as simple as possible, and how best to fit it in with the tropes and flavor of Eberron. It's all liable to change if I get a better idea.

 

[Pentegarn]

I'm certainly not trying to change your mind here, Pentegarn - it's chocolate and peanut butter, and not everyone likes it. But to call out a particular point, Eberron very consciously doesn't have firearms. The eternal wand is in some ways the equivalent of a musket in that it's a magical attack that can be used once and then recharged... but a wand can only be used by a spellcaster and they're far too expensive for common use. And physically, it's a wand. As for warforged, they're nothing about them that would classify them as cyborgs unless you're holding to the rumor that they might have human souls. They are golems, primarily made of wood and metal; it's simply that the wood components are "alive" enough to respond to healing.

The goal of Eberron was never to mix magic and technology, but rather to look at ways that existing D&D magic could be expanded to serve similar functions. The speaking stone "telegraph" is based on whispering wind, a spell that delivers a short message to a specific point. We have a slightly more efficient form of wand. Golems have been mass produced. But steam power, firearms, and similar things were consciously kept out of the setting. If you have a clear image of a fantasy setting with firearms, you could be thinking of Iron Kingdoms or even Pathfinder, which IIRC has a gunslinger.

Again: I'm not trying to convince you Eberron is your thing - I'm sure you've seen enough of it to know if it's not. And I understand that what you're saying is that it doesn't matter if it's actually a golem if it feels like a robot to you. But in particular, it's NOT a world of robot gunslingers, because the goal was always to explore the long-term evolution of magic - not to put magic and technology in the same world.

The only comments of my post directed purely at Eberron were the ones about my not caring for the lore of the setting and hating the Warforged race. The rest was explaining that I don't generally like things that put me in mind of the modern or futuristic in my "D&D" game. I used firearms and "cyborgs" as an example, based on various experiences that range between various "D&D"/Pathfinder settings, of things that break my immersion in what I typically consider "D&D" and fantasy.

Even without the Warforged, we simple didn't like the lore and "feel" of the setting. And despite going back to Greyhawk, and homebrew in 3e after trying Eberron, we all tried the DDO MMO, knowing they decided to use the Eberron setting. We thought maybe since it's a video game, it might not be so bad. The spells and other aspects of that game made it feel a little like D&D, but seeing all the Warforged running around right there on the screen just ripped the immersion right out of it for us. And again, there was the lore. So that didn't last long either.

It's just a matter of what a particular individual or group considers fantasy, or "D&D". I prefer a more classic Tolkien style feel. It may be that a lot of players feel that the Tolkien style is outdated, but that was D&D to me when I first started into the RPG, and for my groups and I, it's classic fantasy for us. So our homebrew and any official setting that we prefer tend to stick to that style of fantasy.

 

[Aldarc]

I'm not sure if official D&D ever had Tolkien-style settings.

 

[Pentegarn]

I'm not sure if official D&D ever had Tolkien-style settings.

Troll all you like.

I'm pretty sure most everyone here that take longer than a minute to comprehend what I posted can figure out that I'm talking about a particular style and feel when it comes to fantasy. As Tokien's books influenced fantasy at our table, it also influenced Gygax. I made it clear that my groups and I prefer that style of fantasy, and that we tend toward our own homebrew and settings that do not deviate from more classic style of fantasy.

 

[Aldarc]

Troll all you like.

I appreciate your permission to troll, but I'm not trolling you. I'm being genuine.

I'm pretty sure most everyone here that take longer than a minute to comprehend what I posted can figure out that I'm talking about a particular style and feel when it comes to fantasy. As Tokien's books influenced fantasy at our table, it also influenced Gygax. I made it clear that my groups and I prefer that style of fantasy, and that we tend toward our own homebrew and settings that do not deviate from more classic style of fantasy.

Yes, but Gygax was clearly influenced by just as much (if not more) non-Tolkienesque fantasy. A lot of D&D was influenced by the intentionally non-Tolkienesque pulp fantasy novels (e.g., Michael Moorcock, Robert Howard, Jack Vance, Fritz Lieber, etc.), many of which were also written to be something akin to anti-Tolkien or also included sci-fi elements as well. I personally find the idea of "classical fantasy" an artificial construction that has never really existed.

Greyhawk is not Tolkienesque, in my opinion. Neither is Forgotten Realms nor Dragonlance nor Birthright.