Which Campaign Setting has the best fluff? Why?

[Nisarg]

Exactly. But Henry, there are quite a few people on this planet who not only want everyone to know that *they* don't like something, but that want to make sure you understand that *you* are less cultured than they are for liking it. If they had their way, the things they don't like/agree with would be eliminated, or at least made illegal.

Your and my likes or dislikes don't enter into his thinking. We're scum, he's god, just ask him.

That's a pretty insulting attack, and pretty baseless.

I have no problem that Eberron works for many people. In fact, it makes sense that it would, that's what Wizards wanted, a setting that would appeal to the broadest base possible.

Do I dislike Eberron in general? You bet.
Do I think that people who play it are "scum", as you said? No, and I can think of a lot of reasons why playing Eberron would be an enjoyable experience for many people.
Are you less cultured for liking Eberron? No, at least not necessarily (and if you are less cultured, its not due to the mere fact that you like Eberron).

But if you are putting Eberron on a list of gaming settings with the BEST fluff, are you wrong? Absolutely.

And that was the only point I was getting at on this thread.

Nisarg

 

[fredramsey]

But if you are putting Eberron on a list of gaming settings with the BEST fluff, are you wrong? Absolutely.

And that's what tags it, right there. There are no "wrong" answers to a purely subjective question. Pretty simple.

And if you think you can quantify "fluff", please show me that math.

 

[Kanegrundar]

But if you are putting Eberron on a list of gaming settings with the BEST fluff, are you wrong? Absolutely.

And that was the only point I was getting at on this thread.

Nisarg

Which is very much your opinion. Eberron's fluff works for many of us. Therefore, if some of us like it enough, it should be on a list of campaign settings with the best fluff. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it a setting with "bad" fluff.

Kane

 

[Nisarg]

And that's what tags it, right there. There are no "wrong" answers to a purely subjective question. Pretty simple.

And if you think you can quantify "fluff", please show me that math.

I did. I pointed it out in my first post on this thread, that as far as I saw there were three different ways to rate "fluff": quantity, coherency/detail, and playability.

Eberron fails miserably compared to other settings in the first two categories, and the third one is the one I admitted to be subjective (but not entirely so). And the people who would rate Eberron as high on "playability" are actually probably rating it as high in that category for things not really connected to "fluff" issues at all, but rather "fun" issues.. ie. the example of the top of a lightning train being a cool place to have a battle. I agree, its a really cool place for a battle, but that doesn't actually make the "fluff" of the lightning train what's appealing. Its just a prop.

Nisarg

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

The quantity of Eberron fluff skyrockets when you include the Dragonshards, Steal This Hook, and Sharn Inquisitive articles on WotC. You don't think that Eberron fluff is coherent? I've gotta say, incoherency is probably the only complaint about Eberron fluff that I've never heard ('till now). Not detailed? Only 2 books are out, one of which is a single-city sourcebook. The articles also increase the detail for many regions and cultures.

It strikes me that the best ways to quantify fluff are A) inspiration, B) enjoyability, and C) usefulness. I'm not really qualified to go into detail about C, but it seems to be the general concensus that Eberron is great on A and B.


That is all.

 

[baileyrecords]

Eberron.

 

[Staffan]

If you actually made the setting express the social CONSEQUENCES of the existence of the lightning rail

The reason the lightning rail in Eberron hasn't caused the same kind of social change that railroads did on Earth is that it's frickin' expensive. For someone without special connections (it's implied that institutions buy LR tickets in bulk or something, which explains why Morgrave University can send PCs all over the place on the train while the PCs themselves can't afford it), travel by lightning rail costs 5 silver pieces per mile. Going from Sharn to Wroat (Breland's biggest city to its capital) costs 230 gp, for a one-way trip. That's almost seven years' wages for a common laborer.

And the reason the LR is so expensive is that (a) it's a pretty darn heavy investment - you need bound elementals to propel the train, conductor stones, stuff to control the bound elemental, in addition to the actual train. Also, house Orien has a monopoly on the train traffic (because the control mechanism is pretty hard to use for someone without the Mark of Travel), so there's not exactly much incentive to try to get the costs down either.

 

[Nightfall]

Just so you know, I liked Keith's OTHER work before Eberron. Touched by the Gods had some good ideas.

In other non Eberron shouting matches, the Sage decides to state again: SCARRED LANDS FLUFF!!!!

Thank you.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Please.
Could we get back to talking about settings with great fluff instead of arguing about Eberron?

Thanks.


Nisarg: Sounds like Urbis might be your thing:
http://juergen.the-huberts.net/dnd/urbis/

 

[freebfrost]

Wow, this thread has gotten *way* too serious.

So, in light of that, I have to ask...

At worst, Eberron is the Milli-Vanilli of the D&D world.

Does this mean that Ed Greenwood has been writing all of this stuff AND the Realms stuff too?!?!

Anyways, back to topic.

1) Forgotten Realms. I hardly read the novels themselves, but for sheer amount of material available in 3.5, 3E, 2nd edition, 1st edition, books, fansites - they win hands down.

2) Conan. I've been a fan of Howard since I was a child, so seeing the setting actually come to life has been amazing. Hats off to Mongoose for putting their best foot forward (stolen maps and all!).

3) Midnight. Just an amazing piece of work - a fantastic concept and the fluff to back it up. Well done.