Why is Eberron being pushed so hard?

[Navar]

I think that the entire argument that has been made and carried out in this thread is one of semantics. What difference does it make the word Medieval is used? A couple of pages back someone hit the nail on the head when they said something like "so if you replaces Medieval with Renaissance you would be happy" sometimes there is no pleasing people. Someone also said that the main person arguing about the definition of medieval is a troll from another forum, and I would believe that as well because some of his points are like "if you are stupid then Eberon is great" etc. Simply put, some people will never be happy. He chooses to nitpic the definition of a word and that keeps him from enjoying an entire setting. And it is a fantastic setting. Any further argument is moot because he has already made up his mind he is not going to agree with any valid point put to him. When someone mentioned that the definition of Medieval was just an Americanized one he said Touché and went on arguing his pervious point. He is obviously a Troll who can’t stand for anyone else to be happy, so he has to FIND THINGS WRONG with a product. With this one he finds a word misused. “It would be a fantastic setting, but that misuse you one word just makes it crap.” about sums up his argument.

Thank you Mr. Baker and WOTC for this fantastic product.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Sigh...

Okay, I thought it was implicit, but...

"...because involuntary or uncontrolled darkness is a completely foreign experience."

Better?

What also would be a foreign experience for underground-dwelling dwarfes might be seeing beyond 60 feet - not only because of their vision, but also because of the size of most rooms and cities.
Probably most dwarfes are agoraphobic (did I spell that right?), at least at first, once they enter the "free world". Where is the ceiling? Where is the next wall?

 

[Mouseferatu]

What also would be a foreign experience for underground-dwelling dwarfes might be seeing beyond 60 feet - not only because of their vision, but also because of the size of most rooms and cities.
Probably most dwarfes are agoraphobic (did I spell that right?), at least at first, once they enter the "free world". Where is the ceiling? Where is the next wall?

Indeed, my wife and I were just discussing that the other day. How cool would it be to play a dwarven warrior, unafraid of an orcish axe, willing to stand toe-to-toe with a dragon, but terrified of an open field on a cloudless day?

The unfamiliar is often the basis for fear, and few things would be less familiar to an underground-dwelling race. In fact, I can see the dwarves being far more comfortable at night, precisely because they can't see as far.

 

[myrdden]

Indeed, my wife and I were just discussing that the other day. How cool would it be to play a dwarven warrior, unafraid of an orcish axe, willing to stand toe-to-toe with a dragon, but terrified of an open field on a cloudless day?

Wasn't there a character from David Eddings' "Belgarid" (or however it is written) series with such a reaction?

 

[William Ronald]

Wasn't there a character from David Eddings' "Belgarid" (or however it is written) series with such a reaction?

I think there was a clautrophobic dwarf in the Sword of Shannara, where dwarves lived in the woodlands and the elves lived underground.

 

[Desdichado]

Wasn't there a character from David Eddings' "Belgarid" (or however it is written) series with such a reaction?

Yeah, if I remember right, he was a kinda Morlock-ish, pale white kinda guy. Haven't read that in a long time, though.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Wasn't there a character from David Eddings' "Belgarid" (or however it is written) series with such a reaction?

Indeed. Still one of my favorite fantasy series, along with the Elenium and the Tamuli. (I'm less fond of the Malorean, but it's still decent.) Eddings isn't a very good plotter--all his stories are basically the same--but I love his writing and his dialogue. Some of the most fun I've ever had reading a series.

 

[Knight Otu]

I think there was a clautrophobic dwarf in the Sword of Shannara, where dwarves lived in the woodlands and the elves lived underground.

It's been some time since I read the books, but I believe the elves still lived in woodlands (more or less). The dwarves lived in the woods, too, after surviving the cataclysm in the depth of the earth, but never wanted to return there, I think. Am I so off-base in my memory?

 

[malladin]

Appologies for coming late to the party, but I just had to join in...

A note: I never said Eberron was bad. However, it's not what I consider a good direction. I consider concepts like Planescape or Dark Sun a good direction. If you put that sort of creativity behind the notion "Classic fantasy", you'd have a heck of a good setting.

With respect, I think you are mistaken on this point. Eberron is exactly the same basic concept built on classic fantasy ideas. Instead of adding the Post-Apocalyptic concept (darksun) or planar/horror concept (Planescape), Eberron works itself into developing a pulp/noir feel on top of the classic fantasy basic structure. Pretty much all the big elements in the history are set up to create that feel - the war (like WW1), the Daelkyr and Quori (like Cthulu), Xendrik (like indiana jones). I've just not quite figured out who the Nazi's are going to be. My guess is the Warforged...

Whether or not this will work or is to each individual's taste is another matter... Maybe fantasy and noir don't mix well, maybe these 'alternative' settings don't last (as an earlier poster commented on), but I don't think you can say that this is different to DarkSun or Planescape.

Cheerio,
Ben