Why is Eberron being pushed so hard?

[Mouseferatu]

Ranger, I don't begrudge you anything. Despite the fact that it doesn't appeal to me, I'm glad FR still has a fanbase, because I want WotC to succeed as a company. I could have wished it was simply one option of many, rather than being the default for so long, but that's A) just personal taste, and B) water under the bridge at this point anyway.

My point was only that I don't think the age factor is that big a deal. Everything else was personal opinion.

 

[Nisarg]

Being in South America, I haven't even had a chance to see Eberron yet, so I certainly won't make any kind of judgement on it as a setting, save to say that from the point of view of the preview material I've seen it looks a bit too wierd to ever become the "standard" fantasy setting.

That said, what worries me about the sheer amount of money and energy WoTC is investing in this baby is that it could very well flop miserably, causing a huge amount of damage to WoTC. I am left to wonder if the amount they are investing in Eberron is an amount they could afford to throw away, or if they've crossed some "point of no return" with it, so that if Eberron fails the results might be disasterous?

Granted, WoTC belongs to Hasbro now, and Hasbro can certainly afford to have a failed game or two.. but if WoTC has dedicated a lot to Eberron and in turns out to be a flop, Hasbro might decide to take some action as far as WoTC's viability.

Nisarg

 

[KenM]

Well, WOTC did pay, what, $130,000 for it? (I think $100,000 for the main prize, but 3 $10,000 ones). If you spend that much money on a contest for a setting, I imagine you'd want to push it a lot.

Excatly my thoughts. They want to make sure they make money on the deal. I have not really looked at it, but from the reviews I've read its at least different enough then the other WOTC settings to spark intrest. I wonder if the contest winner gets any more cash from the deal from other setting books as well.

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

Eb's world looks like another source for me to plunder for my home brew which is a patch work of FR, GH, Dominia, CoC, Conan, the Planes, Lord of the rings and star wars(I like the Force concept). Perhaps much more, only my imagination can limit my vision.

When I was a young lad, Greyhawk was my default world, but as I grew up, I wanted more but did not want to put that kind of work into making my own setting, ya I'm lazy. So I decided, why not patch worlds together?
I would hazzard to guess that my world might be at big at Jupiter!

Now since we are on the subject of Eberron, can somebody tell me what this worl is like in a nut shell? Is it alot like Dominia?


Scott

 

[Ranger REG]

Being in South America, I haven't even had a chance to see Eberron yet, so I certainly won't make any kind of judgement on it as a setting, save to say that from the point of view of the preview material I've seen it looks a bit too wierd to ever become the "standard" fantasy setting.

That said, what worries me about the sheer amount of money and energy WoTC is investing in this baby is that it could very well flop miserably, causing a huge amount of damage to WoTC. I am left to wonder if the amount they are investing in Eberron is an amount they could afford to throw away, or if they've crossed some "point of no return" with it, so that if Eberron fails the results might be disasterous?

I don't know if it can be disastrous. If they market the IP right through several media, most especially in consumer electronic (MMORPG, CRPG, console), they would get better exposure to the buying public.

Of course, I have not heard any development problem from Turbine Entertainment (the folks creating the Eberron-based D&D MMORPG). We all remember have remembered the Master Tools/e-Tools debacle with Fluid. Perhaps it is a good thing Atari is managing the electronic licensing of D&D, since they have a longstanding record in that area of expertise. (Then again, I'm biased. My first videogame system is Atari 2600.)

Granted, WoTC belongs to Hasbro now, and Hasbro can certainly afford to have a failed game or two.. but if WoTC has dedicated a lot to Eberron and in turns out to be a flop, Hasbro might decide to take some action as far as WoTC's viability.

With every business decision, there is always a risk. Sometimes you can't always play safe or be conservative.

 

[Nisarg]

With every business decision, there is always a risk. Sometimes you can't always play safe or be conservative.

I grant you that, I just don't know if its wise to put all your eggs in such an apparently wierd basket.
The danger with these "frantabulous, fantrastrical" settings (ie. settings that go out of their way to NOT be normal fantasy) is that people will at first say "hey, cool, its not like tolkien", and get excited about it, only to drop it three months later because its TOO different.

The same archetypes and basic themes that make Tolkien seem a little dull to some people is also what keeps Tolkien classic, timeless, and played. FR was a success for TSR because (especially at first) it stuck close to those kinds of archetypes, while still introducing some pretty sophisticated detailed cultures/places/groups, etc.

Also, I would personally have preferred that the "next big thing" from FR would be something more down-to-earth and lower-magicked with a focus on cultures and kingdoms, rather than what appears to be even more high-magick high-powered. Granted that high-powered tends to sell well for the D&D fanboys, but i can't help but be reminded of RIFTS everytime i read the "its got everything!!" previews and reviews of Eberron. And if it isn't already like RIFTS, something like Eberron could quickly develop a RIFTS-like power creep. Hope I'm wrong though.


Nisarg

 

[Paradigm]

Two valid reasons if I ever heard any. Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms are step children who have grown up and moved out on their own. WotC wants a child they can call they're own, but raising Eberron requires time and money to ensure its survival.

Never underestimate the culture of a large company. Nobody at WotC can point to Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms and say, "I did this."

 

[Henry]

...what worries me about the sheer amount of money and energy WoTC is investing in this baby is that it could very well flop miserably, causing a huge amount of damage to WoTC. I am left to wonder if the amount they are investing in Eberron is an amount they could afford to throw away, or if they've crossed some "point of no return" with it, so that if Eberron fails the results might be disasterous?

I sincerely doubt they need to worry, based on the fan reaction I've seen so far. I could be wrong, but for the bookstores I've seen, It's selling pretty regularly. I myself have bought the first two products for it, and I've RARELY done that with a new setting within its month of release. I also intend on buying the next two products, because they are interesting the heck out of me (vampire's blade and the Sharn Source Book).

What gets me attracted to the setting? Perhaps it's the visuals so far, and the dynamic of the characters being truly set apart from the rest of the inhabitants of the setting. In fact, there are many things about this setting that actually are similar to Original 1975-1980 Greyhawk in theme. FR wasn't built with NPC commoner and adept and aristocrat classes in mind; Faerun is a fun and vibrant setting (I may know more about FR than any other setting I've been exposed to) but there's a sense of modern-day "lost in the shuffle" that comes with being 1 of a million other characters of your level or higher. Even when you are 20th level, you've got a stable of almost 100 peers in Faerun.

In the Original Greyhawk, there were the elements of:
-- 95% majority of inhabitants were 0-level humans or 1st level demihumans
--great war devastated a quarter of the map (albeit long ago)
--only a handfull of high-level characters
--the PC's are some of the select few who make a difference.
--Gygax and Kuntz and Mentzer, et al gave it an undercurrent of leiber/howard style adventure, and morals were a bit greyer

In Eberron all these elements are in place, plus the elements of low-level D&D magic taken to logical extremes; the malaise of 1920's and 30's US and europe given form in the post-Mournland and post-Last War continent of Khorvaire; and the kind of religious grey and uncertainty that Greyhawk couldn't have without a minor rewrite. Eberron is one of the only TSR settings outside of Planescape where a religious inquisition actually MAKES SENSE to me.

All these things mean it holds promise for this wet-behind-the-ears 33 year-old. (No offense, REG. )

 

[Scribe Ineti]

REG covered it pretty much in an earlier post. Eberron is new, and presents a fresh spin on the traditional fantasy stuff. While many of us grew up with Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, there are thousands of gamers fairly new to the game that may not have something to call theirs. Maybe many of them are intimidated by the long list of products released for GH and FR over the past couple decades. Eberron is a chance to get started on a setting from the laying of the first cornerstone.

There are hundreds, probably thousands, of D&D gamers who will cut their teeth on Eberron, much as we did with GH and FR and other settings. I think it's great that WotC is pushing it. I'd love to be able to translate my modest RPG writing credits into working on the line somewhere. And I'm sure that's a very long list to want to be added to.

 

[BryonD]

I didn't dislike FR being the default setting because it replaced GH. I disliked it being the default setting because it's never, in all its years, appealed to me as a setting.

I'm would never claim that one person's opinion represents a trend or anything like that, but....

Would you see any meaning in the statement that one of the most devoted myrmidons of Eberron didn't like the most commercially successful setting ever?

Anyway, I've tried reading my copy several times and I see the same thing each time. A world where you are told where everything goes. How that increases adventure options, I will never understand. I've yet to see an actual example of adventure that can be done in Eberron, but not in my homebrew.

There is an amazingly developed, detailed and tangled political world in Eberron. And I can completely understand the appeal of that. But beyond that its just telling me what I can and can't do. Who needs that?
Of course I can ignore any of it I want to. But if I start doing that, then what is the point of buying the stuff in the first place?

I love FR. I've never actually PLAYED in FR that I can recall. FR is a mountain of mix and match classic fantasy elements. So much that it doesn't even make sense as a single world. But it is all modular and I shred it and toss the stuff I don't like and blend the cool stuff into my home brew.

Eberron is the opposite. An extremely consistent and rational world that gets there by linking everything in one giant gordian knot.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040803a
This is keith's current essay on "What makes it "swashbuckling action"?"
I do not see one word in there that did not apply to Greyhawk 25 years ago.
OK, one exception: action points. I got Unearthed Arcana, I got action points. Next?