Eberron It Is? [UPDATED & CONFIRMED!]

grimslade · Jul 24, 2018

So Eberron is in 5e! Sort of... Let me bullet my thoughts.
1)PDF vs Physical- I would have loved a nice fat hardcover, but I understand the worry of title spam and the revenants of TSR warehouses of moldering Buck Rogers boxed sets. PDF gets the information into fans hands now, as opposed to waiting for a slot to open in the publishing calendar. Plus, WotC/Hasbro can see which is the path forward for setting material: Book Ravnica vs PDF Eberron.
2) Early Access/ Beta vs. Polished release- People have been clamoring for updated setting material since the playtest. The release cycle until this year had been pretty spartan and regimented. Until the surprise Ravnica hardcover, there did not seem to be a setting slot until 2019. Five years is a long wait for a setting, any setting other than FR. So they had a bunch of Eberron stuff from early in the UA pipeline and a setting creator who was willing to do some lifting without a lot of help from the design team. Eberron was the most ready, but still not 5e book done. I respect that they chose to get the info into the hands of players now, rather than wait until all the missing pieces were done. Also, the two settings (Ravnica and Eberron) are supeficially similar. Dragonmark Houses vs the ten Guilds, Cosmopolitan setting, widespread magic as technology are not the same but they are similar. This sets up a nice test of what way setting material should be presented going forward. If there a ton of Ravnica books sitting on shelves and in distributors warehouses by 2020, setting books will be a hard sell. If the Wayfare's Guide sells well and there is decent DM's Guild content production, PDF will be a viable way forward, especially with more niche settings.
My initial thought is the PDF model will win out. The low cost of production and evergreen nature make it a good way for a niche product, which is what setting material is. My other thought is that it marries well with the product cycle we have now. Release a setting book to DM's Guild to give fans the subject they want, have the early access/ beta polish up the mechanics while you write an Adventure path for that setting, insert the field-tested, polished mechanics and sell as the Multiverse adventure book for the year (as opposed to the FR/generic adventure) The remaining mechanics that aren't necessary or are more generic can go in the MToF or Xanathars book for the year. This is not a bad set up. $20 is what we paid for a splatbook 15 years ago, so $20 for an evergreen PDF seems pretty good. DM's Guild also can beef up the content going forward without cluttering the FLGS bookshelves.

HawaiiSteveO · Jul 24, 2018

As a total tangent, I wonder if Waterdeep: Dragon Heist could be set in Sharn (easily)..?

Demetrios1453 · Jul 24, 2018

gweinel said:
Does Mearls or someone else from Wizards answered why did they choose to make Eberron a digital - ebook product and not a print one? I can understand why the choose Ravinca to be printed, but why not Eberron? I am asking because this seems to me as a downgrading for a published world.
Shall we expect next year to have Planeshift printed and Planescape/Spelljammer ebook again?

Both Mearls and Baker said that it's because it's still not be complete - the artficer is still missing for example. Once everything is updated and playtested, a print option is possible.

lkj · Jul 24, 2018

Dire Bare said:
I just finished watching the latest Dragontalk podcast, and read over more of Mearls tweets . . . .

Looks like this particular product, the Wayfarer's Guide, will be updated as the UA playtests tweak various elements, and will eventually receive POD (print-on-demand) options, possibly including a hardcover POD. However, this specific product will not "become a real boy" and get a more traditional print release . . . . but material in it MIGHT be incorporated in a future Eberron traditional hardcover. This potential future book will overlap strongly with the Wayfarer's Guide, but will be a different product. The discussion so far is short on details and doesn't offer promises or release dates. And, of course, plans can change between now and a possible future Eberron book, especially with the experimental and playtest nature of the Wayfarer's Guide.

We'll see what happens, but if someday in the not-so-distant future we have two, overlapping and similar products, the Wayfarer's Guide and future-Eberron book . . . . that would irritate me.

He did make it pretty clear in some of his tweets that their goal would be to make people happy to own both products (the e-book and some hypothetical future print product). He described them as 'companion books'. I think he was simply saying that some of the material in the Wayfinder book might be reproduced in the print book as needed but that they clearly would be separate enough to make it worth owning both.

YMMV on whether they actually pull that off.

AD

gweinel · Jul 24, 2018

Demetrios1453 said:
Both Mearls and Baker said that it's because it's still not be complete - the artficer is still missing for example. Once everything is updated and playtested, a print option is possible.

I know this, but it is an unsufficient answer. It their choice to have it in a "beta" phase and when they feel it is ready, then they print it on demand (as they said). As I understand, print on demand, it means it will be available only through dmsguild, and not in any hobby store or a digital one like amazon. Still, imho, this is a downgrading. They could say that "when we finish playtesting, then we will print it like any other product", but they didn't say that as far as I know.

collin · Jul 24, 2018

HawaiiSteveO said:
As a total tangent, I wonder if Waterdeep: Dragon Heist could be set in Sharn (easily)..?

I was thinking the same thing when I first read about Dragon Heist, and I have been planning on just such a strategy. Now that we have an Eberron resource book for 5e, I am wondering if there will be conversion notes in the Dragon Heist book to run it in Eberron.

neobolts · Jul 24, 2018

Not sure if others have pointed out this big piece of info (no time to read whole thread at work). Wayfarer's Guide confirmed for eventual print version via DMs Guild Print-on-demand.

Check out [MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/1021493084536881159?s=09

HawaiiSteveO · Jul 24, 2018

collin said:
I was thinking the same thing when I first read about Dragon Heist, and I have been planning on just such a strategy. Now that we have an Eberron resource book for 5e, I am wondering if there will be conversion notes in the Dragon Heist book to run it in Eberron.

Break out the twitter-tweeting

someone!

Although from what I understand 1/2 the book is about Waterdeep and the other 1/2 is the adventure, so maybe not a great idea after all (as far as cost is concerned).

Gradine · Jul 24, 2018

HawaiiSteveO said:
As a total tangent, I wonder if Waterdeep: Dragon Heist could be set in Sharn (easily)..?

I have trouble imaging how that could possibly be more difficult than converting the Tyranny of Dragons to Eberron, which I did. Sharn lends itself well to political/economic jockeying, cults, guilds, and massive labyrinthine underground dungeons to explore that may or may not link to different realms/planes/have a mind of its own. A beholder running a thieves' guild in Sharn makes as much sense to me as it does in Waterdeep, as well.

I've found that converting 5e APs to Eberron involves more expansion than conversion, to be honest.

collin · Jul 24, 2018

HawaiiSteveO said:
Break out the twitter-tweeting someone!

Although from what I understand 1/2 the book is about Waterdeep and the other 1/2 is the adventure, so maybe not a great idea after all (as far as cost is concerned).

I see it as more of a two-for. As I understand, there are at least 4 different villains to choose from and multiple different paths the DM and players could take. As is, you could run the adventure in FR. If you want to change it up even more, run it in Eberron (or Greyhawk, for that matter). Granted there is some conversion that would need to be done, probably even if they provide some guidance in the book. But that does not deter me in the least. I actually get a kick out of doing that stuff. I have already started my conversions for Manshoon and Jaraxle. You wouldn't have to switch anything for Xanathar (make it Xaejil if you prefer). And as for the Cassalanters, pick any noble/aristocratic family name from the 3.5 Sharn resource guide, and boom, you're on your way. In fact, if anything, I am still a little skeptical about laying down $20 for the current resource pdf than I am concerned about the $ for purchasing Dragon Heist. I pretty much have the Eberron mechanics worked out in terms of races, dragonmarks, etc. so I don't know if I should spend my money now or wait until the playtesting is over and the real thing shows up.