D&D 5E Chronicles of Eberron Is Keith Baker's New D&D Book, out now!

After a few days of teasing, Eberron creator Keith Baker has announced his new book -- Chronicles of Eberron! By Keith and Imogen Gingell, the 200-page book will be available on DMs Guild in December.

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Hektula is the Scribe of Sul Khatesh, the Keeper of the Library of Ashtakala, and the Chronicler of the Lords of Dust. Her treasured tomes hold arcane secrets still hidden from human and dragon alike. What lies beneath the Barren Sea? What powers does Mordain the Fleshweaver wield within Blackroot? Who are the Grim Lords of the Bloodsail Principality? All these secrets and many more can be found in the Chronicles of Eberron…

• Chronicles of Eberron is a new 5E sourcebook from Eberron creator Keith Baker and designer Imogen Gingell.
• This book explores a diverse range of topics, including lore and advice for both players and DMs, along with new monsters, treasures, spells and character options.
• Chronicles of Eberron will be available on the DMs Guild as a PDF and print-on-demand.

But that's not all! There is a collaboration with Hero Forge and new T-Shirts!

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[Scribe]

I bet you will end up finding something in the setting that leans more in your direction. I think the conflict between karnath, blood of vol and the undying court, and how undeath works in the world is right up your alley. The magic as tecnology thing throws off a lot of people, I get that, but Eberron is sooo much more than that.

I think you are probably right, and I think thats part of why I'm apprehensive.

I dont mean to disparage Eberron in any way here btw, just to make that clear.

1. I think how its presented, is awesome.
2. I think Baker remaining such a driving force is probably the single greatest thing to me, because its a stable consistent vision.
3. Everything I've had mentioned to me about it by you or others, sounds either great, or is just not my scene.
4. I'm fine with Magic as Tech or Tech running Magic, but and this is primarily my issue with the setting, its pretty much all over the setting from what I've seen.
5. I'm less fine with some of the subversion, but I bet I would be on board if I really dug into it.

The problem I have is this.

There is a quote from Neil Gaiman about The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

"I think I got about half way through The Hero with a Thousand Faces and found myself thinking if this is true—I don't want to know. I really would rather not know this stuff. I’d rather do it because it's true and because I accidentally wind up creating something that falls into this pattern than be told what the pattern is."

I dont want to look at Eberron deeply, because I think its so good, outside of the few high level quibbles I have around the tech level and style, that I just dont want it to influence me to the point of lifting stuff out of it for my own things.

I really have a high level of respect for Eberron and especially Bakers unified vision and the depth of what is going on here, but it isnt my setting, and swings a bit too far the other way (at again a high level view) from what I would want, but its really just looking so so good.

 

[Bolares]

I dont want to look at Eberron deeply, because I think its so good, outside of the few high level quibbles I have around the tech level and style, that I just dont want it to influence me to the point of lifting stuff out of it for my own things.

Well... you are right about that. All my games are basically just Eberron, even when I'm not running them on Eberron

 

[Bolares]

I'm cool with magic as technology, but I don't really care for the noir genre, and it's pretty thick throughout.

I get that, I just tend to lean more on the pulp side of things. I LOVE to run some Indiana Jones style games exploring the jungles of X'endrik...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

blood of vol

They're almost definitely my favorite fantasy "religion" of all time. And probably the one in Eberron that I agree the most with. It's absolutely amazing how Keith Baker made the religion that would be the "bad guys" in pretty much every other setting be the people who are probably the most correct about how divinity/the afterlife work in Eberron. (I acknowledge that the Order of the Emerald Claw exists and are bad guys. But the non-extremists in the religion are definitely more correct in their assumptions of how the world works than the worshippers of the Sovereign Host are in the setting, because they actually have evidence backing up their viewpoint.)

4. I'm fine with Magic as Tech or Tech running Magic, but and this is primarily my issue with the setting, its pretty much all over the setting from what I've seen.

I can get how that would be a big turn-off, but there are pretty big sections of the world where it's less extreme than in Sharn/pretty easy to ignore (Xen'drik, Argonnessen, the Demon Wastes, Shadow Marches, the Mournland, the other planes of existence) or where instead of D&D's magic it's substituted for something else (Psionics in Sarlona).

If you have ever been inclined to run an Indiana Jones or Wild West campaign in D&D or one that focuses a lot on political/religious intrigue, Eberron is absolutely the setting to do it in. And, IMHO, Eberron does "explore the other planes of existence" better than Planescape does. Hot take, I know.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

You dont even have to be all ''in your face'' with the technology thingy if you dont want to. I tend to go at it the way that the various Final Fantasy do: everyone fights with swords, then there's a dude with magic and another one with a gun out of nowhere. No real explanation. Nobody at the table really cares anyway, because its bad-ass.

 

[RealAlHazred]

You dont even have to be all ''in your face'' with the technology thingy if you dont want to. I tend to go at it the way that the various Final Fantasy do: everyone fights with swords, then there's a dude with magic and another one with a gun out of nowhere. No real explanation. Nobody at the table really cares anyway, because its bad-ass.

I've had people tell me they don't want to try Eberron due to the "steampunk" aspect. I'm always baffled, because Eberron is solidly fantasy. The "factory" is a place where people use a magic item to crank out magic swords. There are no guns. It's basically fantasy, with a reliable transportation network and magical communication. For example, the communications house (House Sivis, primarily) is like if someone in a standard D&D world just standardized wizards with sending spells as a guild.

 

[Xamnam]

Man, this is really making me want to find a table of players who are actively game to try out an Eberron campaign.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I've had people tell me they don't want to try Eberron due to the "steampunk" aspect. I'm always baffled, because Eberron is solidly fantasy. The "factory" is a place where people use a magic item to crank out magic swords. There are no guns. It's basically fantasy, with a reliable transportation network and magical communication. For example, the communications house (House Sivis, primarily) is like if someone in a standard D&D world just standardized wizards with sending spells as a guild.

Exactly. Its not steampunk, nor really magiteck either. There's no real scientific revolution fuel by a new power source, just readily available spellcasting. Only the Cannith makers are really more modern-ish, and even then you can replace it with more traditional medieval alchemy/golem making/ rune magic etc.

My biggest grippe with Eberron is that it uses, again, the same tired D&D races, even if they get a new spin at least. Were I to return to Eberron, I'd remove halflings, half-orc, elves and dwarves, putting more focus on goblinoids, harengon, minotaur, hexborn, satyr and yuan-ti, in addition to the more unique Eberroninan races such as shifter and warforged.

 

[Reynard]

Exactly. Its not steampunk, nor really magiteck either. There's no real scientific revolution fuel by a new power source, just readily available spellcasting. Only the Cannith makers are really more modern-ish, and even then you can replace it with more traditional medieval alchemy/golem making/ rune magic etc.

My biggest grippe with Eberron is that it uses, again, the same tired D&D races, even if they get a new spin at least. Were I to return to Eberron, I'd remove halflings, half-orc, elves and dwarves, putting more focus on goblinoids, harengon, minotaur, hexborn, satyr and yuan-ti, in addition to the more unique Eberroninan races such as shifter and warforged.

Eberron not only added a bunch of races but made the standard ones interesting. It's completely unfair and inaccurate to paint Eberron as some sort of FR style bog standard fantasy.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Edit: not worth it