Keith Baker asks about walking away from Eberron.

[Sacrosanct]

As Portland native, I have had several opportunities to meet him, I can vouch that Keith is a stand up guy. He is very creative and he is supportive of other designers. He loves interacting with fans, he had a whole dinner and gaming thing with Keith Baker going on pre-COVID.
I got to play test his board game and a SciFi version of his Gloom card game (sadly, I was not able to participate in the Phoenix Command playtest). I too do not envy his choice...
Also he is a pug dad and that alone gets major bonus points for me and my wife.

I knew he lived in Portland, but funny enough I didn't realize until recently we live in the same neighborhood lol. Small world.

 

[Saracenus]

Jokes about obscure video games aside, this is the straw that will probably break my back. At this point I've dragged literally dozens of new players into the game of Dungeons & Dragons using, primarily, a synopsis of the Eberron campaign setting. I don't know even know how much brand loyalty I'd still have towards D&D at all if (a) not for Eberron and (b) new players want to play D&D and not <insert literally any other game here> because it's the one everyone's heard about. But that's been enough, really. A lot of the issues that have plagued Dungeons & Dragons from a thematic and ethical standpoint (to say nothing of how these issues have plagued our poor overworked moderators anytime anybody mentions the word "orc") were solved by Keith and company nearly twenty years ago. Their sensibilities helped keep D&D relevant for me and the people in my life. I grew up with D&D, but Eberron is what kept with it after I, well, grew up.

Eberron without Keith Baker isn't Eberron. And D&D without Eberron is a whole lot less appealing to me in general

There is the option of using the Eberron setting and just port the lore over to another game.

I loved CyberPunk P2020 (CP 2012) back in the day but I will say I didn't love the mechanical system it was built around. I really only continued to buy CP2020 stuff for the lore and I would read it by myself (you know, the "lonely fun") and it rarely hit the table. Then I recently found Sprawl, a Powered by the Apocalypse game, and suddenly all that lore had a game system that I could actually build the stories I wanted with my players. If you are one of those Shadow Run folk that cannot take the system it runs on, there is an add on that will put magic in your cyberpunk world.

All I am saying, there are a lot of games (e.g. Fate, Burning Wheel, even something like Blades In The Dark) out there that might be a better fit for Eberron and how you want to play.

All the same, I hear your frustration. This is devastating for our hobby when the anchor system of the whole RPG hobby tries to do the equivalent of what Walmart does to local businesses when they move into a new location.

 

[JThursby]

He’s a genuine human being. Great guy, and definitely has a love for the hobby.

I've been a Keith Baker fan since I was a kid. Eberron is, bar none, my favorite setting, and his continued influence is what keeps it relevant for me. It would break my heart a little for him to leave it for good, but I can't fault the guy, he's poured so much of his being into a work he doesn't even own just because people love it.

I can't vote on it because I'm not a Patron, but I would tell Keith to follow the money. He deserves a decent living, so wherever he can make the most and be successful is where I would encourage him to go.

 

[eyeheartawk]

A lot of the issues that have plagued Dungeons & Dragons from a thematic and ethical standpoint (to say nothing of how these issues have plagued our poor overworked moderators anytime anybody mentions the word "orc") were solved by Keith and company nearly twenty years ago.

I reject this notion completely.

GW fixed orcs first and forever by turning them into cockney mushrooms.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is devastating for our hobby when the anchor system of the whole RPG hobby tries to do the equivalent of what Walmart does to local businesses when they move into a new location.

Extremely good analogy.

 

[SteveC]

I get it. People are angry. But this is, what, two, three weeks? I see people saying, "Teach me how to play PF2e!" And then when I see people actually explaining it, everyone is like ...

Just a comment on this from someone who has been looking at PF2 for the last ... six months or so I'd say. Sales and growth of PF2 are going crazy at the moment. I've watched some livestreams with people well known for D&D content (at least that's where I knew them from) and it's been exciting times.

Will this be happening a month from now? Don't know. But the notion that people are running from the game after learning the rules... that's incorrect. From a small, personal sample ... I have a player who struggled with 3.5 and 5e that I managed to get playing PF2 and make it work. They aren't playing the most complicated character but they have managed to wrap their head around it.

I think the notion that PF2 is monstrously more complex than 5E is incorrect. There is more crunch at the low end but the crunch for characters that I play are about the same. I do recognize that this is a YMMV situation, however.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I'm a long time Keith Baker patron, on the Threshold tier since it began. I voted for an emancipated version of Threshold.

The only misgiving I've had about walking away from D&D was my appreciation of Eberron. While acknowledging the contribution other writers have made, it's mainly because of Keith's vision. So I'm heartened by the idea that I could still support Keith's creative endeavors.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Relevant announcement from Paizo. Take it FWIW

 

[DMZ2112]

This is all true. But like I literally just told him, "Even if you didn't have the name recognition, if you weren't a great designer, you wouldn't have won the contest with Eberron."

As someone else who participated in that contest, it breaks my heart that he worries about this. If you think it would be appropriate, please let him know that a random stranger on the internet thinks this is nonsense.

I've never been a big Eberron adopter, but that comes down to momentum more than anything. Eberron's value to and impact on 21st century D&D is undeniable. He's a part of the landscape now.

I pretty much had to run my first Eberron campaign a few years back because I recruited a bunch of newbies online and Eberron was what they all wanted. Had a great time.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Just a comment on this from someone who has been looking at PF2 for the last ... six months or so I'd say. Sales and growth of PF2 are going crazy at the moment. I've watched some livestreams with people well known for D&D content (at least that's where I knew them from) and it's been exciting times.

Will this be happening a month from now? Don't know. But the notion that people are running from the game after learning the rules... that's incorrect. From a small, personal sample ... I have a player who struggled with 3.5 and 5e that I managed to get playing PF2 and make it work. They aren't playing the most complicated character but they have managed to wrap their head around it.

I think the notion that PF2 is monstrously more complex than 5E is incorrect. There is more crunch at the low end but the crunch for characters that I play are about the same. I do recognize that this is a YMMV situation, however.

... we will see. There is certainly a component of people playing 5e that want more crunch.

But the majority of casual players that I see (and casual players make up the vast majority of players of 5e) are not looking for anything more difficult. IME, and this IME only, when you have people that forget that their Fighter has the second wind ability every single time you get together, trying to get them to play a system that is even marginally more complex and geared toward making correct decisions ... is difficult.