D&D General Eberron - why don't you run it? [-]

[Misanthrope Prime]

To me, that's an issue with D&D's power curve, not Eberron as a setting. I can't think of any setting's internal consistency that survives the core premise. Ravenloft is less scary when your more powerful than the Dark Lords, Dragonlance stops feeling epic when you can solo most dragons and Dark Sun stops feeling like a survival sim when you can start slapping around Sorcerer Kings. Just the nature of the beast imho.

There's a reason we call BECMI "BECMI". It incorporated the power curve into gameplay and mechanics to a degree that "advanced" D&D has failed to do. The "I" in BECMI tells you how to become a god, basically, and incorporated that into the world and gameplay of Mystara. Contemporary "advanced" D&D just tells 20th level wizards "IDK take another epic feat lmao".

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

I highly enjoy the concept of Eberron.
Generally, I also enjoy 5e.

I have found that I do not enjoy how the two mix enough to want to invest more into running it.

 

[Faolyn]

There's a reason we call BECMI "BECMI". It incorporated the power curve into gameplay and mechanics to a degree that "advanced" D&D has failed to do. The "I" in BECMI tells you how to become a god, basically, and incorporated that into the world and gameplay of Mystara. Contemporary "advanced" D&D just tells 20th level wizards "IDK take another epic feat lmao".

I think that if I were to do a 6e, I'd bring that back. I'd really try to figure out what each tier of play was supposed to be for and try to bake that into character progression.

Heck, now that I think about it, I could see having an option for the game to "stop" at that level while still allowing for some sort of progression. As in, if you want the PCs to just be "dungeon-delver" types where fighting a dragon is and always will be a Really Big Deal, then after level, say, 7-9, you don't go up in level anymore. If you want to go into a domain management type of game, then you could progress to level 13-15, then stop. If you want to become a godling, then you can go up to level 20 and higher.

Or something. I'm obviously blue-skying here. It would take a lot of thought to figure this out, and I'm not practiced in game system design.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I think that if I were to do a 6e, I'd bring that back. I'd really try to figure out what each tier of play was supposed to be for and try to bake that into character progression.

Heck, now that I think about it, I could see having an option for the game to "stop" at that level while still allowing for some sort of progression. As in, if you want the PCs to just be "dungeon-delver" types where fighting a dragon is and always will be a Really Big Deal, then after level, say, 7-9, you don't go up in level anymore. If you want to go into a domain management type of game, then you could progress to level 13-15, then stop. If you want to become a godling, then you can go up to level 20 and higher.

Or something. I'm obviously blue-skying here. It would take a lot of thought to figure this out, and I'm not practiced in game system design.

I basically did this in my campaign, my players hit level 10 in 5e and I said "FYI we probably wont be going to level 11 for a few real life months because I gotta homebrew some mechanics to make the other half of this campaign challenging, so you're going to be treading water for a bit".

Since they're running a Spelljammer game and are outfitting their ships and trading in interplanar goods, I'm currently just converting XP to gold and giving them things to spend it on while we spin our wheels and it's devolved into a fantasy themed parody of Escape Velocity/Elite

 

[Remathilis]

There's a reason we call BECMI "BECMI". It incorporated the power curve into gameplay and mechanics to a degree that "advanced" D&D has failed to do. The "I" in BECMI tells you how to become a god, basically, and incorporated that into the world and gameplay of Mystara. Contemporary "advanced" D&D just tells 20th level wizards "IDK take another epic feat lmao".

BECMI was broken down into very specific play loops

Basic: explore the dungeon
Expert: explore the overland/wilderness
Champion: rule a domain
Masters: become a God
Immortal: do godly things

I think the major issue that AD&D did was take the BE loops and stretch them over 10+ levels, give nods to C, and mostly ignore MI except for the "explore the planes" aspect. Mostly, I think that was because most people enjoyed the BE loop more than the CMI parts, and the game has done it's best to stretch that part for as long as possible. I'm just not sure the "rule a domain" or the "become a God" aspects (I remember the requirements for godhood; that was a years long endeavor in an of itself) were popular enough to warrant much more thought than the current system gives.

 

[Micah Sweet]

BECMI was broken down into very specific play loops

Basic: explore the dungeon
Expert: explore the overland/wilderness
Champion: rule a domain
Masters: become a God
Immortal: do godly things

I think the major issue that AD&D did was take the BE loops and stretch them over 10+ levels, give nods to C, and mostly ignore MI except for the "explore the planes" aspect. Mostly, I think that was because most people enjoyed the BE loop more than the CMI parts, and the game has done it's best to stretch that part for as long as possible. I'm just not sure the "rule a domain" or the "become a God" aspects (I remember the requirements for godhood; that was a years long endeavor in an of itself) were popular enough to warrant much more thought than the current system gives.

Its a real shame. Big fan of C, M and I here. World makes much less sense without them.

 

[Zeromaru X]

To the initial question: I don't run Eberron because I don't know how to portray that "swashbuckling noir" feeling the setting is supposed to have. I love Eberron, and I always steal stuff from it, but my inability to grasp its tone and feel makes me avoiding playing in the setting.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The tone is easy if you watch enough black and white movies (Amazon Prime has a load) but it’s not compulsory to use a particular tone with a particular setting. The setting police won’t come round if you run a screwball comedy in Greyhawk.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Its a real shame. Big fan of C, M and I here. World makes much less sense without them.

I recommend removing the I and inputting an Ultimate stage between the C and M

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Champion: rule a domain
Masters: become a God
Immortal: do godly things

I find people with this sort of power fantasy quite scary.

Is it a British thing that we would rather go home and tend our little gardens?