D&D General What do you like about Eberron?

[payn]

I like EBERRON for it's diversity, magitech, elemental ship, lightning rail, the history of the Last War and the mystery for the destruction of Cyre, the factions, the Dragonmarked Houses, the twist on otherwise standard species, the cryptic Dragon Prophecy and so many more....

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

It was Dungeons and Dragons Online where i gained appreciation fit Ebrrron and all it has to offer.

 

[Laurefindel]

For me, Eberron was THE blueprint for “D&D” with a twist. It takes the “our elves are different!” trope and applies it to pretty much everything, which at first was both refreshing and intimidating.

The classical D&D settings all started as somebody’s home game but Eberron was the first setting to feel like an “official homebrew”; even more so than Darksun IMO. The best word that comes to mind when thinking about Eberron is “deliberate”. It seeks completeness, coherence, consistence, thoroughly and deliberately. I can appreciate that.

 

[MarkB]

For me, Eberron was THE blueprint for “D&D” with a twist. It takes the “our elves are different!” trope and applies it to pretty much everything, which at first was both refreshing and intimidating.

Just a shame that it somehow managed to fall victim to the "all dwarves are the same" trope. Even between the Aurum, the dragonmarked house and the subterranean lost civilisation, there's still little to distinguish them from dwarves of other settings, a rare miss for this setting.

 

[overgeeked]

It’s a slight coat of paint away from Final Fantasy and Sword World.

It’s both pulp and noir.

It’s set between two wars and pulls heavily from Europe between WW1 and WW2.

It’s filled to overflowing with factions, story hooks, interesting locations & NPCs, etc.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I love the artwork and the look of the original books. I get such good vibes from leafing through the sourcebooks.

 

[Blue]

although i don't deny this is a good thing, i think it had the unfortunate side of effect of, for a number of the fans, things that were made for ebberon were unofficially restricted to ebberon, because their lore were specifically made to tie into it's world so strongly with no more generic alternatives, i can't tell you the amount of times i've heard on this site things to the effect of 'no, you can't use warforged outside of ebberon, the forges don't exist and the war never happened to incite their creation' or 'you can't have dragonmarks because the houses only exist in ebberon'

I don't see this as an unfortunate side effect in the slightest. If the DM is restricting because they know those details and desires that everything in their setting is highly connected to that setting, that's an absolute win.

We know that kitchen sinks setting like FR get republished and sold across editions, and that thematically restricted settings like Dark Sun get republished and sold across editions, so both are absolute valid ways to play. A DM who is trying to have a highly thematic setting, enough that they don't want to add something because it won't have those connections, is making a perfectly valid choice and it's not "unfortunate" to me that they picked one reasonable choice instead of a different reasonable choice of a kitchen sink.

 

[Keldryn]

Eberron is probably my favorite published D&D setting.

I like the dragon marks and the dragonmarked houses. I love the take on religions. I love how it presents a more modern take on fantasy, moving away from the pseudo-medievalisms. I like how it can accommodate everything in core D&D, but still feels coherent.

And I absolutely love how the timeline remains fixed at 998 YK, without having to endure all sorts of nonsense trying to justify the rules changes between game editions. Or any sort of metaphor. I love how most of the big mysteries in the setting are hinted at but ultimately left up to individual DMs to determine.

I also love how it has its own cosmology, specifically tailored to the setting

From Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (page 7):

The myths of Eberron describe the involvement of the three Progenitor Dragons in that world's creation: SIberys, the Dragon Above; Khyber, the Dragon Below; and Eberron, the Dragon Between. These godlike beings are said to have created a microcosm of the multiverse in the depths of the Ethereal Plane, sequestered away from the Outer Planes and all the influence of the gods and other cosmic powers. Viewed through the lens of "Elegy for the First World," Eberron is thus not actually a fragment of the First World, but a second generation of that original realm- yet even Eberron is profoundly shaped by dragons.

Thus, Eberron's cosmology is a multiverse within a multiverse.

And thus I intensely dislike this. I don't have that book, and had never read that quote until just now. Of course I can and will ignore this... But it borders on irrational how much it annoys me.

This adds absolutely nothing of value. Eberron exists in a pocket of the multiverse, completely isolated. What exactly is the point in that, other than to appeal to pedants who need everything to be connected somehow? It's wordy, ungameable lore and is completely pointless.

I recall that 2e Spelljammer had a similar thing with Athas, saying that it existed but was completely inaccessible. Thanks, that's really useful information that will make for memorable gameplay!

Why does everything have to be part of the D&D Multiverse? Why can't a setting just exist on its own?

Anyway, Eberron is awesome, and I'm just going to keep ignoring this whole Multiverse stuff, because I think it's silly.

 

[humble minion]

My favourite thing at the time (and I've been pleased to see that it's remained so over the decades since Eberron first appeared) was the explicit refusal to get involved in the metaplot/novel-based plot progression that had blighted so many of TSRs worlds, from FR to Dragonlance and Dark sun. It was a gutsy step away from a tried and tested business model for the good of the game and the world, and I wish more campaign setting developers had taken notes (I'm looking at you, 4e FR development team...). A D&D world should prioritise the game over the metaplot and novels, and TSR lost sight of this for a long time.

More specifically, I loved the Rising From the Last War book. While I had some mechanical quibbles, like the implementation of Dragonmarks, the setting book itself was an outstanding example of its type and contained everything you needed. There was an overview of the world to get the general shape of thing and then there was an in-depth treatment of Sharn, which was your obvious campaign starting point. The section on organisations, which was for me the best bit of the book. Who the Dreaming Dark are, what plots they get involved in, how I create a PC with them in the background, what minions they have, here's a couple of sample encounters, how they approach problems or enemies or opportunities. Then repeat for a dozen other organisations, from the Dragons of Argonessen to the Church of the Silver Flame and the Undying Court and the Dragonmarked Houses etc etc etc. Just absolutely primo material all the way through on how to make an Eberron character, how to make them fit in the world, and how to run either an adventure or a campaign. Just a really excellent product for everyday DMing.