Am I the only one who feels Eberron's setting to be limiting?

[cignus_pfaccari]

Eberron is heavily influenced by film noir, which is a very "dark" and "depressing" genre. Obviously, it's not to everyone's taste. Personally, I love it.

The other primary influence on Eberron is PULP (like, say, Doc Savage, or Indiana Jones). The pulp genre is really a product of the interwar period, and hard to capture right after WW2. Note that the primary "fantasy noir", the Garrett Files, takes place during and after a long war, as well.

So I'm afraid I can't really sympathize with your plight. I don't mind the fact that any character I create is going to have been affected in some way by the Last War,

In our game, it's not that big a deal; we're a mercenary company, so it's pretty obvious what we were doing. However, I have a lovely speech prepared from my backup character the moment some yahoo decides to insult him for being a warforged.

Brad

 

[BryonD]

I find it to be the nature of any campaign setting to be limiting.

This is good.

Would Lord of the Rings have been better with the addtion of superheros mutants?

Would Star Wars be better with the addition of zombies?

Would Band of Brothers better with the addtion of sports car racers?

No. No. and No.

Limitations can help a setting as much as they restrict it. Stories can meld better. The characters become more cohesive.

Sorry, but I support settings like Eberron over settings like Forgotten Realms.

Less is More.

Funny I agree with everything you said but I'd say:

I support settings like Forgotten Realms over settings like Eberron.
Less is More.


To me, FR offers all the bits and pieces to pick a choose from and make any story you want.
Eberron is all telling me what the story should be.*
Less telling me what my story should be is more me getting to make my own story.

I agree 100% that you can ignore and change whatever you want. But in the case of Eberron for me, that is nearly everything, so if I'm going to ignore it all, it don't make much sense to pay for it, now does it?

* - I only bought the campaign setting book. If later stuff is better then shame of them for turning me off so much with the first one.



I also really dislike the heavy blending of techno-magic and semi-supers (core race metal men and shape changers, etc) into the mix.

 

[arwink]

Would Lord of the Rings have been better with the addtion of superheros mutants?

Would Star Wars be better with the addition of zombies?

Would Band of Brothers better with the addtion of sports car racers?

No. No. and No.

you know, all three of those suggestions interest me more than the original movies/TV shows themselves.

Of course, I'm the kind of guy that tries to work out how to include ninja kobolds and monkeys in every campaign I run, regardless of how appropriate it may be...

 

[Henry]

you know, all three of those suggestions interest me more than the original movies/TV shows themselves.

Of course, I'm the kind of guy that tries to work out how to include ninja kobolds and monkeys in every campaign I run, regardless of how appropriate it may be...

When you start talking about adding things to settings, I get this huge image of a clockwork Cloud City, enormous gears in the background, with Luke clutching his severed wrist while Darth Vader, smokestack on his back churning away, mechanical noise in the background, stands saying... "I am your father."

...followed by a whistle blowing and Luke screaming.

Meanwhile, Leia, Chewie, Lando and the droids are escaping Cloud City with flintlocks in hand...

Darn it, arwink!

 

[Von Ether]

I also really dislike the heavy blending of techno-magic and semi-supers (core race metal men and shape changers, etc) into the mix.

It's all relative ... Any 12th level game or beyond seems semi-supers to me with all the power and damage they can do. And in that defintion, a lot of FR NPCs are semi-super, they just look normal on the outside.

The details of the Last War are pretty much glossed over for my group, except for one fellow who uses it to explain his paramedic/bodyguard background. And we just keep trucking, no one notices the "omissions" or cares, we're having too much fun saving our sponsors and benfactors from a mind flayer conspiracy.

As an side, every setting can be improved with zombies, ninjas and talking apes!!!!

 

[demiurge1138]

When you start talking about adding things to settings, I get this huge image of a clockwork Cloud City, enormous gears in the background, with Luke clutching his severed wrist while Darth Vader, smokestack on his back churning away, mechanical noise in the background, stands saying... "I am your father."

...followed by a whistle blowing and Luke screaming.

Meanwhile, Leia, Chewie, Lando and the droids are escaping Cloud City with flintlocks in hand...

Darn it, arwink!

Industrial Revolution steam-punk Star Wars...?

You just blew my mind with happiness.

Demiurge out.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I've never once had the Gaming Police knock on my door to make sure I was running a setting to code. I'll let you know if it happens.

They didn't do it when I subjected FR to the ravages of Cthonian horrors from beyond time and space. If they're not going to send me even a letter when I make Elminster's brain turn into pudding overnight and morphed Mystra into an avatar of Shub-Niggurath, they're not going to bother with some guy who doesn't include the Last War in Eberron.

As far as "getting in trouble like playing a Non-Evil Drow?"

Hi, welcome to ENWorld. We're mostly not crazy over here. Do what's fun for you and you're group, and no one will care.

 

[coyote6]

They didn't do it when I subjected FR to the ravages of Cthonian horrors from beyond time and space.

Well, you can bet that oversight is going to be rectified quickly! Good luck, man, good luck.

At least it won't be the Phone Cops.

Meanwhile, back at the topic -- don't forget that Eberron is also a bit more high-action, what with the action points & all. It's not exactly the same as FR. However, it is flexible enough that you could do lots of different things; the more cooperation you get from the GM, the more things you can do. If the GM wants to say, "No war", then you don't have to deal with it at all (somebody might want to consider what recent history looks like, though).

Same with FR; if you wanted a grizzled veteran in FR, you could pick some strife-torn area to be from. Or Greyhawk. Or most settings. They're all pretty flexible, in the GM's hands.

Now, if the group is playing a "traditional" campaign for the setting (whatever the setting), you lose some flexibility.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, you can bet that oversight is going to be rectified quickly! Good luck, man, good luck.

I think the best way to have fun in a setting is to pervert it's entire theoretical basis. FR is concieved of as ancient and magical. So make it's ancients Old Ones and make it's magic Madness! Eberron is concieved of as technological and war-torn. So I'd have it invaded by aliens out of the X-files with vaporizing lazers and united by an elvish Stalin.

Cuz boy howdy is it fun to destroy carefully constructed worlds!

 

[Aus_Snow]

Eberron's setting is described as 'dark fantasy'.

It ain't. Dark fantasy, that is.

As for it being limiting, it isn't 'limiting' enough for my personal tastes as a GM. Unsurprisingly, the Forgotten Realms setting is therefore even less suitable for my purposes.

In the end though, it's what you make of it. If you think it's too 'dark', lighten it. If it's too cliche, rewrite parts of it. Too generic? Give a few things a twist. And so on.