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

[Klaus]

Take a cue from Thorvack, the half-orc bard (!!!) quoted in the introduction to The Explorer's Handbook: Everyone is tired of hearing about the Last War. Go out and do something new, so I can sing praises about your daring deeds! And bring rope!

 

[BryonD]

In my opinion, it's your hyperbolic response quote here that is irrelevent and beside the point.

That's more than just a little over the top.

I agree with your assessment of what the most useful response to the orginal poster is likely to be. But alternate points of view are still useful and I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that that person can make judgements for themselves without your stamp of approval on every reply.

 

[Desdichado]

That's more than just a little over the top.

I agree with your assessment of what the most useful response to the orginal poster is likely to be. But alternate points of view are still useful and I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that that person can make judgements for themselves without your stamp of approval on every reply.

Huh? I'm not stamping any approvals on any replies. I just responded to a statement that I thought was absurd and irrelevent, and argumentative.

 

[Black Pharaoh]

Everything is better with Ninjas, Zombies, Talking Apes, Cyborgs, and PIRATES!

 

[Grimstaff]

Now after having done some research, I find myself somewhat disappointed in what I've found. My major gripe is that 200 year war that's affected everything. It really feels limiting to me in the sense that every potential protagonist/npc/player-character will have to account for what they were doing during the war period and there's no way to get around it. If there's a 300 year old elf, he would have live through the war. If there's a 100 year old dwarf, he'll have to explain what it was like growing up during the war. If you have 20 year old human, he'll probably be an orphan. The war will probably be mentioned in every book.

I'm also disappointed that WotC is also pushing this whole 'war ravaged land' idea. I saw the open-call for writers on their website for Eberron. While reading over what they were looking for, they really put the point across that the characters authors write about should have been deeply affected by the war(no home/family to go back to, etc). This seems to be the opposite of the Forgotten Realms philosophy where a character can be as open-ended(within the limits of the ruleset ) as you want him to be.

I've also noticed that Eberron's setting is described as 'dark fantasy'. While I'm not exactly sure what's meant by that, I'm beginning to draw the conclusion that 'dark' means 'depressing' because basically every character is going to have some sob war story. "My brother was killed.", "My home town is in ruins.", "I lost everything and have nothing left to live for.". While I'm sure these characters will find their purpose in life again, probably over the course of several novels and much monster slaying, it's all still very depressing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: "Eberron Shmeberron"!

Ok, I'll elaborate on that.

Eberron as it is described: "Dark Fantasy", "Pulp Fiction", "Noir", "Exciting!"

I'm not really sure the folks that pin Eberron with these tags know quite what they're talking about. As Inigo Montoya would say: "You keep using that word, I don not think it is meaning what are thinking it is meaning..."

The closest "genre" I can think of to pin on this setting would be "Steampunk", and not a very compelling one at that. The feeling it most invokes to me is one of "Confusion" or "Meh". Don't get me wrong, there are hints of great ideas here. It just seems that every time I find a great idea in this setting I make the same mistake of digging deeper and coming up with..."Confusion" or "Meh". For instance, Sharn. I really like this sourcebook. Its a cool city setting, its got potential. Floating Towers, neat! But then I think, "what if the magic fails?" Why would anyone with even the smallest modicum of doubt live in one of these towers? It must be terrifying! And if you're too scared to live and one, where to you go? Why, you live somewhere under the floating towers! Arghhh! Help! Run Away!

This month's Dragon has a very cool Eberron article: Lords of Dust. I like this. Intrigue. Dark deals. Plots within plots. Some dark fatasy afterall! CR 30 villains. (screech!) CR30!? Darn, dug too deep again...

 

[Remathilis]

Everything is better with Ninjas, Zombies, Talking Apes, Cyborgs, and PIRATES!

Even breakfast.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

For instance, Sharn. I really like this sourcebook. Its a cool city setting, its got potential. Floating Towers, neat! But then I think, "what if the magic fails?" Why would anyone with even the smallest modicum of doubt live in one of these towers? It must be terrifying! And if you're too scared to live and one, where to you go? Why, you live somewhere under the floating towers! Arghhh! Help! Run Away!

If you've ever lived in a high-rise, do you ever worry about what happens if the foundation subsides and the building falls over? Or the laws of physics that allow it subtly change?

Brad

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Everything is better with Ninjas, Zombies, Talking Apes, Cyborgs, and PIRATES!

And dinosaurs. You have to have dinosaurs.

RE: Star Wars. I don't consider SW science fiction, but science fantasy. You can pull off the SW story in any fantasy genre -- steampunk, set in the Forgotten Realms, etc, etc.

Re: Eberron. It's neat and all, but though I've bought several of the products, I find I'm not really drawn to the setting. I'm not sure if its the magic-as-technology assumption or what, but it lost its shine pretty quick. I'm still happy with Greyhawk & FR, though (admittedly, I file off FR's serial numbers and reduce the magic level). Go figure. Must be too much time spent reading Tolkein, Leiber, and the like as a kid or something.

 

[Nightfall]

Olgar,

Nah they are good but Orcus is WAY better! Book of Fiends proves me right.

 

[Testament]

This month's Dragon has a very cool Eberron article: Lords of Dust. I like this. Intrigue. Dark deals. Plots within plots. Some dark fatasy afterall! CR 30 villains. (screech!) CR30!? Darn, dug too deep again...

OK, now this is one complaint that I just don't get. At some point, players are going to want to fight these guys (or a GM will want them to get loose), and it has to make sense that they're REALLY nasty, so that they haven't been stopped at some point already (looking at you Champions of Ruin, with your puny CR 20ish Elder Evils!).

So what the spork is the problem with there being CR 30 villains?