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<blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 1762337" data-attributes="member: 150">I thought that this might be the case -- I don't spend much time at all on the WOTC boards, so I've missed a lot of the flavor and clarification discussion that Baker has been providing over there.&nbsp; I've spent so much time with the book over the past month and a half or so, I was really afraid for my sanity if there were flavor things like the cultural taboos you mentioned that I'd missed.&nbsp; (and, of course, you're right, I was overstating the Aerenal Deathless ancestor, misrepresenting them, to try to make my point.&nbsp; My bad). I'm going to have to spend some time getting caught up on Hellcow's posts over on the WOTC boards.&nbsp; But, still, none of this changes my basic dissatisfaction with murder mystery as a Eberron adventure.&nbsp;&nbsp; And more than anything tied to the Eberron setting, this is based on the sense that a murder mystery is the default plot for anything that a writer wants to make interesting -- and mostly I'm talking hollywood here.&nbsp; I mean, someone comes up with a half-way interesting idea for characters or setting -- like a couple of funny garbage men -- and then they try to come up with an exciting plot for those two guys to be funny and interesting in.&nbsp; And almost every time, the plot they come up with is a murder mystery.&nbsp; They find a dead body in a garbage can, and they have to solve the mystery themselves.&nbsp; It wears me out. So, for me, if it's going to be a murder mystery, it really needs to be somehow very closely tied to the Eberron setting -- either through he reason for the murder, or the means of the murder, or the murderer.&nbsp; It has to be something that could ONLY happen in Eberron.&nbsp; Other sorts of plots I accept a bit more easily if they're not so closely tied to the setting, but the murder mystery has become such an over-used cliche, IMO, that I would personally refrain from using unless I had an idea that would REALLY use it well.&nbsp; -rg</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Radiating Gnome, post: 1762337, member: 150"] I thought that this might be the case -- I don't spend much time at all on the WOTC boards, so I've missed a lot of the flavor and clarification discussion that Baker has been providing over there. I've spent so much time with the book over the past month and a half or so, I was really afraid for my sanity if there were flavor things like the cultural taboos you mentioned that I'd missed. (and, of course, you're right, I was overstating the Aerenal Deathless ancestor, misrepresenting them, to try to make my point. My bad). I'm going to have to spend some time getting caught up on Hellcow's posts over on the WOTC boards. But, still, none of this changes my basic dissatisfaction with murder mystery as a Eberron adventure. And more than anything tied to the Eberron setting, this is based on the sense that a murder mystery is the default plot for anything that a writer wants to make interesting -- and mostly I'm talking hollywood here. I mean, someone comes up with a half-way interesting idea for characters or setting -- like a couple of funny garbage men -- and then they try to come up with an exciting plot for those two guys to be funny and interesting in. And almost every time, the plot they come up with is a murder mystery. They find a dead body in a garbage can, and they have to solve the mystery themselves. It wears me out. So, for me, if it's going to be a murder mystery, it really needs to be somehow very closely tied to the Eberron setting -- either through he reason for the murder, or the means of the murder, or the murderer. It has to be something that could ONLY happen in Eberron. Other sorts of plots I accept a bit more easily if they're not so closely tied to the setting, but the murder mystery has become such an over-used cliche, IMO, that I would personally refrain from using unless I had an idea that would REALLY use it well. -rg [/QUOTE]

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