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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Graf" data-source="post: 3236995" data-attributes="member: 3087">The <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=183304" target="_blank">review</a> is up.[sblock]Lei getting kicked out or not kicked out isn't the issue for me. It's her whole life up until that point. Basically she does exactly what she's told, she goes where she's instructed, she marries the guy they pick for her, etc.Like the young daughter of a noble family in medieval Europe she has no say in any decision of significance in her life. And it’s not her personality. Dane never says “you don’t have to do what your parents want, etc etc” because, socially, SHE DOES.His case supports that point, he's performed terrible (but unexplained) acts on behalf of his house for the house's monetary benefit, and then leavings and never speaking to anyone from it again (as much as he can). It's fairly clear that in KB's novels at least in your house you do what you’re told. And your House tells you what to do a lot.He’s not Dragonmarked, btw, he’s just a member of his house.It is some kind of weird ‘port’ of medieval life.I take issue with this on two levels1. It’s not good for DnD games. The roleplaying suppliments don’t imply that House members are as bound as they are in KB’s novels, but anything that he writes is going to noticed. So a player who doesn’t want to roleplay being at someone’s beck and call all the time is never going to be interested in playing Dragonmarked. And any DM who wants to include them is going to be faced with the image (set up by these novels) that it’s basically like a legal version of the mafia. You do what the godfather says or you leave and hope you never need to call on his aid again.It makes it hard to imagine a Favored in House character who would be fun to play. Especially since some DMs tend to jerk characters around a bit. “Sure you can be some important noble, but you have to do exactly what DMNPC says or you’re in big trouble!”2. It’s weak storytelling. It’s easy to create dramatic situations in a novel by creating a monolithic force in a character’s life and letting them get all angsty about how they’re oppressed and stuff. Except for their House relationships and a couple of adjectives (Dane is stalwart, Lei is quiet) they don’t have much depth as characters. Dane spends most of his character time emoting about how terrible the houses are. Lei spends most of her time dealing with Dane emoting and then with the fact that she’s been kicked out.It’s not terribly interesting for the reader. If KB had spun a great story out of it I would be more forgiving about point 1. but he hasn’t. He’s a gifted creator in general, and I expect that if he keeps writing he’ll hit his stride, but a lot of the points where he deviates from DnD (All-members-of-dragonmarked-houses-are-virtual-slaves, Pierce being immune to the mindflayer’s mindblast because he’s a Warforged, Lei’s mark giving her access to disable construct) don’t’ seem to do much story wise.Obviously people like GRRM are spoiling readers of fantasy right now. But it’s hard not to think that Eberron provides holds potential for more interesting stories than are being told.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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