It's somewhere in between for me, but as I like it, and see it as playable, in spite of (or perhaps pulling the stick out of my arse and embracing) the corny, pseudopulp aspects, I guess I would be far more inclined towards a positive opinion than to hop on the hate train. (What is with all the hate? Geek culture can be so petty and ugly at times).
Eberron-as corny as I think?
- Thread starter WarlockLord
- Start date
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
It doesn't feel like sci-fi or steampunk to me. The warforged don't feel like robots to me at all.
But I have to say, I hate elemental carts, and I don't like elemental submarines.
But I have to say, I hate elemental carts, and I don't like elemental submarines.
Philotomy Jurament
First Post
I haven't read Eberron or played in a Eberron-based game, so I didn't vote. However, from what I've heard, it sounds pretty cool to me. Not your traditional D&D world, by any means, but I've got several of those, and I'm quite attached to (my version of) Greyhawk. I like pulp, and I like science fantasy, and I like lost worlds and such. It could see using Eberron in a campaign and going for a Burroughs/Wolfe feel.
Primitive Screwhead
First Post
Elemental carts I could do without as well..
What has sold me on Eberron isn't the new crunch, altho some of the stuff is pretty 'kewl'.
Instead its the cohesive backstory. In alot of other settings you could drop a 'generic' module in..but not have any in game reason for it to fit. An example is the Coils of Set module. This could be dropped into any setting, and in most it would stand out like a sore thumb. With Eberron, a couple minor tweaks and the entire module fits into the world tapestry.
[sidetrack]The tweaks include: Placing both 1st and 2nd chapters in Q'Barra. Place the 3rd chapter, which already has a dilated time/space thingy and savage halfings co-existing with dinasours, into Ebberon's past during the Age of the Demons. A couple name changes later and it looks like the module was created specifically for Ebberon![/sidetrack]
The other thing that sold me on the setting is its depth. Already built into the setting are a plethera of convienant plot devices. Create a character with race, class, and home country. Instantly I have at least 2 potential plots to work with. If I am lucky enough to have a player willing to make a character background, the adventure arc tends to write itself!
But anyway.. YMMV
What has sold me on Eberron isn't the new crunch, altho some of the stuff is pretty 'kewl'.
Instead its the cohesive backstory. In alot of other settings you could drop a 'generic' module in..but not have any in game reason for it to fit. An example is the Coils of Set module. This could be dropped into any setting, and in most it would stand out like a sore thumb. With Eberron, a couple minor tweaks and the entire module fits into the world tapestry.
[sidetrack]The tweaks include: Placing both 1st and 2nd chapters in Q'Barra. Place the 3rd chapter, which already has a dilated time/space thingy and savage halfings co-existing with dinasours, into Ebberon's past during the Age of the Demons. A couple name changes later and it looks like the module was created specifically for Ebberon![/sidetrack]
The other thing that sold me on the setting is its depth. Already built into the setting are a plethera of convienant plot devices. Create a character with race, class, and home country. Instantly I have at least 2 potential plots to work with. If I am lucky enough to have a player willing to make a character background, the adventure arc tends to write itself!
But anyway.. YMMV
BadMojo
First Post
When I first heard the setting described (back when first introduced) I thought, quite frankly, that it sounded awful.
As silly as it sounds, I purchased it on a whim mostly because of the really nifty art and thinking maybe there were some setting bits or rules I could use for something else.
It turns out that Eberron reads and plays a lot better than a one paragraph blurb can convey. I *love* the idea that it's "pulp" D&D. The lightning rail (train) allows the PCs to travel quickly without resorting to teleportation spells and as mentioned before just begs to be the setting for a chase scene, ditto on the skyships, the warforged were built for a war that's now ended and are a constant reminder of decades of destruction, etc.
Lots of great stuff. Of course, if you are looking for a more traditional setting then stuff like Scarred Lands, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Ptolus should do nicely.
One last bit: the way the setting handles the availability of magic reminds me a bit of Steven Brust's Dragaera books. This is a good thing.
As silly as it sounds, I purchased it on a whim mostly because of the really nifty art and thinking maybe there were some setting bits or rules I could use for something else.
It turns out that Eberron reads and plays a lot better than a one paragraph blurb can convey. I *love* the idea that it's "pulp" D&D. The lightning rail (train) allows the PCs to travel quickly without resorting to teleportation spells and as mentioned before just begs to be the setting for a chase scene, ditto on the skyships, the warforged were built for a war that's now ended and are a constant reminder of decades of destruction, etc.
Lots of great stuff. Of course, if you are looking for a more traditional setting then stuff like Scarred Lands, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Ptolus should do nicely.
One last bit: the way the setting handles the availability of magic reminds me a bit of Steven Brust's Dragaera books. This is a good thing.
Arashi Ravenblade
First Post
well i have played exactly one game of eberron and have read most of the book, ( i even own magic of eberron), but i think it's corny how they went about it. I think it could have been better, but while i wouldnt DM an eberron game i would play in one and even use it in an up coming campaign with world hopping villains.
To me, the pseudo-technology is one of the best parts of Eberron. In traditional D&D, you have a tech level that's entirely medieval, except for the technology of war, which is at roughly WWI levels. OK, not the literal technology. You don't have artillery (but you do have fireballs), or tanks (but you do have bulettes), or poison gas (but there's cloudkill), or limited air support (but ... well, do I have to go on?) ... The 'magic tech' added to the regular tech gives an early 20th century 'feel' to the strategy of war and combat--which is then out of place with the tech in the rest of the areas of the campaign. (Fortresses were not of nearly the same strategic value in 1915 that they were five hundred years earlier.)
Eberron takes this 'magic tech' effect and spreads it through the rest of the setting. There aren't railroads (but there's the lightning rail), or telegraphs (but there's the House Sivis speaking stones), etc. The end result is that the effective technology level is consistently in a narrow range, roughly somewhere from the late 19th to early 20th century. This makes it relatively easy to maintain a coherent setting, not only because the different parts of the economy and culture fit together, but because they're closer to our real life. Early 21st century life is quite a bit different from early 20th century life, but not nearly as different as it is from early 15th century life. And information about the culture of one hundred years ago is much more accessible to us than information about medieval Europe, which is naturally much less complete.
Eberron takes this 'magic tech' effect and spreads it through the rest of the setting. There aren't railroads (but there's the lightning rail), or telegraphs (but there's the House Sivis speaking stones), etc. The end result is that the effective technology level is consistently in a narrow range, roughly somewhere from the late 19th to early 20th century. This makes it relatively easy to maintain a coherent setting, not only because the different parts of the economy and culture fit together, but because they're closer to our real life. Early 21st century life is quite a bit different from early 20th century life, but not nearly as different as it is from early 15th century life. And information about the culture of one hundred years ago is much more accessible to us than information about medieval Europe, which is naturally much less complete.
I agree with a couple of the posters above:
I actively AVOIDED Eberron when I first heard about warforged. I thought the whole thing was stupid. Then I looked at the gallery on the wotc site, and saw a Warforged Juggernaught and re-thought my position. I decided to start poking around and found an "Ask kieth baker" thread, and was hooked fairly quickly.
I actively AVOIDED Eberron when I first heard about warforged. I thought the whole thing was stupid. Then I looked at the gallery on the wotc site, and saw a Warforged Juggernaught and re-thought my position. I decided to start poking around and found an "Ask kieth baker" thread, and was hooked fairly quickly.
Herremann the Wise
First Post
It's not my cup of tea.
We had a DM in our group run through the published modules and while starting off well, the campaign eventually went downhill. While not for everyone, I certainly would not call it cheap or corny. A lot of good effort went into the setting by a talented guy (as well as many others) and so I'm certainly not going to vote that way. Put in a more neutral option and I would have voted.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
We had a DM in our group run through the published modules and while starting off well, the campaign eventually went downhill. While not for everyone, I certainly would not call it cheap or corny. A lot of good effort went into the setting by a talented guy (as well as many others) and so I'm certainly not going to vote that way. Put in a more neutral option and I would have voted.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
The Shaman
First Post
No, Eberron isn't nearly as cool as a Mario Bava movie.WarlockLord said:
I'm not sure that I agree about Eberron being like early twentieth century fantasy - I'd need a pretty thorough list of examples before I'd accept that premise.
It is the most navel-gazing of D&D settings in that it takes the rules of the game and builds a world around them - since I'm not a fan of many of the core D&D assumptions about how the world works, it follows that the setting doesn't appeal to me.
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