Eberron: Is it *really* a swashbuckling kind of campaign setting?

[derelictjay]

Well, when setting up my 1st Eberron adventure (which starts Friday, yeah), I pondered several syles for the game and went with a pulp noir style, which seemed in perfect harmony with the setting set in Sharn. There seems to be to much intrigue for a swashbuckling campaign which is all daring heroics and mild on the intrigue, but if you tone down the intrigue I guess you could create it into a swashbuckling campaign.

 

[smetzger]

I am not sure what is meant by "Swashbuckling". I don't think we have very many good examples of recent swashbuckling films.

I think Eberron could be played/run in a swashbuckling style. Since it is not a grim-and-gritty setting it has potential for swashbuckling. But I think FR could also be played this way.

 

[drnuncheon]

You could easily play it swashbuckly. Your characters are heros, and could easily fight through crowds of lesser men. Action points let you try incredible stunts while actually having a chance of success. The dragonmarked houses and various nations and power blocs provide plenty of intrigue. Plus all the stuff that you could do in any setting - witty quips while engaging in swordplay, that sort of thing.

Really, though, the feel - swashbucklery, pulp, grim and gritty - is all about getting the player and DM buy-in more than it is about the setting.

J

 

[Desdichado]

I am not sure what is meant by "Swashbuckling". I don't think we have very many good examples of recent swashbuckling films.

Why do they need to be recent? Doesn't anyone watch any old movies anymore?

Well, when setting up my 1st Eberron adventure (which starts Friday, yeah), I pondered several syles for the game and went with a pulp noir style, which seemed in perfect harmony with the setting set in Sharn. There seems to be to much intrigue for a swashbuckling campaign which is all daring heroics and mild on the intrigue, but if you tone down the intrigue I guess you could create it into a swashbuckling campaign.

Who says intrigue and swashbuckling don't go hand in hand? Haven't you ever read (or seen the Michael York version of) The Three Musketeers? That's iconic swashbuckling, and it's all about intrigue.

I think the main difference between Eberron's stated intentions and swashbuckling is the moral ambiguity and darkness of Eberron relative to yer standard swashbuckler. The main difference between two-fisted pulp-noir action and swashbuckling is the attitude of the main characters; in the former they're darker, perhaps more brooding and grim. Think Humphrey Bogart, or Conan (as written by REH.) In the latter, they're grinning, laughing, making jokes and tart observations about their enemies, etc. Think Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks. Or, like I said, the 70s version of The Three Musketeers with Michael York, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed, Charleton Heston, Faye Dunnaway, etc. One of the best movies ever made, IMO, and a perfect example of what swashbuckling is all about.

 

[mmadsen]

Why do they need to be recent? Doesn't anyone watch any old movies anymore?

That was a rhetorical question, right? Because no one watches old movies. Even with AMC, TCM, DVDs, DVRs, etc., virtually no one has seen, say, most of the AFI Top 100.

Who says intrigue and swashbuckling don't go hand in hand? Haven't you ever read (or seen the Michael York version of) The Three Musketeers? That's iconic swashbuckling, and it's all about intrigue.

Indeed. That's where the term cloak & dagger came from, after all.

 

[WizarDru]

I am not sure what is meant by "Swashbuckling". I don't think we have very many good examples of recent swashbuckling films.

You mean other than "Pirates of the Carribean", "The Muskeeter", "Count of Monte Cristo", "Sinbad" and (more loosely) possibly "Hidalgo", "Master and Commander", "Ella Enchanted", "Peter Pan" and "Shanghai Knights"?

I don't think you're watching them, but that doesn't mean examples aren't out there. Mind you, my kids enjoyed the old "Sinbad the Sailor" from 1947...with the most anachronistic cast EVAR (I mean, Maureen O'Hara as an arabian princess? HELLO?) on TCM the other day and loved old Pirate movies. So, go figure.

But, as has been stated, Eberron is more of a 'pulp' feel...more Indiana Jones or Tales of the Gold Monkey than Captain Blood.

 

[painandgreed]

So far our Eberron campaing has been very cyberpunk feel to it. The royal houses are the corporations, their agents are Mr. Johnsons, and the magic is the cool tech. Although the world contributes some to this, it could be our party though. We're suspicious and check up on everybody that wants to hire us through other sources, plan for double crosses and consider makeing some ourselves. We also started out at 6th level because we're trying out ECL races. We have a gith rogue, half feindish elf rogue, pixie fighter, drow something or other, and a human sorceror.

 

[Henry]

Tales of the Gold Monkey? Ahh, now THAT brings back memories. Wonder if they have those on DVD yet?

As for Swashbuckling - couldn't someone just see an adventuring plot in the city of Sharn in the style of Cyrano de Bergerac? Where a party of PCs have to work together to make an incompetent fop look GOOD to his beloved? I know Cyrano's Christian wasn't a total dandy, but it would be even more fun for the PCs to have to prop him up in everything, from fighting to wooing.

 

[Henry]

So far our Eberron campaing has been very cyberpunk feel to it. The royal houses are the corporations.... We have a gith rogue, half feindish elf rogue, pixie fighter, drow something or other, and a human sorceror.

Sounds like ShadowEberrPlanescaperon.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It is because the ads say so! Yep, swashbuckling goodness and pulp, that is what they say.

Turjan calling it a "kitchen sink" is about right it is a catch all world but the game also harkins to the early days of TV and radio, before true science was added to fiction, you have airships, swords, trains, Ming and Flash Goblin, all wrapped into one.