Eberron It Is? [UPDATED & CONFIRMED!]

As I said in the other thread, the question is now whether we're just going to see DMs Guild and PDF support, or whether, once the psionic and artificer rules are set, we'll be seeing something more substantial in the way of an actual published book. I have a feeling that once the necessary rules are in place (with a likely rules expansion book early next year for new classes and races), we'll be seeing a full book, and this is just to whet the appetite and get things started...

 

[gyor]

Weird thought but if everything in D&D can be found on Eberron (something it appears to have in common with FR), does that include Shadar Kai, and whatever races we get with Ravnica?

 

[Jester David]

If you think about it this isn't an entirely new business model. It's exactly what buying an Early Access video game on Steam is like. You pay now for immediate access, get updates for free as they're patched in, and have the option to re-buy the deluxe physical release when it's finished. The only difference is that WotC is trying to apply that scheme to a rulebook instead of a video game.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not, but I have to give them points for trying to update the publishing business model to the digital age.

ETA: And my mind was running faster than my reading comprehension, because you also called out Early Access as the model they're obviously using. Doh. Still, I can't fault WotC for trying to steal a successful idea like this.

I can't tell you the number of RPG kickstarters I've backed where I've paid extra for the print+PDF combo, had the PDF delivered first while the final product was given a final editing pass, and then received the print book some time later.

What's the alternative? We get just the races and dragonmarks but no setting to play with them in?
Would it be preferable to wait for the PDF?

 

[Bladesinger]

Wow, sad day for me. Both of these settings suck. Dark Sun would have been a much better choice.

 

[CM]

Well, I don't run Eberron but at least this means they'll finally release an official Artificer.

 

[CapnZapp]

So Ravnica of all things is getting a hardcover, but not Eberron? Has Wizards of the Coast lost their minds?

Probably answered already, but:

It is because the Eberron stuff is an alpha release, playtest level. A PDF makes sense.

The hardcover book comes later (if the material is recieved well).

 

[AmerginLiath]

Eberron playable races


https://youtu.be/Cawc3IKPzKM

[video=youtube_share;Cawc3IKPzKM]https://youtu.be/Cawc3IKPzKM[/video]

This of course references this month’s (just released) Unearthed Arcana article of updated RACES OF EBERRON, which I haven’t seen discussion on here (besides the Envoy Warforged thread that became quickly comedic). Should we talk about it here or start a new thread on the topic?

https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/723UA_EberronRaces7232018.pdf

 

[amethal]

Wow, sad day for me. Both of these settings suck. Dark Sun would have been a much better choice.

Absolutely. If they had released Dark Sun instead of Eberron not one person on the internet would have complained about their decision.

I don't really know how Ravnica would work as a campaign setting for D&D - since I know next to nothing about M:TG and the book hasn't actually been published yet - but I am sure you are right and it will suck. It is lucky for me that my happiness is not dependent on WotC's release schedule.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Weird thought but if everything in D&D can be found on Eberron (something it appears to have in common with FR), does that include Shadar Kai, and whatever races we get with Ravnica?

Eberron was explicitly designed and sold with the idea that anything that exists in D&D has a place there. That doesn't mean that every vanilla idea that has ever crossed someone's demented little mind is front and center in the setting; it simply means that you can find a place for anything in Eberron if you want to.

So yes, it could include Shadar Kai and 4,000 different elf subraces and giant hamsters and Purple Dragon Warriors and anything else you want. One of the most impressive things about the setting is how it expressly incorporates everything - everything from the most cookie-cutter vanilla stories you could devise through insane epic conflicts between the minds of alien horrors and psychic monks and and militant elves who worship their ancestors to seedy detectives hunting jewel thieves through smoky back alleys while trying to determine if the dame they just met is the heiress to the crown or a killer in disguise. And wishing they had the scratch to buy the kind of divination that would answer the question once and for all. Surface-dwelling drow in the deep jungles, who worship scorpions. Halflings in hobbit holes in rolling green hills and halfling savages riding dinosaurs and wondering which part of you is the tastiest and willing to try them all to find out.

Eberron's got it all.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Okay, this looks pretty cool. Eberron is not my first choice, but I'm glad to see it roll out. This also serves as a template for the future release of other worlds.

 

[Eirikrautha]

Okay, this looks pretty cool. Eberron is not my first choice, but I'm glad to see it roll out. This also serves as a template for the future release of other worlds.

That's what worries me. An early access PDF sold to us to playtest is NOT the template that I'd like to see. Neither is hamfisted corporate IP-sharing products designed to "expand" the player-base, potentially at the expense of the core audience and the long-suffering fans who have put 5e in the position for its resurgence by buying the products to this point.

As a customer, I prefer to be engaged, not milked...