Eberron...pulp fantasy?

[rounser]

Except that in most other D&D settings, the PCs aren't necessarily special. A PC Fighter is just as good as an NPC Fighter of equal level.

Eberron takes a page from some pulp stories, and makes the PCs special. They're Heroes, a cut above everyone else, capable of achieving the impossible. They're larger-than-life in a way. And then introduces Action Points as a way of reflecting this.

PCs in most all D&D campaigns get plot protection (i.e. adventures and encounters that are suitable for their level). They are most definitely the heroes of the game in this respect; stuff like action points is just window dressing when compared to this (unless you're playing those terrible Avatar series of modules for FR, which were just bad design because it had the PCs babysitting NPCs while they ran around turning into gods). D&D has always been this way.

 

[Stone Dog]

Except that in most other D&D settings, the PCs aren't necessarily special. A PC Fighter is just as good as an NPC Fighter of equal level.

Eberron takes a page from some pulp stories, and makes the PCs special. They're Heroes, a cut above everyone else, capable of achieving the impossible. They're larger-than-life in a way. And then introduces Action Points as a way of reflecting this.

Unless they're Villains. Villains can equal or surpass Heroes as needs dictate, or what is victory worth? The vast majority of NPCs actually run off NPC classes though. Soldiers, thugs, guards and all that are generally warriors, not fighters. Burgalers, thieves and footpads are experts not rogues. To draw a parallel to Feng Shui, NPCs are mooks while Villains (Antagonists I should say) are named characters.

 

[Faraer]

D&D has always been this way.

As has almost all of fiction in general. I also don't see what's specifically 'pulp' about stories abbreviating certain journeys.

 

[Stone Dog]

As has almost all of fiction in general. I also don't see what's specifically 'pulp' about stories abbreviating certain journeys.

Eliminating random encounters and level grinding helps alot in my experience. Wandering through the wilderness dealing with random critters that serve only to reduce your resources and give you XP while you get to the actual meat of the adventure is one style of play, but not one that I have found inspires alot of daring do.
With shorter, more intense adventures I've gotten much more meat from the setting than I ever did playing FR by the book. I don't use the traditional method of "x number of encounters on the way to the adventure site" with the party taking watch and getting a 10-25% chance of interruption every eight hours. All the fight and action is kept at key points that actually matter to the plot.
Granted, one could do this in ANY setting, but Eberron was the first setting that was the inspiration to do it for me. After over ten years of playing D&D the old way, Eberron came along and not only had a setting that sung to me, but also suggested that I could get up and dance too.

Really though, it is pulpy goodness with swashbuckling spice to me and my group and that is all that matters in the long run.

 

[bento]

I think another important aspect of the Eberron-pulp-1920s connection is the heroes aren't your typical stary-eyed wannabes fresh off the farm.

One of the drivers for pulp fiction was the cynicism of many American adults in the 1920s. Although the US was only in the Great War for a year, there was a large number of men who travelled overseas and saw the horrors of war. Pulps, in order to appeal to this audience, (living in cities and working in factories) had to have a more lurid nature to them. Look at most "pulp-ish" heroes and they are more jaded and cynical than heroes created from other times. Indiana Jones vs. Luke Skywalker.

Another idea which some writers have already mentioned is the advent of modern technology. If you look at many of the pulps written at this time, quite a few heroes are aviators (Terry & the Pirates) jungle explorers (Jungle Jim), and detectives (Dick Tracy). Their roles are made possible through the advances of technology and science. And each of the occupations have direct correlation to Eberron prestige classes - Extreme Explorer, Master Inquisitive & Windwrights (?).

Outside of "pulp" literature you can also see similar icons in movies - femme fatales like Marlene Dietrich and Mae West or beat down heroes like Humprey Bogart and Gary Cooper. Their attitudes - life's pushed me around and I'm gonna get what's coming to me, are popular sentiments of the time. Ever listen to the song "Buddy can you spare a dime?"

Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.
Half a million boots went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal --
Say, buddy, can you spare a dime?

I think Eberron wants to capture some of this cynical vibe. You can play the Eberron setting without this cynicism, but I think the game will have more of a slam-bang feel of an old serial.

 

[rounser]

One of the drivers for pulp fiction was the cynicism of many American adults in the 1920s. Although the US was only in the Great War for a year, there was a large number of men who travelled overseas and saw the horrors of war. Pulps, in order to appeal to this audience, (living in cities and working in factories) had to have a more lurid nature to them. Look at most "pulp-ish" heroes and they are more jaded and cynical than heroes created from other times. Indiana Jones vs. Luke Skywalker.

That's a character. You can make these characters in most any D&D setting. Then you run an adventure with them, which can be like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Carribbean if you want. This is all a bit like "I'm going to peel onions, so I'd best put on my onion peeling boots! Can't peel onions in anything but them."

 

[Hussar]

One thing I think that gets lost is that no one is claiming that Eberron is doing anything that's completely new. It's just the emphasis on certain elements that are different than in other D&D campaign settings.

For example, I don't think any other setting has the same emphasis on psionics as Eberron has. Dark Sun has more, the other settings tend to have them as very rare when they appear. Eberron has psionics as being somewhat common within certain areas (specifically things tied into the Quori & the Dragon Below).

QFT.

The thing that gets lost in the wash is that Eberron is not doing anything truly new. Many of the themes and tropes have appeared elsewhere in other published settings. After all, many of the pulp fantasy authors had a huge influence on DND from the start.

As was mentioned, the setting simply accentuates some elements while moving others to the background.

Granted, many DM's did this all on their own with their own homebrews or even with published settings. And you certainly can. It's just that each setting assumes a certain style of adventures. Forgotten Realms is squarely in heroic fantasy as the presumed setting. Not that it has to be. But, adventures set in FR are usually "high fantasy" with certain elements in that genre - magical locations, dragons, noble heroes, extremely powerful magic beings, that sort of thing.

You can do that in Eberron of course. But, the assumptions are different. Eberron assumes less of most of that. The heroes are not as noble (changes to the alignment system), there aren't many extremely powerful magic beings (limits to NPC's levels and limits to planar travel), while there are magical locations, they are more early 20th century industrial than Camelot.

Can you do high fantasy in Eberron? Of course you can. But, the design focus isn't on that. The design focus is on a style known as pulp which encompasses pulp fantasy and pulp fiction as well as a number of other similar feel styles.

 

[Stone Dog]

He is talking about the period in time just after WWI. The Great War and all the horrors and heroics that it inspired. With the inclusion of the Last War and the dread of whatever caused the Mournlands and the cold war brewing between the remaining four of the Five Nations Eberron makes some attempt to capture the feeling of that period in time (20's-50's or so) that had hope and horror in equal measure. That had advances to both improve lives and destroy them.

Pulp action comes in no small way from the stress and trials of a continent sized conflict that invades almost every aspect of life, even to people across an ocean. When that conflict is suddenly shut down without any real sort of resolution as what happened in the Last War (nobody won, the Mourning forced a treaty) international tensions still hum and vibrate. There may not actually be a war, but the tropes of such a pervasive conflict are still there. That is part of the feel of pulp and something that the setting of Eberron does that other settings don't really touch on as much.

Truth that Eberron isn't doing any one thing particularly new and original. However it is putting together a world that has different assumtions than any other published D&D setting and at least attempts to make a world similar in spirit to the Western World after and during the two World Wars. Pulp was at its heyday back then and if Eberron doesn't match what pulp was, it at least makes an attempt to tap into the spirit of it.

 

[The Shaman]

See, this is why it's hard to get a handle on. Fafhrd and the Mouser are definitely pulp fantasy - a particular genre of it that Leiber himself coined as "Sword & Sorcery" fiction. They're less over-the-top than Conan is (although Howard's mighty-thewed one is definitely ALSO a pulp hero).

That's my sticking point - the idea that Eberron is "pulp D&D" just never clicked because for me D&D has always been influenced by the pulps! I really didn't understand what all the hoopdy was about.

As Glyfair also noted, many of these tropes have been approached in D&D before Eberron - anyone who played in the Known World or the Wilderlands was probably exposed to "eldritch machines" like zeppelins and horseless carriages. Both settings drew heavily from ERB, Jack Vance, Abraham Merritt, and the like.

 

[Hussar]

That's my sticking point - the idea that Eberron is "pulp D&D" just never clicked because for me D&D has always been influenced by the pulps! I really didn't understand what all the hoopdy was about.

As Glyfair also noted, many of these tropes have been approached in D&D before Eberron - anyone who played in the Known World or the Wilderlands was probably exposed to "eldritch machines" like zeppelins and horseless carriages. Both settings drew heavily from ERB, Jack Vance, Abraham Merritt, and the like.

Personally, I think of it as "inspired by" rather than "trying to emulate" pulp genre.

And, yup, Shaman hit it on the head. Many of these elements have been done before. I think the main difference is primarily one of visibility. Eberron is pretty successful. And it is being pushed pretty hard as well - books, rule books, Dungeon adventures, Dragon articles, video games - so people think it's new simply because they've never seen the Known World or Wilderlands.

Eberron's not new. It's just different from the other two "main" campaign settings.