D&D 5E Eberron: Rising from the Last War Coming For D&D In November

A new D&D campaign setting has appeared on Amazon -- Eberron: Rising from the Last War. It's slated for November 19th, at $49.99.

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Explore the lands of Eberron in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

This book provides everything players and Dungeon Masters need to play Dungeons & Dragons in Eberron—a war-torn world filled with magic-fueled technology, airships and lightning trains, where noir-inspired mystery meets swashbuckling adventure. Will Eberron enter a prosperous new age or will the shadow of war descend once again?

• Dive straight into your pulp adventures with easy-to-use locations, complete with maps of floating castles, skyscrapers, and more.

• Explore Sharn, a city of skyscrapers, airships, and noirish intrigue and a crossroads for the world’s war-ravaged peoples.

• Include a campaign for characters venturing into the Mournland, a mist-cloaked, corpse-littered land twisted by magic.

• Meld magic and invention to craft objects of wonder as an artificer—the first official class to be released for fifth edition D&D since the Player’s Handbook.

• Flesh out your characters with a new D&D game element called a group patron—a background for your whole party.

• Explore 16 new race/subrace options including dragonmarks, which magically transform certain members of the races in the Player’s Handbook.

• Confront horrific monsters born from the world’s devastating wars.

There is an alternate cover for game stores:

WotC's Jeremy Crawford confirmed that "The book incorporates the material in "Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron" and adds a whole lot more."

 

[Parmandur]

Dark Sun: played yes; fan no. My perception might be skewed by the DM I had, who ran the setting as an exercise in sadomasochism. I like pulpy "Conan the barbarian" type media, but the 2e version didn't click. It felt it was trying too hard to not be D&D, like it was ashamed to be called that. Ironically, I liked the 4e presentation a lot, but I didn't like 4e enough to play it.

As for Greyhawk, yes played; fan Neutral. I came into the setting at the end of 2e, so my exposure is "The Adventure Begins"/Living Greyhawk Gazetteer stuff. I played many of the classic modules (in 2e) and 2e Return to modules, and the later Vecna Trilogy, as well as ran Return to Temple of Elemental Evil. That said, while I have nothing against the setting, it doesn't reach my top 3 (Eberron, Planescape, Ravenloft), I liked the setting well enough based on what I've experienced.

That said, I still think there is room in both settings to grow.

I think the 2E original probably went too far in accommodating base assumptions: it could have been a much better "Planetary Romance" style setting with even more restrictions.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Bitbrain]

I have the perfect setting for you: the only option for PCs are human fighter, and the only monster is orcs. Viva la creativity!

My Dark Sun-inspired homebrew setting has four PC races you can play as: elf, halfling, human, and mul.
The only class not permitted is the Warlock.

My Eberron campaign (which just started) has six common PC races: dwarf, elf, halfling, human, orc, and warforged.
Uncommon PC races include changelings, goblins, and shifters.
All classes and subclasses are permitted in this campaign.

As far as monsters are concerned, I have a collection of almost 50 distinct monsters ranging from CR-1/2 to CR-25, none of which are orcs.

 

[TwoSix]

I was appalled at the version of "Dark Sun" that they released for 4th Edition. Athasian Paladins? Seriously? Ugh. (Although the idea of making Templars a type of Warlock actually was pretty inspired.) Shoehorning all of the 4E classes and races into Athas really defiled (pun totally intended) the setting, to the point where they didn't seem to understand the world, or more likely they just didn't care and were only using the "Dark Sun" visuals as a cosmetic gloss. There are plenty of settings where Dragonborn and Tieflings just do not fit, and trying to cram them in just because someone made the bad decision to include them as default races in the PHB is not a good idea.

Umm...there were no Athasian paladins in 4e Dark Sun. There wasn't a single power or feat introduced in 4e Dark Sun that even used the Divine keyword. Literally the only mention of divine characters was a small sidebar saying that if you really, really wanted a divine character on Athas, you could probably come back up with a crazy backstory to do so.

If "including" something means "not forbidding in no uncertain terms", than sure, it included everything, I guess. But by the book, clerics, paladins, avengers, and invokers were NOT part of 4e Dark Sun.

I will reiterate my stance that the themes, paragon paths, and epic destinies of 4e Dark Sun captured the thematics of the setting better than the myriad of weird metaplot that made up a large portion of 2e Dark Sun. And I like most 2e settings! I've just always felt that Dark Sun was the weakest of the big 2e settings, and it was only the 4e book that made Dark Sun into something I actually wanted to run.

 

[Parmandur]

Umm...there were no Athasian paladins in 4e Dark Sun. There wasn't a single power or feat introduced in 4e Dark Sun that even used the Divine keyword. Literally the only mention of divine characters was a small sidebar saying that if you really, really wanted a divine character on Athas, you could probably come back up with a crazy backstory to do so.

If "including" something means "not forbidding in no uncertain terms", than sure, it included everything, I guess. But by the book, clerics, paladins, avengers, and invokers were NOT part of 4e Dark Sun.

I will reiterate my stance that the themes, paragon paths, and epic destinies of 4e Dark Sun captured the thematics of the setting better than the myriad of weird metaplot that made up a large portion of 2e Dark Sun. And I like most 2e settings! I've just always felt that Dark Sun was the weakest of the big 2e settings, and it was only the 4e book that made Dark Sun into something I actually wanted to run.

My impression is that the initial box set was amazing, but subsequent books lost the plot...

 

[TwoSix]

In 4e Dark Sun, the writers essentially took the Dray (which as you say were already in the setting) and said “these are now the same as Dragonborn,” and did the same with half-giants into Goliath.

No. What they did was use the same mechanical expression of a race, and attach those mechanics to it a similar but aesthetically unique narrative concept. You don't need new mechanical expressions for related concepts, because that's what the very concept of reskinning is for.

If you want to argue that you don't like reskinning, that's fine, but reskinning is a perfectly valid tactic to use when designing a campaign setting.

 

[TwoSix]

My impression is that the initial box set was amazing, but subsequent books lost the plot...

The 2e boxed set was good, but it always seemed to emphasize that things were super-sh***y and you were probably going to die horribly. 4e felt like things were harsh and bad, but there were still reasons to push into the deserts and maybe find some hope. It was a little more romanticized and melancholy, which I found to be a much more palatable tone. I have no problem with grim and foreboding, but I'm not a fan of bleakness to the point of apathy, which is always what 2e made me feel.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

No. What they did was use the same mechanical expression of a race, and attach those mechanics to it a similar but aesthetically unique narrative concept. You don't need new mechanical expressions for related concepts, because that's what the very concept of reskinning is for.

If you want to argue that you don't like reskinning, that's fine, but reskinning is a perfectly valid tactic to use when designing a campaign setting.

First, I’ll say that I don’t like reskinning because it is intrinsically lazy designing.

Second, calling the 4th edition Dark Sun “reskinning” of Dray and Half-Giant into Dragonborn and Goliath is a real stretch.

Reskinning is when you take the same mechanics of the Dragonborn and apply them to the Dray, but keep the aesthetic of the Dray unique.

But that’s no what happened at all. In early editions, Dray were a much more skinny, skeletal race, being a little taller and spindly. Dragonborn are big and bulky.

4e said “in Dark Sun, Dray are the same as Dragonborn,” and didn’t even bother to reskin, and just slapped some gladiator clothes on Dragonborn and walked away. That’s not even reskinning, that’s just slotting the same race into a different setting (which I’ve already said is silly).

These are Dray;

 

[Umbran]

First, I’ll say that I don’t like reskinning because it is intrinsically lazy designing.

One person's "lazy designing" is another person's "why re-invent the wheel"?

 

[Azzy]

First, I’ll say that I don’t like reskinning because it is intrinsically lazy designing.

Man, the Hero System would drive you nuts.