Eberron - things to watch out for?

tetsujin28 · Aug 15, 2005

I just picked up Eberron today, and I like it a lot. But I don't have any prior experience playing it, so I'm wondering if those who have played/run it have any caveats or monitory advice?

Wycen · Aug 15, 2005

If you have Grasp of the Emerald Claw, one of the Eberron modules, there is an encounter with a dire shark that should pretty much finish off the entire party unless you change it or they are very well prepared or lucky.

Beyond that, I think not spoiling the mystery of things is an important point. Do not reveal how warforged are made. Sure, a hint or unverified rumor, but don't spell it out like our DM did. Same goes for who the Lord of Blades is. Keep his real background a mystery.

Ryltar · Aug 15, 2005

If you refer to the shark I'm thinking about, there's a replacement for that encounter on Bruce Cordell's homepage somewhere.

Glyfair · Aug 15, 2005

tetsujin28 said:
I just picked up Eberron today, and I like it a lot. But I don't have any prior experience playing it, so I'm wondering if those who have played/run it have any caveats or monitory advice?

It's pretty straight forward. People will quibble about a few things in the later books, but the first book is solid.

A few recommendations:

1) Make sure you understand the artificer, if one is played. It's pretty easy to abuse if not played as written. It's also susceptible to abuse even as written, but not much more than any other spellcasting class.
2) Find the "Ask Keith Baker FAQ" on the WotC Eberron forums. There is a lot of background available there. The Dragonshards articles on the official site are excellent information, too.
3) When coverting other adventures to Eberron, you'll likely have to tone down non-villian NPCs. NPCs are largely lower level than in other settings and NPC classes are much more common. Many of the heroes of the last war have NPC classes (say a warrior/fighter).
4) Try to flesh out some differences soon, before players pigeonhole certain concepts. For example, describe the warforged as living golems (focus on their wooden sinews and less on their armor) before the players pigeonhole them as "robots."

lior_shapira · Aug 15, 2005

I'm currently playing an Eberron campaign and enjoying it very much! However I must give you my personal warning about the trilogy of adventures published by WOTC for Eberron (shadows of the last war, whispers of the vampire's blade and the 3rd one whose name I don't remember). They are (in my opinion) not good, they string the players along a nice railroad with very little option. The emphasis is not on an appealing story but on driving new and bizarre vehicles (ship, zeppelin, submarine...) and chasing bad guys which can't be caught ('cause its written they can't be caught).

Use Eberron, but write your own adventures

frankthedm · Aug 15, 2005

Wycen said:
Beyond that, I think not spoiling the mystery of things is an important point. Do not reveal how warforged are made. Sure, a hint or unverified rumor, but don't spell it out like our DM did. Same goes for who the Lord of Blades is. Keep his real background a mystery.

Could you tell me? I have a bet is like>>>>>

dragon star's soul mechs: spirits who are offered ressurection, BUT are shoved back into artificial bodies.

use {spoiler}{/spoiler} tags

mhacdebhandia · Aug 15, 2005

Well, the thing about the warforged is that there are no answers per se. Same with the Lord of Blades - the books present theories.

However, here are two theories:

Warforged

appear to have first been developed by the ancient and long-dead giant civilisation on the wild continent of Xen'drik. Items have been found there which fit into or onto warforged bodies in modular fashion, and it's thought by some that House Cannith (who made the warforged alive in the world today) found the secrets of their construction there. As for the question of where their souls come from, it's not answered anywhere even in theory, but it is something with which many people in the setting would be and are concerned.

The Lord of Blades,

well, there's a theory in Races of Eberron that he might be a warforged known as Bulwark, onetime advisor to King Boranel of Breland and credited by many with having influenced Boranel's proclamation of warforged freedom and his insistence that universal warforged freedom be written into the Treaty of Thronehold that ended the Last War. After the treaty was signed, Bulwark left King Boranel's service and was never seen again - divination magic cast to learn about him fails, but also fails to prove that he is dead. Boranel very covertly encourages efforts to discover the true identity of the Lord of Blades.

Nothing is for certain - part of the Eberron design philosophy is that they'll never answer all the questions in the setting. It reminds me of AEG's approach to revealing the identity of the Kolat Masters in Legend of the Five Rings - they named all but one, Master Tiger, and explicitly said that Master Tiger should be whoever the GM needs him to be.

Turanil · Aug 15, 2005

Can someone tell which are all the books released for Eberron, with some info about their contents? Thanks.

Jürgen Hubert · Aug 15, 2005

mhacdebhandia said:
The Lord of Blades,

well, there's a theory in Races of Eberron that he might be a warforged known as Bulwark, onetime advisor to King Boranel of Breland and credited by many with having influenced Boranel's proclamation of warforged freedom and his insistence that universal warforged freedom be written into the Treaty of Thronehold that ended the Last War. After the treaty was signed, Bulwark left King Boranel's service and was never seen again - divination magic cast to learn about him fails, but also fails to prove that he is dead. Boranel very covertly encourages efforts to discover the true identity of the Lord of Blades.

Another rumor mentioned is that

he is actually the inventor of the warforged, Aaron d'Cannith (if that was his name) who either wears a suit of armor that make him look like a warforged, or who has transferred his soul into a warforged body.

I think I prefer this explanation - it's cooler.

Deadguy · Aug 15, 2005

Turanil said:
Can someone tell which are all the books released for Eberron, with some info about their contents? Thanks.

The hardback books released for Eberron so far are:

Eberron Campaign Sourcebook: the main setting book, with enough information to run a campaign if you wish. Gives additional rules material, ideas for games to run in Eberron, and a basic gazetteer for the primary setting location, Khorvaire, and bits about the other continents.
Sharn: City of Towers: lots and lots of information about the largest city on Khorvaire, Sharn, inlcuding lots of bits about history of the site. The book can be a bit dry, but does give a fuller idea of running games in Eberron.
Races of Eberron: printed as a brown-cover Races of... style, the book describes the four new Eberron races: the Shifters, the Wardforged, the Changelings and the Kalashtar in much more detail. Not always smmothly integrated with the ECS, nonetheless it does serve to give a deeper feel for things. It also ccovers the cultures of the standard races in Eberron, which is very handy, though it is a short chapter.
Five Nations: the basic history and current state of the Five Nations, the remnants of the Kingdom of Galifar. A touch hit-and-miss in terms of 'accuracy' but a good source of adventure ideas, which is what most DMs would really ask for.
Explorers Handbook: largely three sections make up this latest book - how to travel, vehicles for the Eberron setting, and lots of locations that PCs can travel to or through. Lots of nice ideas, including some for treasures from the Giant and Dhakaani Empires.

Hope that helps.