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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 9757747" data-attributes="member: 6988941">I think Eberron is a really cool and very original setting with very impressive world building. And I would probably never run a campaign there.As I explained over in the Forgotten Realms companion thread, I run games in Forgotten Realms because it is familiar, and has a vast lore that most people I play with have a take or leave approach to. Nobody (I play with) gets upset when I make it my own, but most people have an entry point of having played a previous game (tabletop or video game) set there. I should also add, in contrast to a setting like Eberron, it's generic fantasy at its core, with everyone's expectations for generic fantasy covered. This empowers players to know what they can try and do by drawing on familiar tropes. You come to a village and you know to expect there's probably a tavern and a blacksmith. You can also picture it in your mind even if the DM doesn't paint a very clear image of it.Eberron does not fit this sweet spot. It's a setting pretty unfamiliar to anyone who hasn't played in it or read the sourcebooks, the latter camp of which are likely to have some lore stickler tendencies getting in the way of my feeling free to make the lore my own or improvise on the spot. And it is unfamiliar enough that I worry players will feel a bit at a loss to know what they can try in this world.If I'm going to go to all the trouble of mastering a setting's lore, making sure my players understand it, and generally educating them about how the setting works it's going to be for a setting of my own design. If I'm going to use an established setting it's going to be one familiar from lots of media and relying on well-worn tropes so that everyone knows how things work and what they look like without needing tutorials.The best, most original, or most impressive setting from a worldbuilding standpoint is not necessarily the most fun or comfortable setting to game in, and a dumb, cliché setting that everyone thinks they're sick of may nevertheless be the one they actually enjoy playing in the most. But, of course, if the setting gets you excited enough to put in the work to make it work for your table then that overrides all other considerations, I just don't have that relationship with any setting I didn't create myself.</blockquote>

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