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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cergorach" data-source="post: 9763551" data-attributes="member: 725">Eberron is weird, but not weird enough.Let us start that back in 2002-2004 when Eberron won the WotC 'Fantasy Setting Search' it was both interesting and problematic, because WotC HAD a ton of cool and interesting D&D fantasy worlds, which they didn't do anything with during the 3.0e and 3.5e era, they did some with it during 4e, and some with 5e, but for many fans either too little too late and/or they just think WotC did a horrible job with it. And they were either 2-3 products (during the 4e era) or one offs during the 5e era.So for many long time D&D fans the first thing they think of as Eberron is the weird stepchild that was born when WotC was neglecting it's other 'children'...While the fantasy steampunky setting that is Eberron is cool, it is also weird enough from regular (D&D) fantasy settings that many folks are not that comfortable in that same setting, as it doesn't hit that same sword & sorcery vibe they are actually looking for. And when folks want something very different, Eberron isn't different enough to play a very long campaign in. It has imho a very small niche that has grown over the last two decades. WotC seems to think so as well as there was only one Eberron hardcover during the D&D 5e 2014 decade, there's another product announced for D&D 5e 2024, but has been delayed.If people wanted to play something different from Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara, or Dragonlance, they looked for things like Spelljammer, Planescape, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, etc. While some played whole campaigns in there, for many it was a temporary sidetrack to something else. Something along the lines of the Eberron stop during the Vecna 'rollercoaster ride' (official hardcover), a quick dip into what is Eberron, and then move on.No one of our ~35 year old gaming group has any real connection with Eberron, even though we were heavily invested in 3rd edition D&D. We played FR, one of our group has been a long time fan of Dragonlance (I'm a big fan of Draconians), I have almost all 2e/3e/4e D&D products including Eberron, but even I haven't played it. One person in our group had some interest in the core Eberron book, they read it, we discussed it a bit and never mentioned it again. We were supposed to be playing the 5e Vecna adventure, but while we progressed the DM used some of the Vecna stuff and just stayed mostly in FR (with some trips to other places). The Eberron stuff just didn't excite either of us (as I was making the adaption for Foundry VTT, but not DMing it) and to me the Dragonlance part didn't feel like Dragonlance to me.So, D&D is our go-to game for pnp RPGs as a group, and in the past we dipped our toes into Spelljammer, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft, because some of us wanted something and some of us only wanted D&D. We have played Shadowrun, Vampire, and Kids on Bikes with this group, but we always went back to D&D. I'm at a point where if I want something else, I look at other RPGs like The Spire/Heart, Mothership, Blades in the Dark, etc. Instead of a D&D Eberron.Don't get me wrong, I think the magic train was cool, but I think I would rather play in something like Deadlands to get the same effect. I think the idea of Warforged is cool, but Eberron is trying to be too many things at once, making it none of those things, and getting a slightly weird generic setting. If I wanted to play something robot/android like, I would rather play Dragonstar, Alternity, or even Starfinder...Honestly, I think the WotC 'Fantasy Setting Search' was a response to the announcement of Blizzards World of Warcraft MMO (in September 2001). Hence the search for a new setting in 2002 and both WoW and Eberron released in 2004. WoW attracted oodles of monthly paying customers, to be honest it was bigger then D&D at the time (unless you start twisting numbers), hence the move to D&D 4e later. But ultimately it was WotC attempt to create new IP that was attractive to new players/DMs in the early 2000s without a huge backlog of lore, products, and knowledge to turn away certain new players/DMs. It was not a bad plan imho. It just wasn't really connecting with many who already had been playing D&D for 15-20 years. And it also kinda felt rushed, with only later products further fleshing out the setting, but in turn recreating the same problem 20+ years later, a setting with quite a bit of lore and background...</blockquote>

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