D&D 5E Exploring Eberron's Map of the Planes

Artist Marco Bernardini created the map of the planes in Keith Baker's new Eberron sourcebook (Keith will be on our podcast in two week with three hardcovers to give away). You can grab it from the DMs Guild in full resolution.

 

[Sunsword]

I have Border Kingdoms by Ed, what is the name of the second product?

 

[Dire Bare]

What would be nice is if they could get a better deal - Keith is still losing half the profits to dmsguild (30%) and WotC (20%). Furthermore, I'd really like to see WotC promote the guild more if they're going to use it as a reason why they don't do more content in general.

It certainly seems like authors are taking a huge hit on the DMsGuild (50%) . . . and maybe that's even true . . . but how does it compare to what they'd make "work-for-hire" on a similar book published by WotC or another company? When you get a one-time payment calculated on pennies per word . . . compared to a 50% cut of ALL sales . . . I'd be interested in a comparison from Baker or someone else in the know.

 

[Morrus]

It certainly seems like authors are taking a huge hit on the DMsGuild (50%) . . . and maybe that's even true . . . but how does it compare to what they'd make "work-for-hire" on a similar book published by WotC or another company? When you get a one-time payment calculated on pennies per word . . . compared to a 50% cut of ALL sales . . . I'd be interested in a comparison from Baker or someone else in the know.

It's fairly commensurate with any license. DTRPG takes 35% of any sale. So you're paying WotC 15% to play with their IP (albeit in a very restricted manner).

 

[imagineGod]

No wonder I fell in love with Eberron much more than The Forgotten Realms. So happy to see this revival.

 

[Haldrik]

Looking at the cosmology map, how does the ethereal plane connect to other planes? The schematic suggests ether only connects matter and aster, and doesnt connect the other four elements.

 

[Wishbone]

Looking at the cosmology map, how does the ethereal plane connect to other planes? The schematic suggests ether only connects matter and aster, and doesnt connect the other four elements.

Eberron doesn't have Elemental/Inner Planes. What you see on the map is all they got.

 

[Haldrik]

Eberron doesn't have Elemental/Inner Planes. What you see on the map is what they got.

Per map, one cannot enter the aster except by means of first going thru the ether?

I see the ether connects matter to fey and shadow, so that part works well.

I suppose the outer planes are intentionally remote, and under DM-must-decide status?

 

[Wishbone]

Per map, one cannot enter the aster except by means of first going thru the ether?

I see the ether connects matter to fey and shadow, so that part works well.

I suppose the outer planes are intentionally remote, and under DM-must-decide status?

The map isn't literal—it's a depiction from someone on the Material Plane flattening the cosmology together with some resulting distortions. That doesn't mean Lamannia or Dolurrh are the only planes that can connect to the Ethereal Plane. To quote Monty Python, "It's only a model." The planes orbit around the Material Plane of Eberron in an orrery model.

There are possible Astral color pools and Ethereal Curtains to the Material Plane and each of the 12 planes (all but Dal Quor) on the Ethereal and Astral Planes as listed in Exploring Eberron.

 

[Haldrik]

The map isn't literal—it's a depiction from someone on the Material Plane flattening the cosmology together with some resulting distortions. That doesn't mean Lamannia or Dolurrh are the only planes that can connect to the Ethereal Plane. To quote Monty Python, "It's only a model." The planes orbit around the Material Plane of Eberron in an orrery model.

There are possible Astral color pools and Ethereal Curtains to the Material Plane and each of the 12 planes (all but Dal Quor) on the Ethereal and Astral Planes as listed in Exploring Eberron.

Personally, I like the map as is. It means all of the teleporting is happening by means of the ethereal plane.

I am curious how much is intentional and how much is accidental from the stylization.

 

[Von Ether]

It's fairly commensurate with any license. DTRPG takes 35% of any sale. So you're paying WotC 15% to play with their IP (albeit in a very restricted manner).

People expectations of what they think they writers get confounds me sometimes. Ordinarily, game designers get a one-time work for hire shot at something, though royalties are becoming thing, they are close to 10% or less.

A novelist gets 15% royalties of which his agent gets a cut. The other 85% goes to the publisher. And that's only after the advance pays out.

A newspaper journalist, sees nada when a newspaper sells a reprint of a story while photographer gets a cut of every photo resold (mostly because the photographer keeps their own negatives.)

Outside of Kindle self-publishing or Patreon, community content is about the best deal a writer can get.