Forgotten Realms VS. Eberron. Which should I run?

[Gundark]

I run 2 DnD games. One is the Iron Kingdoms, which I enjoy and is quite and unique and interesting world. The other is Forgotten Realms which I run when I feel the need for "standard fantasy". Lately I've been looking at Eberron and wondering if it should replace FR.The pros of FR is that I know the world, the history, religions, orgnaizations, and I like the world. The cons is that sometimes it feels a bit bland. I don't know much about Eberron, but the stuff that is coming out for it looks very interesting. I was wanting to know about the pros and cons of the Eberron seting, and how it stacks up to FR.

 

[Desdichado]

It's fairly traditional in terms of technology, but a bit more radical in terms of the practical uses of magic and the sociology.

I like Eberron a lot. It's like standard D&D to keep it familiar, but with just a twist of something else to keep it fresh. It's not too hard to learn the setting; what's available so far, anyway, since there's just the main book, the Sharn book and the adventures in print at this point. Novels always help, and I think the first one (authored by Keith Baker) is available sometime this month.

 

[Henry]

I would go to www.wizards.com/eberron and read Keith Baker's Dragonshard articles, to get a glimpse of what the world is like. It will leave you with some questions and holes in your knowledge that only the Eberron Core book can fill in, but it may whet your appetite and see if you want more or not.

The things I like about Eberron:

--Low level good NPCs, mid to high level Neutral NPCs, some high-level evil NPCs in the default world, so that the PCs are often the only ones who can possibly do something about a catastrophic action.

--Many slight mechanics changes and conceits to make the world a more pulp/noir place, e.g. full functional evil clerics of good causes, a recent catastrophic war that the world is JUST healing from, a couple of metropolis cities ripe for urban intrigue, but plenty of untamed wildlands and ruined areas

-- not one but TWO nations of "monsters"

--plenty of environments for pirate games, lost world games, "playing the enemy/underdog" games, apocalyptic landscape games, etc.

--few to no real-world analogues for cultures, religions, etc.


What I like about the Realms:

--The tolkienistic heroism elements in the background

--The clash of medieval european, asiatic, egyptian, etc. cultures

--The ancient pockets of evil and godlike magic waiting to be encountered

--The absolutely prevailing years of history that are available for this setting.

Take your pick, but I would definitely go wander WotC's Eberron boards before I took the plunge. It will either get you going, or turn you off, and you'll make up your mind cleanly.

 

[ZSutherland]

My group and I ran FR for some time, but we're going to run Eberron next and we're all very excited about it. I think it has the following advantages over FR.

1) The Artificer and Magewright classes, Dragonmarked Houses, and world's history combine to allow magic to be a very pervasive element of the world without requiring Elminster like NPCs. As Henry said, there are very few high level NPCs. When your PCs reach 10th+ level their really in a very elite class, ready to tackle major world problems and feel important.

2) While I enjoy the expansive pantheons of FR, I think I prefer the smaller pantheon of Eberron, especially since the gods are so inactive in the world. No one can be absolutely certain they even exist. In the same vein, I like that clerics are not alignment restricted, so you can't simply trust that a cleric of diety X is good. It allows for stories involving corruption in religion, etc. Finally, I really like that the book suggests that most of the clergy are experts, commoners and the occassional adept. Clerics are champions of their religion and don't sit around handing out healing magic like some sort of divine merchant.

3) With FR, I always felt like I could only focus on one section of it at a time. It's so large and diverse, with so many important and powerful NPCs that any attempt to weave it together seemed futile. With Eberron, it seems that would be possible, which I feel suggests a more well thought out world.

Good luck,
Z

 

[Pseudonym]

I'm beginning an Eberron campaign in February. After well over a decade in the Realms, I like the fact that my group will be heading into the unknown. I'm looking forward to the process of discovery as I reveal more and more of the meat of the campaign setting as time goes by, rather than having a table full of people who can quote the grey box as if it were holy catechism.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

The easy answer is to run what your players want, but in my experience, they may tend to choose what they know, and that may not always be the decision that leads to the most fun.

I'd suggest Eberron for many of the reasons already voiced above.

FR is almost too familiar sometimes, but here in it's infancy, you can really make Eberron your own, instead of dealing with a lot of assumed knowledge that your players might have that you don't necessarily want their characters to know.

One of the things I like most about IK is also true in Eberron - There seem to be more plausable explanations for the existance and application of magic. No setting is perfect in this respect, but FR is such a hodgepodge of history and the legacy of dozens and dozens of different writers, that it seems really convoluted.

 

[IronWolf]

I prefer the Forgotten Realms. I am just having a hard time getting my head around Warforged, trains and such. I just prefer my fantasy a little more like the Realmsian world. Of course even with that said you should certainly take a look at the Wizards site with the Eberron material and make your own decision. The things I don't like may be things you think are great. There are certainly a number of people having a great time in the new setting.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Eberron!

Eberron!

Eberron!

 

[Brennin Magalus]

Eberron, yes; Forgettable Realms, no.

 

[Psion]

FR bashers will come and say Eberron

FR fans will say FR.


As for me:

I don't know about how you are, but I often have a hard time shifting gears. And once you shift, you may have a hard time shifting back. I'd ask yourself: have all the ideas about FR you consider interesting been explored in your game that you couldn't do in Eberron? If so, maybe time to try something new and move on to Eberron. But if you are the sort for whom your familiarity and knowledge is a wellspring of ideas, you may have difficulty getting there with Eberron again.