How to add more Pulp - or more Fantasy - to Eberron

[Von Ether]

I was just thinking about the elemental air ships and something occured to me.

It seems the default atmosphere for the air ships is the Sailing Age, or at least the Age of Pirates. But really, how much would it take to retool the airships so they are slower and carry more cargo -- like a zepplin -- and then whip up a few personal flying machines and then you have "Sky Pirates!" for a more pulpy feel.

Anyone else notice some places where you could tweak the setting one way for more fantasy tropes and another way for more pulp?

And honestly, doesn't a mad Artificer fit in both styles of Eberron?

 

[Von Ether]

bump

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Lemme bump this for you...

 

[JPL]

Well, since I'm Pulpy McPulperson...

I was thinking about riffing off of some famous pulp characters for inspiration.

The Shadow...a stealthy, mysterious kinda guy in a swirling black cloak...a rogue/psion, or maybe a shadowdancer? Maybe he's from a wealthy family, and is concealing that fact for reasons unknown?

The Phantom...the idea of a legacy hero is very appropriate and very interesting. A hero whose family took up the fight against [evil in general? Evil in a specific region? A specific foe?] centuries ago. He's been trained since birth to follow in the family tradition. For a more literal translation, make him a ranger. It would be cool to link this family tradition to a specific prestige class...maybe a weird magic tradition not found anywhere else in Eberron.

Doc Savage...Doc does not lend himself well to RPG translations [too good at everything], but he certainly embodies the paladin spirit. A paladin/artificer would capture a good part of the character's abilities...morally upright and prepared for every situation. Or...what about making him a half bronze dragon? And he could be someone who people have heard about...someone people go to for help. If you wanted to run a high-level pulp Eberron, Doc is good inspiration.

Indiana Jones...this one's easy. Bard / Extreme Explorer. And pick up some Lasher levels, too. With the Education feat, you could easily do a whole team of "university researchers" with various classes.

Sidekicks and henchmen are a part of the pulp genre. If the players are hip to the idea, make one guy the frontman and the others his "crew."

 

[JPL]

Also...you could adopt the pulp convention [which reached its full flowering in comics] that the hero is based in a particular city...and is the ONLY hero in the city [although he will certainly have a network of allies, or sidekicks].

Victorian London had Holmes. NYC had the Shadow. Gotham had Batman.

The City Watch can take care of routine stuff, sure...but when there are threats too powerful or too weird for them, thank the gods that the city has a protector.

For a more noir twist on things...urban based adventures with various factions of the Man on one side [perhaps merciless, perhaps corrupt, perhaps incompetent, perhaps some combination] and various factions of the Underworld on the other [from mere pickpockets up to organized crime] and the PCs in the middle.

 

[Jamdin]

Have Dick Tracy as a detective working for the City Watch.

 

[Stormborn]

I was just thinking about the elemental air ships and something occured to me.

It seems the default atmosphere for the air ships is the Sailing Age, or at least the Age of Pirates. But really, how much would it take to retool the airships so they are slower and carry more cargo -- like a zepplin -- and then whip up a few personal flying machines and then you have "Sky Pirates!" for a more pulpy feel.

Anyone else notice some places where you could tweak the setting one way for more fantasy tropes and another way for more pulp?

And honestly, doesn't a mad Artificer fit in both styles of Eberron?

The airship that would become the USS Los Angles flew 5000 miles in 82.5 hours across the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage to the US in 1924, roughly 60 MPH. The listed airspeed inthe book for an airship is about 20 MPH. So don't slow them down any.

Instead invision smaller soarwoood ships built by a rogue member of the house Lyrander. Two man fighters powered by lightning paraelementals and armed with bombs of alchemist fire and a fring platform for a sorcerer, wizard, or wand equipped rogue. Swarms of these small ships would drop from a massive flying fortress on unsuspecting ships and lightning rails, spreading terror in the name of the League of Thunder. Who can stop these horrors?

An Extraordinary Alliance! The Great Inquisitor of Sharn calls in allies he has met in his travels to stop the League. Banding together lest the League of Thunder's actions restart the last war the Great Inquisitor is joined by a dashing airship captain and an Heir of Sybris of the House Lyander, a mad gnome artificer and his seemingly home built Warforged companion, an extreme explorer who teaches ar Margrave in his spare time, and a wild Weretouched Master. Together they might just save the world, if their bickering and backstabbing doesn't kill them first.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

5 Special young children from across Khorvaire are equiped with five magic rings, 4 of which are bonded to the elments. Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, the 5th linked to empathy and charming (psionics?).

These special kids are given the task of traveling Khorvaire and stopping various enviormental disasters!

 

[Robbert Raets]

5 Special young children from across Khorvaire are equiped with five magic rings, 4 of which are bonded to the elments. Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, the 5th linked to empathy and charming (psionics?).

These special kids are given the task of traveling Khorvaire and stopping various enviormental disasters!

You die now.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

you gotta admit, it is funny/pulpy.