Introducing Eberron to Newcomers

[d2OKC]

What I would really like to do is emphasize the kind of Cold War theme, and how there might be a treaty, but that doesn't mean there's peace. Start small in Sharn or Wroat and by the end of the heroic tier have the Last War restarted full-scale again. Then maybe play out the new war for paragon tier, I don't know yet.

Along the way, I want to show them the shifting nature of the alliances between the different nations, and really play up the ambiguous nature of most of the organizations they come in contact with. I will have some safe places for them, and they'll find allies that they can trust along the way.

I want to use some political scheming, but mostly I want the PCs role to be a kind of action-oriented instigator. They are sent on missions by the faux-Boranel and eventually the decisions they make and their successes and failures determine who will be allied with who when the war gets going.

I don't know if any of that makes sense, but I'm still in the very early stages of planning, so... no hurry or anything.

Again, thanks for the help.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Set them up on an airship drop in the middle of a huge battle against Karrnath near the Cyran border on the Day of Mourning. Cap the battle off with a stunning bright white light and a deafinging bang and the Mourning wipes Cyre off the map.

The first (and, unforunately, so far only) Eberron adventure that I've run was similar to this.

I worked up a set of pregen characters. They were, essentially, a squad of Cannith-provided warforged and their human commander / political officer / wizard.* We have a group of 7, so personality-wise, the warforged broke down into:

• A medic (artificer) who was a long-time member of a "Warforged Rights / Emancipation" group.
• A scout who was a recent convert to the "Rights" group, but didn't know the artificer was a member.
• A prototype (barbarian) who was flawed in the head, only really wanting to destroy things.
• An archer, whom I don't remember all that much about, but he was more conservative.
• A hammer-fighter who viewed the warforged's proper place as being instruments of war; he basically considered himself a sentient warhammer.
• A bodyguard (shield-focused fighter) who was 100%, absolutely dedicated to whomever he was assigned to guard (in this case, the political officer).

Essentially, two die-hards on either side of the "warforged issue," and two that could go either way (but were each slightly weighted to one side or the other).

* The wizard was actually a Cleric / Wizard, in service to the (real) Blood of Vol. He'd decided that Cyre was going to lose the war, and wanted to be on the winning side. His direct superior in the Blood was rumored to be leading the incursion into Cyran lands that set off the adventure. Given that the Blood works on a "You die and we all move up in rank" method, he had multiple reasons for pursuing his superior.

The adventure started with a large group of Karrnathi soldiers, under the command of one of their leading generals, breaking through Cyran lines and making a mad dash for some pretty unremarkable hills, where contact (pretty spotty to begin with) was lost.

The party was one of several groups sent out by Cyran High Command to figure out what the hell the Karrnathi troops were doing and where they had disappeared to.

What actually had happened was that an archaeological expedition had uncovered something "big" in those hills, and the Karrnathi soldiers had been sent to capture it. An old, played-out mine had recently been rediscovered, and while poking around in it, a group from Morgrave University had broken through into an old draconic ruin, complete with pieces of the draconic prophecy written on the walls, an orrerry, and a gigantic, half-dragon-looking warforged thing guarding a huge chunk of dragonshard by carrying it around in its chest.

At the end of the adventure, [some of] the party came back above ground juuuuust in time for the Mourning to hit. Rocks fell, everyone died.*

* Except, of course, that not everyone died, and should I ever run another adventure in Eberron, certain NPCs will be making a dramatic comeback.

 

[Xyrlove Woodsoul]

Here's a neat little link; Eberron in Ten Minutes
Eberron in Ten Minutes

 

[d2OKC]

Awesome! Won't be able to watch that til I get home, but that seems like exactly the kind of thing I was looking for! Thanks a ton!