Is Eberron a dead world yet?

[Kaodi]

It's OK Ari, the true believers appreciate your contribution to Faiths of Eberron, .

 

[Mouseferatu]

It's OK Ari, the true believers appreciate your contribution to Faiths of Eberron, .

I appreciate that. And honestly, in terms of Eberron work, I think the work I did for Forge of War is a lot better.

Thing is, it's not that I object to some people not liking Eberron. I can certainly see that it's not for everyone. But jumping into a thread talking about where the setting currently stands, purely to post what basically amounts to "It sucked from the get-go," is both mean-spirited and utterly useless.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Ah, but are RPG sales down more than they were in 1996? I recall many folks thinking that the end was nigh for RPGs as TSR was curling up and dying. Things don't seem as bad now as they did then, but that's just anecdotal, I suppose.

And Eberron isn't dead, even if you use a loose definition of "dead" as "no longer being actively supported" (dead to me is "no longer has an active player base" -- there are very, very few games out there that can truly be called "dead" in my mind). Eberron is about as actively supported as the Forgotten Realms at this point. It has an active player base, Wizards are putting out adventures set specifically in Eberron as well as sourcebooks, there is still an active line of novels coming out for it -- nothing about this says "dead" to me.

Heh, I don't think that RPGs are dead or dying either. RPGs may remain a niche, but extinction is not yet on the schedule.

I was simply pointing out that there is more evidence of general extinction than of the demise of Eberron. Heck, Eberron is the first 'official' D&D world that has held my interest in a long time, largely because it does avoid some of the common tropes. (The last official world to hold my interest was Birthright.)

I tend to go with a definition of 'no longer actively supported by the publisher or third party material' - there are some games that see play that have been out of print for decades. (I originally had 'no longer actively supported by the publisher', but third party support seems to be doing a good job of keeping D20 Modern alive, so....) A whiles back I ran a game of Amazing Engine: Tabloid, a game which died almost aborning.

I appreciate that. And honestly, in terms of Eberron work, I think the work I did for Forge of War is a lot better.

Thing is, it's not that I object to some people not liking Eberron. I can certainly see that it's not for everyone. But jumping into a thread talking about where the setting currently stands, purely to post what basically amounts to "It sucked from the get-go," is both mean-spirited and utterly useless.

Well, it isn't a direct Tolkien ripoff, so it has to suck, doesn't it?
(The above comment is made in jest.)

The Auld Grump

 

[Nightfall]

Aah, you mean like 3e. So much hysteria to such little effect.

That's one way of looking at it yes.

Ari,

If you say Forge of War is good, I might actually rescind my previous view on the matter. Even though I'm still not getting any drow. But no threadcrapping on Eberron. I'll save threadcrapping for Rose Estes.

 

[Glyfair]

Sorry to sound Trolly, but I'm not.

The reason you sound "trolly" is because you make general statements with very litte to backup or discuss directly. For example, "I just dont' see it surviving much longer with what's happening in gaming today..." What's that supposed to mean? That roleplaying seems to be on a downturn? Then you could apply that to every published RPG world, why single out Eberron?

Does it seem like something that they could better support when 4E does come out?

Unlikely, it is probably one of the two best supported RPG settings today. I'd say it's very unlikely to increase past that.

I know Keith has been dropping hints about an Eberron product that Nick Logue (of "Chimes of Midnight" fame) and he are working on together.

 

[Mouseferatu]

If you say Forge of War is good...

Well, I'm not likely to claim a book I worked on sucks, am I? I mean, I try to be honest with my assessment of my own work, but let's not go nuts.

Seriously, though, I'm really quite happy with what I did for FoW. Not sure what youre previous assessment was, or why it needs changing, but there it is, for whatever it's worth.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Does it seem like something that they could better support when 4E does come out? I'm speculating that they may look for yet another world..or perhaps an evolution into player designed worlds such as is happening online.

The thing about online player-designed worlds is... hardly anyone other than the person who posts them is playing in them. At best, other people are stealing some ideas from them.

Usually, gaming groups are either using commercially published worlds, or worlds their game master developed on his own - not third-party player-created worlds on the web.

Sad, but true.

And maybe they are considering publishing another world when - if - 4E rolls around. But that doesn't mean they will dump Eberron - it's simply too popular for that.

 

[Glyfair]

I appreciate that. And honestly, in terms of Eberron work, I think the work I did for Forge of War is a lot better.

I'm glad to hear it. I'm lukewarm about the project myself. The concept is good, but I think other subjects should have been covered first (like the rest of the main continent).

The author's are strong. I respect your work. James is one of the two main designers of the world. I have strong respect for Wolfgang (even having joined all of his patron projects to date), but he doesn't really seem to "get" Eberron*. Still, his weak points aren't things very likely to be the focus of this book.

*He seems to think that Eberron is a steampunk, clockwork oriented world. It's really a step away from that. You can move it in that direction with little effort, but Eberron is about magic, not technology.

He also has been critical of Eberron for not being more focused. He seems to want a two dimensional catchphase that defines the setting, and everything in the world to revolve around that ("Evil has won, and good has no chance," or "sail between the worlds in magic ships").

 

[Brennin Magalus]

Em,

You must be bored to be pulling the Eberronites leg so badly. I mean this is worse than someone going around saying Scarred Lands is dead!

(It's not!)

Right. It's not dead; it's mostly dead (like "he who abides"). No looting for coins yet!

 

[Mouseferatu]

While Wolfgang is certainly more than capable of defending his own work and explaining his own viewpoints, I will say that what I saw of his work on FoW certainly did not suggest, to me, that he had any problem at all "getting" Eberron. I'd say, in fact, that the sections he worked on are all the better precisely because they played to his strengths, and I'm quite happy with what I read of them, not just as a co-writer but as a fan of the setting.