Keith Baker asks about walking away from Eberron.

[Hawk Diesel]

I'm gutted by this, and when the whole OGL debacle came up, literally my first thought was, "Oh no, what's going to happen to Eberron?"

I started playing D&D at the end of 2nd Edition, and I really enjoyed it. 3rd Edition came out, and it was even more fun. But it wasn't until Eberron came out that I truly began to love D&D. It inspired every game I ran, whether it was set in Eberron (most were) or not. There's no setting I'd rather play in, and no creator I so whole-heartedly support as Keith Baker.

I say this so that people know just what a statement it is when I say that I want to see what new thing Keith can create. Eberron will always be there, and I can always adapt what comes next into my own games. But I enjoy Keith's creativity and thoughtfulness too much to have it shackled to the dismal lich WotC has become. I was on board when he created Phoenix: Dawn Command and Gloom, and I'll be on board with whatever he does next.

 

[Shawn Kehoe]

Right here is the problem.

Eberron has a lot of fans. And a lot of people like Keith Baker.

Yet when he developed his own game, it ... well, how many people heard of it? And of those people, how many played it? Honestly, I bet that Phoenix Command (the 1986 RPG) has a much higher name recognition in the community as a whole simply because it's kind of a punchline.

What worries me about this is that we have a lot of people yelling to burn it all down. Well, cool. I think that there is this unstated belief that if we just burn it (D&D) all down, then somehow everyone will start playing all these other games. But ... where is the evidence of that?

TTRPGs has always been a discretionary hobby. Maybe people are happy with it going back to being a much smaller hobby. Maybe this 5e period will be looked back upon like the 1979-84 period. I don't know.

Who knows. Maybe there is a large market out there that just can't wait to play PF2e, and the FiTD games, and all the indie games and one pagers that our hobby has ... and they've just been waiting, pining, for the Death Star of D&D to get destroyed by the Rebellion in order to play! Or maybe not.

If I was Baker, I would release a rules-agnostic setting, or a generic (but D&D compatible) setting that he has control over. But I'm not.

I am the person who has played Phoenix: Dawn Command! Ran one-shots of it at cons 2-3 times. It is brilliant.

 

[ChaosOS]

I think Matt Colville's recent semi-viral threads are pretty applicable here with regards to Eberron. Even if Keith, financially, needs to move on from Eberron - a move everyone here seems to be understanding of - the setting doesn't go away. Quite frankly, Exploring Eberron and Chronicles were huge books and more content would risk infringing on that "goldilocks" zone the setting exists in. The stuff that is undercovered is frankly stuff Keith would need a co-author on; the issues with Xen'drik and the not-Riedra parts of Sarlona desperately need POC authors to help fix. By contrast, home games don't need to worry about these issues, unlike Keith who's got a much greater degree of communal responsibility whenever he publishes stuff. I know I plan to keep publishing Eberron stuff to the dmsguild until I can't, at which point I'll swap to the Fan Content Policy or whatever successor there is, because ultimately this is just a hobby for me.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Man, do the new thing. Wizards or no Wizards. Always do the new thing, it'll be better than the old thing.

I like Eberron a lot, but I agree with this. Eberron is pretty well-covered, across various editions.

Keith is pretty talented, so I'd love to see him do something new.

Honestly my brother and I were discussing how our major sticking point with PF2 was that it was locked to Golarion, in that we'd have to make up our own Ancestries/Heritages/etc. (which is doable but a lot of work, especially to balance) to play it elsewhere, so maybe Keith could look at doing a PF2 setting, or at least a setting which had a PF2 adaption among others.

 

[dave2008]

Level Up isn't 5e, that's the whole point.

LevelUp is 5e, that is its whole point.

 

[Scribe]

LevelUp is 5e, that is its whole point.

No, is an extension. An after market mod. A rewrite.

 

[dave2008]

No, is an extension. An after market mod. A rewrite.

It is still 5e IMO. And that was how development team view it as well. So I will take their belief more than yours.

I mean my home game changes more than LevelUp does and it is still 5e.

 

[Scribe]

It is still 5e IMO. And that was how development team view it as well. So I will take their belief more than yours.

I mean my home game changes more than LevelUp does and it is still 5e.

Yes, then it seems your view is, if it's standing on 5e base, it's 5e.

It's too early for me to dance around definitions.

It clearly is a 3PP which adds complexity. Official 5e, is basic, and people who want that basic experience like it.

Not interested in pedantic "but what is the essence of 5e" debate.

 

[Palladion]

If there was enough time, then there would be no issue continuing to develop Eberron content on DMs Guild, creating new content for our own property, or even developing something else--whether that is using D&D or another game system or even creating a new RPG altogether. However, that time resource is limited.

I have read all the messages in this thread and I feel the overwhelming support and insight. Thank you.

(Note: My opinions are my own and not reflective of Keith Baker, Keith Baker Presents, or Twogether Studios. Foxtrot and interdimensional travel to come...)

 

[DMZ2112]

Honestly my brother and I were discussing how our major sticking point with PF2 was that it was locked to Golarion, in that we'd have to make up our own Ancestries/Heritages/etc. (which is doable but a lot of work, especially to balance) to play it elsewhere, so maybe Keith could look at doing a PF2 setting, or at least a setting which had a PF2 adaption among others.

A second robust Pathfinder setting would be a gift. A bit off topic, but one of the things I enjoy most about PF2 as a player is how it codifies in rules things for which dungeon masters have been relying on fiat for decades. It's neat to see every niggling character design choice carry mechanical weight.

As a dungeon master, game designer, and worldbuilder, it gives me HIVES.

And not those little, itchy, red, rashy things, I mean I erupt in a network of vast, open pustules that are host to a buzzing colony of furious vespids.