Please tell me about Midnight and Eberron!

[Rich Stokes]

Hello guys!

I've been hearing a lot of good things said about these two settings lately. I don't really know much about them. Please tell me what it is which is so cool about them as settings, what works well in them, what the feel is, that type of thing.

What I know about Eberron is that it has those cool looking Warforged dudes in it. Although I don't know exactly what they are apart from magic cyborgs of some kind. Apparently it has a very "pulpy" feel to it as well, although people's definitions of what that means vary a lot. Although halfling gangsters riding dinosaurs is mentioned a lot.

What I know about Midnight is, er, nothing at all actually.

School me!

 

[Shadeydm]

If you are familiar with The Lord of the Rings then Midnight is pretty easy to sum up. Imagine if Sauron won the War of the Ring and in the process Aragorn, Gandalf, Smaug, and Elrond all joined him in conquest of Middle Earth.

 

[The Lost Muse]

If you are familiar with The Lord of the Rings then Midnight is pretty easy to sum up. Imagine if Sauron won the War of the Ring and in the process Aragorn, Gandalf, Smaug, and Elrond all joined him in conquest of Middle Earth.

Not to be overly nitpicky - but Smaug was already dead (during the events at the end of the Hobbit). Gandalf may have removed his ring before Sauron was able to control him, and Aragorn would have gone down fighting. I think Elrond had a ring as well, but can't remember off the top of my head.

Eberron, in addition to the warforged, and the pulpy feel the original poster mentioned, is one of my favourite settings for a couple of reasons:

1) New spins on the traditional D&D races - I especially like the makeover that the Gnomes got. No longer the clumsy bumbling inventors, now the gnomes are master conspiracy theorists.

2) Dragonmarks - sure, not many players actually take one, but the dragonmarks are neat little magical "birthmarks" that some people in the setting have, and they have used these abilities to drive the economy.

3) The effects of a society where low-level magic is widely available are logically thought out. Cities are lit by continual flame at night. For those who can afford it, House Cannith can provide magical items of all kinds.

4) Not a lot of high level NPC's - by the time you reach level 5, you're well on your way to becoming one of the elite on Khorvaire. If you live to level 10, there is very little that is stronger than you are. (Although, there are 2-3 beings capable of casting True Resurrection: an awakened oak tree, a 9 year old cleric, and possibly one I am missing.

 

[wolff96]

As Shadeydm says, Midnight is easy. It's a very bleak world where an evil god was cast down to the planet, launched a series of wars as he regained strength, and eventually conquered the world. It's Lord of the Rings after Sauron won. The PCs can fight against his servants, but it's not really possible to defeat the god. It has some really interesting ideas on magic and each PC gets a heroic path -- free powers that they gain by levelling up. If you're familiar at all with Warhammer... Midnight is Warhammer without the humor -- just the bleakness left behind. It's the only game I've ever seen where PCs stole dead orc shoes... because leather can be boiled and eaten.

Eberron is kind of the Indiana Jones version of D&D -- it has that pulp feel. There was a huge war that broke up the old empire. After 100 years of conflict, that war was ended by a huge cataclysm that completely destroyed one of the countries (Barren magical wasteland left behind.) There are airships and trains -- powered by bound elementals -- and planar mechanics are more important than normal to the setting. Warforged are constructs with an actual soul that were emancipated during the Treaty that ended the war. (And it's illegal to make more of them.)

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Shadeydm captured the essence of Midnight. I'm sure others will chime in about Eberron. Here's my take on the two from a "enough about the reading, do the games play well?" perspective.


Midnight - hard to create adventures for and run as the PCs advance in level. The designers have noted that while it may be harder, you get back what you put into it. I'm inclined to agree. In Midnight, you aren't fighting evil to defeat evil, you're fighting evil just to survive. Some settings try to scare you, in Midnight, the players start out scared. ("you mean I'm NEVER going to get a +1 sword? And I still have to fight monsters!?!?!")

Recommendations: This game might be best used with the Iron Heroes rules which assume a low magic setting. Also, the designers' standpoint seems to be that evil has won and not won for now. That's a little too grim for my tastes and if it were me, I'd leave that option open.
Support: http://www.againsttheshadow.org/


Eberron - this was designed around the 3.5 rules and I feel that's a huge strength. Action points tilts balance in the PCs favor so they're more inclined to attempt crazy stunts. Also, this is backed by WotC there's a metric ton of other people playing the setting and plenty of adventures floating around in past issues of Dungeon and on the internet. Eberron begs for pulp action and draws inspiration from heroes of yesteryear like Doc Savage and the Shadow. If you want to play an Indiana Jones game, but in a swords & sorcery world, Eberron is the way to go.

Recommendations: I know I'm going to get criticized for pointing you to Iron Heroes twice here, but for Eberron you should at least read this page on action zones before running an Eberron game. I'd also advise using the Unearthed Arcana option of defense bonus for Armor Class . Finally, I'd give everyone a free skill point every level for a Profession, Craft, or Knowledge skill and an additional free skill point per level to be used for Jump, Climb, Rope Use, or Swim. You want to encourage action and lots of it.
Support: http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=502

Happy gaming!

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Midnight is a deadly setting and really takes a different mindset from the players, one that I have found some people do not enjoy: hiding and running away to avoid encounters is often the preferable course. PCs, especially at low levels, should not expect to be able to just walk around and fight whatever the DM sends at them. Fights are deadly, healing is almost non-existent and the PCs are not the toughest things around. In addition the fact that just carrying weapons can get you in trouble and you can't trust that the NPCs you are dealing with won't turn you in makes the game very hard for many players.

 

[Kaodi]

Sounds like a case for a monk if I ever heard one. You are your own best weapon, and you run a hell of a lot faster than anything else, hehehe...

 

[Midknightsun]

Midnight is a pretty awesome setting IMO, but does definitely take a different mindset to get into. Magic is rare and likely to get you hunted if you have some. Doesn't mean there is NO magic or spellcasters, just means that your life is going to be a little more miserable than the baseline. And as a baseline, imagine being a halfling slave to the occupying orc hordes and wondering each day if you're going to be worked to near death, or made into the evening cuisine. Although that's more of what the common folk deal with. Midnight characters are tougher than in your standard campaign, but then again they need to be. And its not that your characters can't be heroic, its just that heroism takes on a different meaning . . . still, its not some people's cup o' tea, since the assumption truly is that you can't really win, just hold back the darkness a little longer.

Eberron has a lot of potential and has a plethora of countries and continents that can fill almost any style of adventuring. It also goes about magic in a pretty reasonable way. That is, low level magic is pretty common and worked into many societies. It encourages a energized and action oriented style that can keep your people interested and also offers plenty of intrigue. I like it, and honestly I was pretty skeptical until a bought the book myself and looked through it. Of course, I still think warforged are a bit on the too strong side (Though still a neat idea), but that's another issue.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Sounds like a case for a monk if I ever heard one. You are your own best weapon, and you run a hell of a lot faster than anything else, hehehe...

The standard Monk is not available in Midnight. The equivalent is the Defender.

In Midnight the only standard classes available are the non-magical ones... Fighter, Barbarian, and Rogue. Most of the other classes have been replaced with non-magical Midnight classes (Wildlander, Channeller, and Defender). Personally I prefer some of the new classes to the old ones. Druids and Wizards are PrCs for the Channeller class though ANY class can gain the ability to cast spells with the proper feat selection.

Regarding magic... the only magic that can be tracked by the agents of Izrador is magic from an external source such as magic cast by Channellers, Wizards, and the like. Innate magic such as that gained as spell like abilities from your race or Heroic Path originates from within and thus is not subject to be tracked by Astriax trackers.

Midnight is a great setting if your group likes the idea of fighting a guerrilla/intelligence war against a superior foe. You won't live long if you attack the main enemy forces but you can do your part by attacking slave and supply caravans among other things.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Also, the designers' standpoint seems to be that evil has won and not won for now. That's a little too grim for my tastes and if it were me, I'd leave that option open.

I agree though it is up to each DM to take the setting and make it into what they want.

I once entertained the idea that Cthulhu was sleeping in the middle of the Sea of Peluria and that a group of freedom fighters had the crazy idea that rousing Cthulhu from his slumber might be the best way to attempt to defeat Izrador and his minions. Midnight is often about moral choices... not good vs. evil but about the lesser of two evils. The party would have to decide if they would assist the cultists in waking Cthulhu or attempt to stop them before a potentially even more deadly entity walked the land.