It's my own purely personal opinion that WotC was a bit timid in introducing pulpy game mechanics to Eberron. OTOH, a good GM could do quite a bit with Action Points and the proliferation of NPC classes.
So I looked on my shelf and considered some of the stuff there to cannibalize for my upcoming Eberron campaign (I’m taking it over for a friend whose been running one since the game world came out.) I’ll also supply my thoughts on the rules and tweaks I thought about. Mind you, this only covers my meager collection. I don’t have the old Poly Pulp games or Grim Tales. Anyone who has those games are more than welcome to add their suggestions of how those rules can enhance an Eberron game.
I’ll start with the most esoteric first:
Chaositech: Malhovic Press
The Daelkyr of Eberron are mad magitech villains who excel at flesh crafting. The Chaositech book is all about enhancing cultists or offering power hungry PCs with body warping toys that come with a price. As far as I see it, a PC vs. Daelkyr campaign can use this book as is. I’m already waiting to put a cleaver harness on a mind flayer and watch the fun.
Spycraft/SG-1: AEG
Both games have Backgrounds, a mechanic where the player temporary gives up some skill points to commit to a subplot and earn bonus XP when that plot shows up. True, players and GM can do this without a mechanic, but what I like is that if the GM ignores the subplot for three adventures, then the player gets a “cashout” XP bonus. For me, I’d like to think of this as a great way to remind me to attend to subplots and not get them lost in the shuffle. At the subplot’s resolution, the skill points come back.
D20 Adventure!: White-Wolf
With the right group, d20A! is a gold mine of ideas.
· Dramatic Editing: Players (not PCs) use their Action Points to edit the scene or plot. I love the idea, but I was on the fence about it. The “Action Points” in d20 Adventure, called Inspiration, replenish every session. This means the d20! player has about three times more the “Action Points” compared to Eberron. You’d have to increase the costs by about three times to make them less abuseable. In the end, I heard I have at least one rule monger in my upcoming group. So I just decided to have a more informal way of suggesting that players can edit a scene and I’ll just adjudicate on the fly. Better safe than sorry.
· Minion Template: Low level, dumb thugs get a dog pile bonus on PC love it, it’s in.
· Daredevil and Background feats: Have a player who wants his character to always make a dramatic entrance or have a secret HQ? d20A! has nifty feats that add cinematic flair to lower-level games. These should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, but I found at least 15 contenders I’ll consider before I start running in March. Note: These feats are not to be confused with the SG-1/SC Background XP/subplot mechanic. d20! Background feats are more like a feat tree than anything else.
· Sentiment Ape race: Drow in the jungle are overrated. After looking at this racial write up, I knew I had to populate Xen’drik with a colony of talking apes. The question now is how high or low tech should I make them? I’ve already considered making a Dr. Doom for Eberron, can Grogg be far behind?
· Stunts: Cool descripts and actions get a +1 to +3 circumstance bonus. That's something I do anyway, but it's still nice to have in writing.
So I looked on my shelf and considered some of the stuff there to cannibalize for my upcoming Eberron campaign (I’m taking it over for a friend whose been running one since the game world came out.) I’ll also supply my thoughts on the rules and tweaks I thought about. Mind you, this only covers my meager collection. I don’t have the old Poly Pulp games or Grim Tales. Anyone who has those games are more than welcome to add their suggestions of how those rules can enhance an Eberron game.
I’ll start with the most esoteric first:
Chaositech: Malhovic Press
The Daelkyr of Eberron are mad magitech villains who excel at flesh crafting. The Chaositech book is all about enhancing cultists or offering power hungry PCs with body warping toys that come with a price. As far as I see it, a PC vs. Daelkyr campaign can use this book as is. I’m already waiting to put a cleaver harness on a mind flayer and watch the fun.
Spycraft/SG-1: AEG
Both games have Backgrounds, a mechanic where the player temporary gives up some skill points to commit to a subplot and earn bonus XP when that plot shows up. True, players and GM can do this without a mechanic, but what I like is that if the GM ignores the subplot for three adventures, then the player gets a “cashout” XP bonus. For me, I’d like to think of this as a great way to remind me to attend to subplots and not get them lost in the shuffle. At the subplot’s resolution, the skill points come back.
D20 Adventure!: White-Wolf
With the right group, d20A! is a gold mine of ideas.
· Dramatic Editing: Players (not PCs) use their Action Points to edit the scene or plot. I love the idea, but I was on the fence about it. The “Action Points” in d20 Adventure, called Inspiration, replenish every session. This means the d20! player has about three times more the “Action Points” compared to Eberron. You’d have to increase the costs by about three times to make them less abuseable. In the end, I heard I have at least one rule monger in my upcoming group. So I just decided to have a more informal way of suggesting that players can edit a scene and I’ll just adjudicate on the fly. Better safe than sorry.
· Minion Template: Low level, dumb thugs get a dog pile bonus on PC love it, it’s in.
· Daredevil and Background feats: Have a player who wants his character to always make a dramatic entrance or have a secret HQ? d20A! has nifty feats that add cinematic flair to lower-level games. These should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, but I found at least 15 contenders I’ll consider before I start running in March. Note: These feats are not to be confused with the SG-1/SC Background XP/subplot mechanic. d20! Background feats are more like a feat tree than anything else.
· Sentiment Ape race: Drow in the jungle are overrated. After looking at this racial write up, I knew I had to populate Xen’drik with a colony of talking apes. The question now is how high or low tech should I make them? I’ve already considered making a Dr. Doom for Eberron, can Grogg be far behind?
· Stunts: Cool descripts and actions get a +1 to +3 circumstance bonus. That's something I do anyway, but it's still nice to have in writing.
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