Races of Eberron Cover Art and Petition

[DanielJ]

i may like the old cover back but ultimatly i care about whats inside of it and aslong as it expands on the information i already have in my eberron books i'm happy. and will buy the book as will i with every other eberron product, the pure thought of boycotting a book cuase of its cover is utterly absurd and immature and purely fanatical and stupid.

my 2 cents

 

[Kast]

It's a Races of product line. I don't really understand why there's all this hub-bub. One of the authors has even stated that it was always a Races of book from it's inception. Perhaps if there wasn't a Races of line, there might never have even been a Races of Eberron - at least any time soon. How long did Races of Faerun take to come out after the FRCS was issued?

 

[DanielJ]

almost 2 years if i remember correctly

 

[atom crash]

It's a Races of product line. I don't really understand why there's all this hub-bub. One of the authors has even stated that it was always a Races of book from it's inception.

If this book has been a "Races of" book since its inception, why was there even an Eberron-style cover mocked up to start this whole hullabaloo?

 

[Davelozzi]

If this book has been a "Races of" book since its inception, why was there even an Eberron-style cover mocked up to start this whole hullabaloo?

Agreed, the folks at Wizards might have been considering this a "Races of" book internally all along, but that's not how it was presented in the product listing. At any rate, James Wyatt gave a good summary of it on the WotC boards and it sounds like a pretty good book. Here's what he had to say

In the end, I suspect that we are facing a last minute marketing strategy change problem. RoE has always been announced as an "Eberron" book, just look WotC products list for 2005... Now it seems that for some reason, Wizards' marketing department is trying to make it look more generic.

This was not a last-minute change. The book was concepted from the beginning as falling in the core "Races of" line, while also serving as an excellent resource for Eberron players. With the PDF of the final book in front of me, let me give you some idea of the impact of this decision on you, our loyal Eberron fans:

Each race has a sidebar called "[race] in D&D" that addresses how to use the new Eberron races in non-Eberron campaigns. Those sidebars run about a quarter of a page, so you've "lost" one page... if you think that interesting new ideas about the role these races might play in a world is useless to you.

Each race does include the mechanics reproduced from the ECS. That's about a half a page per race, and it's hard to argue that you might not have a lot of use for those 2 pages. Except for the new shifter traits.

None of the racial prestige classes from the ECS are reprinted in this book. The key warforged and shifter feats are repeated, but not all of them. Instead, there are eight all-new prestige classes (2 for each race), and lots of new feats.

I guess the real question, then, is whether or not it will include info on other races besides the Eberron 4.

Chapter Five: Other Races devotes 32 pages to dwarves, elves (Aerenal, Khorvaire, Valenar, and drow), gnomes, goblinoids, half-elves, half-orcs, halflings (Khorvaire and Talenta), the Inspired, and orcs, and the feats chapter includes several feats specific to those races.

Maybe the first Eberron books didn't sell well enough, and they hope this could bring more people to the setting.

We have no reason to be disappointed with the sales of Eberron. It's certainly true that by branding this a core D&D book, we're hoping to sell copies to people who haven't invested in Eberron as well as all you guys.

What else can I say? I'm sorry you guys don't like the look of the cover art. But if it's any consolation, you do get the two-page Wayne Reynolds panorama inside, just like in an Eberron book.

Hope this helps assuage some fears.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Do you mean the racial statistics? If so, sure, but that's four pages of material, and is the key that makes the book useful to someone who only has the core books. If not, what reprinted material are you refering to?

That's great for people who don't have the ECSB, but for me it's the same as the book having four blank pages. I'm not just picking on Races of Eberron, I don't buy any RPG product with material reprinted from sources I already own, at full price. I haven't bought any of the "Complete" series books until they were marked down. I plan on getting the book, but not until I can get it at a bargain price.

Like the old NBC commercial said - I you haven't seen it, it's new to you. But for me It's still a rerun.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I don't run an Eberron campaign, but that doesn't mean I'm not a fan of the setting. Eberron comes really close (in ideas anyway) to how my homebrew looks and feels. I use a good portion of the races, classes, feats and spells in my homebrew as well as mirroring the tecnological and savage feel of the setting. I bought the Eberron CS not to run it, but to adapt what was in it for my homebrew. I intend to do the same with Races of Eberron and the Explorer's Handbook. I don't really care what the cover looks like. However, I am interested in what it looked like before, so if someone has the image of the original cover, I'd appreciate it if they could upload it. Thanks

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

It's on the Breland Register page, linked in the first post. It's basically like the ECS cover.

 

[Henry]

What else can I say? I'm sorry you guys don't like the look of the cover art. But if it's any consolation, you do get the two-page Wayne Reynolds panorama inside, just like in an Eberron book.

Sold!

 

[Davelozzi]

That's great for people who don't have the ECSB, but for me it's the same as the book having four blank pages.

Not for me. I agree that the amount of rehashed material in the Complete series is preposterous, but this example is fine. Just four pages, and it makes the book much easier to use. Flipping back and forth between two books is a pain in the rear. And now, if I was starting an Eberron campaign, I could lend Races out to players trying to come up with character ideas, and not have to be without all the campaign info myself.