Sell me on Eberron

[shilsen]

Oh, and check out Keith Baker's site www.bossythecow.com for more eberron goodness.

Good suggestion. Keith Baker's continuing presence on the WotC boards and all of the ideas, help and free goodies that he's constantly handing out for Eberron fans is one of the things that helps make the setting great for me.

And Sharn:City of Towers has the world's best baker, a female elf Commoner 17!

Baker? Maza Thadian is a chef!

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Long-distance travel and communication are much less of a problem than in other settings. That allows you to have country-spanning plots and adventures even at lower levels - thing of the scene and location shifts in James Bond and Indiana Jones movies, and you are not far off.

 

[Klaus]

And another thing to remember is that the Lightning Rail and the Airships, while fast for fantasy standards, are nowhere near the speed of a modern train or airplane. The Lightning Rail tops at 30 mph, IIRC.

 

[Glyfair]

In fact, they managed to make a land grab in the middle of the Last War and founded their own country, whom they named after their culture: Valenar.

Note that the Valenar have a claim to the land, with the Aerenal elves (presumbably Valenar ancestors) having settled the area in -10,000 YK (and later abandoning it).

 

[bento]

Some other cool ideas from Eberron:

Major evil groups that pull strings here and there:
* Blood of the Vol - loose ties with Karnath who have a crazy idea about undeath
* Lords of the Dust - a group of ancient Rakshasas trying to bring more chaos and evil back to Khovaire
* Cults of the Dragon Below - crazed worshipers of the darkness trying to bring madness to Khovaire
* The Aurum - a group of rich and powerful trying to line their pockets with even more money and power
* The Boromar Clan - a halfling mafia family based in Sharn. They don't have to bend down to break kneecaps.

The drow don't live underground, but instead hail from the continent of Xendrix.
A prophecy for the world that is guided into being from the dragons of Argonnessen and their agents.
Crystals (shards) that power much of the magic in the world, and the big business in harvesting them.
Sarlona is a continent where psionics are prominent.

If you're going to run the game, I'd suggest getting the Campaign Setting and the Player's Guide. You'll not want to hand over the Setting because there's too many cool secrets that the players aren't ready to see. Instead the Player's Guide gives them an idea of the kinds of characters "resonate" in the setting, and has chapters on each of the important groups, places and things in the setting. You will want to provide your players with copies of chapters 1 - 6 of the Campaign Setting as it has Races, Classes and other development info.

Unless you're going to run some adventures in Sharn, you might want to hold off, because that's a campaign setting in itself almost.

As for the robot slam that people talk about the Warforged, I think of them as the tinsman, who's looking for a heart. Not so much robot-y as they have a disconnect with emotions and their place in the world.

 

[Hammerhead]

Also, please note that it's easy to take out the warforged. While I love Eberron, I hate those metal fools with a passion. For both their fluff and their mechanics. (Also, IME, people play them as robots, not "tin men looking for a heart.")

 

[Plane Sailing]

Many cool things about Eberron already mentioned. Here's another one that I like:

The planes are an Orerry, moving into and out of alignment.

All the dead people go to Dolurrh, a place of hopelessness, eternal despair, and consuming apathy, Dolurrh is the realm where mortal souls go after death. Thing is, they only stick around there for a while (a few weeks? I forget the details), then they pass on to whatever lies beyond, and can never return.

So all those heroes who died in the last war? They stay dead, they aren't coming back.

Plus, nobody *really* knows what happens to people when they die. Nobody can be raised from the dead and say 'Hey, those elisian fields were great, I want to go back there' - i.e. the impetus for everyone is to make the best of this life right now.

 

[Spatula]

One thing that I feel is unique to Eberron that no one has mentioned yet is the alignment system. It's a much "softer" system than that standard D&D system. There is no assumed alignment for any monsters. You could have a LG red dragon and a CE silver.

That's actually part of standard 3E D&D.

 

[brehobit]

On the book thing...

I think Races of Eberron is a must-have. Some character ideas, like a Talenta halfling, are really hard to pull off without feats and stuff from this book. The "Talenta Warrior" feat helps make a halfling dino rider fairly powerful without being way overkill. Same with some of the other feats.

Mark

 

[Glyfair]

That's actually part of standard 3E D&D.

It is, but not to the same level. Assumed alignments are a lot grayer in Eberron for the most part.

Dragons are a great example. A Red Dragon in standard D&D might not be CE, but will be most of the time. In Eberron dragon alignments are almost as random as human alignments. A Red Dragon is as likely to be CE as LG as CG as N.