So I had a TPK-- help me reboot.

[Wulf Ratbane]

The Lost City of Barakus killed the entire party. They were 3rd level.

I'm looking to reboot now and need advice.

Me and the players think Eberron might be cool-- but I don't have an Eberron adventure handy. I would also need some kind of Eberron primer to get my players-- who are D&D newbies, for the most part-- the kind of historical backing on Eberron they might need.

Anybody have anything like that?

I have to run tonight, so I'm not comfortable either buying, prepping, or running an Eberron-style adventure on such short notice. I'd need to keep things fairly dungeon-crawly at least in the short term.

So, now for my options.

#1. Just keep going with Barakus, standard D&D. Quick and easy. But I think everyone might want a bit of a change.

#2. Keep going with Barakus, but using Eberron. Any suggestions on placing Barakus in Eberron, both historically, geographically, and most importantly, thematically?

#3. This one's maybe a bit odd-- go with the Banewarrens, probably set in Xendrik or perhaps better yet, Sharn. (The advantage here is that I am at least familiar with this adventure.) But for this I'd need to get the players grounded in Eberron, and over to Xendrik, and either level them up in the course of the journey or just let them start at 6th level.

Any advice?

Wulf

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

You could run the adventure in the back of the Eberron CSB. That seems like it would be a nice one-evening adventure that sets up Eberron nicely and also buys you time to prep further for the next session... Whether that means buying some of the Eberron adventures out there, or going with options #2 or #3.

 

[Piratecat]

Dang! I hope they went out with style.

I really like Eberron, but I've heard that the adventures are iffy for it. I'd hesitate to keep using Barakus in Eberron... if your players want a change, that's not really the way to give it to them.

How about this? Can you convert one of the classic 1e modules on the fly? If you say "we're in Eberron" but start them out at the Keep on the Borderlands, stuck somewhere out in the mountains, that can buy you some time before they learn about all the cool things in that setting.

 

[diaglo]

advice... don't level them up. that is taking the fun out of playing the levels they missed as n00bs.

dig out an old spelljammer adventure/dragonlance/planescape one. where a spaceship crashes or abducts/ or portal opens beneath the pcs. port them over to sharn that way. they can learn new classes and features of eberron once they see them in action by npcs. that way they stay with the familiar phb version of classes at first but can grow with the setting.

first adventures will be learning new languages and rites/customs of sharn.

the eberron book maybe all you need.

 

[Henry]

Could you give a couple of sentences of description on Barakus? I'm unfamilair with it, but MUCH more familiar with Eberron.

My advice, if you are running tonight, is go back to Barakus - no sense drawing a mediocre session on short notice than a good session with a few days' planning.

If you ARE game, I'd run Forgotten Forge straight from the back of the Eberron book. Change a few details so that if any of the players have already read it, they can't subconsciously metagame it. Plus, Forgotten Forge is short and can be completed in a single night. It's a pretty good adventure to give a splash of feel for Eberron.

Alternately, Wulf, send me an e-mail. henrythelesser AT yahoo DOT com. I may have something I demo'ed you might could use, complete with pre-gens.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Hmm... personally, I'd say make some copies of important sections of the Eberron book (feats, new classes, religions, and dragonmarks) and have an info session where you all just spend time talking about the setting, making characters, and having fun. I wouldn't run the campaign just to run something.

There are some very cool "little things" in Eberron with which they might very well want to be involved. They could wind up discovering something in the setting they really like, but since they didn't have time to familiarize themselves they designed a character that either can't take advantage of that aspect or is not built for that aspect. Break out the chips and drinks and put in LotR and just have a night of hanging out, learning about the new setting, and making characters.

Next week you can run something (maybe the one from the back of the book or even a published Eberron adventure).

Peace...

 

[XCorvis]

Personally, I'd just run a one-shot game tonight. Long on action, short on plot. It'll let the PCs play something different and give you some more time to either bring them up to speed on Eberron or just find something else.

Another option might be to do the "strangers in a strange land" bit. Make normal D&D PCs, and for their first adventure toss them through a portal into Eberron. They don't know jack about where they are, and that's part of the fun. (You could overrun their home world with demons to make sure they don't really want to go back.)

 

[Piratecat]

I heard there's this book called "Grim Tales" that's supposed to be really good. Have you seen it?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Dang! I hope they went out with style.

Nope!

They went out like a bunch of punks!

To goblins!

The two front line fighters were surrounded, held by the priest, and summarily executed-- after which really unpleasant things happened to the dwarven druid and the half-orc rogue.

Wulf

 

[Asmo]

I think that´s pretty harsh to have people cdg:ed av lvl 3, and even more if they are newbies!
I find it amazing that they still want to play.

Asmo