JeffB said:
I'm growing more interested in this setting (GASP). I've always liked the basic premise ( "pulpish" adventure, PCs are the focus, etc), but not necc all the details (warforged, lighting trains or whatever, etc). In some ways it reminds me of Earthdawn (which I dig)
But I'd like to hear from the fans as well as from people who have tried and not liked it in the end.
What do you like? dislike? hate? love?
I love pretty much everything I've read. Came for the Warforged and Airships, stayed for the story, adventure potential, etc. I'm actually still learning the setting myself.
It's been out for several years now, so what are the good and not so good products?
I really recommend reading the Dreaming Dark trilogy, by Keith Baker. The first book is pretty good, and really sets the tone for the whole setting as well as introducing you to the city of Sharn. The second book is an absolutely phenomenal romp through Xen'drik. The third book is... honestly a little disappointing, but only because the first two were so good. It's still worth reading.
As far as actual source books go, aside from the ECS (duh), I thin that the Player's Guide to Eberron has to be one of the best source books I've ever seen. It's set up like an encyclopedia, so you just flip to, say, Aerenal if you wanted to read about the Aereni elves, or you flip to The Silver Flame to read about that religion. Includes knowledge checks (often several different ones for the same topic, i.e. history, religion and the planes might all apply to one topic, and each gives you different info).
I'm liking Five Nations a lot, too.
Explorer's handbook kind of fell a bit flat for me, but YMMV.
Have you changed any basic premises of the setting to match your own ideals?
Haven't had a chance to run it yet. :/ I'm thinking of changing or adding to the religions a bit, though, because I've got ideas I want to use. I'm a bit hesitant to do that, though, because I love the religion in the setting so much that it seems a travesty to much with it!
How is religion handled in the setting?..I've never seen much discussion of deities and such.
Excellent question! And the answer is: it varies. There's no pantheon, and the gods may or may not exist, at the DM's whim. Actually, there's a bunch of mysteries inherent in the setting, like the Mourning, which are intentionally left to individual DM interpretation, but I digress.
Here's a sampling of the religion:
*The Sovereign Host and the Dark Six are the closest to a standard pantheon, though they're somewhat more abstract. It's common for people to worship the Soverign Host itself, rather than the 9 or so individual gods which make it up.
*Aereni elves worship their ancestors, who are physically embodied by the undying council. The undying council are deathless (positive energy analogs to undead) elves, tens of thousands of years old, who act as gods to the younger elves. Aereni society is also very death-focused.
*The Blood of Vol has the same origins as the Deathless; Vol was an ancient Elf who tried to espouse negative energy instead of positive. Today, the Blood of Vol is seen as a misunderstood cult, but they were a major player in one of the Five Nations during the last war, Karrnath, and the Karrnathi armies are to this day supplemented by undead even though the Blood of Vol is no longer the official state religion.
*The Silver Flame: Thrane is the only nation which is really devoutly religious. They are, in fact, a theocracy, lead by the priests of the Silver Flame. Long ago a paladin sealed some hell portal and turned the fires of the portal silver by sacrificing her life. Today, the silver flame itself provides power to worshippers of it. Honestly, I don't know a whole lot about the silver flame yet because I haven't read much about it or Thrane yet.
