Straight Dope on Eberron . . .

[I'm A Banana]

So now we'll have film noir with elves and dwarves in a pseudo-steampunk setting. Ugh.

I personally think this is the most badass thing I've ever heard of in a setting.

For five years, I've been playing in a 1920's version of Planescape. This looks like it will become my new Prime....if not a setting I use independant of PS....

How's that for praise? This setting is oozing with enough awesome to tempt me to be as into it as I am into Planescape....It just looks that awesome.

I may say that just because it's awfully, awfully, disgustingly close to what I have been running....(Indiana Jones/pulp/noir....I play Squirrel Nut Zippers in the background for most of my games, with a place for everything (admittedly, easy to do in PS))........but that doesn't mean it's not great.

In fact, the only parts that made me go 'ugh' was the idea of working-class mages....which I'm not sure how they'll fit into the usual D&D paradigm of XP-earning (Which is what keeps other worlds from becoming this tech-heavy....as much magic as their is, it is held only in the hands of the elite, due to the monsters that are around them)....

That's it....Keith, I wanna have your manbabies.

 

[Corinthi]

But the teenyboppers today will find this right up their alley, i think. It will be the equivalent of the movie Dune to the Herbert novel. All the fluff and excitement with none of the thought provoking stuff.

Garnered all that from a few teasers, eh? You could be absolutely correct, but it's more than a little early to make such judgments. Of course the 'teenyboppers' comment is certain to win friends with those who are interested in seeing if a man can actually craft a setting that fully examines the effects of D&D style magic on a society.

Eberron is the only WOTC book I've been interested in persuing in some time. I'm a huge fan of pulp style adventuring and have often wanted to craft a fantasy pulp setting based off D&D. Unforetunately, between my wife, job, and other hobbies, I just don't have the free time or drive to pursue such an endevour. I'm hoping Eberron scratches that itch for me. If it includes all the core rules, then it's easily accessible to existing D&D players, something Castle Falkenstein and Space 1889 aren't.

I'm not saying that Eberron is exactly what I'm looking for, but I say I lack the arrogance to made broad claims about it's worth and the type of player who'd enjoy it before I examine the material for myself.

 

[Nightfall]

Hey Keith! Nice to see you here.


I know there was another Atlas Product Keith did that I liked...I thought he did some work on Touched by the Gods...or En Route. One of those.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Well I was always going to pick it up, I seem to collect these things but theirs certain things that really attract me that might not have been mentioned yet.

The amount of travel you can do different continents off the bat, very cool.

An uneasy peace after a civil war? Also to cool.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah this is why I'll check it out. After all I'm FROM a setting that had a war too. Not a civil one but certainly uncivil and unfinished!

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Yeah this is why I'll check it out. After all I'm FROM a setting that had a war too. Not a civil one but certainly uncivil and unfinished!

I have more than a passing fancy at the America civil war so that's probaly why I see that as being so intriguing.

 

[Nightfall]

I prefer the English Civil War. Mostly because my dad and now my brother both graduated from Gettysburg. So the American one I know by heart almost.

But that is a cool factor I'll agree, recent civil war and a possible one on the horizon are ALWAYS ways to draw in PCs and DMs alike.

 

[Gez]

I wanted to keep everything from the rules, and also keep the rules additions to a new minimum.

<snip>

Well, what lesson can I learn from this? That I have to keep working on my salesman's skills...

I think it's not merely a question of salesman skill... The part I've underlined is, IMHO, also responsible.

The setting had to be a potential seller for every medium WotC can use.

• Novels;
• Card games;
• Miniature games;
• Video games;
• RPG Setting books; and
• RPG rules books.

Remember the FRCS? One of its aim was to have enough generic, adaptable "crunch" so as to be desirable by people not interested in the setting itself, but in more technical stuff they could use.



Random comments about other messages posted:
1. I don't expect changelings to be sorta doppelgangers. Usually, the term is associated with faeries raised by humans, or humans raised by faeries. (The baby was exchanged.)
2. If there are nazis, they will not be orcs. I would rather see hobgoblins in that role. Or dark elves. Yeah, definitely dark elves. They're already the Gestapo in Dragonstar.

 

[rounser]

It's an attempt to look at what is out there - psionics, magic, monsters - and create a world where it all makes sense.

It's a progressive idea, and one that I think Monte Cook attempted with Ptolus, whereby he was creating a world where D&D's D&Disms were put into the spotlight and their implications explored.

The irony is that what D&D is designed to simulate (classic pulp swords & sorcery fantasy settings) has now come full circle, and now the simulation (D&D) is defining the setting! It is an approach which rapidly departs from the internal illogic of Middle Earth, Hyboria and Nehwon, which is ironic, because it is places like this that spawned the D&D cliches that are sculpting the Eberrons and Ptoluses.

These observations are largely academic, for there is no reason why Eberron shouldn't work on different levels to the classic settings, if not better than them. It does make me wonder if exploring D&D's implications is a common interest at WotC, given that they chose this setting and that Monte Cook (ex-WotC) runs a setting with similar themes.

I think I'm more interested in revelling in D&D cliche than exploring it's implications, so will probably get the Wilderlands instead (if anything...Necromancer seems to put the D&D back into D&D with products like that and the Tome of Horrors whilst WotC is busy abstracting from it nowadays). Still, I'll watch with interest how this turns out...

 

[MrFilthyIke]

That's it....Keith, I wanna have your manbabies.

Can we petition "manbabies" into the dictionary as an official word?

I was interested in the setting from the first booklet, and Hellcow's
comments only solidify my interest more. I've always been more interested
in the cultures of my campaign worlds than the "cool stuff" (PrC's, Feats,
etc).

Can't wait to see it Keith, hopefully it'll sell well.

(Even if you did knock aside MY submissions )