Straight Dope on Eberron . . .

[jasamcarl]

Imagine a group of Players coming to you (the DM) with these ideas for their PCs. How to make them fit together and go on adventures as a party?

I would rather the question be "What are the adventures to be experienced?"

This just doesn't sound like a Dungeons & Dragons game to me. Probably could make excellent books and movies, but just not a D&D *game*.

I just don't see how the standard D&D-type adventurers could go on D&D-style adventures. This is being billed sort of as the ultimate D&D world, by incorporating everything in the D&D books, but the flavor is coming out anti-D&D. D&D has always been about groups of adventurers going out and exploring lost and mysterious places and peoples. This campaign setting seems to be about individuals interacting with a known world of commonplace magic.

If Players could easily use any creature from the MM or SS, whats the need of four new races? Changlings? Why not just use dopplegangers? Warforged (constructs?)? Why not just use golems? And if the kalashtar turn out to be a new elf race, I'll puke.

I actually was kind of excited about this campaign setting in the beginning. But now, the more I learn, the less interested I become.

Quasqueton

Uh, have you seen the ecls of all of the MM alternatives you've listed? Think before you type.

 

[CrusaderX]

To echo many others, the more I see of Eberron, the more I like, though I was pretty much sold on the whole "The Lord of the Rings meets Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Maltese Falcon" concept. I just hope they go heavy on the pulpy noir aspects, since, so far, this is what I find most intriguing about the setting.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Not sure about Talisanta, but it is *really* close to EarthDawn. Scary elves, skyships, large cities, orcish bards, massive, intercontinental wars, and industrial-grade magic against a backdrop of conniving groups? Seen it all.

I always thought the only real originality that ED had was that it was set in a post apocalyptic world. It's more like fantasy twilight 2000 or mad max than anything else.

I'm going to flip through it but in all honesty I don't think anyone in my group will really be interested in it. We've got tons of material for Barsaive already and while ED is more complicated than d20, it does "epic" grade characters far better. And with the Second Step chargen program, it's much easier to manage.

I personally always thought that ED's character generation and handling were it's second worst aspect. Adepts are far too rigid for any sort of characterisation or customisation (except on the most basic level).

Its worst aspect was its editing - it takes FOREVER to find anything in that game...

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I'm very open minded about Eberron!

IMO, Greyhawk pretty much equals FR, which is very similar to Dragonlance, which is not too far off of the Scarred Lands etc... and so forth.

Something different, ( done well ) will be very welcomed.

The question I always ask myself when contemplating a setting like FR, is "Why hasn't the presence of so much magic created a revolution ( not "industrial" obvioulsy ) in more paradigms?" The concept of Warfare, Transportation, and agriculture would be totally different from the typical D&D fuedal/medieval based society with the application of a little magic.

Perhaps Eberron will be an attempt to better approximate what the existance of such available magic really would do to a society or culture, instead of basically trying to ignore its effects on anything other than adventurers, castles and dungeons. Let's face it, many people that could wield magic would study ways to apply it's benefits to larger (societal) applications besides personal item creation, wards/traps etc...

Unless all the Dinosaurs are powerfuly psionic, I'll most likely be picking this up ...

 

[johnnype]

Perhaps Eberron will be an attempt to better approximate what the existance of such available magic really would do to a society or culture, instead of basically trying to ignore its effects on anything other than adventurers, castles and dungeons. Let's face it, many people that could wield magic would study ways to apply it's benefits to larger (societal) applications besides personal item creation, wards/traps etc...

I think you hit the nail on the head. If magic was in fact real and people had the opportunity to fully develop it the setting would evolve very differently than, say, Grayhawk or FR. In all likelihood schools of magic would become both profitable and ubiquitous. Trading guilds would also evolve significantly and become powerhouses financially as commerce evolved with magic. Corporations of all types would probably spring up each trying to make a profit by providing services to those willing to pay. Large populations would be more believable if given the tool to support them. All of this would involve extensive use of magic. Magic that is both cheap and easy to produce and after hundreds of years it should almost be expected to be.

It's actually a logical premise. I find it a little difficult to believe that it has taken this long for someone to create a setting like this. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[MerricB]

I've just gone from "Not interested at all" to "I'm definitely going to pick it up".

The mediaeval setting of Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms is great fun to play with - but it makes no logical sense whatsoever when you consider the magic that exists in the campaign. If magic were more primitive, then yes... but these are campaign worlds where so much is possible.

Gary Gygax in a recent post on Greytalk mentioned that he really hadn't considered the effect of druidical and clerical magic on farming and the flow-on effect to the rest of the setting when he designed Greyhawk - it is in his mind now.

Greyhawk will always be my first choice of world, but Eberron has just become something I am avidly waiting for.

Cheers!

 

[Iron_Chef]

Eberron looks like Forgotten Realms with steampunk tacked on to me. Not particularly new, innovative or interesting as far as I'm concerned. Iron Kingdoms looks like the same thing, only cooler, if steampunk floats your boat. The art in Iron Kingdoms is certainly better and more atmospheric. MerricB has a good point about the illogical non-impact magic has had on everyday life in GH/FR and many worlds, which is a point in Eberron and IK's favor. I'm just leery of mixing magic and technology in my game.

 

[JeffB]

Personally for me it went from "not really interested but bits and pieces sounded good", to "yawn"....

Love Earthdawn, and some of the other stuff Eberron is being compared to here in this thread, but to me it doesn't sound very "D&D-ish" at all...and the reason I like & play D&D isfor it's implied setting & "D&D-isms". I'd rather play an entirely new game designed specifically for the setting in question than playing in a setting where D&D is shoe-horned into it.

 

[A'koss]

A few years ago I think I would have been more interested in a setting like this, but I couldn't help but chuckle to myself a little as I was reading the Eberron article.

It's like... the Anti-A'koss campaign.

It's everything I'm trying to purge from my game. Excessive magic and magic-driven amenities, the "kitchen sink" philosophy of throwing in everything and your grandma into the pot. Are they thowing in every speicies of monster from the Monster Manuals as well? Hordes of powerful, intelligent species all competing on the same world? Not for me boyos...

Though I'm sure I'm coming across as completely negative, I'm actually just more... amused that it's so different from my campaign than anything else. I'm getting some vague Miyazaki impressions mixed in there - which isn't a bad thing (there's definitely some Miyazaki inspiration in my own setting). I honestly do hope it does well as that's just good for the game.

A'koss.

 

[Dragonblade]

This setting is a must own. The parallels to the time period between WW1 and WW2 are really cool. I can't wait to see who the Eberron equivalent of the Nazi's are!

The advanced magic based society is something that I have been thinking about for years. Finally someone has made a realistic high magic world.

Numerous campaign ideas are already filling my head....Must have now!