The Trouble With Union

[Rystil Arden]

In concept, Union should have been one of the most distinct, fascinating RPG cities ever. Perhaps the basic material could be reworked. Might make a cool fan project, but I doubt there's enough interest.

You could call it "We the people of ENWorld, in order to form a more perfect Union"

 

[ColonelHardisson]

You could call it "We the people of ENWorld, in order to form a more perfect Union"

OOF, why didn't I think of that?!?

 

[Piratecat]

OOF, why didn't I think of that?!?

Because you have a soul.

 

[Mouseferatu]

You could call it "We the people of ENWorld, in order to form a more perfect Union"

I now wish to have your man-babies.

 

[JustKim]

let me get the first response out of the way.

Its not Sigil.

There. That is the most common reason.

That's not true. The most common reason, the big reason, is that it's just like any other city but with +20 levels tacked on to everything. Epic level characters are doing mundane chores like catching fish, when they may well be capable of casting create food and water for approximately 2,500 people per day.

You do not need to compare Union to Sigil for it to look ridiculous.

 

[Mouseferatu]

To add something (vaguely) meaningful to the thread, Union is the avatar of my biggest problem with the ELH as a whole.

Epic play should feel different. It should be a different experience, with different (or at least additional) goals and methods. It should not feel just like lower-level play, only with the dial turned up to 11. Yet that's exactly how most of the book presents it.

Each power jump in D&D (low- to mid-level, mid- to high-level, high- to epic-level) should include both more and different. That is, some challenges are similar to what you already know, but more powerful, while other challenges are of a sort totally unlike anything you could handle before. Too much of the ELH focuses on more, with very little focused on different.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Sigil always struck me as odd but Union did nothing for me. What are you looking in an epic level city?

 

[Ripzerai]

Unio should be a city like Tanelorn in Michael Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" stories. But Union makes all these guys just faces in a crowd.

I feel the opposite way. Rather than try to rewrite the city to make it into Tanelorn, I'd rather just lower everybody's level to match the way the city actually feels, the way it would logically be. It can still have a few very high-level characters (all the named ones, in fact), and the interesting epic organizations. Some of the private islands might be extremely exotic.

I think Union is great as a planar trade city, more powerful than many but not as powerful as some. Its portals are simply not as useful as Sigil's, and therefore it's going to attract fewer high-level characters and fewer merchants, but it's still an important part of planar trade routes. I don't see it as a magnet for retired heroes, though. It's a Disneyland created by the mercanes - a decent place to vacation, but not an shining, hidden city of the Balance, promising long-withheld solace for eternal champions wearied from a thousand psychic wars.

If you want Tanelorn, create Tanelorn. Start from scratch.

 

[Sejs]

Simply put: Union kills achievement.

 

[Dire Bare]

I actually like Union and use it quite a bit . . . . however, I pretty much ignore the stats (high-level guards) and don't use the city as the "Epic" city. I use it as one of several planar metropolises.

But I do agree that the main problem with Union as written and the ELH as a whole is that epic play by the rules just doesn't feel all that different, just the numbers are higher.

Here's hoping the the 4th Edition "Epic" book avoids these mistakes (if and when it ever is released) and makes epic play cool and exciting.