Turning Eberron into a Barsoom-like world?

[Turanil]

Eberron as Barsoom.

We could call that Eberoon?

 

[reveal]

We could call that Eberoon?

Or Barserron.

 

[philreed]

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[Turanil]

Great!! Thanks a lot!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I think this is a pretty inspired (pun not intended) idea.

 

[Von Ether]

I've long felt that magic is the thing that makes D&D compelling yet ultimately unsatisfying (ironically).

Going slightly OT, I don't find it ironic at all. With DnD's new psionics, you have crystals that can save and manipulate spell points In Green Ronin's Psychic handbook you have places you can imdue with memories and effects. In other games like Ars Magica or Mage:Ascention, you could role play a whole monolouge about your spells and how they interacted with the magical world.

Some games have their metaphysical world tied into their game rules and allow for a synergy that makes easy to role play out beyone spell slots. DnDof the box , in all of its editions, doesn't do that very much and doesn't offer much guideance in that direction. The only real "metaphysics" are the planes, which are pretty much just new locations with some new rules on a planar map, expending XP/level drain which sort of touches on how life force is tied to magic and how different materials interact with different beasties.

On the other hand, there have been some very nice alterations by third party publishers that have do tie in spell slots to a bigger metaphysical whole or dumped them all together for something that creates a more compelling package.

Why doesn't WotC do the same? 1.) DnD has been fortunate to be able to create it's own fantasy subgenre that most people will ride with 2.) Tweaking the metaphysics will start to niche the product as some fans decide that WotC version of magic is "not real" or "dumb." It's one of the reason I think SciFi role playing hasn't taken off to the same extent (Do you want a side order of hyperdrive or warp drive with your PC, sir?"

Now getting back On Topic:

I hadn't been able to put my finger on it, exactly. And now that Turanil has mentioned it, removing the elves, dwarves, gnomes & halflings seems like such an easy and obvious fix! I think this might just be the fix that will make me break down and actually buy Eberron.

Call me silly, but I was always baffled by people who thought one or two aspects of Eberron ruined the setting for them. Just ignore those details and go on.

In fact, if you just ignore the role playing of the issue of height for the short folk, you can use the demi-race stats to just represent cultural modifiers. The halfings are pygmy dino riders, the dwarves are resilint people and the gnomes represent a culture of humans that focus more on mental that physical pursuits. And Half-Orcs can then represent the tribes of men that value combat over hygine. ... Capital One commericals anyone?

Either way, since none of the Ebby specific races have Dragon Marks, you can make the marks something only for humans and you are good to go.

 

[Remathilis]

Would you be interested in such a setting? If you like Eberron as is, what do you think of this tweaking? If you don't like Eberron as is, would you like it with this modification?

Couple Questions:

IF your removing elves et all, who has the dragonmarks? All human? Who controls the Talenta Plains, Valenar, Aerenal, Mhor Holds, Shadow Marshes, Darguun, Drooam, and Zilargo?
What monsters are you keeping or ditching? This affects alot of elements like Darguun, Drooam, Demon Wastes, Xen'Drik, and more than a few NPC/Organizations
Would the land STILL have medieval trappings (kings and knights, barbarian tribes, heavy armor, etc) or would that modernize as well?

Personally: Josh said it best. Begin with ILoJ + d20 Modern (+ Past or Future, as needed) and mix in Eberron elements into it (sentient robots, magitech, psionics, airships) and mix to taste. Removing the core races ALONE radically shifts the paragrim of the setting and nullifies 70% of the content. The way your going, your homebrewing vast parts of it anyway, so file off the remaining serial numbers and call it your OWN.

 

[Nifft]

I like the idea of Eberron, and I like the idea of Barsoom, but I agree with those who wonder why you want to mix them.

Sure, steal from both -- but why force worlds to collide?

JMHO, -- N

 

[Turanil]

IF your removing elves et all, who has the dragonmarks? All human?
Would the land STILL have medieval trappings (kings and knights, barbarian tribes, heavy armor, etc) or would that modernize as well?

I would replace elves, dwarves, halflings and humans with the three races presented in ILoJ. Humans would be a minority imported from another world to be slaves. Now pseudo-medieval trappings can remain, as the planetary romance has them, mixing ancient technology (and ray guns) that look like magic in it, although this is mainly artefact from the past which knowledge of crafting has been lost.

Oh well, all of this is more for discussing the idea than anything else. There are so many ideas in my head, so many possibilities... I might well choose to do a RIFTS like campaign in using Darwin's World plus a slew of other supplements added in.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Removing the core races ALONE radically shifts the paragrim of the setting and nullifies 70% of the content.

I'd be interested in seeing your calculations to get the "70%".

Are you really sure it gets nullified? Or is it just that you can't figure out how to use the content with such a change?