D&D 5E What's to Like about Eberron?

[Xenonnonex]

Eberron is where religious magic is cast not because of some deity but because you believe very much in yourself.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

It's worth noting that Baker isn't really the singular authority on Eberron. He created the setting, certainly, but its development was always by WotC. This means that Baker's influences are not the only influences or even the primary ones necessarily. This is especially true for Eberron as a mature setting.

He's the only one still regularly engaging with the Eberron fanbase though. Wyatt has moved on to M:tG, Slaviscsek is working on ES:O at ZeniMax, and Perkins is running the creative direction for 5e. Baker is running Twogether Studios and is producing on Phoenix: Dawn Command, but still also semi-regularly posts Eberron content and talks to people in the Eberron Discord community.

Plus, the setting was originally his brainchild, which I would say gives his voice slightly more weight. Compare to the Forgotten Realms; many people have produced content and stories for it over the years, but I'd take Greenwood's word over anybody else's except in specific corners of the setting that other authors specialized in.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

On the contrary, the whole synthetic life anxiety in fiction draws from sources from that period, including the creation of the term "robot" itself. Metropolis is another good period example.

Large multinational corporations were emerging at that time in history, and the Dragonmarked houses are more like the corporate interests of the post-War period than they are like Shadowrun.

Edited to remove snark.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, yes. The unique thing, though, is the post-War milieu, echoing themes from 20's-30's fiction.

Both things are unique.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

True, Baker does cite Cyberpunk: but those tropes originate in post-War fiction!

But the inspiration for them in Eberron is specifically and decidedly cyberpunk.

Stop trying to squish everything into one inspirational source-era, and just accept the fact that Eberron has a wide range of inspirations.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

@Parmandur regarding anxiety about synthetic life.

Frankenstein was there even earlier, but I can’t imagine a serious argument that we should consider Frankenstein the inspiration for Warforged.

 

[Parmandur]

@Parmandur regarding anxiety about synthetic life.

Frankenstein was there even earlier, but I can’t imagine a serious argument that we should consider Frankenstein the inspiration for Warforged.

Partially, certainly. The spread of "robot" as a word and concept really took flight in the Interbellum following WWI, however.

 

[Parmandur]

He's the only one still regularly engaging with the Eberron fanbase though. Wyatt has moved on to M:tG, Slaviscsek is working on ES:O at ZeniMax, and Perkins is running the creative direction for 5e. Baker is running Twogether Studios and is producing on Phoenix: Dawn Command, but still also semi-regularly posts Eberron content and talks to people in the Eberron Discord community.

Plus, the setting was originally his brainchild, which I would say gives his voice slightly more weight. Compare to the Forgotten Realms; many people have produced content and stories for it over the years, but I'd take Greenwood's word over anybody else's except in specific corners of the setting that other authors specialized in.

Wyatt and Perkins are working on the book being published this year, and gave been actively talking about Eberron. Both have recently emphasized the importance of the Interbellum 20's-30's feel.

 

[Parmandur]

But the inspiration for them in Eberron is specifically and decidedly cyberpunk.

Stop trying to squish everything into one inspirational source-era, and just accept the fact that Eberron has a wide range of inspirations.

Certainly there are a wide array of inspirations, but the unique bit from other settings is the 20's-30's Europe feel (source: James Wyatt, Chris Perkins, Jeremy Crawford and Keith Baker).

Cyberpunk is intentionally a 20's-30's retro-future, with a heavy emphasis on Noir elements. Like Raymond Chandler.

Two of Phillip K. Dick's students and close friends invented the term "Steampunk," interestingly enough.

 

[Reynard]

He's the only one still regularly engaging with the Eberron fanbase though. Wyatt has moved on to M:tG, Slaviscsek is working on ES:O at ZeniMax, and Perkins is running the creative direction for 5e. Baker is running Twogether Studios and is producing on Phoenix: Dawn Command, but still also semi-regularly posts Eberron content and talks to people in the Eberron Discord community.

Plus, the setting was originally his brainchild, which I would say gives his voice slightly more weight. Compare to the Forgotten Realms; many people have produced content and stories for it over the years, but I'd take Greenwood's word over anybody else's except in specific corners of the setting that other authors specialized in.

In shared worlds, where many, many hands have helped craft it, I don't feel like the originator is "special." Most of the best Star Wars material is made by people other than Lucas, for example. In fact, THE best Star Wars movie (ESB) has shockingly little Lucas control over it. And having listened to a lot of The Manifest Zone, I actually prefer some of the details and flavor from official WotC books from the 3E era more than I do Baker's personal spin on things.