Why are you looking forward (or not looking forward) to Eberron?

[jasper]

1. I have my own world so why should I buy one.
2. It seems to me to be anything possible with Kool Hong punk stuff thrown in. Well that is already covered by my world except for the Hong punk stuff.

Also the dragon has done a poor job of making it interesting. But since ashram bayle has pointed out more information I will try to go back and review the articles again.

 

[drnuncheon]

It is hard for me to imagine swashbuckling swordfights on lightning rails being a big part of the game if they are rare.

"It is hard for me to imagine a fight on the Statue of Liberty being a big part of the game, because it is so rare."

That may be true, but c'mon. Use a little imagination. Nobody's saying that that specifically is "a big part of the game". It's not going to happen in every adventure. But that's the kind of stuff that happens. It's an example. It doesn't specifically matter whether the swashbuckling swordfight is on top of a speeding lightning rail, or a flaming, rapidly sinking airship, or the Statue of Liberty. The point is that it's a swashbuckling fight in an exotic, unusual location.

Sure, you can do that in D&D, especially if you 'roll your own' world. A lot of people don't, and the current worlds aren't really designed to encourage it. (Quick, name an exotic, unusual fight location in Greyhawk! Forgotten Realms! I could probably do it for Mystara...)

You can nitpick individual things all you want, but a setting is more than individual items. One could take any setting, published or homebrewed, and nitpick individual items. The real question is how do all the pieces work together, and that's what we haven't seen yet.

J

 

[BryonD]

"It is hard for me to imagine a fight on the Statue of Liberty being a big part of the game, because it is so rare."

That may be true, but c'mon. Use a little imagination. Nobody's saying that that specifically is "a big part of the game". It's not going to happen in every adventure. But that's the kind of stuff that happens. It's an example. It doesn't specifically matter whether the swashbuckling swordfight is on top of a speeding lightning rail, or a flaming, rapidly sinking airship, or the Statue of Liberty. The point is that it's a swashbuckling fight in an exotic, unusual location.

Sure, you can do that in D&D, especially if you 'roll your own' world. A lot of people don't, and the current worlds aren't really designed to encourage it. (Quick, name an exotic, unusual fight location in Greyhawk! Forgotten Realms! I could probably do it for Mystara...)

You can nitpick individual things all you want, but a setting is more than individual items. One could take any setting, published or homebrewed, and nitpick individual items. The real question is how do all the pieces work together, and that's what we haven't seen yet.

J

No offense, but I think you are the one nit-picking.
I was responding to a specific list of items provided by someone else.

Are your REALLY claiming that thematically identical situations don't fit well in Greyhawk? C'mon, use a little imagination.

 

[drnuncheon]

No offense, but I think you are the one nit-picking.
I was responding to a specific list of items provided by someone else.

The list that came right after Wizardru saying "It looks to be about adventure, whether it be...", wasn't it?

Forest. Trees.

J

 

[BryonD]

The list that came right after Wizardru saying "It looks to be about adventure, whether it be...", wasn't it?

Forest. Trees.

J

Whatever. Obviously we see this VERY differently.
Your forced interpretation of my statements completely miss the point.

Unless someone is claiming that Greyhawk is NOT about adventure, then the specific list was representative of Eberron. It appears that you agree with my assessment that they don't really do that. But for some reason you are attacking an irrellevant tanget matter.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

It's like this guys.

Take Greyhawk.

1. Remove all of its backstory and geography and replace it with Eberron's.

2. Add a few new races and classes designed for the new setting.

3. Reconfigure the "purpose" of everything in such a way that it makes sense withing the framework of the rules. Remove most all high level NPCs so that the PCs are more influential. Give psionics a place in the world.

4. Reconfigure monsters in such a way that they have a real place in the world and a reason they can exist alongside the other sentient races.

5. Evolve magic. As a reproducable source of energy, a few large cities get architecture and features (such as Continual Flame lamps) that are made possible through magic.

6. Add a few interesting features such as a few Lightning Rails and Airships.

7. Replace the cosmology with Eberron's.

8. Replace the gods and religion with Eberron's. (We know very little about this however.)

9. Add in the new stuff such as Action Points.

10. Replace the basic theme of the setting with something slightly more pulp-noir and with a bit more intrigue.

....and VIOLA! You have Eberron.


Disclaimer: Since I haven't seen the book, these things are based off a mixture of previews released through WOTC and Kieth's comments. I could very well be off the mark in a few places and they have said more than once that there are some pretty major aspects of the setting that haven't been revealed yet.

 

[BryonD]

10. Replace the basic theme of the setting with something slightly more pulp-noir and with a bit more intrigue.

Can you, either in your own terms or quotes from Keith or WotC, ellaborate on this?

 

[WizarDru]

All right, I'll tell you the truth.

The Secret Truth.

Double-consonants.



Yeah, I know...it suprised me, too.

The secret of the successful campaign settings? Double-consonants.

Check it out: Forgotten Realms. See that, right there? They key to Faerun's success.

Consider: Kalamar. No double-consant. Midnight? Nope. Dark Sun, Birth Right? Ravenloft? Nope, nope, nope.

Ah! You say....what about Greyhawk? Trick Question, my friends.
Who wrote Greyhawk?
EGG.

And when did Greyhawk stop being as popular and commercially succesful? When they lost Gary. When they lost.....Double-consonants.

CHILLING.

(slinks away before someone tries to take his tin-foil hat)

(Oh, and I know you're wondering...what about Hollow World, smart guy? Well, that got trumped by a more powerful double-consonant...Lorraine. Brrrr.)

 

[tsadkiel]

I'm going to pass on Eberron.

Not that the previews we've seen so far don't look cool. They do. they look really cool (though they didn't go quite far enough for my tastes - I'd actually like more "magitech and dinosaurs"[/b].) But Eberron is going to be a big world created with loving detail ina number of media, and that's just not what I'm looking for in a campaign setting. I prefer the gazateer type approach, where someone else does all the work of drawing maps and saying which countries go where, giving me just enough detail to fake stuff on my own.

For me, the fun part of campaign design is deciding what goes where. It's like cooking - I like looking through my d20 stuff and deciding "Freeport goes over there, and I'll drop the Nange in this big ol' desert over here, and while I'm at it I think I'll use the Arcana Unearthed classes instead of the D&D ones."

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I'm going to pass on Eberron.

Not that the previews we've seen so far don't look cool. They do. they look really cool (though they didn't go quite far enough for my tastes - I'd actually like more "magitech and dinosaurs"[/b].) But Eberron is going to be a big world created with loving detail ina number of media, and that's just not what I'm looking for in a campaign setting. I prefer the gazateer type approach, where someone else does all the work of drawing maps and saying which countries go where, giving me just enough detail to fake stuff on my own.

For me, the fun part of campaign design is deciding what goes where. It's like cooking - I like looking through my d20 stuff and deciding "Freeport goes over there, and I'll drop the Nange in this big ol' desert over here, and while I'm at it I think I'll use the Arcana Unearthed classes instead of the D&D ones."

Here are some quotes from Kieth that reffer to this very thing:

There are major events that could be set in motion, if they want to take that path. However, I do feel that there are a lot of stories to be explored on the micro level before it is necessary to go to a macro level.

Also, there are the possibility of events that could have world-shaking consequences if things go wrong that may be completely unnoticed if things go right. For example, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, who knows what might have happened if the nazis had somehow been able to turn the Ark of the Covenant into a weapon? No one, because they didn't, and it disappeared into a warehouse never to be seen again. Following the pulp tradition, an evil mastermind or mad wizard could come up with a scheme that could threaten a nation, but if you stop him , the public will never know.

As your characters attain higher levels, there will be epic challenges to face. And if WotC wants, they could certainly push forward a hard timeline with world-changing events. But I'm in no rush to see that happen. I'd rather let players explore the world and get to know it well before forcing major changes on everyone.

What does everyone else think? Personally, I would rather see a book that discusses War in Eberron -- the how to handle skirmishes or renewed hostilities between nations, how a major war might be handled, the military tactics and strengths of the major nations -- than a hard "The war has begun again" that may invalidate prior suppliments. This would provide the tools for a DM who wants to set off new wars (large or small) without forcing all people to go on a war footing, which may not suit many campaigns.

.............I just wouldn't want it to be "this is what is happening" -- because the official version can't take into account what YOUR players have done. I'd rather see it presented as a series of possible scenarios: here is a possible scheme that could cause friction or even war between Thrane and Aundair. If you like this idea, run with it. If not, ignore it.

It actually seems like an interesting web thing -- "the plot of the month", with the major NPCs and the possible fallout of various outcomes.