Why didn't Eberron click?

[tarchon]

Eberron is an awkward name. They could have done better, but then again, they could have done worse.

I'll bet some guy named Ron Eber now wishes he hadn't had his number listed in the phone book too.

 

[Aaron L]

The main turn off for me about Eberron is the fact that this was the end result from the setting contest. I still feel funny that a relative of a WOTC employee was the one that won. I don't know...

No need to feel funny then, as Keith Baker is not related to anyone at WotC, even distantly or by marriage. He shares a name with someone, that is all.


All those cake makers in the olden days, I tell ya...

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I seem to remember reading that the original proposed name of the campaign setting was Warforged...

 

[Werther von G]

I seem to remember reading that the original proposed name of the campaign setting was Warforged...

See, I dig that. I could see that as the title, because the world is one that's been forged (tempered) in the last war. I'd probably get even more of a post-WWI vibe than is already there, but that's a minor change in tone.

 

[reanjr]

Same but different

I have to agree that the Eberron CS was a bit lackluster but for different reasons than the original poster.

I thought the campaign was too rules-heavy. I don't feel that you really got enough info to DM the campaign. Having so much information that it is hard to fit PCs into the world is one thing. But not having enough information for the DM to effectively care about the cultures just doesn't work for me.

 

[Flyspeck23]

For me, the name "Eberron" is just right. It might be a "nonsense word", but people already know what it means... scary, isn't it?

And if the name was "Warforged" or "Pulp Realms" or whatever, the cover of Dungeon 113 would'nt have been that much fun

 

[Thief of Always]

No need to feel funny then, as Keith Baker is not related to anyone at WotC, even distantly or by marriage. He shares a name with someone, that is all.


All those cake makers in the olden days, I tell ya...

Ah, my bad. I had heard he was kin to somebody at WOTC, but I guess maybe it was just a mistake in the melancholy people felt after the setting search winner was found and I happened to lend an ear in their direction.

I feel stupid...I should buy a helmet.


On the Warforged thing...it almost sounds like a subtitle to a video game franchise. Maybe that's why they went with Eberron, if Warforged was their first choice in this such case.

 

[CrusaderX]

The Dragon issue that featured the Warforged mentioned that "Warforged" was considered as a name for the setting.

I would have much preferred this name over Eberron, since I have to agree, Eberron sounds rather boring. I wonder if nixed the Warforged name because it sounds too much like Warcraft?

 

[grimslade]

The whole Eberron place name game

The names used in Eberron are very evocative of the pulp stories in Wierd Tales and Amazing Stories. Xen'drik and Thunder Bay seem to come right out of R.E. Howard stories. They might sound cheesy to some people, but they put me in the right frame of mind for the setting.
As for using Eberron as the title for the campaign, I think it is a little flat. The concept behind Eberron, a progenitor dragon's sacrifice using it's body as a haven for all creation, is not evoked in the name. Warforged, while initially sounds 'catchy', quickly becomes confused with Warcraft.
The 'Forgotten Realms' is a huge misnomer now. When the box set first came out it might have been true. But with the glut of splatbooks for the realms in the last 17 years, there is not too much that is 'forgotten' in the Realms. I miss the old days. Nurse, change my depends!

Grimslade

 

[Henry]

Quasgueton, I may be able to help with some of these conceptions:

If a Player wanted to play a minotaur, I expected Eberron to accomodate him - "There's a 'monstrous' nation over there, and it is quite possible for those creatures to be found in this land."

The areas of Droaam, The Shadow Marshes, and the Demon Wastes are prefect places to set monstrous PC's from, as the book notes.

If a Player wanted to play a core elf wizard, I expected Eberron to accomodate him - "The elves live all throughout this world, just like it says in the PHB."

Elves are all over; most are from the Island of Aerenal, and Drow are from Xen'drik, along with Giants and Dinosaurs. But the Valenar and Aerenal Elves aren't that different from D&D elves, only in some outlooks. They still value magic, they are still aloof, etc. It's just that the Valenar aren't so friendly with humans on the whole.

Eberron halflings are not "D&D" halflings.

There are "Civilized" Halflings, who live in the cities as well as the country, so the basics are covered. The Talenta Dino-Rider Halflings are the original stock.

So in some cases, what you expected really are there; there are some misses, such as no Asian flavor cultures with samurai and such; in that respect, they dropped the ball on the Prego Promise. ("It's in there.")