WotC setting search winner - Eberron

[Larry Fitz]

I got to meet Keith when he came by our booth, my first impression is that he's intelligent and affable, and that he hates not being able to freely discuss a setting he is clearly very excited about.

I understand Nick the Lemming's complaint about the anachronistic train, bear in mind that what makes it anachronistic is the cow-catcher. If it does not run on rails (or even on the ground) it does not need a cow catcher. It can turn left and right, and can be more than 5 feet off the ground, so the cow catcher will be more of a cow killer unless it hovers just above ground level. It's presence indicates knowledge of and reference to rail-riding trains. However "level of technology" should refer to manufacturing techniques, not overall effects. In the Civil war there were aerial spies (done with tethered balloons). If the lightning train is not mass produced in factories they have not significantly jumped the technology bounds.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: WotC setting search winner - Eberron

His name was Enoch, and you could tell him apart from the others because he wore a red and gold outfit---I think he had red eyes, a slightly more expressive face and was more golden colored, too. Didn't he represent the sleestaks from the past, before they became somewhat degenerated and dullwitted? He was way smarter than the others, I remember that.

Yeah, he time-traveled too. But the Land of the Lost was his distant future, not the distant past of the humans. I remember a kind of cool love-hate relationship. Enoch liked having someone intelligent to talk to, but he hated the notion that his race fell so far and the world would eventually be dominated by apish humans.

 

[teitan]

I'm not that interested in FR and GH to be honest. I can remember the first GH stuff, and quite enjoyed it at the time, but I've moved on since then. I want something else, not GH and FR. I'm quite interested in several of the other settings that didn't win (Earthforge and Morningstar look interesting), and other new settings that have appeared (Midnight). I'd like to see more of the original submissions appear, and possibly be published by other companies (Preferably without the heavy reliance on D20, like the Sundered Skies book that's being released for SW).

Nick the Lemming

Well, general statements don't apply to everyone and it wasn't my intention to imply such. I can understand your arguement HERE but ....

Thanks for presenting a logical response instead of a raving madman...

Jason

 

[mythusmage]

Oh, absolutely. I wasn't saying it wasn't a good idea, just that it wasn't an inevitability, and it would be easy to justify a setting going either way depending on a variety of factors.



Free time? I'm talking about the guy who makes his money as the wizard you go to when you need a spell cast. The one who you go to because your sorcerer doesn't want to waste a slot on identify. The one who the 'NPC spellcasting costs' table in the DMG (well, now in the PHB) is for. That guy.

Even assuming he only casts 1 or 2 spells a day, that's a couple of hundred gold - and he can conceivably cast many, many spells in a day, depending on demand.

J

Agree that it's not inevitable. After all, the Athenians never thought to use their 'railroad' for anything other than transporting ore. But you only need the right combination of events to kick things off.

As to casting for pay. That's for the apprentices. Heck, the more students you have, the more small magics they can do and the more money you make as a 'consultant'. Think of it as a variation on the surgeon/intern relationship post medical school.

As for that losing life force stuff for making magic items. Is there an inworld reason for it? As opposed to a metagaming one that is.

I mean, I can think of far better ways to limit magic item creation. Rare and expensive items for example. Or arduous procedures. But nothing so 'gamist' as XP loss.

I say dump the dang thing and come up with something better if you don't like tons of wands of healing wandering around.

Heck, if Kingdom A wants to hire wizards to make fireball wands for it, more power to them. I'm sure Kingdom B will come up with a counter.

"I did so want to fill you in on our research into mass disjunction, but my staff talked me out of it."

 

[rounser]

Perhaps the insufferable implications of "why don't they use magic to do this and this and this" are simply because there's too many spellcasters and magic items in default D&D 3E. Middle Earth doesn't have these problems because there's only a handful of wizards (and they're all inhuman divine caretaker types) and there's too many other important things for them to spend their time on. In a way, these questions about "why don't they use magic to do these other mundane tasks" are a D&Dism!

 

[William Ronald]

Iron Chef posted:

His name was Enoch, and you could tell him apart from the others because he wore a red and gold outfit---I think he had red eyes, a slightly more expressive face and was more golden colored, too. Didn't he represent the sleestaks from the past, before they became somewhat degenerated and dullwitted? He was way smarter than the others, I remember that.

He was from the past, and entered the era that the Marshalls were in via one of the crystal-activated gateways. There was also another member of the race, from the present, who was as smart as the original Sleestaks. He explained that he had been one of the lucky few of his kind born every generation who had the mental faculties of their ancestors. Unfortunately, many of those were killed by their degenerative brethren. There was a hope expressed that one day the Sleestaks would recover from their disaster. (I think it was environmental poisoning.)

BiggusGeekus@Work: Actually, the land of the Lost was set in a closed universe. In one episode, the Marshalls actually travelled for several days only to return to their destination. In D&D terms, they were stuck on a demiplane. I think ENoch's difficulty with the Marshalls was due to the fact that he was perhaps emotionally colder than the Marshalls. There were also the cultural differences between 20th century Californians and an ancient representative of a lizard-like race who knew that one day his civilization would fall and his people would become degenerate savages. I doubt that this knowledge would make him a happy camper.

 

[KeithBaker]

Hey, all -

If I don't post more often, it's because I have to constantly bite my tongue to preserve the Veil Of Secrecy(tm). It's very interesting to see everyone's speculations across the various threads, some of which are more on the ball than others. All I'll say is that the use of magic in Eberron is something that has been carefully thought through, and hopefully you will like what we've done with it. And it's not just Iron Kingdoms from WotC... it's "Iron Kingdoms, now with 500% more dinosaurs!" (that's a joke, son.)

Oh, and just to go on the record -- since it was pointed out that I didn't directly *deny* it in my previous statement -- I am in no way related to Richard Baker. I simply took the family name when he adopted me. (Note to conspiracy nuts: also a joke)

-Keith

 

[William Ronald]

Keith,

Perhaps you can let a few more hints slip closer to the actual release. Or perhaps WotC can lift the Veil of Secrecy just a tiny bit. From reading the GamingReport.com story, I think that most people are uncertain about Eberron and its true nature.

Perhaps it might be possible by stating what it is not. For example, it is probably NOT a Land of the Lost ripoff and will not come with any music from either the 1970s series or the more recent one. (See my previous post.)

Also, can you comment on what it is like to work with a company like WotC on a product like Eberron? A lot of people might be interested into what insights you can provide on what happens from the development of an idea to the finished product stage.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

it's "Iron Kingdoms, now with 500% more dinosaurs!"

I simply took the family name when he adopted me.

AH HA!!! Its crap! Proof is right there!! Burn WotC! Burn them alllll!!!!


(sorry, I had to )

 

[Teflon Billy]

Steamduel
Proposal
A post-apocalyptic world of darkness. A world of fear, where only the strong survive. But most of all, a world of railways, and the engineers who ride them.

Come to the future of D&D, where chaotic neutral undead half-dragon anarcho-gothic-punk necro-engineers swing chains and cast spells at each other from spikey steel engines on concurrent tracks. A world where the desperate survive only by laying rail for the demon tycoons in their endless struggle to monopolise freight and passenger transit to and from the Abyss. A world where men kill for coal, and the only good cargo is dead cargo.

And remember -
The end of the line might come much sooner than you think.

DAMN!...I'M SOLD