WotC setting search winner - Eberron

[Gargoyle]

I've got to say that everyone's jumping on the Dinosaur thing. I don't really get the impression that dinosaurs are the center of the campaign. From what I've read here, it's more like here's this great world with all this stuff. Oh, and by the way, out there in the dark depths of the jungle of doom, there be dinosaurs.

--G

That's the feeling I got.

 

[Warduke]

I don´t particularly like dinosaurs in my fantasy games either, but it's an interesting feature. We don't have them thanks to that nice meteor hitting earth a while back. Maybe this world hasn´t had something similar happen? That would mean that they would still exist.

If they are common it will give the setting another distinctive feature like Dark Sun where insects were used as beasts of burden and cattle.

If we've heard about Dark Sun in the same way I think the reaction would have been similar, they're both far from the fantasy europe settings that D&D had had up til then. I'm all for different, we already have enough standard settings.

 

[drnuncheon]

Y'all have some incredible Jump (Conclusions) skill modifiers; I don't think that less-than-300-word report gives enough space for a running jump.

I'm still trying to figure out how everyone went from "From the look of the artwork there are large dinosaur like monsters" to "there are dinosaurs and other lost-world creatures"

I mean, 'large dinosaur like monsters" covers a lot of ground. They could be dinosaurs, sure. They could be dire lizards. They could be that world's dragons, for pete's sake.

"Saying this is the new "main" setting for D&D just doesn't sit well with me, and I don't care how you spin spin the steampunk/dino stuff."

Who said that? What did I miss? Can I get a direct, verifiable quote or is it just more Chicken-Littling?

After looking at the concept art, I think it looks pretty damn cool. The much b*tched-about "dinosaur-like creature" seems to be a bipedal riding lizard, which are nothing new or un-D&Dlike, and the art hardly suggests that hunting dinos is the order of the day.

I love the smell of lame conclusions in the morning. It smells like...well, gamers, I guess. Although I'm glad so many people were whining about it, it made me actually check out the setting. (No such thing as bad publicity, right?)

J

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

The main reason I won't be buying or playing in this.

Drow. More frelling drow.

The rest of it, it depends on how it's pulled off. I'm pessimistic and don't think it'll be good, but I entertain the possibility it could be great.

But drow. WotC and their drow. Agh.

Ditto.

All the other elements I can handle, it all depends how they are presented, but drow are to D&D what boy bands are to popular music. *yuck*

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

...for all those so adamantly against Dinosaurs...there are Dino's in Greyhawk....

 

[Gargoyle]

This fact alone should have told them that it wouldn't be a popular concept. If out of 11,000 of your most hardcore fans only one said "Trains & Dinosaurs would be cool", maybe you should stay away from Trains & Dinosaurs...

Yeah, they're taking a chance by bucking the trends. However, it was good enough that it beat out thousands of other ideas, was unique, and well written. I think it's going to be interesting.

BTW, the 'trend' worlds they mentioned that I remember were all "waterworlds", "worlds ruled by evil", or "broken, devastated worlds". They didn't mention all of the trends. They said that basically one of each of the trend worlds made it into the top 11, with Eberron being the only one that didn't fit one of these patterns, yet it still fit into the parameters of a D&D world, was a broad enough idea to be a sprawling campaign world, had medieval level tech, and met that difficult requirement that it had to be "the same as, yet different" from worlds like Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance.

 

[Gargoyle]

"Saying this is the new "main" setting for D&D just doesn't sit well with me, and I don't care how you spin spin the steampunk/dino stuff."

Who said that? What did I miss? Can I get a direct, verifiable quote or is it just more Chicken-Littling?
J

They said that it will receive as much support as the Forgotten Realms, if not more. But they never said in the seminar that this is the new "main" setting or that the other settings would no longer receive support. They said, and I'm paraphrasing "it's just another major setting like Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms".

 

[Mercule]

It could be a very well done setting. I still probably won't buy it.

Why?

#1 It's apparently either technological or (more likely) magitech. I hate mixing tech and magic. I absol-frickin-lutely despise magitech. Either one is an automatic black smudge on a setting.

This isn't an absolute prohibition. I liked Shadowrun, Stephan King's Gunslinger books, and Guardians of the Flame. The simple fact that that last one made the list should give some perspective on my tolerance to mixing magic and tech.

I refuse to buy FR products because the magic level is so absurdly high. Obviously, anything with higher magic is a no sale to me.

#2 Dinosaurs. If they are prominent enough to get noteworthy mention in the PR, then they are either _not_ just in the most remote of jungles or the WotC PR person... seeking polite phrasing... just isn't doing a very good job.


Now, my wife and I were chatting as I read this thread. At first, she had the same reaction I did. As we talked more, though, she came up with a cool idea. She said it kinda sounded like the Gunslinger world and I have to agree.

IMHO, that's the best case scenario. If it pans out that way, I'll probably pick up the book. I wouldn't use it very often, but I could see it being interesting for a change of pace between serious games. There might also be some good ideas in there in a context I could be interested in.

Obviously, we don't have enough info to say one way or the other, yet. Also, I'm not saying the setting will suck. I know there are lots of people who find magitech interesting. I'm just not one of them.

I hope the setting sells well and encourages WotC and other publishers to put out more settings -- preferrably ones that I like and can raid for ideas. I'm just not hopeful at this point.

 

[Gargoyle]

Ditto.

All the other elements I can handle, it all depends how they are presented, but drow are to D&D what boy bands are to popular music. *yuck*

I hear ya. Unfortunately, it seems like anything you dislike about content in the D&D core rules is going to be in this campaign setting. If a monster is in the MM, it's going to be in there somewhere. If a race is in the PHB, it's going to be in there somewhere. Same with magic items and spells. I'm not sure if that applies to prestige classes, which are optional, but I'm sure it doesn't apply to the Red Wizards.

They want the world to conform to the D&D core rules. Why that has to include drow, mind flayers, and gnomes, I'm not sure, but it probably has to do more with branding and marketing than with world design, which is a shame. Sometimes a world can stand out by what it leaves out, (remember Talislanta: No Elves) and it seems that Eberron won't have any advantages from that technique. The drow on Eberron will most likely be different from other worlds, but will not be absent.

Edit: On the plus side, if you don't like them, you can leave them out of your campaign. It's harder to include them when the campaign book says "There are no drow on Eberron." and gives no info on them. So perhaps it is best for the majority that they are in. Some people like them.

 

[TiQuinn]

I agree that they should've waited until there was a bit more meat on the bone to announce this. Right now it sounds like a hodge podge of ideas. Why they couldn't reveal more details is beyond me.

All the same, I dig new settings...even the ones that I end up hating. There's just something about the prospect of seeing something original or different that piques my interest. I also think the "Wizards passed on Midnight for this?" comments have already become way too...um...hip for my tastes.