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View Full Version : Muskets, Kenders and Dragonmarks (or Eberron v3.5 turned upside down)



T.G. Oskar
2010-12-27, 02:26 AM
What might result of this? Lemme make an explanatory post and then ask for your help.

So I've started to DM pretty much full-time for the very first time. Before, I've had some chances at DMing, which have been one-shots without actual completion, but that have given me the idea of the finer points of DMing (such as making NPCs interesting and keeping people on hold for next session). This time, to make my work easier, I decided to let them play on Eberron, using lots of modules up until level 6 or so (to get the hang of what to do next, and also to gauge what might be more interesting to the party).

However, I've decided to spice Eberron up a bit. For example: I've allowed the use of all books, but fortunately everyone is a newb in the game (save for one whom has had some experience playing before with me) so they get my assistance on that (mwhehehe!! ...Well, not that much), and I've done minor changes to help the new guys (such as having the player who wanted a Paladin to get full CL and per-encounter smites, as well as planning to give 2 points worth of ability score increases every 4 levels), but I want to spice the setting a bit. For example:

Remember the Riedran monoliths? The ones that the Inspired are constructing? Well, they've started to form manifest zones randomly upon Eberron; I used that to explain why a Kender would be on Eberron, meaning there's a Krynn-born Kender on Eberron.

Now, I wanna spice things up a bit. One of the changes I've been planning is to work up the pirate/buccaneer feel of the Lhazaar principalities, having pirates plundering and fighting against the princes (and sometimes on their behalf) and also against House Lyrandar. And of course, that idea emerged after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean, so you might expect some stuff to appear.

Such as muskets, of course. Something that...well, aside from not having any precedent, also pretty much unnecessary given the proliferation of easily-activated wands. However, that would make the game a bit more interesting; flintlocks and matchlocks of very crude quality, one-shots mostly, making the Lhazaar area a bit more dangerous.

So...having said that, here's the petition. Any ideas on how to handle this out so that it feels natural, just as natural as pulp fiction on Xen'drik? I have some ideas about the Fabricators' Guild and House Cannith being behind it, allowing non-magicians to have powerful weapons but that only the Lhazaar princes have made good use of that, making that region (and Q'barra) unique on its own right. As well; is this enough change, or can Eberron be spiced up a bit more? Something that might make it a bit more memorable, what with places like Vatican CityThrane and Soviet RussiaKarrnath, for example. Have I exceeded a bit on spicing my campaign, or is it on a right path to awesomesauce? Also, any ideas on what else could be used to get Eberron (or the campaign and the houserule set) a bit more interesting? Note: since all of them are newbs, I haven't used any of my retoolings; maybe when they get more experienced or I get a group of experienced people, I might use that, but at the moment I'm going with homebrew-lite, mostly houserules. However, if it's interesting enough to add flavor to the campaign, give it a shot.

Also, more info upon request.

Jallorn
2010-12-27, 02:32 AM
Mechanically, it might be a good idea for muskets to be very powerful, like 3d6 damage or something like that. The reason guns were revolutionary is because they were easier to be effective with. Of course, they should have a pretty low range increment, like 20 feet. Before rifling, guns just weren't accurate at terribly long range.

I don't know if this is what you were looking for, but hey.

Coidzor
2010-12-27, 03:04 AM
If the kender manage to survive, it'll be a miracle.

In any event, adding muskets to the Lhazaar principalities and Q'barra isn't really going to turn Eberron upside down. Heck, adding Muskets to all of Khorvaire isn't going to turn Eberron upside down.

I'd say, have a fairly mechanically savvy, but politically weak member of House Cannith that was out of Cyre at the time of mourning end up in Lhazaar, possibly under the patronage of one of the princes there. Possibly as an excoriate due to being considered just enough of a threat to want to eliminate from the power struggle over control of House Cannith, but not enough for them to care about his activities in lhazaar while they square off with one another.

So, in order to support himself, he decided to try out an idea he had some doodles of from before the mourning and voila, muskets made using the materials he had access to in Lhazaar rather than state of the art Cannithean manufacturing facilities.

FelixG
2010-12-27, 06:26 AM
One thing I used to spice up my Eberron campaign:

I forget what book talks about Sharn, but in there they mention a group who lives in the lower city who are made up of mostly monstrous critters, like goblins orcs ect. They could be trying to bring down some of the towers with custom made but shipped in blasting gel.

When I did this my players found the caravan under attack, the undead managed to kill all the people running the caravan, but they decided not to investigate too much, being mostly LG and NG they decided not to loot the corpses of the merchants and instead burn them with their posessions so they started to pile the bodies with the wagons.

Well the rogue who was CE decided to say screw that and snuck away from the efforts and dove into the back of a wagon and started prying the barrels open which had been made fire proof but when they are opened the enchantment was broken. He was too busy digging around in the Gel looking for the good to notice the other players had lit the wagons on fire, needless to say, they were suddenly missing a rogue for an unknown reason after that little mishap, there was nothing of him left :smallwink:

AslanCross
2010-12-27, 08:30 AM
Existing rules for muskets are pretty lame; I'm sure your players will want to end up using them and realize how much they suck. If you're going to add those, I suggest looking for a source other than the DMG ones.

Can't say I'm particularly thrilled about the kender, but it's your campaign. Run-ins with Talenta halflings or with Karrnath will probably get them killed rather quickly. Try randomly picking someone's pocket in a city under martial law.

In general, I find Eberron very interesting on its own. Usually, I make sure the PCs end up running into one or more of the nasty power groups who want the same thing they do. (Or who just really find them annoying). It's up to them if they want to pick the lesser of two evils, or try to play the hero and take both of them out.

T.G. Oskar
2010-12-27, 12:53 PM
Mechanically, it might be a good idea for muskets to be very powerful, like 3d6 damage or something like that. The reason guns were revolutionary is because they were easier to be effective with. Of course, they should have a pretty low range increment, like 20 feet. Before rifling, guns just weren't accurate at terribly long range.

I don't know if this is what you were looking for, but hey.

Well...it's good advice, if combined with Aslan's idea. But I have an idea for that.


If the kender manage to survive, it'll be a miracle.

Well...it has survived so far quite well. Doesn't help he's also the party's bard, and that his Hide and Sleight of Hand scores are obscene. He's frail, tho.


In any event, adding muskets to the Lhazaar principalities and Q'barra isn't really going to turn Eberron upside down. Heck, adding Muskets to all of Khorvaire isn't going to turn Eberron upside down.

I'd say, have a fairly mechanically savvy, but politically weak member of House Cannith that was out of Cyre at the time of mourning end up in Lhazaar, possibly under the patronage of one of the princes there. Possibly as an excoriate due to being considered just enough of a threat to want to eliminate from the power struggle over control of House Cannith, but not enough for them to care about his activities in lhazaar while they square off with one another.

So, in order to support himself, he decided to try out an idea he had some doodles of from before the mourning and voila, muskets made using the materials he had access to in Lhazaar rather than state of the art Cannithean manufacturing facilities.

Hmm...interesting idea. I was already working with the Fabricators Guild getting ahold of rare weapons (the Kender brought with him one of the weapons of his race, essentially a 3rd party weapon which is quite useful for what he wants it) and there's a d'Cannith (which is still on good standing with the family) that wants the weapon (and the techniques to use it) for mass production, in hopes it becomes the next great weapon. So I could figure that I could use the NPC later to tie them to a short and resourceful Lhazaar adventure, maybe after they get boarded by pirates with muskets. That also works with how I intend to deal with them.


One thing I used to spice up my Eberron campaign:

I forget what book talks about Sharn, but in there they mention a group who lives in the lower city who are made up of mostly monstrous critters, like goblins orcs ect. They could be trying to bring down some of the towers with custom made but shipped in blasting gel.

When I did this my players found the caravan under attack, the undead managed to kill all the people running the caravan, but they decided not to investigate too much, being mostly LG and NG they decided not to loot the corpses of the merchants and instead burn them with their posessions so they started to pile the bodies with the wagons.

Well the rogue who was CE decided to say screw that and snuck away from the efforts and dove into the back of a wagon and started prying the barrels open which had been made fire proof but when they are opened the enchantment was broken. He was too busy digging around in the Gel looking for the good to notice the other players had lit the wagons on fire, needless to say, they were suddenly missing a rogue for an unknown reason after that little mishap, there was nothing of him left :smallwink:

Ouch. I bet the Kender will probably get his hands on a musket sooner or later; good thing he won't be able to use it (being a Medium weapon and all, since small races aren't abundant on either Lhazaar or Q'barra). Maybe the curiosity will get the best of him :P


Existing rules for muskets are pretty lame; I'm sure your players will want to end up using them and realize how much they suck. If you're going to add those, I suggest looking for a source other than the DMG ones.

What I plan is to use the DMG firearms as the "prototype" versions, and if I get the book or the preview that deals with the weapons, use the Iron Kingdoms version for the mass-produced muskets. I also intend to, even if it's not the main idea of the campaign, to let House Cannith get ahold of firearms as a big hook (House Cannith is divided and in battle with each other; now imagine one of the sides of the house creating the next best weapon, the other side doing clandestine upgrades to Warforged and the last one creating rare magic items...)


Can't say I'm particularly thrilled about the kender, but it's your campaign. Run-ins with Talenta halflings or with Karrnath will probably get them killed rather quickly. Try randomly picking someone's pocket in a city under martial law.

Well....thus far, he's been really annoying to his group partners (the character, not the player; the player has different issues with the group I don't wish to speak of), but he has worked fine as one of the ways I can steer the group into action (which isn't really as hard; they get hooked into one module after another with little effort). It pays the player has a refined Kender mentality (but not IRL Kender skills; that I leave to my niece).


In general, I find Eberron very interesting on its own. Usually, I make sure the PCs end up running into one or more of the nasty power groups who want the same thing they do. (Or who just really find them annoying). It's up to them if they want to pick the lesser of two evils, or try to play the hero and take both of them out.

So far, working with the group I've gone mostly into the Dragonmarked houses. The groups that are dealing with them in the short time we've played consist of:

House Cannith: While I didn't use Forgotten Forge, I'm currently using Shadows of the Last War, and I've played using NPCs of different sides of the house which are offering good money for the schemas. One is the already written lady Elaydrien, the other is a home-grown NPC from the Fabricators' Guild (who's after the Kender's weapon, and whom will eventually be after the muskets).

House Deneith: I convinced one of the players to get the Dragonmark of the house, so he can have some support but also have the house ask favors for him and the group; amongst those you might have orders that conflict with the group's orders, which will suit fine the player (the Paladin; don't worry, since I won't push him so far, knowing very well what's to be a Paladin)

Royal House of Aundair: they started their adventure in Fairhaven, and they've built a small name there, so you might expect the Royal Eyes looking for them.

The Inspired: while not great players now, the fact that the Kender appeared through manifest zone and specifically one from Dal Quor means they might get a visit from the group later on, specifically to capture the Kender. It should be a high-level adventure, although that depends on whether the Kender's player returns to the table or not, or whether I can convince the group to have some troubles with the Inspired without wanting to.

The Eternal Blades (ToB): one of the players is gonna become an Eternal Blade, whom are, as with the fluff of the original, personas non-grata on both Aerenal and Valaes Tairn. The fact that the player is an Aereni warrior (one of the few Tairnadal who remained on the ancestral lands) who behaves pretty much like a Valenar is something I'm interested in playing with, and the Eternal Blade addition is really gonna spice that up real good.

Coidzor
2010-12-27, 12:58 PM
Well...it has survived so far quite well. Doesn't help he's also the party's bard, and that his Hide and Sleight of Hand scores are obscene. He's frail, tho.

Is he actually roleplaying as a kender?

Because between the property law structures of most civilized places in Khorvaire and backstabbing his own party constantly...

Well, good for getting into a lot of encounters at least.