Explaining Eberron In a Session

[Illithilich]

So, the campaign I have been running for my players for more than half a year is coming to a close. I decided that I want to do an Eberron campaign next. The plan is to have them travel to Xen'drik and explore the ruins. None of my player have really looked at Eberron much though. One of them has his own copy of the campaign book, and the rest breifly played DDO. That about sums up their experience with it. So next session I was going to spend as much time as needed explaining the setting. I have a couple of hours to do this, and im trying to cover as much as I can. So, what are the most important things I should cover while doing this?

[hivedragon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberron
/thread

[ExemplarofAvg]

Get them to watch a bunch of Noir Films and then Scary Movie then watch them both at the same time with the volume turned off while watching the Dark side of oz. Then it'll make sense.

[Madara]

ooh, Ebberon/ drool :smallcool:

Anyway, I suggest starting with the races, point out the cool robot people, and the changeling people. You know your party, focus on what they are most likely to deal with.

Tell the Dwarf player about how dwarves are the pimp-bankers of the setting, which leads into telling them about dragonmarked houses.

Tell the Monster-playing guy about how orcs and goblins are more common, and he can play something weird with less stares.

Tell the Crafter about Artificers, which leads back to Dragonmarked Houses, Dragonshards, and how the setting is magic-tech(Point this out over and over and over..)

Tell them how there races are different. Help them pick a starting country, and then tell them the things about that country and how it was in the war. Then tell them only the things they're characters would know/ need to know.

Don't throw the rich history at them now. You can give them homework :smallwink:

[Zeta Kai]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberron
/thread

Yeah, that pretty much does it. Go to the Wiki page & read them the Characteristics, World, & Roots & Influences sections. That should really just about cover it. If they don't get it or like after than, then a couple more hours of explanation isn't going to help them much, & would probably bore them right out of the whole thing. Spend the time on character generation instead.

[Keld Denar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberron
/thread

Nope! Read this one (http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Forgotten_Freedom:Rules) instead.

[Zeta Kai]

Nope! Read this one (http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Forgotten_Freedom:Rules) instead.

Uh, that's not going to be very helpful for what he's trying to do. Amusing perhaps, but not a good explanation of what Eberron is all about.

[gkathellar]

Honestly, Eberron is about Sharn, the city. Xen'drik is a different kind of place - Eberron's heart is in noir-heavy magical dungeonpunk New York.


Nope! Read this one (http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Forgotten_Freedom:Rules) instead.

Gotta agree with Zeta Kai. Forgotten Freedom gets less funny and more stupid the more you learn about it, and is a really poor introduction to what Eberron is about.

[Keld Denar]

Just about everything I know about Eberron, I gleaned from that list.



6. There will be NO referring to King Kaius as Mein Fuhrer or goosestepping to his orders.

23. Queen Aurala is not the Wicked Witch of the West.

24. Even if she is a witch and lives in the West and is of dubious morality.

31. King Boranal will not be invited to Frat Keggers or Orgies with Changeling Girls.

32. Even if he's game.

42. The Aereneal elves will not be referred to as "The creepy Goth elves".

43. Nor are the Deathless described as "Undead who all dress like they're in a 70's glam rock band".


Etc etc etc. All very fitting for setting the "mood".

[Prime32]

42. The Aereneal elves will not be referred to as "The creepy Goth elves".I refer to them as "The Taoist elves" myself. Positive and negative energies, immortals, all that. :smalltongue:

[Zeta Kai]

Just about everything I know about Eberron, I gleaned from that list.

I will admit that once you've got the general vibe down pat, that list is very good for assisting with specific details, & for making useful associations in players' heads. But for a group that is wholly unfamiliar with Eberron & needs to be sold on it conceptually, I think that the list would be a potential turn off. Also, it's very hard to take the setting seriously immediately after reading it, & noir should not be played for laughs.

[bloodtide]

A good way to explain Eberron would be to use the Forgotten Realms as a base. Chances are your players have heard of FR and know at least the basics about the setting:

1.Tons and tons of very active gods
2.Tons and tons of very powerful magic.
3.Tons and tons of very powerful NPCs.

Then to explain Eberron is simple: It is a world created for the FR haters.

1.No gods, just vague 'things' that are not in any way active.
2.Low magic
3.No powerful NPCs.

[sonofzeal]

A good way to explain Eberron would be to use the Forgotten Realms as a base. Chances are your players have heard of FR and know at least the basics about the setting:

1.Tons and tons of very active gods
2.Tons and tons of very powerful magic.
3.Tons and tons of very powerful NPCs.

Then to explain Eberron is simple: It is a world created for the FR haters.

1.No gods, just vague 'things' that are not in any way active.
2.Low magic
3.No powerful NPCs.
I don't think "for FR haters" is a way to win people over, as I could easily imagine someone enjoying both, or neither. But yes, telling them that it's the polar opposite of FR in every way is probably the simplest way to handle it. The actual list of contrasts is much longer.




Also, I think reducing Eberron to just Sharn loses out. Indiana Jones is one of the prime influences, and Xen'drix is the place for that. Eberron isn't complete without some vine-swinging tomb-raiding pulpy adventure heroism.

[Hiro Protagonest]

2.Low magic
They have magic transportation. It's cheap to get a sky carriage to take you through Sharn.

3.No powerful NPCs.

Argonesson and Xen'drik is all the necessary rebuttal. The places are swarming with giants and dragons. There's an army of great wyrm golds with PrCs or something dedicated to keeping Tiamat in her prison. An army. And there's that one half-fiend dragon in Q'Barra.

[Greenish]

Eberron has barrels and barrels of magic. Most of it is low intensity low level stuff that keeps the society rolling instead of earth-shattering epic spells, but it's still incorrect to claim it's a "low-magic setting".

And just because every bartender is not an epic level retired adventurer doesn't mean Eberron has no high level NPCs. They're just rare.

[GoatBoy]

Eberron is rather compartmentalized, meaning that it's easy to include or exclude most parts of it if they do or do not appeal to you.

No psionics? Stay away from Sarlona.

Don't like courtly, political, or economic intrigue? Set the whole campaign on Xen'drik. Likewise, avoid Xen'drik if you want a game focused on modern times and not "ancient secrets" or such.

Don't like dragons? No Argonassen.

There are high-level NPC's, but few to none of them live in the Five Nations, so you can set the whole game there and never see any.

In fact, it's hard to "introduce" Eberron as a whole, because there's so much you can include and exclude, according to tastes.

[sonofzeal]

They have magic transportation. It's cheap to get a sky carriage to take you through Sharn.

Argonesson and Xen'drik is all the necessary rebuttal. The places are swarming with giants and dragons. There's an army of great wyrm golds with PrCs or something dedicated to keeping Tiamat in her prison. An army. And there's that one half-fiend dragon in Q'Barra.
Still, it strikes a notable contrast to FR. I've had a longterm FR DM tell me that you kind of need to hit epic levels before you're really considered in the big leagues, whereas in Eberron you can start suffering from "Big Fish Small Pond" by level 10. And with that comes some corollaries - in FR there's high level magic everywhere, whereas most of Eberron is powered by 1st or 2nd level spells. And again there's a contrast - Eberron actually uses those spells in the society-changing ways they could be used, whereas FR generally tries to get the whole "medieval stasis" thing going even though there's nothing preventing Tippyverses from forming.

Or, to put it otherwise - from the point of view of a FR player, Eberron will appear to be low magic with few to no "powerful" NPCs. You might approach it from a different perspective, and perhaps the original comment by bloodtide could have been phrased better, but I understood his point and don't disagree with it.

[Feytalist]

Hmm. I'm a longtime FR player, and I've always regarded Eberron not necessarily as high magic, but what magic there is is all around, used by just about everyone. That's the main difference between it and FR, I think.

And as I've said before, regardless of the greater setting, an actual "ground-level" game can have as many or as little of these elements in it as you (as the DM) wish.

[Cwymbran-San]

Talking about Eberron means talking about: where are you today? Sharn, Xen'Drik and Argonessen have been mentioned already, but what about the rest?

You want a LotR-style, voyage adventure with lots of countryside to cover and while elves the greatest danger? Place your adventure in Valenar.

Crusade era? Thrane.

Generic medieval fantasy? Breland.

Post-apocalyptic? Wastelands.

Eberron has a little for everyone, just imagine you start your players as smugglers or pirates (guess which part of Eberron i am referring to) and see the surprose on their faces as a storm forces them south for the first time and the arrive at the cultural meting pot that is Stormreach!

Or have them hunting for monsters in the wilderness of the Eldeen Reaches, without any knowledge of the outside world (the forest is pretty much the world to them) and imagine the awe upon facing a Karrnathi undead company invading the forest.

Yes, i am a fan. For Eberron is for everyone, having nearly everthing you could wish for.