Eberron for a newcomer. worth it?

[Wookie-ranger]

So.

I have to admit something. I have never played in the Eberron campaign setting. Ever. Not a single game. Not even sat in on a group playing. I have had many games in FR, greyhawk and many more in home-brews and sandbox games.

I know the material and even played a warforged before in a one shot game that turned into a about 2 months of play.


Is it worth for me to read up on the history, sights, and all; and play (perhaps even DM) a game in it?

I don't have infinite time on my hands that's why i ask.
Thanks for Y'all's advise.

[Lateral]

Yes.

Just... yes. It's pretty much one of those settings that is almost entirely ruled by cool. Dinosaur-riding halflings, elves that kill people with swords, magical orcs, lots of aloof dragons, magipunk, magic robots, and a ten-million-year history. Seriously.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Yes.

Just... yes. It's pretty much one of those settings that is almost entirely ruled by cool. Dinosaur-riding halflings, elves that kill people with swords, magical orcs, lots of aloof dragons, magipunk, magic robots, and a ten-million-year history. Seriously.

"Ten-million-year history" is a little misleading, considering almost all of that time is the Age of Demons, in which not much happens other than "Demons rule everything." The real meaty history starts with the Age of Giants, which is still pretty far back but nowhere close to 10 million years.

Besides, a lot of people dislike Eberron specifically because of those "cool" elements you listed. For better or worse, it violates tons of fantasy genre conventions and is overall built to support a very different style of play than most other settings (Well, you *can* play a more standard type of campaign in Eberron, but this requires letting most of the setting's details go to waste.) Some people, like me, love this: Others will find it uncomfortable.



Anyway, if you want a peek at what Eberron's about without too much of a time investment, take a look at "An Adventurer's Guide to Eberron." It's 60 pages long and is almost entirely consisted of illustrations. You can look through it in less than 5 minutes and decide if you like what you see from there.

(This is assuming you know someone who has it or can find it on a store shelf or somewhere so you can look without having to buy. I would never recommend actually buying it. It's got pretty pictures but very little actual fluff information and has precisely zero crunch.)

[Kol Korran]

Is it worth for me to read up on the history, sights, and all; and play (perhaps even DM) a game in it?

I don't have infinite time on my hands that's why i ask.
Thanks for Y'all's advise.

I'm an Eberron fan (my nick name refers to one of the "deities" of the campaign, long story) but it depends on whether you're into what the place has to offer. the setting has a distinct enough feel, though you can change parts you don't like.

you don't have to include everything, or read everything (you don't even need to read all of the Eberron Campaign setting, though i'd recommend it)- just see something you like and focus on it.

that said, some things that Eberron is well known for:
few absolutes, lots of "shades of grey", a lot depends on interpretations: no one knows if the gods exist. there is no "fully evil" country that all hate. each race/ country/ culture has several different view points in it. alignment is vague at best. even the major evils get a bit of a sympathetic ear.

PCs matter from the start: at levels 4-5 the PCs are supposed to be known, at level 9-10 they rival the leaders of countries. beyond that they start to step to the realm of legend. in the main continent itself there are just 4-5 (forgot) people above 12th level... some think this is bad- the characters can just stomp all over the population, but the setting offers quite a few challenges for people of high levels- the demon wastes, Xen'dric, the planes, Sarlona, or if you're out of your mind- Argonnesen. (where i plan on running a campaign some day).

low level magic is extremely common, high level magic extremely rare: while you can find lots of things to ease life, and low level magic can be easily found (levels 1-3?) higher level magic becomes much hard to acquire )levels 4-5) and beyond that it's the possession of few powerful nearly legendary people and creatures.

non standard races, cultures and the like: what i like is that they all have an actual place in the world, they make real sense. it offers quite a few interesting ideas, mechanics and roleplay wise to play immensely interesting characters. to make this happen though it usually (not always) requires some knowledge fo the setting by DM and players.

easy travel: "follow the red dotted line"- the existence of elemental vehicles (lightning rail, elemental galleon and air ships) may make distances not much of a problem, enabling the party to cross variety of terrains fast, alternating between deep jungles, edges of volcanoes, the deep sea and more with great speed. this all depends on the campaign on how much you enable easy travel.

Politics: the setting is well suited for a political type of game, but it's not a must. with lots of countries, dragonmarked houses and various other organizations (the Aurum, the library of Korranberg, the druid sects) this can be a satisfying setting to do this in. (for example read the Legacy of Dhakkan books- splendid on that regard) it doesn't have to be about politics though, and many adventures have stayed clear of the subject.

a place for everything: the designers have went to quite extreme lengths to make sure thatall classes will have representation, all races, and so on, though they may have made some changes to them. this might require either going through books or more likely- deciding something ad hoc yourself.

i hope this helped. i personally find it to be an excellent setting, fitting a more mature type of play, with enough interest to draw me back every time.
Kol.

[Hopeless]

So.

I have to admit something. I have never played in the Eberron campaign setting. Ever. Not a single game. Not even sat in on a group playing. I have had many games in FR, greyhawk and many more in home-brews and sandbox games.

I know the material and even played a warforged before in a one shot game that turned into a about 2 months of play.


Is it worth for me to read up on the history, sights, and all; and play (perhaps even DM) a game in it?

I don't have infinite time on my hands that's why i ask.
Thanks for Y'all's advise.

I have a question for you, have you watched any of the trailers for Final Fantasy?

For example the latest MMO one specifically where they're at an inn and the group of three are deciding on what job to take their human ally has a vision of events which ends with him back in the Inn.

Now rewatch it and imagine your players reacting to being in that scene and see where they want to go once you start your game!

For me thats what persuaded me to buy Eberron and 3.5 up to that point I was 3.0 and more interested in Kingdoms of Kalamar... I wish i could recall the specific Final Fantasy where you watch them charging into battle on Chocobo's and involves a massive invasion that leads to the death of the fiance of one of the characters in that specific game... I do know it was the last one before they switched to the PS3 though... now that trailer was incredible but check out the one I mentioned above that alone should help you decide!

[Heatwizard]

easy travel: "follow the red dotted line"- the existence of elemental vehicles (lightning rail, elemental galleon and air ships) may make distances not much of a problem, enabling the party to cross variety of terrains fast, alternating between deep jungles, edges of volcanoes, the deep sea and more with great speed. this all depends on the campaign on how much you enable easy travel.

One thing I like about Eberron is that with travel being so prevalent, you can set up shop somewhere before the party wizard learns Teleport and not hamstring your ability to adventure. Shelling out for an office/apartment in Sharn won't stop you from taking job offer in the Mror Holds; you just hop on the Lightning Rail, and you're out there in four days.

Eberron is full of really strange things to get excited over; like banks! You can put your stuff in a bank in Eberron. (Or you can assemble an Ocean's Eleven team and rob a bank, oh man)

[Darrin]

This really sums up Eberron for me:

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq128/Mando_Knight/EberronMotivational.jpg

[Heatwizard]

This really sums up Eberron for me:



Where are the halflings riding dinosaurs and throwing boomerangs?

[Prime32]

few absolutes, lots of "shades of grey", a lot depends on interpretations: no one knows if the gods exist. there is no "fully evil" country that all hate. each race/ country/ culture has several different view points in it. alignment is vague at best. even the major evils get a bit of a sympathetic ear.

[...]

Politics: the setting is well suited for a political type of game, but it's not a must. with lots of countries, dragonmarked houses and various other organizations (the Aurum, the library of Korranberg, the druid sects) this can be a satisfying setting to do this in. (for example read the Legacy of Dhakkan books- splendid on that regard) it doesn't have to be about politics though, and many adventures have stayed clear of the subject.Doesn't part of the book say "today's enemy could be tomorrow's employer" or something like that? There's a lot of interesting factions, which are often engaged in internal power struggles. It's possible for Evil characters to be clerics of Good gods and vice versa, and monsters are less likely to follow their MM alignments (if you kill the wrong goblin you could spark a diplomatic incident). Then there's the example of demons committing good deeds while disguised as the PCs so that they'll be hired by a certain person and trigger a prophecy.

The creator is on record as saying that he doesn't want all the details down in stone, so that each Eberron game can still have mysteries. The Cardinal of the Silver Flame might be plotting a coup in one game and just be a jaded good guy in another; in one game the Mournland might have been created as a quori plot, and in another it's a manifest zone to Ravenloft.

Also, in Eberron it's possible to be a hard-boiled detective who reads about his own exploits in the newspaper.


low level magic is extremely common, high level magic extremely rare: while you can find lots of things to ease life, and low level magic can be easily found (levels 1-3?) higher level magic becomes much hard to acquire )levels 4-5) and beyond that it's the possession of few powerful nearly legendary people and creatures.I should add that when high-level magic does appear, it's more likely to be in the form of an item created by teams of low-level characters (the travel-based House has a network of teleportation circles as a premium service, and every nation is implied to have a few superweapons lying around).

[ThiagoMartell]

Totally worth it. Love Eberron. People have already described it very well, just wanted to say - go for it.

[hoverfrog]

Definitely worth it. Everything in D&D fits in the world somewhere and there is a rich mystery and a sense of adventure about the entire world. Think Indiana Jones with magic.

[blackspeeker]

This really sums up Eberron for me:

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq128/Mando_Knight/EberronMotivational.jpg

Good picture, I think this will also help:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt139/Dusk_eclipse/OrcvsElfEberron.jpg

[Hopeless]

This is how I keep visualising Stormreach

FF14 CGI Scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G3YUHbHL5w)

Here's the one i was talking about

FF12 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88viaYPNMwc&feature=related)

Here's one about Stormreach itself
D&D Online Stormreach Intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wZ6_A_orY)

Here's a fan film form you tube
Eberron & Lightning Rail (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JJmRoD7cu4)

Hope that helps!

[ThiagoMartell]

Oh my god, that FF14 trailer is pure awesome.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Eberron is the campaign setting I wish I had thought of first.

I don't play it (I homebrewed my own world), but I admit to borrowing certain elements of its culture and history (my world is just emerging into the magitech age, with generations of warring states and constantly shifting country lines spurring on industrialization and the like, and dedicated crafters refining the assembly line with magic devices, creating constructs for war, leading up to the current point in the timeline, where breakthroughs in technology are leading to the very first sentient constructs, AKA Warforged, so I guess my world is pretty consistent with the Eberron timeline in terms of their warring era).

[ThiagoMartell]

Eberron is the campaign setting I wish I had thought of first.
This. One million times this.