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View Full Version : Fellow, more experienced DMs - where would you set it? (Eberron campaign Khorvaire)



Runa
2008-03-15, 06:36 PM
Well, in a few weeks, I'm apparently set to start DMing my own campaign for the first time ever. Nothing's concrete yet, but, here's the details so far:

1.) I told them it would be an "urban" campaign, or at very least start in "a city". I have not picked an exact location, though it's to be somewhere in Khorvaire in the Eberron setting.

2.) It starts at level 1.

3.) Probably a large party. Four PCs at minimum, possibly as much as seven.

4.) We've got at least two Warforged characters, two psionic folks (one wants to be a "kineticist", the other's a whatchamacallit, the ones that do more influence on the mental rather than physical level), and somebody who wants to be a CN assassin type (I think also psionic). Pretty much, despite my hopes of having a party that would have say, a bard in it or a party made of rogues (one of the suggestions I had, could have been AWESOME to construct a campaign for), it's pretty melee-centric.

The problem with #4 is, I offered to DM for "story-making" reasons, and had hoped for more "roleplaying options" (by which I mean, I had lots of general story possibilities for a party made of rogues, bards, paladins, or other people with more backstory than "I like to smash things". Even the 1-3 people normally guaranteed to do things like bard or paladin, that could have spiced up the group's diversity, did not go that route this time for some reason).

I'm having trouble though, it seems, at coming up with a plot for a bunch of melee-optimized characters, especially from such disparate backgrounds... at least not yet, since I've barely begun scratching the surface of the Eberron setting. Of course, it probably does not help that I haven't picked an exact setting yet. Mind you, I probably would have, 'cept I made the mistake of telling the entire group about my general ideas for the "in the indeterminate future" campaign right when the DM for the night decided that because he'd left his materials at home, he'd rather us roll up characters for my campaign than "wing it". I was caught a tad unprepared.

That said, I'll be damned if I'm going to just give up. For one, our group rotates DMs fairly frequently, and I've been watching, seeing what things seemed to work and what didn't. I would hate to let this experience-by-proxy go to waste.

For another, we so rarely do something all that different. All of our previous campaigns have either been in very vague settings, or exclusively FR. I took one look at the overview of Eberron's feel and setting, and said "hey neat!". It's something a little different for us, and I look forward to trying it out.

Also, I totally went on a ginormous eBay shopping spree to snag, for the most part, Eberron books. Seems like a waste not to use 'em, no? Even if I did get some of them for ten bucks or less (a couple for as little as $5+shipping. Yeah, apparently this really is a good time to be stocking up on 3.5 books... :smalltongue: ), it's still money I spent to use the setting.

So, any pointers or suggestions for me to make constructing it go a little quicker, particularly on cities I might want to stick it in? I know a lot of the people here have played Eberron campaigns, and probably have a much better idea of how to utilize the setting than I do. :smallwink:

About the only thing that's making my Plot Sense really genuinely tingle at this point, is the one guy wanting to play an assassin type character, who we've agreed "may or may not" come into conflict with the party. He's said "maybe" to being "something like a royal assassin" for the record, though I think he might want to do it more for a Neutral or Good purpose, sounds like. I have made it clear I wanted few if Evil characters, only because we're doing an "all Evil party" campaign right now under a different DM, and I realized pretty quickly that an all-Evil campaign is freaking crazy to control, if you let players do whatever they want (half the folks are killing each other right now, two people wanted to kill the princess, another wants to kidnap her, and I decided to be a glory hog by rescuing/healing the king, who they accidentally shot while aiming for the princess. They may have even started a war between two nations that were celebrating the fact they just signed a peace treaty with each other. None of us are actually a "party" yet, either, and two characters have already died. It's fun, heck, really fun even, but it seems to be a bit difficult for the DM to handle due to the sheer, unadulterated chaos of it all :smalltongue: ).

It also doesn't have to stay in a city, per se, but I wanted it to start in one, if only because it's easier to get the characters to meet each other.

For the record, these are the Eberron books I have:

*Eberron Campaign Setting
*Five Nations
*Races of Eberron
*Magic of Eberron
*Faiths of Eberron

I think I also have Player's Guide to Eberron, but I'm not sure, since I went on such a bidding frenzy when I got all these, that I'm actually not 100% how many Eberron books I even have at this point, and actually managed to end up with two copies of Five Nations, for instance. :smallbiggrin: At least they were cheap, though, heh. (I figure, oh well, at least I've got a copy to lend to my PCs, right? I like to be optimistic, heh...)

Anyway, so... yeah. Advice? Pointers? Suggestions, anyone?

-Runa

Bag_of_Holding
2008-03-15, 08:09 PM
A large city somewhere in Khorvaire? Sharn would be your natural choice. It even has a supplement dedicated to it.

two_fishes
2008-03-15, 08:22 PM
My 2 cents is this: Ask them.

Ask them where they would like it to be set. Set aside your first session and just talk about setting and characters, and what they want and what they think would be fun to explore. Bring the ideas you have to the table and talk about them. Ask them if there's anything they're particularly interested in. Talk about ways their characters might have known each other before the campaign starts. Talk about NPCs. Throw in some of your ideas, have them add theirs and come with some relationships to the NPCs.

This whole idea of every player going off and creating their character in a void, and then coming to the table expecting to jump into a setting the DM has gone off and made in a void and then expecting a coherent story to result is bound to end frustration a lot more often than in satisfaction.

Venerable
2008-03-15, 08:24 PM
The question is "what kind of story do you want to tell?" That would help narrow down where to set the action. A mostly lawless Wild West-type story? Try Stormreach (on Xen'drik). Diplomatic intrigue? Aundair, Karrnath, Thrane, or Breland. Piratey goodness? The Lhazaar Principalities. Dungeon crawl? Pretty much anywhere, but Goradra Gap in the Mror Holds offers access to Khyber. Fighting horrors? The Demon Wastes or the Mournland. Necromancy? Karrnath. BBEG story? Sharn's a good place for that.

Skim chapter seven, "Life in the World", of the Eberron Campaign Setting. It should give you plenty of ideas for where to set a story. The sections for each region offer a number of story ideas too.

Remember, Eberron's designed to be flexible, so don't be afraid to mix it up. If you want a city run by an openly vampiric ruler who's beloved by his/her (living) subjects, make one!

avr
2008-03-15, 11:14 PM
If you've got 2-3 psionic characters in the party, you should be able to drop them into the conflict between the kalashtar and the Inspired. Read up on the quori, and Riedra/the Inspired.

Q'Barra might be an interesting place to start the game. It has towns rather than cities, but the inhabitants stick pretty close to those towns for the most part due to the lizardfolk, and there are Inspired garrisons there.

If you want a big city, Sharn is the obvious place. It's the biggest city on Khorvaire.

Kol Korran
2008-03-16, 01:12 PM
first of all, i'll emphasize some things the others said:
- read chapter seven of Eberron campaign setting. it will give you a good feel. i suggest that all your players read it, but i'll get to that in a minute...
- ask your players for the sort of play they want, and be sure of what sotry you're aiming for. however, you can run most ype of stories in most cities.

ok, i've been an Eberron fan for some time, so here are soem suggestions:
1) have your players read some of the background material. i had a group in which half read it, and half didn't... you could realy feel the difference. Eberron is far different from the FR setting, both in rules, culture, and flavour. some challanges you might face due to this:
- the party doesn't know the dragon marked houses. while some DMs like to ignore them, i do feel they add a special feel to the world, as well as it's most advanced services.
- in Eberron you're power to be reckoned with on level 8, in FR you're just one of the crowd. Warforged are not robots (let the palyers reading them read "races of eberron"), and are a challange to roleplay, and psionics have the dreaming dark to deal with...
- ambiguity: all of eberron- orgenizations, religions, alignments, dragons, and so, are vague in their relations and alignements. players used to other setting might find this daunting or confusing.
- resources: airship and lightning rail, to start with. but remember also that the higher level spells and services (5 and up usually) are very, very, very rare.

2)- as to starting cities:
Sharn- if you can get the book "sharn, city of towers" than it is allready built for you. however- it is one of the most difficult cities to play, mainlt due to it's heigths, and depths. it offers a unique setting, but might be overly complicated for he first time in eberron.
Korth/ Atur- all of Karrnath has a russian/ german feel (movei style, not reality. don't no one kill me please) about it- cold, militaristic, patriotic. it might be a good base for more "pommel happy" characters. there could be intrigue between the court of Kaius III, the multitude of warlords, the merald claw, and the blood of vol. this is one of the nations where strength of arms may prove as an acceptable way to solve things. this however, is also true to the character's enemies.
stormreach- personally i'm not a fan of it. most of the flavour of Eberron is kind of lost there for new players. an utterly frontier town, focused on the dealings with the various Xenderic races, mostly the Drow (in their new incarnation- sort of african- aborignees. probalby spelled that wrong). it's far more like the "traditional" type of DnD: base town, go explore ruins, kill "barbaric monsters", get loot and go home. but, that is but my opinion.
New Cyre- a truly unique starting point: home to masses of displaced peole, jsut building a new home, a tremendeous catastrophe upon them. there are numerous possibilities here (in town. you can easely come up with out of town)- a new religion, renoincing the old gods. political games, now that the old monarchy is gone (not everyone may accept the new "prince of cyre"), arguments and movements as to whether carve a new land, reclaim the mournland, find the culprits and avenge, join the people of Q'barra, forge a new land in X'enderic... it's a small town, with th amenities of a far bigger one (all the dragonmarked houses have represetatives there).
Rhukaan Draal- capital of Darguun, the nation of goblinoids. this is a perfect city to start in if your party are hell raisers. street fight are common, the law enforcements are tough, and there are many power mongers who'd happily hire/ use people who stab first, ask questions later. the party could be merceneries of the blademarks, or outlaws, or working for another house. there are plenty of politics betwee ntribes, clans, and the other countries. this could be an ineresting combination between savagry, more sopihiticated goblinoids, and the various organizations of Eberron seeking Darguun resources (other countries, Aurum, Druid, Cyrian avengers, and more). the problem is that there is very, very little info on the region.
Lahzzar principalities- similar to other frontier regions, but far, far more focused on the Pirating aspect. it doesn't realy have much of the Eberron feel to it. (the warforged at least will enjoy not drowning... meeting a Kraken severl hundred feet lower is another concern)
Grey Wall- in Droaam, it's a bit similar to Rhukaan Draal a "monster" city who tries to welceom the world. it's amongst the most interesting cities to run and play (mostly due to the enourmeous racial diversity, which is far from homogeneous), but it's a realy tough place to begin in, especially for gung-ho PC's. ("they killed Urfat! call the harpy squadron! oh, and summon some minotaurs, just to be sure..."). the Droaam angel is heavy on battle, magic, weird magic and mystery, but also on the pain. if your characters are still bloodthirsty, but some what more discreet, this might be the place.
fair haven/ aundair- a much more relaxed, "famroer growing crops in the sun" type of country. but far heavier on intrigue and espionage (especially "the queen's eyes"). fair haven is one of the simplest "big towns" out there, and you can add to it as needed. Arcanix can provide all kinds of "magic out of control" plot hooks, and the Eldeen reaches is a constant source of tension and envy, with Druids either as antagonists, or framed as antagonists.

ok, enough for now. hope this helps. if you have any more concrete ideas/ questions, let us know

Runa
2008-03-16, 03:39 PM
My 2 cents is this: Ask them.

Ask them where they would like it to be set. Set aside your first session and just talk about setting and characters, and what they want and what they think would be fun to explore. Bring the ideas you have to the table and talk about them. Ask them if there's anything they're particularly interested in. Talk about ways their characters might have known each other before the campaign starts. Talk about NPCs. Throw in some of your ideas, have them add theirs and come with some relationships to the NPCs.

This whole idea of every player going off and creating their character in a void, and then coming to the table expecting to jump into a setting the DM has gone off and made in a void and then expecting a coherent story to result is bound to end frustration a lot more often than in satisfaction.

Ironically, that's not the "whole idea". :smalltongue: I forgot to mention that I AM asking them for a bit more background, and asking them to email me copies of their character sheets before we ever start. And I do kind of know these people, since they're all friends of mine. Some of them are "experience/treasure-happy", others just like goofy fun stuff to happen, and I'll probably try to work a little of both in.


The question is "what kind of story do you want to tell?" That would help narrow down where to set the action. A mostly lawless Wild West-type story? Try Stormreach (on Xen'drik). Diplomatic intrigue? Aundair, Karrnath, Thrane, or Breland. Piratey goodness? The Lhazaar Principalities. Dungeon crawl? Pretty much anywhere, but Goradra Gap in the Mror Holds offers access to Khyber. Fighting horrors? The Demon Wastes or the Mournland. Necromancy? Karrnath. BBEG story? Sharn's a good place for that.

Skim chapter seven, "Life in the World", of the Eberron Campaign Setting. It should give you plenty of ideas for where to set a story. The sections for each region offer a number of story ideas too.

Remember, Eberron's designed to be flexible, so don't be afraid to mix it up. If you want a city run by an openly vampiric ruler who's beloved by his/her (living) subjects, make one!

This is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. :smallredface: Chapter references, general tips on the kinds of places best suited to certain campaign styles... AWESOME. Very helpful, I know a lot more of where to look for ideas now. Thank you. :smallsmile:


If you've got 2-3 psionic characters in the party, you should be able to drop them into the conflict between the kalashtar and the Inspired. Read up on the quori, and Riedra/the Inspired.

Q'Barra might be an interesting place to start the game. It has towns rather than cities, but the inhabitants stick pretty close to those towns for the most part due to the lizardfolk, and there are Inspired garrisons there.

If you want a big city, Sharn is the obvious place. It's the biggest city on Khorvaire.

Ah, I think one of the Psionic characters may even BE a Kalashtar or quori (heck, maybe one of each), or at least they were looking at them, so that's a definite possibility.


first of all, i'll emphasize some things the others said:
- read chapter seven of Eberron campaign setting. it will give you a good feel. i suggest that all your players read it, but i'll get to that in a minute...
- ask your players for the sort of play they want, and be sure of what sotry you're aiming for. however, you can run most ype of stories in most cities.

That is a very good idea, since part of my pitch for this campaign was flexibility on the plot. :smallbiggrin:

I'll definitely be digging out my main Eberron book today. At least one of my players has already emailed me his character sheet, and I know he's got access to the book, so I can make the suggestion to him already to check out that chapter.



ok, i've been an Eberron fan for some time, so here are soem suggestions:
1) have your players read some of the background material. i had a group in which half read it, and half didn't... you could realy feel the difference. Eberron is far different from the FR setting, both in rules, culture, and flavour. some challanges you might face due to this:
- the party doesn't know the dragon marked houses. while some DMs like to ignore them, i do feel they add a special feel to the world, as well as it's most advanced services.

I think most of them have access to the setting book, or at least they've got one or two people who can lend it to them now, so that should work. There's maybe one guy out of the whole of them who I'd have to worry about not knowing the background of the world, and if push comes to shove I can just verbally update him on it, since I see him on campus a lot.



- in Eberron you're power to be reckoned with on level 8, in FR you're just one of the crowd. Warforged are not robots (let the palyers reading them read "races of eberron"), and are a challange to roleplay, and psionics have the dreaming dark to deal with...

Ah, yes. The level thing. I had previously been advised by a large and enthusiastic contingint of more experienced DMs to not set it above the lower levels, heh. Which is why it starts level 1. :smallwink:

My Warforged players have at least glanced through RoE, but I might have to go through and read the entry on them in more detail.



- ambiguity: all of eberron- orgenizations, religions, alignments, dragons, and so, are vague in their relations and alignements. players used to other setting might find this daunting or confusing.

I think that might have been a little of the appeal in Eberron for them. At the same time, I could see them being a little confused or annoyed from time to time with NPCs being "more vague" like that. Something to watch out for, I'm sure.



- resources: airship and lightning rail, to start with. but remember also that the higher level spells and services (5 and up usually) are very, very, very rare.

So I've heard, though it's good to be reminded of it.



2)- as to starting cities:
Sharn- if you can get the book "sharn, city of towers" than it is allready built for you. however- it is one of the most difficult cities to play, mainlt due to it's heigths, and depths. it offers a unique setting, but might be overly complicated for he first time in eberron.
Korth/ Atur- all of Karrnath has a russian/ german feel (movei style, not reality. don't no one kill me please) about it- cold, militaristic, patriotic. it might be a good base for more "pommel happy" characters. there could be intrigue between the court of Kaius III, the multitude of warlords, the merald claw, and the blood of vol. this is one of the nations where strength of arms may prove as an acceptable way to solve things. this however, is also true to the character's enemies.
stormreach- personally i'm not a fan of it. most of the flavour of Eberron is kind of lost there for new players. an utterly frontier town, focused on the dealings with the various Xenderic races, mostly the Drow (in their new incarnation- sort of african- aborignees. probalby spelled that wrong). it's far more like the "traditional" type of DnD: base town, go explore ruins, kill "barbaric monsters", get loot and go home. but, that is but my opinion.
New Cyre- a truly unique starting point: home to masses of displaced peole, jsut building a new home, a tremendeous catastrophe upon them. there are numerous possibilities here (in town. you can easely come up with out of town)- a new religion, renoincing the old gods. political games, now that the old monarchy is gone (not everyone may accept the new "prince of cyre"), arguments and movements as to whether carve a new land, reclaim the mournland, find the culprits and avenge, join the people of Q'barra, forge a new land in X'enderic... it's a small town, with th amenities of a far bigger one (all the dragonmarked houses have represetatives there).
Rhukaan Draal- capital of Darguun, the nation of goblinoids. this is a perfect city to start in if your party are hell raisers. street fight are common, the law enforcements are tough, and there are many power mongers who'd happily hire/ use people who stab first, ask questions later. the party could be merceneries of the blademarks, or outlaws, or working for another house. there are plenty of politics betwee ntribes, clans, and the other countries. this could be an ineresting combination between savagry, more sopihiticated goblinoids, and the various organizations of Eberron seeking Darguun resources (other countries, Aurum, Druid, Cyrian avengers, and more). the problem is that there is very, very little info on the region.
Lahzzar principalities- similar to other frontier regions, but far, far more focused on the Pirating aspect. it doesn't realy have much of the Eberron feel to it. (the warforged at least will enjoy not drowning... meeting a Kraken severl hundred feet lower is another concern)
Grey Wall- in Droaam, it's a bit similar to Rhukaan Draal a "monster" city who tries to welceom the world. it's amongst the most interesting cities to run and play (mostly due to the enourmeous racial diversity, which is far from homogeneous), but it's a realy tough place to begin in, especially for gung-ho PC's. ("they killed Urfat! call the harpy squadron! oh, and summon some minotaurs, just to be sure..."). the Droaam angel is heavy on battle, magic, weird magic and mystery, but also on the pain. if your characters are still bloodthirsty, but some what more discreet, this might be the place.
fair haven/ aundair- a much more relaxed, "famroer growing crops in the sun" type of country. but far heavier on intrigue and espionage (especially "the queen's eyes"). fair haven is one of the simplest "big towns" out there, and you can add to it as needed. Arcanix can provide all kinds of "magic out of control" plot hooks, and the Eldeen reaches is a constant source of tension and envy, with Druids either as antagonists, or framed as antagonists.

ok, enough for now. hope this helps. if you have any more concrete ideas/ questions, let us know

New Cyre in particular intrigues me. Is there info to found on that one in Five Nations? (I don't have either copy of FN with me this very moment, so I can't look for it just yet unless it's in the main campaign setting book)

Coincidentally, quick update on books I have: I do indeed have a copy of Player's Guide to Eberron, and I also have Secrets of Xen'drik (the latter of which is home with me right now).

You guys are already a BIG help. :smallsmile: I have many more ideas now that I can approach my PCs with. Thankfully, we still have a couple of weeks of others' campaigns to go through first, but I can give them a bit at the end of the night this week or next week on the cool options they have and books they may want to flip through. Which is already an improvement. :smallbiggrin:

-Runa

Kol Korran
2008-03-16, 04:34 PM
New Cyre in particular intrigues me. Is there info to found on that one in Five Nations? (I don't have either copy of FN with me this very moment, so I can't look for it just yet unless it's in the main campaign setting book)

there is a bit about it in five nations and the ECS, but nothing more. however, i once planned a campaign in which New Cyre was to be the "home town". i looked through my files, and i still have two basic word files, detailing some major characters, places, and so on (far from complete, but may be a good start). i can send it to you, if you wish.
i have NO idea hwo to send files here (and i'd rather have your permission anyway. some people are highly protective about their addresses). let me know.

crimson77
2008-03-16, 06:51 PM
Anyway, so... yeah. Advice? Pointers? Suggestions, anyone?


I am going to start with some general advice and an observation of what I have seen many times with new DMs.

The observation is that many new DMs focus entirely on combat with little regard for story. Thus, many players when joining a new DM's campaign will go for more of the combat orientated builds.

The second observation is that many players like to haze a new DM by making powerful builds and essentially break that DMs campaign.

There are many reasons why either of these may occur, but be prepared for the latter and try not to make your game the former since it seems that you are more interested in the former.


The problem with #4 is, I offered to DM for "story-making" reasons, and had hoped for more "roleplaying options" (by which I mean, I had lots of general story possibilities for a party made of rogues, bards, paladins, or other people with more backstory than "I like to smash things". Even the 1-3 people normally guaranteed to do things like bard or paladin, that could have spiced up the group's diversity, did not go that route this time for some reason).

Just because you have a party filled with combat-oriented builds does not mean that the campaign cannot be more story-oriented. Require good back stories as apart of character creation. Do not accept a character into the campaign with a shallow back story. Require each player to have a minimum of three story hooks.

Focus the campaign on the story ideas you have and place the players in situations where there are many different ways to handle combat.