Eberron. [possible spoilers for my group]

[rollfrenzy]

First, thank you to everyone for the advice on a previous thread, you helped give me some confidence and some ideas to help me on my way.

I have decided to take the Reigns as DM soon and have decided to run an Eberron game. I will limit the Pc's to Eberron and core only, if they really HAVE to, a few other things if they are pre-aproved.

What I was wondering is...

1) What are some of the themes and ideas you like to explore in your games, especially in Eberron, but in general too.

2) What are some places in Eberron, or otherwise if they would fit in Eberron that I should look into or that might make good encounters / visits?

3)Any general advice on running an Eberron game.

[Tellah]

Waaaay too broad. What kind of game are your players looking for?

[rollfrenzy]

They are pretty open about the game style. I was just looking for some talking points to get me into the Dm mind frame and to start getting a feel for both Eberron and where I want to take my campiagn. I guess i could have been more specific.

[Nerd-o-rama]

1) In Eberron, I have a habit of playing up the political intrigue. Almost any power group in Khorvaire could have a vested interest in any given adventure. House Cannith and the Emerald Claw are popular, partly because they're the focus of most of the published adventures. The whole continent's basically inter-War or Cold War Europe, with plenty of external forces (demons, Riedra, breakaway nations like Valenar and Darguun) ready to pounce if they have the opportunity.

Other good themes are destiny (the Draconic Prophecy), exploration (particularly of Xen'drik), religious conflict (why don't I ever see non-heretical/corrupt Silver Flame priests anyway?), low level detective novel-style intrigue, technological innovation, etc. Just throwing out ideas I like.

2) The core Eberron Campaign Setting contains a lot of useful ideas. The whole world is basically set up as a map full of adventuring locations tied together in a semi-feasible political map (as opposed to the Forgotten Realms, which was originally designed as a coherent world, and then the adventure was added). The Explorer's Handbook, Five Nations, Secrets of Xen'drik and Secrets of Sarlona supplements are all about new and interesting adventure locations. There's far too much out there for me to start rattling off specifics.

3) Make sure your players remember they have Action Points, and encourage them to roleplay out the "coolness factor" of using them. Read the Action Point section in the ECS for examples. Remember that your players are small fish in a big pond, at least to start with. There's a whole world of war and intrigue going on around them, and that things will often develop off-camera. On the other hand, also remember that your players are Big Damn Heroes, and they'll eventually rise to prominence. Eberron doesn't have a lot of high-level characters running around. Most of the prime movers and shakers among the mortal world are level 10 at the highest. As the players gain notoriety and XP, they're going to become bigger and bigger celebrities, particularly if they set back or take down major threats to civilization, like the Lord of Blades. Of course, some of the NPCs will advance as well, but not at the same kind of rate as standard PCs. Finally, don't let your players read the whole setting book. Some of the more fluff-oriented chapters are full of unmarked spoilers, like

Spoiler

Show

King Kaius III is really the vampiric Kaius I, the Emerald Claw are controlled by the Blood of Vol's corrupt undead hierarchy

And perhaps ironically, the Player's Guide to Eberron is even worse. Be careful if your players like to metagame.

[Tellah]

The Eberron campaign I played in started out in Sharn, which I thought was a great move. It's a big stinkin' metropolis with lots of little plot threads running through it, so you can drop out little teasers alluding to events around the world and see what your players pick up. It lends itself particularly well to the detective noir atmosphere Nerd-o-rama mentioned, so if you have a player running a rogue, see if you can encourage him to become an Inquisitive.

Your players' race and class choices will tell you most of what you need to know about the plots they'll want to pick up. If you've got 3 low-level Valenar elves, for instance, they'll probably want to join a military expedition of some kind. If someone rolls up a Druid, plan on doing something with Kyber or one of the planes.

[rollfrenzy]

Great starting points guys.

So As part of an ongoing thing I am thinking of writing like a one page Kranneberg Chronicler, each week that will float some vague world hints and plot hooks and see what the Pc's jump on.

I like the idea of starting in sharn, I guess that depends on Who the PC's are. (although you said that).

[ArmorArmadillo]

The way I see it, Eberron is about NOT being every other fantasy setting, and not being every other fantasy game.

Start with the Last War, and have everything kind of unwind from there; focus on things being different from what players expect (evil Clerics of good deities, isolated communities of peaceful werewolves) but don't "Drizzit" it and have everything just be different to be different. (Don't have CG Drow, have LE Drow who happen to coincide with the player's interests.)

Eberron is a great setting, read the books and learn to rely on the great plot structures that are presented to you; and try to have your campaign travel. There are a lot of nations, and a lot to see, so take advantage of all that there is available.

[bingo_bob]

I find Xen'drik to be one of the more interesting parts of Eberron, and exploration there can make for an incredible story, if done right. For example, make rations really matter. They're in the middle of the jungle, so they'd better come prepared. Having someone with ranks in survival is quite key. Making them part of an expedition can really be cool, too. You can set up some really well fleshed-out NPCs this way, since you know that they'll be sticking around for quite a while, and won't just be occassionally touched on. They'll be along with you for the jouney, not just in between dungeons. They'll be weaker than the PCs, of course, but their presence will be felt, and appreciated. You can also create some high-impact death scenes, without killing off a PC.

In general, I would say that the continents are best at various levels.

Khorvaire besides the Mournland or Demon Wastes: Low (1-5)
Mournland: Medium-Low (4-6)
Xen'Drik: Medium levels (High-ish single digits, to very low double digits, though you should be careful about leveling if you plan on bringing them back to Khorvaire, so that they're still below the major enemies)
Khyber: Medium (low teens)
Demon Wastes: Medium-High (Low to Mid-teens)
Argonessen: HIGH. As a general rule, send them here only rarely, because flavor-wise, the dragons won't be pleased with them staying too long, and they'll be mostly on their own here.

I don't really consider Sarlona to be that great of a location for a campaign, unless you want stealth and spy missions up the wazzoo, with very little combat.

All in all, I recommend Xen'drik the most.