Great job love the podcast. It helps me understand Eberron more and why I love the setting.
Thank you!
I can't wait until you guys deep dive the Prophesy! If it's another hour and a half episode you won't hear any complaints from me...lol
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I listened to the podcast, reading through the material - but I'm still not quite grasping something... Dragonmarked Houses truly seems like they never really had to give into Galifar. Still have a lot of reading, but from what Keith said, Galifar apparently needed them to agree or his united kingdom would not have happened.
I'm going to just assume they had no interest in joint ruling an empire, or were not quite united to do so? Hmmm... Ill wrap my tiny mind around this eventually! lol! Thanks!
I listened to the podcast, reading through the material - but I'm still not quite grasping something... Dragonmarked Houses truly seems like they never really had to give into Galifar. Still have a lot of reading, but from what Keith said, Galifar apparently needed them to agree or his united kingdom would not have happened.
I'm going to just assume they had no interest in joint ruling an empire, or were not quite united to do so? Hmmm... Ill wrap my tiny mind around this eventually! lol! Thanks!
Remember that Galifar was vastly more powerful than them at the time. The Houses hadn't been around long, and things like Lighting Rail, Sending Stones, etc didn't exist yet.
They were in no position to refuse the sole, unified, political and military power on the continent. Even now they have to be somewhat careful, because if they go too far they could cause 2 or more nations to unite against them, and potentially weaken the position of the other houses, or cause the other houses to choose between the rogue house and their best contracts.
Perfect... I dont know why it didnt pop up in my podcast feed but Im on vaca this week and this will be perfect to listen to when I am lazing in the hammock... :)
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I guess I'm one of the few here that knew Eberron first thanks to 4e (But on the other hand, I basically started playing D&D with 4e). Never played an Eberron campaign, though I did borrow a lot of the 4e Campaign Guide and Player's Guide for my 4e campaigns (I even allowed Warforged in Dark Sun... purist are going to kill me :p ).
I'm preparing a mini-campaign in Eberron for my gaming group, though I don't feel I've grasped the "Eberron feel"... as in, I don't know how to make my Eberron campaign feel different from a Realms campaign...
I guess I'm one of the few here that knew Eberron first thanks to 4e (But on the other hand, I basically started playing D&D with 4e). Never played an Eberron campaign, though I did borrow a lot of the 4e Campaign Guide and Player's Guide for my 4e campaigns (I even allowed Warforged in Dark Sun... purist are going to kill me :p ).
I'm preparing a mini-campaign in Eberron for my gaming group, though I don't feel I've grasped the "Eberron feel"... as in, I don't know how to make my Eberron campaign feel different from a Realms campaign...
If you have the ability, Zero, check out Manifest Zones podcasts. Even with all my Eberron experience, their shows have really opened my eyes on what Eberron is and should be. And the great thing about it is that not only does it have experienced DM's and players but also Keith Baker, the man, the myth, the legendary creator of Eberron!
Also, a good rule of thumb is to step away from the high fantasy of the Realms and ground your game in the technology in the world of Eberron, the people and their ideals. Eberron differs from the Realms as in the world is connected via the Dragonic Prophecy. Plus the Last War and the Mournland, these are two huge events that have really changed the world and the people in it, and your campaign would be better off if you included these aspects. But the best way to start out an Eberron game, or any game in my opinion, keep it simple. Don't add everything Eberron into the first game sessions, take it slow and build up the world that your characters are slowly discovering. Obviously, give them the run down of the world but just keep it simple.
I understand your concern about stepping away from the Realms and giving your game in Eberron that "Eberron-feel", I used to have the same problem and still feel like I am learning new things after all these years. (Since it came out for 3.5) If you ever have any questions, we're here to try and help too. That's what's so great about the D&D community, we got each other's backs! :) Someone on this thread will answer you, I guarantee it.
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I'm going to second the idea of listening to Manifest Zone. Heck, even if you aren't a huge Eberron fan, it's a great way to get inside the head of a setting designer (Keith) to see what's in there. The hosts are tremendously professional and pretty much always on the mark for timing, clarity, etc. Just a fantastic podcast that feels like it has a high production value. If you've listened to very many podcasts, you know what I mean, even though it's just some guys sitting around talking.
As for actually using Eberron, I'd caution you that you don't have to use everything. There's a lot of stuff going on in the setting. Way more than can fit into a single campaign without it getting gonzo. Pick a starting point and let it go from there. My last campaign was to use Princes of the Apocalypse set at the border between Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches. Sharn was discussed, but not actually used. No one ever set foot on a lightning rail. Droam didn't come into play. No Vol or Emerald Claw. The Mouning didn't come into play.
House Orien was involved only as a backdrop. I changed the Mirabar delegation to being an Orien caravan that was trying to re-establish a route between Merylsward and Passage before Lyrandar had a chance to dominate the grain trade via a water route. We had no PCs from either house, so the actual interest was from House Phiarlan in seeing what the others were up to. It was all just flavor, though. The Element Cults were, technically, Cults of the Dragon Below, but that term never came into play. It was pretty low-key, over all. The big influence was that the Jorasco healer was more important than the Cleric and that I did things like substitute everburning torches for real ones throughout the dungeons (except for Water, who used real flames because they took a certain amount of pleasure in occasionally dousing the flame in the canal -- and Fire who, well, just like fire).
Oh, yeah. All the commoners were super distrustful of the Valaes Tairn warrior.
^^^That's a good DM with great advice right there! ^^^^
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
Yeah, something I've realized while reading is that Eberron is big. Not only its world, but also the loads of stuff you can do in the setting. I feel a little overwhelmed by information, in fact.
I'm not sure what course the campaign will take after the initial sessions (that will be a 5e version of the Mark of Prophecy), I'm deciding whether to gear the campaign about unravel the secrets of the Mourning or to do a campaign dealing with relic hunting...
One thing that I read in Keith's blog sparked my imagination, however:
No one knows what caused the Mourning, and until there is an answer, people are afraid to keep fighting… because one possibility is that it was the extensive use of war magic that triggered the Mourning, and that continued conflict could cause it to expand.
Now I want defiling magic in my Eberron campaign...
Relic hunting... That way you could incorporate the Mournland in a relic recovery mission... so they can get a taste of the evils behind the mist.But that's just my vote...lol But don't let it overwhelm you, just keep it small and simple at first. Small missions, small adventures and slowly build the map as you go...
What I like to do in my games is have newspaper articles. There is always a fresh news paper, so if a character reads it they might find out some good information. That's a good way to introduce the characters to the world at large but also keeping the world at large out of your game.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
But don't let it overwhelm you, just keep it small and simple at first.
Its kinda difficult when you read the chapter about Sharn in the 4e ECG and say "wow, you can run an entire campaign from levels 1-20 in Sharn without ever leaving the city"... and then found in DMGs guild that Sharn has its own sourcebook! No wonder why Eberron is one of the most popular settings despite being one of the "youngest".
Since you're around... what about the premade adventures? Are they good? Or it is enough with just the 4e books (and maybe the 3.5 ECS)?
I loved playing the modules. (I only played 3.5 mind you...) but they were really fun. If you don't mind a little conversion, I would highly recommend them. Having an aerial battle in Sharn was pretty sweet. I just ran the Forgotten Forge (the premade at the end of the 3.5 setting) and my players loved it. Just wanted to dip their toe in the waters until my Eberron campaign is built. (We take turns running and my buddy is running Strahd right now...which is fun too...lol) I know there's a lot...and it all is so awesome. They really put lot of work into that system. Just pick the thing you like the best and forget the rest. The sourcebook for Sharn is out of this world. I recommend checking that out just to see how D&D does this huge metropolis and does it right!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
But don't let it overwhelm you, just keep it small and simple at first.
Its kinda difficult when you read the chapter about Sharn in the 4e ECG and say "wow, you can run an entire campaign from levels 1-20 in Sharn without ever leaving the city"... and then found in DMGs guild that Sharn has its own sourcebook! No wonder why Eberron is one of the most popular settings despite being one of the "youngest".
Since you're around... what about the premade adventures? Are they good? Or it is enough with just the 4e books (and maybe the 3.5 ECS)?
the 4e player book and the 3.5 campaign book will do ya fine, but for extra info, check out the dragonmarks articles on kieth bakers site, and the manifest.zone podcast.
Beyond edition specific stuff, what is the difference between the 3.5 ECS and the 4e Guides?
Presentation. The 4e player books is better presented, and shows places for some new races, while the 3.5 ECS is a better campaign guide. This is my opinion, but also that of Baker, who made the setting.
Also, take Forge of War and Five Kingdoms with grains of salt, bc Kieth worked on neither, and disagrees steonfy with some of what they say.
There are some other things, too. I'm really stretching to remember 4E -- the rules changes never really "clicked" with me -- but I think the Dragonmarks were very much less about getting spell-like abilities and more about being better at skills and also having some ritual perks. I may be wrong about the details, but I do know that I didn't like them and railed against them on EN World. I remember it because Keith was active there, at the time, and actually (very, very nicely) put me in my place by pointing out that the 4E Dragonmarks actually looked, in some ways, more like his initial concept than the 3.5 versions did. At the time, I was left scratching my head about it. Since getting rid of all the 4E stuff I owned (it was all gone within 12 months), I kind of regret not taking a closer look at the Eberron stuff. That is especially true as I consider converting it for play in the Fate system.
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Great job love the podcast. It helps me understand Eberron more and why I love the setting.
~ Kristian
Manifest Zone
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I listened to the podcast, reading through the material - but I'm still not quite grasping something...
Dragonmarked Houses truly seems like they never really had to give into Galifar.
Still have a lot of reading, but from what Keith said, Galifar apparently needed them to agree or his united kingdom would not have happened.
I'm going to just assume they had no interest in joint ruling an empire, or were not quite united to do so? Hmmm... Ill wrap my tiny mind around this eventually! lol!
Thanks!
We do bones, motherf***ker!
Episode 04 - Religion is up!
~ Kristian
Manifest Zone
We do bones, motherf***ker!
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I guess I'm one of the few here that knew Eberron first thanks to 4e (But on the other hand, I basically started playing D&D with 4e). Never played an Eberron campaign, though I did borrow a lot of the 4e Campaign Guide and Player's Guide for my 4e campaigns (I even allowed Warforged in Dark Sun... purist are going to kill me :p ).
I'm preparing a mini-campaign in Eberron for my gaming group, though I don't feel I've grasped the "Eberron feel"... as in, I don't know how to make my Eberron campaign feel different from a Realms campaign...
Time fades even legend...
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I'm going to second the idea of listening to Manifest Zone. Heck, even if you aren't a huge Eberron fan, it's a great way to get inside the head of a setting designer (Keith) to see what's in there. The hosts are tremendously professional and pretty much always on the mark for timing, clarity, etc. Just a fantastic podcast that feels like it has a high production value. If you've listened to very many podcasts, you know what I mean, even though it's just some guys sitting around talking.
As for actually using Eberron, I'd caution you that you don't have to use everything. There's a lot of stuff going on in the setting. Way more than can fit into a single campaign without it getting gonzo. Pick a starting point and let it go from there. My last campaign was to use Princes of the Apocalypse set at the border between Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches. Sharn was discussed, but not actually used. No one ever set foot on a lightning rail. Droam didn't come into play. No Vol or Emerald Claw. The Mouning didn't come into play.
House Orien was involved only as a backdrop. I changed the Mirabar delegation to being an Orien caravan that was trying to re-establish a route between Merylsward and Passage before Lyrandar had a chance to dominate the grain trade via a water route. We had no PCs from either house, so the actual interest was from House Phiarlan in seeing what the others were up to. It was all just flavor, though. The Element Cults were, technically, Cults of the Dragon Below, but that term never came into play. It was pretty low-key, over all. The big influence was that the Jorasco healer was more important than the Cleric and that I did things like substitute everburning torches for real ones throughout the dungeons (except for Water, who used real flames because they took a certain amount of pleasure in occasionally dousing the flame in the canal -- and Fire who, well, just like fire).
Oh, yeah. All the commoners were super distrustful of the Valaes Tairn warrior.
^^^That's a good DM with great advice right there! ^^^^
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
Yeah, something I've realized while reading is that Eberron is big. Not only its world, but also the loads of stuff you can do in the setting. I feel a little overwhelmed by information, in fact.
I'm not sure what course the campaign will take after the initial sessions (that will be a 5e version of the Mark of Prophecy), I'm deciding whether to gear the campaign about unravel the secrets of the Mourning or to do a campaign dealing with relic hunting...
One thing that I read in Keith's blog sparked my imagination, however:
Now I want defiling magic in my Eberron campaign...
Time fades even legend...
Relic hunting... That way you could incorporate the Mournland in a relic recovery mission... so they can get a taste of the evils behind the mist.But that's just my vote...lol But don't let it overwhelm you, just keep it small and simple at first. Small missions, small adventures and slowly build the map as you go...
What I like to do in my games is have newspaper articles. There is always a fresh news paper, so if a character reads it they might find out some good information. That's a good way to introduce the characters to the world at large but also keeping the world at large out of your game.
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
Time fades even legend...
I loved playing the modules. (I only played 3.5 mind you...) but they were really fun. If you don't mind a little conversion, I would highly recommend them. Having an aerial battle in Sharn was pretty sweet. I just ran the Forgotten Forge (the premade at the end of the 3.5 setting) and my players loved it. Just wanted to dip their toe in the waters until my Eberron campaign is built. (We take turns running and my buddy is running Strahd right now...which is fun too...lol) I know there's a lot...and it all is so awesome. They really put lot of work into that system. Just pick the thing you like the best and forget the rest. The sourcebook for Sharn is out of this world. I recommend checking that out just to see how D&D does this huge metropolis and does it right!
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
We do bones, motherf***ker!
Beyond edition specific stuff, what is the difference between the 3.5 ECS and the 4e Guides?
Time fades even legend...
We do bones, motherf***ker!
There are some other things, too. I'm really stretching to remember 4E -- the rules changes never really "clicked" with me -- but I think the Dragonmarks were very much less about getting spell-like abilities and more about being better at skills and also having some ritual perks. I may be wrong about the details, but I do know that I didn't like them and railed against them on EN World. I remember it because Keith was active there, at the time, and actually (very, very nicely) put me in my place by pointing out that the 4E Dragonmarks actually looked, in some ways, more like his initial concept than the 3.5 versions did. At the time, I was left scratching my head about it. Since getting rid of all the 4E stuff I owned (it was all gone within 12 months), I kind of regret not taking a closer look at the Eberron stuff. That is especially true as I consider converting it for play in the Fate system.