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Anime Eberron
- Thread starter Night Goat
- Start date
hakuroshi
Augur
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2006
- Messages
- 589
This!Birthright is the choice for a discerning monocled gentleman, who for some reason cannot into Eberron.
Birthright is how medieval fantasy setting should be done. That's actually what Eberron doesn't do (and doesn't intend to) as it goes to more modern feel and themes.
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Mystara is like Greyhawk: a fantasy setting painted in broad strokes.What about Mystara and Dark Sun? I know that DS is very unique in it's post-apoc style, but I was wondering about Mystara, the base for one of the best beat em' ups in history.
Dark Sun add a lot of stuff, including new races, messes up classes, empathises psionics, has the whole Defiler/Preserver mage mechanic and has the hassle with water.
Keldryn
Arcane
One thing about Eberron that can't be overstated is the degree to which it is designed around low-level to mid-level play. At first glance, it may appear to be a high-powered, over-the-top, magic-heavy setting. But it really isn't.
The setting is unique because it was the first setting explictly designed for the D&D 3.5 rules, and the assumptions and implications of the 3.5 ruleset are actually very different from those of AD&D.
Low-level magic is common and cheap, and thus it influences every aspect of society. But higher-level magic is exceptionally rare, unlike the Forgotten Realms or even Greyhawk. There simply aren't that many individuals who can cast 5th-level or higher spells, and those few that can are major players in the world. There are no archmages living in small farming villages across the land. IIRC, in the original 3.5 Campaign Setting book, there are virtually no NPCs above 12th level or so, and if there are any, they are villains.
There are plenty of more powerful magical effects in the setting which allow for the skyships, the lightning rail, the towers of Sharn, etc, but they are not the result of spells, so there is a lot of design space for cool world-building concepts without putting yet another tool in PC spellcasters' hands.
Eberron has the best take on religion that I've seen in any D&D setting. First off, it mostly ditches the "cleric of the god of X" paradigm. The dominant religion is The Sovereign Host, which is a pantheon of nine deities of good and neutral alignment who are typically worshipped as a whole. You know, much like how pantheistic religions on Earth actually worked, where people revered the gods as a group and paid tribute to a particular god when they wanted his or her blessing. There is a goddess of community and the hearth, which is pretty much a requirement for any believable fantasy pantheon. There are no stupid gods, like "god of thieves," "god of good-aligned dark elves," "god of monks," or "god of orcs, but not goblins or hobgoblins." Then there are The Dark Six, the destructive and mostly evil gods who were cast out of the Sovereign Host. When they were exiled, they were also stripped of their names, and now are only known by their titles: The Devourer, The Fury, The Mockery, The Shadow, The Keeper, and The Traveler (who is not evil or destructive, but represents chaos and change). Unlike the gods of the Sovereign Host, the Dark Six are typically worshipped individually.
The major competing religion is The Silver Flame, which is a Lawful Good religion dedicated to stamping out evil -- particularly demons and lycanthropes (hey wait, isn't there a new PC race of shifters who carry the bloodline of were-creatures?). The Silver Flame originally brought lightness to the world when it was overrun by demons, but it was too pure for the flawed mortals of the world until a noble warrior sacrificed her life to destroy a powerful demon lord. Her soul joined with the Silver Flame, and she became the voice of the flame to the pure of heart. The nation of Thrane is a theocracy devoted to the Silver Flame. Here's a Lawful Good organization that you can easily use as an antagonist. And if you don't mind a spoiler
You've also got the elves practicing ancestor worship, either by honoring their spirits (the warlike Valenar elves) or by animating them after death, preserving their wisdom for eternity (the elves of Aerenal). The faithful of The Blood of Vol (mostly humans) worship the divinity (the blood) within all mortal beings (big surprise: there is more to it than that, and if you suspect that it's not all sunshine and roses...)
As you may have noticed, I really, really like Eberron's take on religion. I can't help but wonder if Keith Baker was inspired by Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous.
The 3.5 books are the best overall (skip The Magic of Eberron unless you're playing 3.5 though, as it's pretty mechanics-heavy), but I do think the 4e books are worth owning if you can get them cheap. The Eberron Player's Guide is definitely on the crunchy side, but there are some decent backgrounds towards the end of the book that could be worked into full-fledged 5e backgrounds, or simply used as inspiration for character backstory. The Eberron Campaign Guide has a really nice world map, and on the whole I think it's a better book for setting up a campaign than is the 3.5 Campaign Setting. The 3.5 book is still great, but as pure setting material (ignoring mechanics), I give the edge to the 4e Campaign Guide.
As D&D settings go, I think Eberron is by far the most coherent and well thought-out of the bunch. Dark Sun is up there too, but I think it is more difficult to translate between editions of D&D.
The Forgotten Realms was actually a pretty good setting when it was first published (the old "grey box" in 1987). NPC power levels were much less ridiculous and there were fewer real world analogue cultures shoehorned in. The Avatar Trilogy ("Time of Troubles") was where it all went to shit (in 1989).
The setting is unique because it was the first setting explictly designed for the D&D 3.5 rules, and the assumptions and implications of the 3.5 ruleset are actually very different from those of AD&D.
Low-level magic is common and cheap, and thus it influences every aspect of society. But higher-level magic is exceptionally rare, unlike the Forgotten Realms or even Greyhawk. There simply aren't that many individuals who can cast 5th-level or higher spells, and those few that can are major players in the world. There are no archmages living in small farming villages across the land. IIRC, in the original 3.5 Campaign Setting book, there are virtually no NPCs above 12th level or so, and if there are any, they are villains.
There are plenty of more powerful magical effects in the setting which allow for the skyships, the lightning rail, the towers of Sharn, etc, but they are not the result of spells, so there is a lot of design space for cool world-building concepts without putting yet another tool in PC spellcasters' hands.
Eberron has the best take on religion that I've seen in any D&D setting. First off, it mostly ditches the "cleric of the god of X" paradigm. The dominant religion is The Sovereign Host, which is a pantheon of nine deities of good and neutral alignment who are typically worshipped as a whole. You know, much like how pantheistic religions on Earth actually worked, where people revered the gods as a group and paid tribute to a particular god when they wanted his or her blessing. There is a goddess of community and the hearth, which is pretty much a requirement for any believable fantasy pantheon. There are no stupid gods, like "god of thieves," "god of good-aligned dark elves," "god of monks," or "god of orcs, but not goblins or hobgoblins." Then there are The Dark Six, the destructive and mostly evil gods who were cast out of the Sovereign Host. When they were exiled, they were also stripped of their names, and now are only known by their titles: The Devourer, The Fury, The Mockery, The Shadow, The Keeper, and The Traveler (who is not evil or destructive, but represents chaos and change). Unlike the gods of the Sovereign Host, the Dark Six are typically worshipped individually.
The major competing religion is The Silver Flame, which is a Lawful Good religion dedicated to stamping out evil -- particularly demons and lycanthropes (hey wait, isn't there a new PC race of shifters who carry the bloodline of were-creatures?). The Silver Flame originally brought lightness to the world when it was overrun by demons, but it was too pure for the flawed mortals of the world until a noble warrior sacrificed her life to destroy a powerful demon lord. Her soul joined with the Silver Flame, and she became the voice of the flame to the pure of heart. The nation of Thrane is a theocracy devoted to the Silver Flame. Here's a Lawful Good organization that you can easily use as an antagonist. And if you don't mind a spoiler
that powerful demon lord was also bound to the Silver Flame and he whispers to the faithful, subtly manipulating them to commit evil deeds in the name of doing good
You've also got the elves practicing ancestor worship, either by honoring their spirits (the warlike Valenar elves) or by animating them after death, preserving their wisdom for eternity (the elves of Aerenal). The faithful of The Blood of Vol (mostly humans) worship the divinity (the blood) within all mortal beings (big surprise: there is more to it than that, and if you suspect that it's not all sunshine and roses...)
As you may have noticed, I really, really like Eberron's take on religion. I can't help but wonder if Keith Baker was inspired by Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous.
The 3.5 books are the best overall (skip The Magic of Eberron unless you're playing 3.5 though, as it's pretty mechanics-heavy), but I do think the 4e books are worth owning if you can get them cheap. The Eberron Player's Guide is definitely on the crunchy side, but there are some decent backgrounds towards the end of the book that could be worked into full-fledged 5e backgrounds, or simply used as inspiration for character backstory. The Eberron Campaign Guide has a really nice world map, and on the whole I think it's a better book for setting up a campaign than is the 3.5 Campaign Setting. The 3.5 book is still great, but as pure setting material (ignoring mechanics), I give the edge to the 4e Campaign Guide.
As D&D settings go, I think Eberron is by far the most coherent and well thought-out of the bunch. Dark Sun is up there too, but I think it is more difficult to translate between editions of D&D.
The Forgotten Realms was actually a pretty good setting when it was first published (the old "grey box" in 1987). NPC power levels were much less ridiculous and there were fewer real world analogue cultures shoehorned in. The Avatar Trilogy ("Time of Troubles") was where it all went to shit (in 1989).
The Planes also work a bit differently in Eberron, seeping into the Material her and there and causing weird shit to happen. Not sure how this works though.
There's an infamous prestige class for the Druid to mess with this, called the Planar Shepherd. They can cause localized incursion of the Planes which can cause bizarre things to happen (time slows down in certain places or it speeds up) and grants them the ability to Wild Shape into creatures from said plane (and I think there's a plane that contains angels, demons and devils, giving you a nice selection). It's rather infamous because it's all but a straight upgrade from the regular Druid, letting you keep your spell progression, Wild Shape abilities and growth for you Animal Companion; the only two things you don't get are Disguise Self as an at-will power and you don't get to ignore the negative effects of aging (which should not be an issue either way in a normal campaign).
There's an infamous prestige class for the Druid to mess with this, called the Planar Shepherd. They can cause localized incursion of the Planes which can cause bizarre things to happen (time slows down in certain places or it speeds up) and grants them the ability to Wild Shape into creatures from said plane (and I think there's a plane that contains angels, demons and devils, giving you a nice selection). It's rather infamous because it's all but a straight upgrade from the regular Druid, letting you keep your spell progression, Wild Shape abilities and growth for you Animal Companion; the only two things you don't get are Disguise Self as an at-will power and you don't get to ignore the negative effects of aging (which should not be an issue either way in a normal campaign).
Keldryn
Arcane
What about Mystara and Dark Sun? I know that DS is very unique in it's post-apoc style, but I was wondering about Mystara, the base for one of the best beat em' ups in history.
Mystara is... for lack of a better word, "gonzo." It grew from a simple map with a sentence or two describing each nation in module X1 The Isle of Dread and the Expert Set to a world spanning multiple product lines.
The original map showed one corner of a continent, with nations that were mostly very transparent analogues of Earth civilizations: a Roman/Byzantine Empire (Thyatis), the Arabian lands, three Nordic kingdoms a few miles north of that Arabian desert, a plateau where Mongols roamed (due west of the Nordic lands), a medieval Italy, a Native American land (right next door to medieval Italy and the shire of Hobbits, er Halflings), etc. Plus Elfland, Dwarfland, and Halflingland, a nation of wizards, a wasteland where monsters lived, and a couple of island kingdoms that seemed to be merchant/pirate realms.
The Gazetteer series launched in 1987 and started detailing each of the nations on the original Expert Set map in detail (first, 64 pages, later up to 96 and 128 pages), beginning with The Grand Duchy of Karameikos. It relied heavily on background material first appearing in the excellent adventure B10 Night's Dark Terror, describing a newly-independent nation where the Duke was trying to secure his nation, keep the peace between the Thyatian settlers and the original Traladaran (medieval Eastern European) inhabitants, and keep his clearly-evil-but-he's-family cousin in check. This was a pretty fantastic product, and provided a level of detail never before seen in any TSR campaign settings (oh, but just you wait). It covered the physical and cultural traits of both human ethnicities, the religions of both human populations, economy and coinage, the military, the history of the land, notable personalities, factions, and adventure ideas. It also introduced a rudimentary skill system to the Basic/Expert D&D game.
The tone of the Gazetteers vary from one product to the next. Some are relatively serious, while others wander off into ridiculousness. Some are mostly serious but with increasing amounts of silliness creeping in. The Glantri book has a group of freedom fighters called the Elven Liberation Front, and one of the mage-princes likes to disguise himself as a wanderer named Manuel of the Plains. The Alfheim book details several elven clans, including one where the three leaders look almost exactly like Cutter, Leetah, and Skywise from Elfquest. The Ierendi book describes the entire island kingdom as essentially a tourist destination and theme park for rich adventurers.
It took several years, but the Gazetteer series eventually covered all of the lands on the original Expert Set map, as well as a boxed set for the Empires of Thyatis and Alphatia. During this run, it was revealed that the planet was actually hollow, containing another world with its own sun, and the Hollow World product line was launched. There was an ongoing series in Dragon Magazine in which an airship was exploring the other continents and correcting the world map provided in Set 4: Master Rules. These were later compiled and expanded, released in the Voyages of the Princess Ark boxed set.
There is some truly great stuff in the Mystara setting, and I can't help but love it, probably because I started with the Basic, Expert, and Companion sets and the adventures that accompanied them. The material varies widely in quality, as it was only later on that there was any guiding vision for the setting. The original map is somewhat incoherent to begin with, given the small size of the area and the climactic zones which appear on it, never mind the Arabs living next door to the Vikings who live next door to the Mongols sort of thing.
The stand out products are GAZ 1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, GAZ 3: The Principalities of Glantri, GAZ 6: The Dwarves of Rockhome, GAZ 8: The Five Shires, GAZ 13: The Shadow Elves, Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia, and the Hollow World boxed set.
At one point, TSR re-launched Mystara as an introductory setting for AD&D 2nd Edition with a couple of lavishly-illustrated boxed sets (with CD Enhanced adventures!). It's not as good, plus by that point TSR had inflicted Mystara with the same kind of metaplot shit as the Realms, so the timeline had been advanced, borders had changed, Elfland had been nuked and taken over by the shadow elves, and magic stopped working for one day every year.
So that was way longer than I planned...
At any rate, if you don't take your D&D settings too seriously, you could have a lot of fun with Mystara. Or if you're willing to toss out some of the silly and incoherent elements and rework them. In many ways it's more of a collection of mini-settings than it is a coherent setting in and of itself. You could run an entire campaign in one area and ignore everything else, if you wish.
What's even more ridiculous is that you get the supernatural and spell-like abilities of creatures whose form you take. Choose the plane of fire, Wild Shape into an Efreet, and grant your friends 3 wishes a day!
Keldryn
Arcane
Lawrence Schick has a new post up detailing how he and Tom Moldvay went about creating the "Known World" of the D&D Basic/Expert/Companion product line, which eventually came to be known as Mystara. Interesting read, if you're into this kind of thing. Which I am, obviously.
The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History
The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History
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