Dark Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dark Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ancient History
06-26-06, 02:28 PM The last war may have ended, but the battle for survival continues.

A massive depression has settled over the Five Kingdoms of Khorvaire, and penniless veterans turn to brigandry, drugs, and drink to forget the horrors they faced at the behest of the Dragonmarked Houses.

The skies of the metropolis of Sharn are perpetually dark with the soot-filled clouds of industry, but even here poverty ahs left its filthy mark. Shifer street packs roam the lower levels and sewers like animal, marking their territory and engaging in bloody retribution. Changelings live brutal lives, always fearful of rape or being sold into prostitution. For the barely-sentient Warforged, discarded weapons of the battlefield, the last war never ended - and they have no moral compunction against killing civilians. The kalashtar are reviled as an immigrant people, the older among them who stand by their peaceful philosophy subject to abuse, extortion and murder while their children give in to rage, murder, and their ancient martial disciplines to strike back at a society that hates them.

Above the towers, the powerful elite ignore the streetborn rabble in their games of politick and intrigue. The elven culture remains stagnated, enslaved by the febrile traditions of their ancient deathless cult. Hobgoblin tribes pick at the bones of their ancient empire. Cruel and miserly gnomes employ their ill-gotten magics to bind and enslave the very elements to their whims, a practice which has spread to the Dragonmarked Houses. Within these powerful arcane merchant families, assassination, incest, blackmail, and shifting alliances are the order of the day. Only the most powerful, cunning, and forceful can cow their relatives into any sort of order as they pursue their own plans of domination and growth.

Farther afield, other nations and forces pick at the edges of the Five Nations, sensing weakness and opportunity. The ancient dragons watch this cycle with weary boredom; they have seen the decadence and fall of empires before this one, and the draconic prophecy speaks only of further misery, darkness, and despair.

In the sky above, dragonshards wait to fall from the sky as rains of fire and doom.
Zuj
06-26-06, 02:44 PM Umm... am I supposed to reply to this?
Sythion
06-26-06, 02:59 PM I'm assuming that you're wanting feedback on your world idea.

It is very intriguing, if slightly off balance with many of the standard ideas of Eberron (remember, Eberron is in a magical age, not an industrial revolution age).

A lot of the themes you have presented mimic some of the darker sides of our current society, and this will allow it to feel familiar and different at the same time.

It's important to keep in mind that the point of the game is to have fun, and sometimes in a dark world that can be difficult (as I learned with the first campaign I ever DMed). Remember, this is going to be a world that players will spend months and possibly years in. It's not going to be an hour and a half movie, or a 300 page book exploring the dark side of society. Only the most stalwart of players could handle that much darkness and depression over such a long time. My advice is, if you do set a campaign in this world, give plenty of chances for the light to shine through. Give your players hope, and try not to overwhelm them. Perhaps some NPCs will be good and self sacrificing, like bastions of light in a dark world.

Eberron, more then any other D&D setting, already touches on darker themes that many times mirror today's society. If you go beyond that, do so gracefully!
Just another user
06-26-06, 03:22 PM I'm assuming that you're wanting feedback on your world idea.

It is very intriguing, if slightly off balance with many of the standard ideas of Eberron (remember, Eberron is in a magical age, not an industrial revolution age).

not really, many (even if not all) of those elements are common to the pulp genre, and Eberron IS pulp. You have only to twist a little some of its concept to transform Eberron in this . Actually you could even say that this setting is already present in the ECS, is one of the two extremes that combined make Eberron, to the other extrem there is eberron-as-forgotten realms, just a place where to go to have adventures. The standard Eberron just come somewhere between these two.
Sythion
06-26-06, 04:41 PM Actually you could even say that this setting is already present in the ECS, is one of the two extremes that combined make Eberron, to the other extrem there is eberron-as-forgotten realms, just a place where to go to have adventures. The standard Eberron just come somewhere between these two.

I agree with you, that is why I said that it is an interesting concept that is slightly off balance with standard Eberron. Thank you for clarifying my comment though! :D
Kreistor1
06-26-06, 05:14 PM Well, this is more Goth Punk than Pulp Noir. It smacks strongly of White Wolf influence.

Anyway, it's an interesting take on Eberron. I wouldn't run it personally, but I like it as a concept. If it's up the OP's alley, I suspect someone who actually knows what "febrile" means would be perfectly capable of running a good game in this version of Eberron.
Ancient History
06-26-06, 06:05 PM I suspect someone who actually knows what "febrile" means would be perfectly capable of running a good game in this version of Eberron.
A touch, I do confess it. I meant, of course, feeble.
Kreistor1
06-26-06, 06:35 PM Heh, febrile actually works there. I would use something different myself, but you stumbled onto a description that actually makes sense. It doesn't have the strong connotation that something like "putrescent" or even "masochistic" would have, but febrile does indicate the traditions are disease-like, which is certainly a darker interpretation of the deathless cult and the tendency of the worshippers to emulate the dead.

So, I wasn't trying for a touch, I was actually complimenting you. I'd have never known it was accidental if you hadn't said so.
Edymnion
06-26-06, 07:30 PM For the barely-sentient Warforged, discarded weapons of the battlefield, the last war never ended - and they have no moral compunction against killing civilians.You had me until there. When you turned Warforged into "barely sentient" killing machines, ya lost it for me. Just totally destroys one of my favorite races.
Kori
06-26-06, 08:12 PM How about gangs of good and evil warforged fighting it out brutally in streets of Sharn, one treating all the flesh and blood inhabitants of thier "territory" as equals and acting as thier portecters while the villian beats thiers down into bloodied up messes of gore if they fail to pay tribute on time. The the good could be retired members of that warforged unit that helped save the Kings life during the Last War on several occassions while the other one can be a loos group o thugs created by agents of that rouge warforged dude. :D
Edymnion
06-26-06, 08:21 PM Its really the "barely-sentient" part that I dislike most. The warforged are not robots, they are not mindless, and I just really hate to see anything that paints them that way. I mean, there is as much reason (if not more) to say that the Shifters are "barely-sentient beast men" than there is for the Warforged.
Kori
06-26-06, 08:40 PM Hey I have a quick question in Eberron whats the realationship between warforged and other intellgent constructs mentioned in the monster manuals? :confused:
ArcTan
06-27-06, 03:19 AM Hey I have a quick question in Eberron whats the realationship between warforged and other intellgent constructs mentioned in the monster manuals? :confused:

Most of these intelligent constructs are very rare, very powerful, and almost never seen in civilization, so the warforged don't have much of a relationship with them, really. Inevitables are probably the stuff of legend and myth in Eberron -- planar incursions are very rare and very difficult to arrange -- and while some warforged might see the inevitables as being of symbolic importance, I don't think they have a major impact on most warforged's thinking. Same goes for things like awakened golems, which there are very, very few mages in Eberron powerful enough to make.

I assume if such a thing -- or one of the other high-level intelligent constructs -- were discovered in Xen'drik or made by an extremely powerful Cannith artificer, the warforged reaction to it would be like everyone else's -- surprise mixed with fear and suspicion.
Edymnion
06-27-06, 11:51 PM It could also be said that things like the Nimblewright were the direction that Cannith was going in before they found the Creation Forges, and then changed over to WF because they were cheaper and easier to produce.

Or you could say that sentient constructs are non-cannith designs that were brought into the picture during the War to break the Cannith stranglehold on troop making.
ArcTan
06-28-06, 05:38 AM The former I could buy, with the nimblewrights as rare prototypes. The latter, I dunno. Anyone who could produce intelligent constructs at the scale necessary to seriously threaten Cannith's warforged monopoly at all would be a group with a mastery of magic way superior to what is supposed to be standard for Khorvaire, given that this group wouldn't have creation forges or the resources of a Dragonmarked House.
Ellorin
06-28-06, 07:51 AM It could also be said that things like the Nimblewright were the direction that Cannith was going in before they found the Creation Forges, and then changed over to WF because they were cheaper and easier to produce.

More or less what I chose for my campaign, but I used the ancient giants of Xen'drik instead of House Cannith.
Edymnion
06-28-06, 07:19 PM The former I could buy, with the nimblewrights as rare prototypes. The latter, I dunno. Anyone who could produce intelligent constructs at the scale necessary to seriously threaten Cannith's warforged monopoly at all would be a group with a mastery of magic way superior to what is supposed to be standard for Khorvaire, given that this group wouldn't have creation forges or the resources of a Dragonmarked House.Never underestimate the power of mass production. You can still buy hand assembled cars made from individually crafted parts. In the best ones, they're actually far superior to what you can get off the common market. Thing is, they cost an arm and a leg... from everyone in your family and a couple guys you knew in high school.

Sure, they're incredible cars, but the upkeep on them alone would send you to the poor house. Just because they're better in a straight up comparison doesn't mean they are better when things like price and speed of production are taken into affect.

Doesn't matter if you have the jet fighter that cannot be beaten if you can only build one every three years while the other guy is sending thousands of off the shelf planes at you.
Revan_Revanthas
06-30-06, 05:42 AM I just finished writing this question on my other thread but it seems to share (despite an interesting 'forged interplay) a common thread with the original posting here - a post-apocalyptic Eberron campaign. Not to imply that was the author of this threads intent, just that I would be interested to learn what kinds of concepts could be shared between the two ideas.

You may want to look in to the Iron Kingdoms d20 material for more on semi-intelligent constructs and industrial manufacturing. The soot, grime and pollution inherent to those pursuits don't mesh well in to an Eberron campaign where certain druidic traditions are already looking for an excuse to assault urbane communities.
kelvinaw273
06-30-06, 08:49 AM World of Darkness meets Eberron .... interesting and looks like fun. What might be more fun is using this 'dark reflection' of Eberron as a crossover world to a normal Eberron campaign, or as a Masque, Ravenloft-style, with insane darklords ruling over broad tracts of the world, and players charged with setting things right ....

How about Masque of the Last War as a campaign title?

Any suggestions for Darklords and stuff?
ArcTan
07-01-06, 12:37 AM Never underestimate the power of mass production. You can still buy hand assembled cars made from individually crafted parts. In the best ones, they're actually far superior to what you can get off the common market. Thing is, they cost an arm and a leg... from everyone in your family and a couple guys you knew in high school.

Sure, they're incredible cars, but the upkeep on them alone would send you to the poor house. Just because they're better in a straight up comparison doesn't mean they are better when things like price and speed of production are taken into affect.

Doesn't matter if you have the jet fighter that cannot be beaten if you can only build one every three years while the other guy is sending thousands of off the shelf planes at you.

All right, but a handcrafted car, as you say, requires a degree of skill and technical understanding far beyond what it takes to run a mass-production factory that's been set up.

What artificer outside of Cannith's auspices has that degree of power?
Edymnion
07-01-06, 04:53 PM What artificer outside of Cannith's auspices has that degree of power?Cannith doesn't hold a monopoly on magewrights and artificers. The gnomes in Zilargo build entire airships without Cannith ever being involved.

I like to think of the great houses as being like Microsoft. Yeah, they're big, they're powerful, and they've got their mitts in everything. But they're not the only people in town that are capable of creating operating systems. Same with House Cannith, they're the big boys, but there are plenty of non-Canniths around that are capable of doing big things. Pretty much every non-human magewright and artificer in Khovaire, actually, since Cannith is more or less a human dominated organization.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ancient History 06-26-06, 02:28 PM	The last war may have ended, but the battle for survival continues. A massive depression has settled over the Five Kingdoms of Khorvaire, and penniless veterans turn to brigandry, drugs, and drink to forget the horrors they faced at the behest of the Dragonmarked Houses. The skies of the metropolis of Sharn are perpetually dark with the soot-filled clouds of industry, but even here poverty ahs left its filthy mark. Shifer street packs roam the lower levels and sewers like animal, marking their territory and engaging in bloody retribution. Changelings live brutal lives, always fearful of rape or being sold into prostitution. For the barely-sentient Warforged, discarded weapons of the battlefield, the last war never ended - and they have no moral compunction against killing civilians. The kalashtar are reviled as an immigrant people, the older among them who stand by their peaceful philosophy subject to abuse, extortion and murder while their children give in to rage, murder, and their ancient martial disciplines to strike back at a society that hates them. Above the towers, the powerful elite ignore the streetborn rabble in their games of politick and intrigue. The elven culture remains stagnated, enslaved by the febrile traditions of their ancient deathless cult. Hobgoblin tribes pick at the bones of their ancient empire. Cruel and miserly gnomes employ their ill-gotten magics to bind and enslave the very elements to their whims, a practice which has spread to the Dragonmarked Houses. Within these powerful arcane merchant families, assassination, incest, blackmail, and shifting alliances are the order of the day. Only the most powerful, cunning, and forceful can cow their relatives into any sort of order as they pursue their own plans of domination and growth. Farther afield, other nations and forces pick at the edges of the Five Nations, sensing weakness and opportunity. The ancient dragons watch this cycle with weary boredom; they have seen the decadence and fall of empires before this one, and the draconic prophecy speaks only of further misery, darkness, and despair. In the sky above, dragonshards wait to fall from the sky as rains of fire and doom.
Zuj 06-26-06, 02:44 PM	Umm... am I supposed to reply to this?
Sythion 06-26-06, 02:59 PM	I'm assuming that you're wanting feedback on your world idea. It is very intriguing, if slightly off balance with many of the standard ideas of Eberron (remember, Eberron is in a magical age, not an industrial revolution age). A lot of the themes you have presented mimic some of the darker sides of our current society, and this will allow it to feel familiar and different at the same time. It's important to keep in mind that the point of the game is to have fun, and sometimes in a dark world that can be difficult (as I learned with the first campaign I ever DMed). Remember, this is going to be a world that players will spend months and possibly years in. It's not going to be an hour and a half movie, or a 300 page book exploring the dark side of society. Only the most stalwart of players could handle that much darkness and depression over such a long time. My advice is, if you do set a campaign in this world, give plenty of chances for the light to shine through. Give your players hope, and try not to overwhelm them. Perhaps some NPCs will be good and self sacrificing, like bastions of light in a dark world. Eberron, more then any other D&D setting, already touches on darker themes that many times mirror today's society. If you go beyond that, do so gracefully!
Just another user 06-26-06, 03:22 PM	I'm assuming that you're wanting feedback on your world idea. It is very intriguing, if slightly off balance with many of the standard ideas of Eberron (remember, Eberron is in a magical age, not an industrial revolution age). not really, many (even if not all) of those elements are common to the pulp genre, and Eberron IS pulp. You have only to twist a little some of its concept to transform Eberron in this . Actually you could even say that this setting is already present in the ECS, is one of the two extremes that combined make Eberron, to the other extrem there is eberron-as-forgotten realms, just a place where to go to have adventures. The standard Eberron just come somewhere between these two.
Sythion 06-26-06, 04:41 PM	Actually you could even say that this setting is already present in the ECS, is one of the two extremes that combined make Eberron, to the other extrem there is eberron-as-forgotten realms, just a place where to go to have adventures. The standard Eberron just come somewhere between these two. I agree with you, that is why I said that it is an interesting concept that is slightly off balance with standard Eberron. Thank you for clarifying my comment though! :D
Kreistor1 06-26-06, 05:14 PM	Well, this is more Goth Punk than Pulp Noir. It smacks strongly of White Wolf influence. Anyway, it's an interesting take on Eberron. I wouldn't run it personally, but I like it as a concept. If it's up the OP's alley, I suspect someone who actually knows what "febrile" means would be perfectly capable of running a good game in this version of Eberron.
Ancient History 06-26-06, 06:05 PM	I suspect someone who actually knows what "febrile" means would be perfectly capable of running a good game in this version of Eberron. A touch, I do confess it. I meant, of course, feeble.
Kreistor1 06-26-06, 06:35 PM	Heh, febrile actually works there. I would use something different myself, but you stumbled onto a description that actually makes sense. It doesn't have the strong connotation that something like "putrescent" or even "masochistic" would have, but febrile does indicate the traditions are disease-like, which is certainly a darker interpretation of the deathless cult and the tendency of the worshippers to emulate the dead. So, I wasn't trying for a touch, I was actually complimenting you. I'd have never known it was accidental if you hadn't said so.
Edymnion 06-26-06, 07:30 PM	For the barely-sentient Warforged, discarded weapons of the battlefield, the last war never ended - and they have no moral compunction against killing civilians.You had me until there. When you turned Warforged into "barely sentient" killing machines, ya lost it for me. Just totally destroys one of my favorite races.
Kori 06-26-06, 08:12 PM	How about gangs of good and evil warforged fighting it out brutally in streets of Sharn, one treating all the flesh and blood inhabitants of thier "territory" as equals and acting as thier portecters while the villian beats thiers down into bloodied up messes of gore if they fail to pay tribute on time. The the good could be retired members of that warforged unit that helped save the Kings life during the Last War on several occassions while the other one can be a loos group o thugs created by agents of that rouge warforged dude. :D
Edymnion 06-26-06, 08:21 PM	Its really the "barely-sentient" part that I dislike most. The warforged are not robots, they are not mindless, and I just really hate to see anything that paints them that way. I mean, there is as much reason (if not more) to say that the Shifters are "barely-sentient beast men" than there is for the Warforged.
Kori 06-26-06, 08:40 PM	Hey I have a quick question in Eberron whats the realationship between warforged and other intellgent constructs mentioned in the monster manuals? :confused:
ArcTan 06-27-06, 03:19 AM	Hey I have a quick question in Eberron whats the realationship between warforged and other intellgent constructs mentioned in the monster manuals? :confused: Most of these intelligent constructs are very rare, very powerful, and almost never seen in civilization, so the warforged don't have much of a relationship with them, really. Inevitables are probably the stuff of legend and myth in Eberron -- planar incursions are very rare and very difficult to arrange -- and while some warforged might see the inevitables as being of symbolic importance, I don't think they have a major impact on most warforged's thinking. Same goes for things like awakened golems, which there are very, very few mages in Eberron powerful enough to make. I assume if such a thing -- or one of the other high-level intelligent constructs -- were discovered in Xen'drik or made by an extremely powerful Cannith artificer, the warforged reaction to it would be like everyone else's -- surprise mixed with fear and suspicion.
Edymnion 06-27-06, 11:51 PM	It could also be said that things like the Nimblewright were the direction that Cannith was going in before they found the Creation Forges, and then changed over to WF because they were cheaper and easier to produce. Or you could say that sentient constructs are non-cannith designs that were brought into the picture during the War to break the Cannith stranglehold on troop making.
ArcTan 06-28-06, 05:38 AM	The former I could buy, with the nimblewrights as rare prototypes. The latter, I dunno. Anyone who could produce intelligent constructs at the scale necessary to seriously threaten Cannith's warforged monopoly at all would be a group with a mastery of magic way superior to what is supposed to be standard for Khorvaire, given that this group wouldn't have creation forges or the resources of a Dragonmarked House.
Ellorin 06-28-06, 07:51 AM	It could also be said that things like the Nimblewright were the direction that Cannith was going in before they found the Creation Forges, and then changed over to WF because they were cheaper and easier to produce. More or less what I chose for my campaign, but I used the ancient giants of Xen'drik instead of House Cannith.
Edymnion 06-28-06, 07:19 PM	The former I could buy, with the nimblewrights as rare prototypes. The latter, I dunno. Anyone who could produce intelligent constructs at the scale necessary to seriously threaten Cannith's warforged monopoly at all would be a group with a mastery of magic way superior to what is supposed to be standard for Khorvaire, given that this group wouldn't have creation forges or the resources of a Dragonmarked House.Never underestimate the power of mass production. You can still buy hand assembled cars made from individually crafted parts. In the best ones, they're actually far superior to what you can get off the common market. Thing is, they cost an arm and a leg... from everyone in your family and a couple guys you knew in high school. Sure, they're incredible cars, but the upkeep on them alone would send you to the poor house. Just because they're better in a straight up comparison doesn't mean they are better when things like price and speed of production are taken into affect. Doesn't matter if you have the jet fighter that cannot be beaten if you can only build one every three years while the other guy is sending thousands of off the shelf planes at you.
Revan_Revanthas 06-30-06, 05:42 AM	I just finished writing this question on my other thread but it seems to share (despite an interesting 'forged interplay) a common thread with the original posting here - a post-apocalyptic Eberron campaign. Not to imply that was the author of this threads intent, just that I would be interested to learn what kinds of concepts could be shared between the two ideas. You may want to look in to the Iron Kingdoms d20 material for more on semi-intelligent constructs and industrial manufacturing. The soot, grime and pollution inherent to those pursuits don't mesh well in to an Eberron campaign where certain druidic traditions are already looking for an excuse to assault urbane communities.
kelvinaw273 06-30-06, 08:49 AM	World of Darkness meets Eberron .... interesting and looks like fun. What might be more fun is using this 'dark reflection' of Eberron as a crossover world to a normal Eberron campaign, or as a Masque, Ravenloft-style, with insane darklords ruling over broad tracts of the world, and players charged with setting things right .... How about Masque of the Last War as a campaign title? Any suggestions for Darklords and stuff?
ArcTan 07-01-06, 12:37 AM	Never underestimate the power of mass production. You can still buy hand assembled cars made from individually crafted parts. In the best ones, they're actually far superior to what you can get off the common market. Thing is, they cost an arm and a leg... from everyone in your family and a couple guys you knew in high school. Sure, they're incredible cars, but the upkeep on them alone would send you to the poor house. Just because they're better in a straight up comparison doesn't mean they are better when things like price and speed of production are taken into affect. Doesn't matter if you have the jet fighter that cannot be beaten if you can only build one every three years while the other guy is sending thousands of off the shelf planes at you. All right, but a handcrafted car, as you say, requires a degree of skill and technical understanding far beyond what it takes to run a mass-production factory that's been set up. What artificer outside of Cannith's auspices has that degree of power?
Edymnion 07-01-06, 04:53 PM	What artificer outside of Cannith's auspices has that degree of power?Cannith doesn't hold a monopoly on magewrights and artificers. The gnomes in Zilargo build entire airships without Cannith ever being involved. I like to think of the great houses as being like Microsoft. Yeah, they're big, they're powerful, and they've got their mitts in everything. But they're not the only people in town that are capable of creating operating systems. Same with House Cannith, they're the big boys, but there are plenty of non-Canniths around that are capable of doing big things. Pretty much every non-human magewright and artificer in Khovaire, actually, since Cannith is more or less a human dominated organization.