Post/Author/DateTime	Post
nucleartard 03-30-06, 03:16 PM	First off, let me begin by saying I'm not dissing Keith Baker or Ed Greenwood. Both campaign worlds are very well done. But.... For years I gm'd a Realms campaign. Part of the problem was after putting together adventures for my group, they would degenerate because of "canon" status. I'd put together an adventure that would result (possibly) in the death of Obald Many Arrows, and the party would split between the hackers who wanted to go trash the orcs, and the canonists that would announce I couldn't do that because that villain was pivotal to a new Drizzt trilogy of fiction, and we couldn't interfere. After about three years of this, i just ran published adventures, while the hackers occassionally assassinated a canonist player's character. That underlined the problem with Faerun, the enforced detente. Nothing can change unless it's "official", leaving a gm to "follow orders' or kick players out of the group. Power levels AREN'T the problem, it's the "chapter approved" mentallity. Eberron has somewhat the same thing. Rich guys and politicians have their claws into everything. The players get to do stuff that's important BUT often someone else takes the spoils of their efforts away from them. My players uncovered that Kaius is a vampire and want to sell him out. Now this would cause a big war between Karnaath and Thrane. They also exorcised a Quori out of an Inspired in full view of Silver Flame bishops, and this would undoubtedly change the current status as well. Different players (mostly) in a different game world but again, the hacker/canonist split. The hackers want the chips to fall where they may. The canonists have called me between sessions to express their hopes that I won't let war engulf Khorvair. Tired of this, I did the following: In Eberron, Thrane went to war with Karnaath. Due to border incursions, so did Aundair. The Church of the Silver Flame declared an inquisition against the Inspired (and Reidrans in general). The Priests of the Soverign Host, presented with the truths about both Kaius and the Inspired, were dragged along into the maelstrom. Then, using Red Hand of Doom, I brought the Hobgoblins, complete with backing in force from Tiamat, against Breland. Khorvair's political status is forever more wrecked and the players are frantic and unsure as to what to do next. I haven't settled Faerun's hash yet, but it's safe to say it will involve the gory and very permanant deaths of Elminster, the Sisters, Kelban, Zazz Tam, and most of Faerun's gods including Mystra. Too much backlash? I dunno. But as I said, power level didn't seem to be the problem, enforced status did.
Arcane Guyver 03-30-06, 03:36 PM	Um...so far, there has been very little in 'world progression' for Eberron. In the above example, you couldn't allow the PCs to take out a group of villains because they were demolished by a series of novels. This sort of thing hasn't happened in Eberron (yet). So far, it seems like the world is designed so the PCs can change it. The novels are neat and fun, but they a) aren't canon, and b) have little, if any, effect on the game world. It's up to an individual's game session to start up the next war, not the next novel trilogy. As far as power level goes, it does make a big difference. Now,whether you play using the implied power level of a setting is the question. I've always played with lots of low-level NPCs and fewer, more challenging battles - and Eberron was designed with that exact style of play in mind. The subtle difference is that usually the PCs look up to the local NPC heroes for inspiration; in Eberron, it's the NPCs that should be looking at them as heroes.
(Psi)SeveredHead 03-30-06, 03:38 PM	Power levels AREN'T the problem, it's the "chapter approved" mentallity. I would disagree. FR has a number of problems, and power levels are one of the problems. Lots of DMs can avoid some of the problems, but few can avoid them all. You avoided the power level problems - I don't know if you avoided world shattering plots, but did your players try to talk to Khelben? Eberron has somewhat the same thing. ... The canonists have called me between sessions to express their hopes that I won't let war engulf Khorvair. You'll run into this problem, but no following sourcebooks are going to invalidate your campaign, and (hopefully) no novels will, either. Besides, they have to deal with the consequences. Throw Khorvaire into war! (Seems you did just that.) I haven't settled Faerun's hash yet, but it's safe to say it will involve the gory and very permanant deaths of Elminster, the Sisters, Kelban, Zazz Tam, and most of Faerun's gods including Mystra. Cheers! Can you kill Eilistraee too? That would make me really happy.
jaydubyadub 03-30-06, 03:53 PM	You are well within your rights to throw the continent back into war, nab Heroes of Battle and get to work, and there's plenty of people that still take issue with the Treaty of Thronehold. That said, other GMs are well within their rights not to shake the boat with another war so soon after the last war, as the Mourning was a sobering experience and everyone's afraid everyone else has the secret "WMD" capable of causing another Day of Mourning. If the players get legit proof that Kaius III is really the vampire Kaius I, and get it to the right people, Thrane is going to attack Karrnath. If the players get legit proof of the Inspired plans to conquer the world, intercontinental war could erupt. It's all up to you as DM.
Charles Phipps 03-30-06, 05:01 PM	For me, a DM should turn back his credentials if he can't make world shattering adventures for PCs to prove themselves to be the greatest heroes of the land at 1st level.
shironiku 03-30-06, 05:05 PM	I'd put together an adventure that would result (possibly) in the death of Obald Many Arrows, and the party would split between the hackers who wanted to go trash the orcs, and the canonists that would announce I couldn't do that because that villain was pivotal to a new Drizzt trilogy of fiction, and we couldn't interfere. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: This blows my mind. I have never encountered anyone like that in my 20+ years of gaming, and I hope I never do. How could what somebody writes in a novel be more important than enjoyment of the game? If I wanted to hear about NPCs and their glorious adventures, I'd read a book. I'm playing a game. I want to have the glorious adventures.
ChimericalWolf 03-30-06, 05:40 PM	I am, admittedly, a bit of an Eberron Canonist. I generally side with Edymnion in most posts he makes. One of the things I like about Eberron is that there is no on-going plot. Wizards has made, from what I remember, a statement that Eberron will not be advanced. We get a look at how things are _now_, and how they _might_ progress, but we aren't told that Karrnath and Breland ally against Thrane in The Next War. So, effectively, whatever you do in your campaign is what happens in your Eberron. All I try to do is point out where what you're doing goes against what has been established. Basically, if you decide to have your campaign spark off The Next War, the canonists have no reason to complain. They have no legs to stand on in this. The only thing I see that really breaks down in your post is "backing in force from Tiamat." I haven't read RHoD, but I think this could easily be made more true to Eberron by making it a powerful cleric of Tiamat, or a group of dragons devoted to Her. Bottom line, you keep on trucking, you're doing Eberron proud.
Cyber-Dave 03-30-06, 05:58 PM	Sounds to me like you wrote a wicked Eberron quest. Good job! I wouldn't mind hearing more about what happened...
aelryinth 03-30-06, 06:47 PM	:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: This blows my mind. I have never encountered anyone like that in my 20+ years of gaming, and I hope I never do. How could what somebody writes in a novel be more important than enjoyment of the game? If I wanted to hear about NPCs and their glorious adventures, I'd read a book. I'm playing a game. I want to have the glorious adventures. My reply to the Canonist would be, "Drizzt who?" and then to watch his expression carefully. And then he'd mention Cattie-brie and Artemis and what have you, and my eyebrows would keep going up and I'd say, "Who are they? You've never heard of them." I'd let him splutter on and on until he realizes that this is my Realms, not Salvatore's. ===Aelryinth
Charles Phipps 03-30-06, 06:57 PM	Insidious Aerilynth. Truly. For me, in my Forgotten Realms games (I happily run both as you may find if you visit the Candlekeep forums---avoid the heroes and villains threads though) are different from my Eberron games because of the fundamental flavor of both worlds for me is drastically different. I admit that both tend to be influenced by the other but the differences are highlighted by the way I run them. 1. For me, Forgotten Realms is about being THE BIG HERO. The campaign setting is Hyborean in feel with maybe some Elric and Greek Myth thrown in. Realism is OUT the window in the fact that your players are expected to swagger next to 900 year old Archwizards and gods that visit you. I judge my games by cannon adventures and novels and even alittle more. You may go rescue a goddess from the Abyss in For Duty and Deity and you might kill Bane's son Xvim in Halls of the High King before slaying Bhaal in the Avatar Trilogy plus the other gods during the ToT. Players should be irresitably sexy, tower over lesser men, and have songs sung about them. Gold and Wine will be plentiful as this is the days of HIGH ADVENTURE. This is the game where you fully can expect to meet a evil demon god like Orcus at the end of your robbery of the Tomb and Throw him down before carving your own kingdom from Bloodstone. 2. For me, Eberron is about being The Hero period. In Forgotten Realms everything is over the top while in Eberron, everything is muted so that the way that PCs stand out is that much more. If Forgotten Realms is Conan, Elric, and Merlin then Eberron is about Batman, Doc Savage, and the Rocketeer. Your characters are human beings first, vulnerable and square jawed at the same time. You may end up thwarting a Nazi invasion or recovering the Ark of the Covenant or defeating an alien invasion but that's because a mixture of your wits as well as skill rather than the raw badassness that's expected in other D&D.
Edymnion 03-30-06, 11:03 PM	Actually, like has been said, this isn't a problem in Eberron. The current line we're being fed is that WotC will *NOT* advance the story in Eberron. Of course, its only a matter of time before they reneg on this deal, but for now thats how it stands. Plus, Khovaire not being plunged into another war? All of the books pretty much assume another war is going to happen. I believe the ECS makes multiple referances to the nations getting ready for the next war as an inevitability, and some of the other books mention trouble ahead (I think it was 5N that mentions the Karnnathi guy thats building up the undead armies underground so that Karnnath will be ready). Having Khovaire go to war again isn't a far stretch, its pretty much assumed that its going to happen sooner or later. Khovaire just got out of World War I, its still got WWII to look forward to :D
(Psi)SeveredHead 03-30-06, 11:20 PM	While there may be many people who want to go to war, both the Mournland and the massive depopulation are probably good excuses for not going to war. Mind you, depopulation can be fixed pretty quickly. China started having massive wars less than ten years after losing half its population to smallpox (c. 185 AD, war was beginning :D ). I suspect there was a pretty big cadre of children aged 12 to 17 who didn't need much time to become low-ranking soldiers.
Korhal_IV 03-31-06, 12:57 AM	The only thing I see that really breaks down in your post is "backing in force from Tiamat." I haven't read RHoD, but I think this could easily be made more true to Eberron by making it a powerful cleric of Tiamat, or a group of dragons devoted to Her. Bottom line, you keep on trucking, you're doing Eberron proud. The module finishes at 10-11th level, so don't worry about Tiamat herself. I ran Tiamat as a forgotten cult deity, a precursor to the modern cults of the Devourer. As the Sovreign Host moved outward, it absorbed the cult of Tiamat just like all the other cults. :)
Setherial 03-31-06, 01:38 AM	I hear ya, I myself am all for do whatever you want as a DM you make the game, you make the rules and the players are locked up in their mini multiverse bubble. On the other hand I shamefully admit it would hurt somewhere deep inside if Mordain the Fleshweaver or the Daughters of Sora Kell would fall. We in our group have 4 DM's myself included and we cycle every campaign (takes more then a year usually) but although one campaign doesn't have to influence the next one could always start over with a fresh unspoiled eberron it does add a little extra to a setting when it continues and although players change characters they'll play in a world they shaped and are familiar with. I admire your boldness killing of so many key individuals of a setting but on the other hand why buy a setting if you kill its structure and end up with a setting of your own. (rhetorical question don't answer ;)
Dex 03-31-06, 04:08 AM	You're the DM. If I ever ran a campiagn out of a published setting, I'd kill Elminster, Mordankainen, The Dragon Kings, Erandis d'Vol and Drizzt (and maybe a lot of bards :D ) straight off.
Ragnarok_N_Roll 03-31-06, 09:00 AM	I'd put together an adventure that would result (possibly) in the death of Obald Many Arrows, and the party would split between the hackers who wanted to go trash the orcs, and the canonists that would announce I couldn't do that because that villain was pivotal to a new Drizzt trilogy of fiction, and we couldn't interfere. I feel for you. I can't say I feel your pain because my players aren't like that and are pretty much happy with the FR games that I run. I would have asked them to leave if they started quoting canon in my face. That is just so uncouth.
DoveArrow 03-31-06, 12:30 PM	Power level didn't seem to be the problem, enforced status did. What I would recommend is that, whenever you start a game, you should let the players know that, despite the fact that you're using a published campaign setting, the world is still your world. If it is conducive to your storyline, or if you feel that the actions of the players require it, you may make changes as you see approrpriate. Another way to approach this issue is to tell the players that they should forget the exploits of the heroes that have come before them. They, not Elminster, or Drizz't, are the heroes of the moment, and they are the ones that will cause real change to occur in your campaign world. If they object, gently remind them that those beloved characters from the novels have been, at one time or another, player characters themselves; capable of performing great deeds in another DM's campaign world. If they understand that, then they should understand that they are afforded the same rights to perform great deeds for themselves. Finally, if they don't understand that, place one hand on their collar, one hand on the handle of the front door, one foot on their keister and send them on their merry way. :P
Pinky's brain 03-31-06, 01:09 PM	In Eberron the players are set up to become the most powerfull characters in the campaign setting eventually, in Forgotten Realms the players are set up to become players on the stage set by deities and epic level characters. Some players might still want to have the campaign play out such that the good old sit-com end of episode reset is in effect once the campaign is over ... but fundamentally Eberron is not set up to make that at all easy compared to Forgotten Realms.
(Psi)SeveredHead 03-31-06, 01:37 PM	Another way to approach this issue is to tell the players that they should forget the exploits of the heroes that have come before them. They, not Elminster, or Drizz't, are the heroes of the moment, and they are the ones that will cause real change to occur in your campaign world. If they object, gently remind them that those beloved characters from the novels have been, at one time or another, player characters themselves; capable of performing great deeds in another DM's campaign world. If they understand that, then they should understand that they are afforded the same rights to perform great deeds for themselves. It's not that easy, at least not if you use the official world-shattering 10th-level adventures. Some of those heroes, like Khelben, are still active and don't have better things to do than save the world. Big magical hole in the ground and sky? You don't send no names to go fix that. You send someone with the uber-skills and amazing amounts of magical knowledge to fix it (even if the PCs gather info for his Choseness first). I would treat Elminster (retired) and Drizzt (can't teleport, no uber magical knowledge, no spells that PCs will never have) as bad examples of good-aligned deus ex machina NPCs, actually. Even if the PCs don't call upon the Chosen (most groups don't), it doesn't change the feeling that there's someone else who could clearly do the job much more easily than they could.
Ragnarok_N_Roll 03-31-06, 02:11 PM	Even if the PCs don't call upon the Chosen (most groups don't), it doesn't change the feeling that there's someone else who could clearly do the job much more easily than they could. This really doesn't come in to play at low levels, Chosen and high level NPC's couldn't be bother with that sort of thing. But I have noticed that it does (even in the back of the DM's mind) start to come to the forefront after 12th level or so. The best thing to do (and this will bother canonites something fierce)...remove them altogether, OR turn them into high level NPC aristocrats or experts.
Ragnarok_N_Roll 03-31-06, 02:14 PM	In Eberron the players are set up to become the most powerfull characters in the campaign setting eventually.... I disagree. The Demons Wastes are still there, Khyber is still there. Another thing that bothers me is when people say that Eberron can't be played at high level. Ooooh yes it can!
(Psi)SeveredHead 03-31-06, 02:23 PM	This really doesn't come in to play at low levels, Chosen and high level NPC's couldn't be bother with that sort of thing. But I have noticed that it does (even in the back of the DM's mind) start to come to the forefront after 12th level or so. The best thing to do (and this will bother canonites something fierce)...remove them altogether, OR turn them into high level NPC aristocrats or experts. That's a big change to the setting! (One reason why killing Mystra might make the setting better.) In Eberron, you don't need to change the setting that way. In fact, even potentially unpopular parts of the setting, like psionics, are dealt with wonderfully - the quori are so subtle that it's easy to leave them out if you don't like psionics. (IMO, if you're a DM who likes psionics, you're better off using Xoriat. Writing quori plots is hard work.) Turning the Chosen and friends into experts, etc, is also a big change to the setting. Elminster couldn't have saved Myth Drannor (he did, early in its history) if he was just an expert. Avoiding world-shattering adventures is, by contrast, easier.
Edymnion 03-31-06, 04:10 PM	Another thing that bothers me is when people say that Eberron can't be played at high level. Ooooh yes it can!Now see, thats an important differance. Eberron can of course be designed to play at higher levels, and has more than enough book material to allow for this. However, the setting was designed to focus more on low level play. Almost all of the NPCs are low level, many of the organizations to fight against are low level, and there is a distinct lack of high level magics. Eberron *IS* a low level campaign setting. It is a campaign setting aimed at low level play. You can play at higher levels, but IMO, you are skipping the best stuff the setting has to offer. So no, its not that you can't play high levels in Eberron, its just that there is much more in the setting for low level play than there is high level.
(Psi)SeveredHead 03-31-06, 07:06 PM	You will get to high level if you start at 1st and play it enough. Of course, Eberron can be played at high level, but there's that perception thing. I think WotC should at least try to tackle that once.
DoveArrow 03-31-06, 07:39 PM	Even if the PCs don't call upon the Chosen (most groups don't), it doesn't change the feeling that there's someone else who could clearly do the job much more easily than they could. Unless you make it clear that the high level NPCs are busy holding off the dracolich sorcerer, and his army of demons while you and your friends seal off the hole in the sky. It's not an insurmountable problem. It just takes a little creative thinking. Anyway, that's Forgotten Realms. In Eberron, it's a little different. The players, not the NPCs, are the primary rockers and shakers of the world. On page 250, under the section entitled Player Characters Are Heroes! it says this: A key element of the Eberron setting is that the player characters are remarkable individuals, possessed of uncommon skills and potential... Many villains will be the equals of the player characters, and some will be more powerful, highlighting the world's need for heroes. Eberron is not a world where powerful NPCs typically show up to save the day; by the time the players reach the middle levels, they are their own best allies. Read that to your players. Ask them if that doesn't make it seem like they have the power to start and end wars, to protect the world from the hole in the sky when no one else can. Eberron has its problems, to be sure, but the problems that you're talking about are not among them. It's a matter of making that clear to the players. If you can get them to recognize that they will, through their efforts, change the world, then you're well on your way to truly introducing them to the wealth of potential that Eberron has to offer. :)
DoveArrow 03-31-06, 07:41 PM	You will get to high level if you start at 1st and play it enough. Of course, Eberron can be played at high level, but there's that perception thing. I think WotC should at least try to tackle that once. Agreed. However, I think that's a discussion topic for another thread.
(Psi)SeveredHead 03-31-06, 11:15 PM	Unless you make it clear that the high level NPCs are busy holding off the dracolich sorcerer, and his army of demons while you and your friends seal off the hole in the sky. It's not an insurmountable problem. It just takes a little creative thinking. No wonder FR is falling apart. You have to do this every time?
nyysjan 04-01-06, 03:55 AM	if you're a 1st level party of four adventurers and the mayor (level 5+ aristocrat) asks you to efen his village from enemy goblins/kobols/whatever, while his guards (levels 1 to 5 fighters and warriors) stay at home, doing whatever they always do, you tend to get the feeling that there's something wrong in this picture. Not to mention all those clerics wizards and retired adventurers that just loaf around while you are getting your but kicked.
Charles Phipps 04-01-06, 05:31 AM	For me, its a simple matter... 1. The PCs are the heroes of Forgotten Realms. One of a tiny and select breed that are people who stand up for what is right. I always make it clear that there's no one else. The Guards are overwhelmed and its well beyond their ability to defeat them....PHYSICALLY. For example, a first level adventure is 40 Bandits assaulting a village ala Seven Samurai. The PCs thus have to THINK in order to overwhelm them and bring them low. Perhaps instead its 400 bandits in which they have to raise an army. This is a low level adventure since another 1st level adventure is stealing the Rod of Seven Parts from Manshoon's Castle. The Pcs just have to be equipped by Elminster and avoid ANY combat unless absolutely necessary. 2. The PCs have the trust and confidence of the Archmages and Grand Warriors of the Realms I always make this clear that it is the PCs minds and skill that the ancient sages see the makings of great heroes inside them. I also hardly keep them in low level adventures as well. They are usually by their next few adventures the great leaders and lords of the land. 3. Levels are meaningless to most Why did Par Salian send Raistlin Majere to destroy the Dark Queen? because he knew the man had cunning, killer instinct, and the potential to save the world that other wizard's lacked. Also, even though Sir So and So might be higher level, a PC is almost invariably a legendary figure even by mid levels by me. 4. Most Great Beings have responsibilities Elminster is retired and doesn't adventure, most of the other Chosen are Kings or head religions. 5. Heroes are rare There's the characters in the Books....and the PCs. Period.
Edymnion 04-01-06, 11:35 AM	No wonder FR is falling apart. You have to do this every time?Basically, in Faerun, you have to. Something threatening to tear the world a new Fry Hole </futurama>? Whoops, just so happens there's something even worse that the big boys have to handle. Been playing for years and years of gametime in the same campaign? Yup, sorry, uh... Mystra is in the ood-may, and she's a god, so it lasts for years and years at a time. Ain't Elminster a lucky SoB? Basically, Faerun has to be under a non-stop attack capable of destroying the multiverse at every second of every day to keep the big boys from swooping in to fix everything up instead of the PCs. Waterdeep is about to be blown off the face of the map? Yeah, seems Lolth is also launching an attack on the surface world, so Drizzt is busy. Elminster is off putting an end to the Blood War for the Nth time, and everybody else is just taking this loop off </stargate>. Guess that means you second string nobodies will have to do the job!
johnkretzer 04-01-06, 12:03 PM	Okay, first when I run FR I make it very clear to people the NOVELS don't exist. I have had problems with some players saying so and so will being doing that or something to that fact. I just calmly explain to them that they are either retired ( Elminster ), Busy ( All the other chosen+ others NPCs ). I mean if you actualy read the novels and souce books these people don't have the time. Also the general Philosphy of these people is that their time has past it is time for the new generation of heros to take over. Eberron is a different matter, it seems right now design with the mistakes of the FR design in mind. So you shouldn't have that problem with the books. Purist though will always exist.
davethebrave371 04-01-06, 09:25 PM	:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: This blows my mind. I have never encountered anyone like that in my 20+ years of gaming, and I hope I never do. How could what somebody writes in a novel be more important than enjoyment of the game? If I wanted to hear about NPCs and their glorious adventures, I'd read a book. I'm playing a game. I want to have the glorious adventures. ditto
ussie 04-02-06, 05:32 AM	the beauty of eberron is that it is a new campaign with most of the vilest of viles are between 8-15 CL while the diety levels villians (vol anyone) hits the 20 mark if i remember correctly. The thing abt eberron is that the way its set nothing is permanent, everything is in flux, the impossible can happen, the center of the khoviare (i always misspell it) was destroyed, all that was set in stone can crumble like ashes in the wind. so anything can happen, u just need to make the other major players act accordingly. by the time your characters have reached high enough levels to infact even kill kiaus they could become the new rules of karnath, (just giving an example) if they can convince the courts and ppl that they deserve it or can somehow manipulate it pour example in my campaign borenal died a freak death before he could appoint an heir which led to the war of succession which left breland in a state of principalities and such. breland as it was known is gone. this lead to New Crye declaring independance with the protection of Karnath (in my campaign the crown prince married Hadyth the sister of Kaius III) the pc's are unable to protect the keeper of the flame (stupid critical failure!!!!!!! and no one having action points) whose death was blamed on karnath which lead to the Thrane-Karnath war. With the aid of a newly resurrected group of PC's Queen Dinai carried out a coup and with the promise of peace and end of a losing war, she cemented her rule over Thrane (atleast for now). so lets recap what all happened: 1) Thrane has newly reverted to a monarchy because of a losing war they launchd against... 2) Karnath the growing superpower which supports... 3) the new kingdom of Crye which has set its eyes on .... 4) the once powerful breland which is now just squabbling principalities. in Eberron everything is possible if u are willing to make plausable consequences. the mood of uncertainty works in everyones favour. The only surviving member of the party, which failed to protect the keeper of the voice went on to defeat a pro karnath principality in a war scenario and was given governership of the newly aquired territory by Diani (his level was high enough, he had leadership and a whole bunch of reasons for it to work) maybe he'll have higher ambitions and go on to conquer other cities or the party may wish to wipe out the daughters of sora kell and purge Droam of all its monstrous leaders so it may once more be human inhabitated. i guess the reason why i give this example is that you can have huge changes as long as u keep some balance, if you kill off a major villian (vol) maybe a blackguard/bone knight as gotten new ambitions and is slowly becomming a warlord. i guess the sense of immediacy and the now is present in eberron. some of the greatest villians will be ppl who were born in the same village as u were born around the same time.
Endless_Helix 04-03-06, 11:29 AM	Despite the fact that this topic has been rehashed time and time again, I pretty much agree with you. Yes, the Forgotten Realms and Eberron have many similar elements. Disregarding the mechanics, there are a lot of similar characters and places; Wild magic Zones are similar to the mournland, Serpent kingdoms share some of the characteristics of parts of Xen'drik. There are more, but I won't get into them. Mechanics aside, the primary differences are how the same basic concepts are used to create a different tone, and the volume of characters of power. Generally, there are a lot of princes from forgotten kingdoms who want to rebuild/avenge it, mysterious loners with terrifying powers, and other stereotypes in both worlds. Remember, the whole fantasy genre grew out of the pulps. Thus the raw material is the same for both Eberron and the Forgotten realms. The forgotten realms works mostly from Tolkien and other "high fantasy" writers. They enjoy the epic, world spanning quest that starts in the most innocuous place. Eberron goes back a little farther, to Prince Valiant, Sherlock Holmes, HP Lovecraft, etc. etc. It takes the same sort of adventure and changes the pace, emulating more of a TV show, paced for just raw evisceral excitement rather than the subtle, slow building tempo of an epic. It's Vaudville compared to and opera pretty much. I don't really compare the mechanics of a world when I compare them. I feel that it's pretty much to the taste of the designers at that point. You probably could increase the levels of the NPC's in Eberron to fit your taste and it wouldn't really affect all the much provided you kept the balance roughly the same between the PCs and the NPCs. Ditto with the forgotten realms and reducing the character levels, although the gods would be a bit more godly in comparison with their worshippers.
Grey_Mage 04-03-06, 01:19 PM	*shakes head* First day we played \FR my group asked that question- will you be following canon or not? I told them simply- if there can be 5000+ earths due to multiple universes, there can be 5000+ Faerunes due to our imagination. The stories we make will all flow together for ease and simplicity, but otherwise dont worry about it. Two years and no complaints.