flavor in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

flavor in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
misanthropictodd
03-06-05, 08:42 PM You hear a lot about "the flavor" of an Eberron campaign. So i figured why not start a thread to share some ideas on what everybody does to add flavor to the game.
for example i modify the vocabulary of my elves to avoid using contractions when speaking or use archaic words. While my humans use more of a natural english (contractions and slang). gnomes like the big words mispronounced and i tend to repeat things useally in reverse of what they said before ( come to think of it like Yoda without the funny voice)

what about you folks what do you do to add flavor? i am sure there are lots of fun things we could all add to our campaigns. :heehee
hiryuu
03-06-05, 09:29 PM Actually, since gnomes are big on information, I think they'd be well spoken, perhaps to the point of being hyperlingual. They use lots of big words in the proper manner, and fill their speech with lots of double-speak. Imagine con artists trying to get everything they can out of you.

I imagine Valenar elves to be full of slang, mostly specific to their subculture. Aerenal elves perhaps speak much like steretypical elves, but I see Khorvairan elves talking much like the humans they live with.

Humans it may depend, much like it does in the real world. Rich to poor, they all have different ways of speech.
Splendide
03-07-05, 12:53 AM Actually, since gnomes are big on information, I think they'd be well spoken, perhaps to the point of being hyperlingual. They use lots of big words in the proper manner, and fill their speech with lots of double-speak. Imagine con artists trying to get everything they can out of you.And like con artists, I think you could expect them to affect a massive variety of demeanours and mannerisms as the situation demands.

I would say that they won't try and overshoot the mark by saying things in big fancy words, when their audience won't appreciate and understand them...its not a game of one-upmanship with other races, just between gnomes.
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple
03-07-05, 02:53 AM Like I mentioned in my other thread, I'm thinking paper money. Each country would have its own paper currency, and players will find that in some areas where not much money has flowed since The Last War, coins are going to be prevalently used. The gold pieces given to the players by an old woman for doing some odd jobs in a rural area, for example, would not only be massively devalued (by about 50%) in metropolitan areas, but using them would also cause a stigma. On the other hand, players going through a rural area and expecting their paper money to be honored will be unpleasantly surprised.

"What is this? Parchment? Sorry, buck-o, I don't take IOU's at this tavern! You Sharans must think we're country bumpkins out here... Imagine! Parchment as MONEY? HA!"
Draco Strang
03-07-05, 04:27 AM Well, there is no mention of paper money. My DM doesn't allow it for a couple reasons:

It's not in the Campaign Setting

Can you imagine how easy it would be to rip off a bank and walk with banknotes in the 10000 dragon denomination? Transporting massive amounts of wealth would be too easy. (I'm talking liquid, untracable wealth, not letters of credit)

It's not in the Campaign Setting. If you used paper money, you open up a lot of counterfeiting issues.
MarkB
03-07-05, 05:01 AM Well, there is effectively paper money, in the form of Kundarak Letters of Credit - there's just no large-scale official government-sanctioned paper money.

I have a gnome character in one of my online campaigns who speaks with a very strong accent, using lots of contractions in her speech - her parents were low-class Trolanport dock-workers until they hit the big time as elemental shipwrights, and despite her having had an excellent formal education, she still maintains a docker's mode of speech. On the other hand, the other gnome NPC, a veteran House Sivis speaking stone operator, has a very precise, fussy manner of speech, and would modify his vocabulary to account for the ignorance of his audience only reluctantly.
Gurv
03-07-05, 10:04 AM Like I mentioned in my other thread, I'm thinking paper money. Each country would have its own paper currency, and players will find that in some areas where not much money has flowed since The Last War, coins are going to be prevalently used. The gold pieces given to the players by an old woman for doing some odd jobs in a rural area, for example, would not only be massively devalued (by about 50%) in metropolitan areas, but using them would also cause a stigma. On the other hand, players going through a rural area and expecting their paper money to be honored will be unpleasantly surprised.
Well, just be careful not to completely mess them up this way. PCs need a certain amount of money at certain levels in order to function in a balanced way, and this could throw it off quite quickly. And don't put it past them to start buying up coin where it isn't worth as much and spending it where it is. PCs get around enough to do it.

According to Keith, Galifar had standard coinage, and although the nations have been minting their own since the Last War, they have generally stuck to the same size coins, with only minor variances. What I do for flavor is to mention what kind of coinage the players collect, and ask them to try and track it seperately. This generally has little effect on the value of the money (because we're talking about flavor here), but it is a strong hint about the person spending it. If I tell the players that the merchant they meet on the road pays them in Karrnathi coinage, then they've learn something about him. Likewise, someone with a mix of coins might be well traveled. A player who was seeking a changeling pickpocket knew he had the right thief when the coins filling his pocket were obviously his. I also maintain the rules about Letters of Marque by pointing out that treasure found in Dhakaani and Xen'drik ruins are easily recognized.

Kundarak Letters of Credit are nice because they represent easy to carry money that cannot easily be stolen and spent. Mechanically it allows me to give NPCs the money that they would need for whatever operation they are running without leaving that around for the PCs to snatch up. Currently I am DMing a 2nd level character in possession of a Letter valued at 2000gp, trying to think of how he can get his hands on the cash. By the time he has done so, he will have earned it.
misanthropictodd
03-07-05, 10:37 AM Actually, since gnomes are big on information, I think they'd be well spoken, perhaps to the point of being hyperlingual. They use lots of big words in the proper manner, and fill their speech with lots of double-speak. Imagine con artists trying to get everything they can out of you. yes i like this it works better for Eberron gnomes. the gnomes i was referring to were in another setting (FR) i have not run an Eberron game yet so i am looking for the right feel. i think you hit it . :w00t:
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple
03-08-05, 12:34 AM In a world like Eberron, it's not too far off-base to imagine that a country that uses it would also employ low-level magic combined with anti-forgery devices (by which I'm talking about really small print, not things that blow up or otherwise would be rediculous in a sheet of paper) to make it difficult to make false money. Technically speaking, a forgery DC 30 would be good enough to cover a copper peice with gold leaf and coat it with something to keep the gold from rubbing off, and even that after the face of the coin is altered, maybe the coin flattened, etc... In the end, paper and metal would come off roughly even in term of cost to produce and cost to rip off (especially because anything worth more than a platinum piece would be protected with more than just small print).

And if someone actually manages to get away from a bank with the monetary equivalent of 100,000,000 GP, it just REEKS of plot hook!
Doctor X
03-08-05, 08:17 PM And if someone actually manages to get away from a bank with the monetary equivalent of 100,000,000 GP, it just REEKS of plot hook!

Letters of Credit can do that just fine. In fact, that may be why the even exist at all. People don't tend to do actual business with letters of credit, though, unless they're rather massive transactions. Nobody pays for skycoaches in Sharn with letters of credit... it's just too much hassle.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
misanthropictodd 03-06-05, 08:42 PM	You hear a lot about "the flavor" of an Eberron campaign. So i figured why not start a thread to share some ideas on what everybody does to add flavor to the game. for example i modify the vocabulary of my elves to avoid using contractions when speaking or use archaic words. While my humans use more of a natural english (contractions and slang). gnomes like the big words mispronounced and i tend to repeat things useally in reverse of what they said before ( come to think of it like Yoda without the funny voice) what about you folks what do you do to add flavor? i am sure there are lots of fun things we could all add to our campaigns. :heehee
hiryuu 03-06-05, 09:29 PM	Actually, since gnomes are big on information, I think they'd be well spoken, perhaps to the point of being hyperlingual. They use lots of big words in the proper manner, and fill their speech with lots of double-speak. Imagine con artists trying to get everything they can out of you. I imagine Valenar elves to be full of slang, mostly specific to their subculture. Aerenal elves perhaps speak much like steretypical elves, but I see Khorvairan elves talking much like the humans they live with. Humans it may depend, much like it does in the real world. Rich to poor, they all have different ways of speech.
Splendide 03-07-05, 12:53 AM	Actually, since gnomes are big on information, I think they'd be well spoken, perhaps to the point of being hyperlingual. They use lots of big words in the proper manner, and fill their speech with lots of double-speak. Imagine con artists trying to get everything they can out of you.And like con artists, I think you could expect them to affect a massive variety of demeanours and mannerisms as the situation demands. I would say that they won't try and overshoot the mark by saying things in big fancy words, when their audience won't appreciate and understand them...its not a game of one-upmanship with other races, just between gnomes.
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple 03-07-05, 02:53 AM	Like I mentioned in my other thread, I'm thinking paper money. Each country would have its own paper currency, and players will find that in some areas where not much money has flowed since The Last War, coins are going to be prevalently used. The gold pieces given to the players by an old woman for doing some odd jobs in a rural area, for example, would not only be massively devalued (by about 50%) in metropolitan areas, but using them would also cause a stigma. On the other hand, players going through a rural area and expecting their paper money to be honored will be unpleasantly surprised. "What is this? Parchment? Sorry, buck-o, I don't take IOU's at this tavern! You Sharans must think we're country bumpkins out here... Imagine! Parchment as MONEY? HA!"
Draco Strang 03-07-05, 04:27 AM	Well, there is no mention of paper money. My DM doesn't allow it for a couple reasons: It's not in the Campaign Setting Can you imagine how easy it would be to rip off a bank and walk with banknotes in the 10000 dragon denomination? Transporting massive amounts of wealth would be too easy. (I'm talking liquid, untracable wealth, not letters of credit) It's not in the Campaign Setting. If you used paper money, you open up a lot of counterfeiting issues.
MarkB 03-07-05, 05:01 AM	Well, there is effectively paper money, in the form of Kundarak Letters of Credit - there's just no large-scale official government-sanctioned paper money. I have a gnome character in one of my online campaigns who speaks with a very strong accent, using lots of contractions in her speech - her parents were low-class Trolanport dock-workers until they hit the big time as elemental shipwrights, and despite her having had an excellent formal education, she still maintains a docker's mode of speech. On the other hand, the other gnome NPC, a veteran House Sivis speaking stone operator, has a very precise, fussy manner of speech, and would modify his vocabulary to account for the ignorance of his audience only reluctantly.
Gurv 03-07-05, 10:04 AM	Like I mentioned in my other thread, I'm thinking paper money. Each country would have its own paper currency, and players will find that in some areas where not much money has flowed since The Last War, coins are going to be prevalently used. The gold pieces given to the players by an old woman for doing some odd jobs in a rural area, for example, would not only be massively devalued (by about 50%) in metropolitan areas, but using them would also cause a stigma. On the other hand, players going through a rural area and expecting their paper money to be honored will be unpleasantly surprised. Well, just be careful not to completely mess them up this way. PCs need a certain amount of money at certain levels in order to function in a balanced way, and this could throw it off quite quickly. And don't put it past them to start buying up coin where it isn't worth as much and spending it where it is. PCs get around enough to do it. According to Keith, Galifar had standard coinage, and although the nations have been minting their own since the Last War, they have generally stuck to the same size coins, with only minor variances. What I do for flavor is to mention what kind of coinage the players collect, and ask them to try and track it seperately. This generally has little effect on the value of the money (because we're talking about flavor here), but it is a strong hint about the person spending it. If I tell the players that the merchant they meet on the road pays them in Karrnathi coinage, then they've learn something about him. Likewise, someone with a mix of coins might be well traveled. A player who was seeking a changeling pickpocket knew he had the right thief when the coins filling his pocket were obviously his. I also maintain the rules about Letters of Marque by pointing out that treasure found in Dhakaani and Xen'drik ruins are easily recognized. Kundarak Letters of Credit are nice because they represent easy to carry money that cannot easily be stolen and spent. Mechanically it allows me to give NPCs the money that they would need for whatever operation they are running without leaving that around for the PCs to snatch up. Currently I am DMing a 2nd level character in possession of a Letter valued at 2000gp, trying to think of how he can get his hands on the cash. By the time he has done so, he will have earned it.
misanthropictodd 03-07-05, 10:37 AM	Actually, since gnomes are big on information, I think they'd be well spoken, perhaps to the point of being hyperlingual. They use lots of big words in the proper manner, and fill their speech with lots of double-speak. Imagine con artists trying to get everything they can out of you. yes i like this it works better for Eberron gnomes. the gnomes i was referring to were in another setting (FR) i have not run an Eberron game yet so i am looking for the right feel. i think you hit it . :w00t:
Gnome_Dragon_Disciple 03-08-05, 12:34 AM	In a world like Eberron, it's not too far off-base to imagine that a country that uses it would also employ low-level magic combined with anti-forgery devices (by which I'm talking about really small print, not things that blow up or otherwise would be rediculous in a sheet of paper) to make it difficult to make false money. Technically speaking, a forgery DC 30 would be good enough to cover a copper peice with gold leaf and coat it with something to keep the gold from rubbing off, and even that after the face of the coin is altered, maybe the coin flattened, etc... In the end, paper and metal would come off roughly even in term of cost to produce and cost to rip off (especially because anything worth more than a platinum piece would be protected with more than just small print). And if someone actually manages to get away from a bank with the monetary equivalent of 100,000,000 GP, it just REEKS of plot hook!
Doctor X 03-08-05, 08:17 PM	And if someone actually manages to get away from a bank with the monetary equivalent of 100,000,000 GP, it just REEKS of plot hook! Letters of Credit can do that just fine. In fact, that may be why the even exist at all. People don't tend to do actual business with letters of credit, though, unless they're rather massive transactions. Nobody pays for skycoaches in Sharn with letters of credit... it's just too much hassle.