Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Journeyman 12-28-07, 07:16 PM	Hi everyone, I just got Eberron for Christmas from my friend. I've been looking over it for the last few days and I have to say that I love the setting. I am really excited about running an Eberron campaign now and I am looking for some advice on how to start. I've played other D&D games now for about 3 years and have run Forgotten Realms for a little under a year now so I have some experience in the game in general, just not the setting.
Toloran 12-28-07, 08:27 PM	I personally started my players in the Forgotten Forge (in the back of the campaign setting book) => Shadows of the Last War => Whispers of the Vampires Blade => Grasp of the Emerald Claw quest chain. It introduces the party (and the DM) to a number of orginizations and gives a great example of the tone of the setting. Actually, any of the premade Eberron adventures do a good job of it. I just mention those since they are a chain :) The main things you have to keep in mind (IMO) when making an adventure of your own are: 1) Action: Not just who you fight, but where and how. Cinematic battles such as on a crashing Airship, on the roof of a moving lightning Rail, or in a tower where lightning is striking all around you. Whenever you have an important battle, always go the extra mile and add that little extra bit. This leads to the next bit: 2) Be descriptive: It doesn't matter if you are fighting on an airship if you are describing the ground rushing towards you, the air wooshing by, etc. It also is important to show the mood of the environment. 3) Good is Evil, Evil is Good, Law is Chaos, and Chaos is Law: Alignment isn't as clear cut as it is in other settings. There are LE clerics to CG gods. That Emerald claw agent that tried to kill you earlier might be your only hope of escaping the dungeon alive. That House Cannith Heir that sent you on a mission to retrieve an object might send assassins after you to keep its descovery a secret. That Paladin of the Silver Flame might try to kill you since one of the Cardinals told him you have been corrupted by evil. Eberron is all about twists and turns. Nothing is ever as it seems, and is always changing. The grey between good and evil is far wider then players are generally used to. After all, that Chain Devil might actually be trying to help you. 4) Focus on events, not journeys. This isn't Middle Earth, this is Eberron. Avoid random encounters and focus on the real encounters.
skrap-san 12-29-07, 04:58 AM	I agree with Toloran. The setting is more story based than the others in my opinion. The main creator has at several ocasions expressed that it is OK to fudge the rules for the good of the story. I also recomend watching the movies they list up. They helped me understand the feel of the world really well.
Jabberwocky888 12-29-07, 06:50 AM	I have been GMing for a long time (mainly Shadowrun but other systems/settings too) but I am quite new to Eberron, as well. Here my experience: 1) Emphasize the role of low-level magic in everyday world. Concentrate on the feel. Simple things, making life comfortable. E.g., I threw the PCs into a Ghallahanda inn and described the small wonders - water temperature and light colour/intensity controlled by voice in their rooms, unseen servants taking their soaked clothes and bringing them closer to the fireplace etc. Or: A Sivis message station with an unpleasant, bored, bureaucratic gnome - the station is a wonder but the gnome is used to it and it's routine to him. Or: The PC wants to buy clothing and the tailor (actually an expert/magewright) asks him whether he wants a better quality through magic. The Magecraft spell is totally common for this craftsman. 2) Then try to dim the borders between good and evil and their roles in the world. Undead are bad, right? Well, but that Karrnathi guy over there will tell you openly that if not for undead, his beloved homeland would have fallen. Queen Aurala may very well have good alignment but the state interest of Aundair just calls for the characters to be eliminated - and they might even not know why. Let the opponents of the PCs be right in their own way. And let the PCs discover that at some point. 3) The monsters are not just monsters. Use them creatively. They have their own motivations, their own cultural background. For example, I made gnolls like this - cruel, merciless but with a strong code of mercenary honor. No gnoll with the tiniest degree of self-respect would betray the master who paid him until the contract is fulfilled. With one exception - almost no gnoll mercenary will fight another gnoll mercenary, at any cost. They respect each other too much for that. Does this come from some unknown Droaam fact? Or the goblinoids. Poor underclass, overlooked, often despised. But somewhere in the background, tales of the Dhaakani live, the goblins keep telling them. (See this: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebug/20041101a) I must say, I love the setting more and more. And the Shadowrun experience helps me (I hope, at least) grasp the setting and its feel.
RadicalTaoist 12-29-07, 01:53 PM	Ba da da da da. *forgive me, it's what jumped to mind first when I saw the title of this thread*
Hellcow 12-29-07, 09:50 PM	Welcome to Eberron! All of the ideas suggested above are solid. However, I'll throw out another: Remember the War. It's only been two years since the war came to an end. An entire nation was wiped from the face of Khorvaire. Consider the impact of 9/11; of Hiroshima; and now extend that to an entire nation. The Mourning isn't something people are just going to forget, especially Cyran survivors. One of the main things I'd do is challenge your players to decide what their characters did during the war. Did they fight? If so, for what side? If not, why not? Did they lose friends or relatives, and if so, who killed them? Did they witness or even commit any atrocities in the heat of battle? The impact of the war is something that's often overlooked or downplayed - but in my opinion it's a very significant part of the setting.
Arcane Guyver 12-30-07, 08:11 AM	RadicalTaoist - Dammit, can't get that out of my head now! You suck! :P To the OP - I'd recommend reading some of the fiction, if you've got the time. Most of them are quite good and might help make certain locations come alive for you. Before reading Voyage of the Mourning Dawn Black Pit, Breland was just a dot on the map to me...now it's pretty much one of the scariest and most dangerous locales I can think of in that nation.
RadicalTaoist 12-30-07, 10:01 PM	RadicalTaoist - Dammit, can't get that out of my head now! You suck! :P Would you like fries with that?;)
LoneStranger 01-01-08, 01:38 AM	I gotta agree with everyone here that the story is the most important part of Eberron, and not just the main plotline. Make sure your own character has his/her story to tell through it all as well. It helps if you at least have a guideline of what happened to your character during and just after the war leading into the campaign, and don't be surprised if the story changes as well too.