Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Confessor 07-26-05, 10:21 AM	So I've been a fan of Eberron since its release, but have yet to actually run a game of it. After much heaving and hauling, I've finally decided to sit down and take a crack at it. After reading over the core book a few times, I've decided to take a more intrigue-stylized path for this campaign. The game is going to begin with the characters all being hired by a Sharn noble (I haven't decided which house), to travel with that noble, in secret, to the Shadow Wastes. The reason for this is that a new charismatic leader has risen from among the normally self-destructive tribes. This new leader, who we'll call Wallace for now, is a man of war and a patriot. He wants to see his people florish, and see them recieve a place in Khorivare. He is not evil, but he is by no means good. (I imagine a 6th level or so L/N Orcish Fighter). He realizes that there is no true strength to be found in Drooam or the Demon Wastes. Based on this realization he has sent an invitation of parlay to the aformentioned Sharn noble. The noble is hopeful, but reluctant. He hires the PCs to protect him on his journey, to serve as bodyguards. The reason he does not use his own house guards is that he does not want this meeting to become publicly known and does not want his house seen as being "orc lovers" or some other image that might be destructive to his political future. The campaign will involve the politics of Wallace, as well as the affects this potential alliance has on all of western Khorvaire. I like the idea, personally. Now comes my players. My players are a group of comparatively inexperienced players who tend to enjoy role-playing and scene chewing over ceaseless combat. They do, however, tend to appreciate a climactic battle. That being said, let me address each of these players specifically as well as myself. Emily: This is my girlfriend who is not only beautiful and intelligent, but also an avid gamer (can't beat that combo, can you?). She's generally more interested in role-playing than combat, but she also doesn't mind having a character who can kick a little tail. She's probably my biggest problem player in this group at the moment. She's not particularly interested in Eberron. She calls it a "Kitchen sink" setting, as in everything but. I want to get her motivated and interested in the game, because it disheartens me as a GM to see her disinterested in a game I'm running. James: Me, the GM. I've been gaming since '87 and was broken in on 1st edition AD&D. I'm the most experienced gamer in my group by far, but I don't consider myself the "grizzled old vet" my other gamers like to see me as. I tend to try to develop large, elaborate games. To my credit, my players really enjoy my games. To my detrament, I have trouble running extended games and many of my campaigns last fewer than 4 sessions. Paul: A friend of mine for many years, Paul probably has been gaming for about five years. He's the kind of gamer that is more into the numbers aspect of the game, but he isn't a Rules Lawyer. He wants to play with the stats and different combos that can be done using whatever game mechanic is on the table. He has difficulty role-playing and never really gets into the nuances of a setting. Karla: My newest player, she's been gaming less than a year. She's very interested in the character aspect of the game, but tends to be intimidated by rules. She's not afraid to learn, but she doesn't want to slow anything down. Also, she tends to be a bit shy, almost reluctant. Kendall: Only slightly more expereinced than Karla, he is her complete opposite. He's all about doing "cool" stuff, and being flashy and the general center of attetion. Before playing D&D, he'd gotten his RPG experience from computer games, so he still has a bit of that 'centered around me' thing that tends to come from playing alot of computer RPGs that have the player as the "one" central figure in a game. I want to do a few things with my players (and myself as a GM) to help create a better game. For me, as a GM, I want to learn both longevity and to let go. I tend to have locus of control issues as a GM, and get frustrated when players don't do things that are "in tone" or "in the mood" of the game and setting. These things tend to feed off of each other, creating a bitter GM who runs brief campaigns. As far as Emily goes, I'd like to get her to not be as dismissive as she tends to be of some settings, particularly D&D settings. I'd like to find a way for her to at least find some aspect of the game/setting that she can get into or at least give it a chance in general. From Paul I'd like something more than "Wouldn't it be neat to play a..." description of his character. Even when I ask him to explain backstories for characters with exotic combos, he usually shrugs and stares blankly. Karla I have the fewest problems with. If she'd just come out of her shell, I'd really like it alot. Kendall is a great role-player, but he always wants to make himself the center of attention. He'll become very over-zealous and often overshadow the more soft spoken players. I'd like to find a way to reign them in. What it all boils down to, I guess, is that I'd like to find a way to keep both myself and my players excited about this game...
DragonWatcher 07-26-05, 11:19 AM	So I've been a fan of Eberron since its release, but have yet to actually run a game of it. After much heaving and hauling, I've finally decided to sit down and take a crack at it. After reading over the core book a few times, I've decided to take a more intrigue-stylized path for this campaign. The game is going to begin with the characters all being hired by a Sharn noble (I haven't decided which house), to travel with that noble, in secret, to the Shadow Wastes. Not to nit-pick, but just for clarification, do you mean the Shadow Marches, or the Demon Wastes? I assume that you are talking the Shadow Marches, since you are talking about orcs, but I just wanted to make sure. The reason for this is that a new charismatic leader has risen from among the normally self-destructive tribes. This new leader, who we'll call Wallace for now, is a man of war and a patriot. He wants to see his people florish, and see them recieve a place in Khorivare. He is not evil, but he is by no means good. (I imagine a 6th level or so L/N Orcish Fighter). He realizes that there is no true strength to be found in Drooam or the Demon Wastes. Based on this realization he has sent an invitation of parlay to the aformentioned Sharn noble. The noble is hopeful, but reluctant. He hires the PCs to protect him on his journey, to serve as bodyguards. The reason he does not use his own house guards is that he does not want this meeting to become publicly known and does not want his house seen as being "orc lovers" or some other image that might be destructive to his political future. The campaign will involve the politics of Wallace, as well as the affects this potential alliance has on all of western Khorvaire. I like the idea, personally. You're idea sounds pretty good. Just a couple things that I wanted to point out. 1. As opposed to pretty much every other setting, the majority of the orcs in Eberron are fairly well integrated into human society. The orcs were the first druids, and as a race they don't have an expansionist outlook or a desire for conquest. In the Shadow Marches in particular, humans and orcs live side-by-side, so I don't think that there would be much of a stigma about being an 'orc-lover' in Khorvaire. Which is not to say that the noble shouldn't have reasons to keep this meeting secret, or to hire adventurer bodyguards. 2. The tribes in the Shadow Waste aren't all that self-destructive. Mainly there are three seats of power in that region, and most of the inhabitants fall into one of these: the Gatekeepers, the Cult of the Dragon Below, and House Tharashk. While there's no real centralized government in the region, and infighting occurs between rival tribes and clans, it's definitely not your typical (savage humanoid wontonly pillaging just for the sense of conquest) orc society. I like the idea of a new charasmatic orc leader rising to power, though. It would likely concern all three of the groups that I just mentioned in the Marches to find out what his agenda is. Don't forget too that at least one of the Daughters of Sora Kell in Droam is supposed to be a prophet, and they would likely be aware of the potential of this rising orc warlord. There are a ton of possiblities in your storyline, I would recommend mapping them out in advance (otherwise things could get really confusing for you as the DM), and use them to change the style of play from adventure to adventure. For example, the first adventure is going to be a political meeting between the new Warlord and this noble. Perhaps the noble gets kidnapped by ogres from Droam who wanted it to look like it was actually members of the Cult of the Dragon Below. The group has to solve the mystery of finding out who kidnapped him. Later it becomes a kick-in-the-door action sequence as they track down the ogres and raid the camp under cover of night to rescue the noble. Keep it changing, but centered around the same overriding arc. :) Now comes my players. My players are a group of comparatively inexperienced players who tend to enjoy role-playing and scene chewing over ceaseless combat. They do, however, tend to appreciate a climactic battle. That being said, let me address each of these players specifically as well as myself. Emily: This is my girlfriend who is not only beautiful and intelligent, but also an avid gamer (can't beat that combo, can you?). She's generally more interested in role-playing than combat, but she also doesn't mind having a character who can kick a little tail. She's probably my biggest problem player in this group at the moment. She's not particularly interested in Eberron. She calls it a "Kitchen sink" setting, as in everything but. I want to get her motivated and interested in the game, because it disheartens me as a GM to see her disinterested in a game I'm running. Well, first I would suggest that you acknowledge that she's right about the setting. It is "Kitchen Sink" setting, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Try to focus on the nuances that separate Eberron from other settings. That might help fuel her interest. James: Me, the GM. I've been gaming since '87 and was broken in on 1st edition AD&D. I'm the most experienced gamer in my group by far, but I don't consider myself the "grizzled old vet" my other gamers like to see me as. I tend to try to develop large, elaborate games. To my credit, my players really enjoy my games. To my detrament, I have trouble running extended games and many of my campaigns last fewer than 4 sessions. I used to have the same kind of trouble keeping a campaign running. Focusing on everyone else's enjoyment of the story helped me to get through that. The more the players enjoy the story, the more work I was willing to do, and the less inclined I am to just change things because a new book comes out. Fight the Attention Deficit Disorder and both you and your players will be happier... trust me. :) Paul: A friend of mine for many years, Paul probably has been gaming for about five years. He's the kind of gamer that is more into the numbers aspect of the game, but he isn't a Rules Lawyer. He wants to play with the stats and different combos that can be done using whatever game mechanic is on the table. He has difficulty role-playing and never really gets into the nuances of a setting. This is highly dangerous to a game. People who constantly muck around with new class combos usually have one of two effects: 1. Uber-characters: Even if they're not trying to rules-lawer, they stumble onto the ultimate combo of class abilities and outshine the rest of the group, making otherwise interesting challenges routine. 2. Pathetic characters: Their diversity causes them to not excel at anything, which makes their character useless, or the player becomes bored and mucks around more. Either way isn't good. It is his character though, and there's only so much you can force him to do. What I would suggest is to have him outline the character's vocation. Is he a priest, a bodyguard, a soldier, scout, spy, bounty hunter, etc. Don't think classes here... think purpose. Then, he can pick the class(es) that he feels best represents that. This might give him something other than cool abilities to focus on, and it might even help him to plan for Feats, Prestige Classes, etc. Karla: My newest player, she's been gaming less than a year. She's very interested in the character aspect of the game, but tends to be intimidated by rules. She's not afraid to learn, but she doesn't want to slow anything down. Also, she tends to be a bit shy, almost reluctant. Throw in one story (preferrably near the beginning) that requires her character to take action. Whether it's tied into her background or her class, use the storyline to force her to act (don't try forcing her to act out of character), this should get her used to having her character do more than follow. So, if she's a ranger, require her to do some tracking, speaking with animals, etc. If she's a monk, part of an adventure might require her to talk to the abbot of a nearby monastery that only she can enter. Kendall: Only slightly more expereinced than Karla, he is her complete opposite. He's all about doing "cool" stuff, and being flashy and the general center of attetion. Before playing D&D, he'd gotten his RPG experience from computer games, so he still has a bit of that 'centered around me' thing that tends to come from playing alot of computer RPGs that have the player as the "one" central figure in a game. Making combat less important will likely prevent him from stealing all the spotlight. Just make sure that you give him enough spotlight to keep him interested. If you prevent him from being the center of attention at all, he will likely get bored. I want to do a few things with my players (and myself as a GM) to help create a better game. <snip> What it all boils down to, I guess, is that I'd like to find a way to keep both myself and my players excited about this game... Well, I hope that one or two of my suggestions help. Remember the most important thing is that everyone (including you) has fun. If something doesn't work quite the way that you expected it, but everyone is enjoying themselves (and it doesn't break the rest of the story), just let it slide. There are always ways to bring things back into alignment. :)
getyourspotusa 07-26-05, 11:36 AM	WOW! What a great group you have! I am SO jealous! I would normally have TONS of advice, except I'm not really any kind of expert... but I think there are plenty of real experts out here in Eberron-land that can point you in the right direction. But a good start for Emily might be to read an Eberron novel - I started with City of Towers, and am in the middle of Marked for Death, and I loved CoT (good Sharn and Eberron intro information and flavor), and I like reading MfD (lotsa action) a lot! A great resource (I am subscribed, and read it all the time) - www.roleplayingtips.com/index.php Another resource, if you have time: www.thehoffmanstudio.com BTW, What state do you live in? :) NJ here... Two more coppers - "Kitchen Sink" is correct, but that's if you play in EBERRON. How about playing in Sharn? City campaign. Or in/near the Mournlands? Kinda Ravenloft-y, with much more immediacy. What about Lhazaar? High seas adventure. So you see, if you limit yourself to a region, you can delve and explore stuff there, then maybe branch out. (I like the Sharn, myself.) :) Great luck with your campaign - just take it in small steps at first, be patient with yourself, and it should last... and of course, Have Fun!
Cloud Divider 07-26-05, 12:52 PM	After reading over the core book a few times, I've decided to take a more intrigue-stylized path for this campaign. The game is going to begin with the characters all being hired by a Sharn noble (I haven't decided which house), to travel with that noble, in secret, to the Shadow Wastes. Something to note, by the by, is that there are nobles beyond the Dragonmarked Houses (you may already know that, but it wasn't clear). Whether this noble that has hired the PC's is Dragonmarked or Brelish nobility will have some implications... The D'marked houses are theoretically apolitical - sending a team in to assist a Marcher patriot rabble-rouser suggests that they have an interest in seeing him gain power...but why? Does House X want to play kingmaker with Wallace, in hopes that he eventually will return the favor? It's similar, but a little bit different with the standard nobleman. What does he have to gain? The Marches border Aundair - perhaps his goal is to help Wallace gain enough of a powerbase to threaten Aundair, and help this nobleman avenge some wrong from the Last War. The reason for this is that a new charismatic leader has risen from among the normally self-destructive tribes. This new leader, who we'll call Wallace for now, is a man of war and a patriot. He wants to see his people florish, and see them recieve a place in Khorivare. He is not evil, but he is by no means good. (I imagine a 6th level or so L/N Orcish Fighter). He realizes that there is no true strength to be found in Drooam or the Demon Wastes. I'm not quite clear on what you mean by "no true strength in Droaam or the Demon Wastes." Are you implicating that Wallace wants to go take over those territories? Or are you implicating that Wallace doesn't see anyone worth allying himself with, and would rather deal with one of the 5 Nations? Based on this realization he has sent an invitation of parlay to the aformentioned Sharn noble. The noble is hopeful, but reluctant. He hires the PCs to protect him on his journey, to serve as bodyguards. The reason he does not use his own house guards is that he does not want this meeting to become publicly known and does not want his house seen as being "orc lovers" or some other image that might be destructive to his political future. As a side note, Breland's generally a little more forward-thinking when it comes to racial relations. So being branded "orc lovers" is probably not what he's worried about... Helping to instigate rebellion elsewhere, on the other hand... The campaign will involve the politics of Wallace, as well as the affects this potential alliance has on all of western Khorvaire. I like the idea, personally. Yeah, that sounds pretty good. The 5 Nations (er, 4) have been in this more-or-less Cold War detent for the last few years. If another major power showed up, it could certainly alter the balance of power... Now comes my players. My players are a group of comparatively inexperienced players who tend to enjoy role-playing and scene chewing over ceaseless combat. They do, however, tend to appreciate a climactic battle. That being said, let me address each of these players specifically as well as myself. Emily: This is my girlfriend who is not only beautiful and intelligent, but also an avid gamer (can't beat that combo, can you?). She's generally more interested in role-playing than combat, but she also doesn't mind having a character who can kick a little tail. She's probably my biggest problem player in this group at the moment. She's not particularly interested in Eberron. She calls it a "Kitchen sink" setting, as in everything but. I want to get her motivated and interested in the game, because it disheartens me as a GM to see her disinterested in a game I'm running. Well, one of the important things to note, is that while Eberron does have some aspects of a "kitchen sink" setting, it's assembled in a reasonably coherent manner. Some of the "kitchen sink-ness" comes from trying to do something a little different - there haven't been many big name settings recently that went for something beyond the standard pseudo-Tolkienesque Fantasy Heartbreaker tropes; Eberron changed the dynamic a little bit by throwing in a more quasi-modern (certainly more modern than the standard "la-de-da, it's been 14th century Europe for the last 4,000 years..."), with the skyscraper city, trains, factories, and so on, and all seasoned with a heavy dose of pulp (the Lost Continent of Xen'drik, dinosaurs, and so on). In any case, it's not worth having an argument over whether the kitchen-sink-ness is good, bad, or incorrect. What I would focus my attention on finding out what elements of the setting she DOES like, and trying to play to that. Does she like the concept of being able to play a grizzly-but-eloquent noir half-orc private detective that wears a longcoat and a snub-nosed wand of magic missile in his left boot? I've had a LOT of luck in my campaign playing up the noir aspects - one PC (a Kalashtar Egoist with a focus on healing) was a field medic in the Last War, haunted by the horrors of the war; he used his abilities to help those in need. Since the end of the war, he'd been working as a bit of a street doc (while he conceals his use of his psionic powers, those in his care often seem to have a "miraculous recovery")... Incidentally, that's my wife's character. :) Does she prefer the Indiana Jones aspect? Or would she rather take a more H.P. Lovecraft take on a "antiquities hunter"? Both are totally viable (and honestly, could even be the same character). Does she prefer politics? Espionage? High-action Espionage (I've been DYING to try a Tom Cruise Mission Impossible styled superspy with all manner of magical gadgetry)? Conspiracy? Horror? Conspiracy AND horror (my campaign is roughly inspired by the X-Files)? I've finally been able to put a finger on what it is I like about Eberron so much - it's the detail of the political environment (so I can always put a "why" to anything that's going on). It's basically this wonderful lego playset, tailor-made for a political intrigue-heavy campaign. Reading Sharn, you can basically piece together very coherent and plausible ways for a very complex interaction between very different factions (The Boromar, the Sharn Deneith, a group of antimonarchists, and the Kundarak). And it's NOT SPELLED OUT. This is WONDERFUL for a GM - this makes the factions like the good-old general-purpose lego bricks; they're certainly not generic, but they aren't so detailed to preclude certain uses (like some of the newer lego bricks - they work REALLY well for a single purpose...like an X-wing blaster...but are pretty much worthless for anything else). It's awesome. James: Me, the GM. I've been gaming since '87 and was broken in on 1st edition AD&D. I'm the most experienced gamer in my group by far, but I don't consider myself the "grizzled old vet" my other gamers like to see me as. I tend to try to develop large, elaborate games. To my credit, my players really enjoy my games. To my detrament, I have trouble running extended games and many of my campaigns last fewer than 4 sessions. I often suffer the same problems you do - I often come up with these incredibly elaborate campaigns, which rarely survive contact with the players intact. I'm trying to wean myself of that a little bit with this campaign - while I've got general ideas on an "overplot", I'm trying to keep the campaign reasonably episodic. That's helping me keep a bit more focused; it's also been helpful in that many of the players (including myself) have pretty hectic work schedules...we all regularly get called in on weekends. The advantage of a more episodic, self-contained style of play means that it's not too jarring on the suspension of disbelief to have one PC absent one week, and back the next. We've had maybe 8-9 sessions now (...since February). The players have been very happy. Paul: A friend of mine for many years, Paul probably has been gaming for about five years. He's the kind of gamer that is more into the numbers aspect of the game, but he isn't a Rules Lawyer. He wants to play with the stats and different combos that can be done using whatever game mechanic is on the table. He has difficulty role-playing and never really gets into the nuances of a setting. I think a good way to help both the roleplaying and the setting nuances is to work with the player a bit during character generation. Help them flesh their character out...really find out who they are. Where are they from? Why do they do what they do? Who are their friends and enemies? I've made some really detailed posts on this subject in other threads here...I'll go look for them later and link them to this thread. That said, there are players out there that just aren't into the immersion thing. They like other aspects of the game. In either case, you'd probably do well to pull the player aside, and find out what he's after. What elements of the game does he really enjoy? Then do more of that. Karla: My newest player, she's been gaming less than a year. She's very interested in the character aspect of the game, but tends to be intimidated by rules. She's not afraid to learn, but she doesn't want to slow anything down. Also, she tends to be a bit shy, almost reluctant. That's the one thing I don't like about Eberron - it uses d20 (...and the GM needs to pack about 40 pounds of books around, between the Core 3, the setting books, and any optional rulesets like XPH or Complete Z). I'd have really preferred a more rules-light system, but when I'd considered converting, I felt that I'd be losing something in the translation. Again, I think it's worth finding out what kind of things she finds fun in an RPG, and trying to play to that. There's a lot you can do without needing to bring out the rules (in my last session, I think we had a total of maybe 8 dicerolls among the 3 players and me...pretty obvious combat didn't happen). Also, one of the other nice things about Eberron, is that you can play what might otherwise be a "low level" character (ie < 5th), where there's rather fewer complicated rules to worry about (because you don't have as many crazy powers, feat/skill interactions, prestige classes, and so on), and still come off as a Big and Important Person. I think my players are still only 3rd level, but they don't FEEL like they're small fish in a big pond. Kendall: Only slightly more expereinced than Karla, he is her complete opposite. He's all about doing "cool" stuff, and being flashy and the general center of attetion. Before playing D&D, he'd gotten his RPG experience from computer games, so he still has a bit of that 'centered around me' thing that tends to come from playing alot of computer RPGs that have the player as the "one" central figure in a game. Something I've been doing in my game, is to play up the cinematic TV/movie action. In the first adventure, we ended with the WF PC dangling from the rear of a speeding skycoach, half a mile off the ground. There's definitely the potential to pull off the "cool stuff". Now, with respect to the "Center of Attention" thing... Sometimes that can be a good thing (every party needs a face-man), and sometimes it works well with the party dynamic. It may work OK with yours, because it sounds like you've got one "center of attention" person, one "shy" person, one "doesn't roleplay much" person, and your girlfriend who sounds to be in the middle. But I'd also take special care to spread the spotlight around a bit. For instance, in my campaign, we had one session where the Warforged PC ran across an old WF comrade, who he thought was dead...and this WF was now working for the Lord of Blades (and raiding the Lightning Rail train the PC's were on); that session ended with a pretty tense war of words between the two WF. In last week's session, the group needed to go speak to the Kalashtar of Overlook...which the Kal PC was very much not wanting to do. In a session or two, I plan on having something to do with the Church of the Silver Flame (the third player is a Paladin of the Silver Flame). For me, as a GM, I want to learn both longevity and to let go. I tend to have locus of control issues as a GM, and get frustrated when players don't do things that are "in tone" or "in the mood" of the game and setting. These things tend to feed off of each other, creating a bitter GM who runs brief campaigns. I DO think that there should be a common ground for the campaign feel and tone. Players selling each other out may be perfectly in-genre for a really dark noir game...but that may not be what you're trying to play. It's probably worthwhile getting everyone together and coming up with something akin to a "Setting Bible". Executing the villain with extreme prejudice makes it rather difficult to follow other pulp genre tropes (like the recurring villain). So you should make these sorts of things clear at the outset. However, that said, it's also important to note that sometimes, out of genre stuff happens. People are getting chased by a big scary monster, and someone cracks a nervous joke. An otherwise serious game is seasoned with humorous banter between characters (in my campaign, there's some VERY entertaining social dynamics between the PCs... The Paladin has declared herself "in charge," and there's an on-going running joke about the Kalashtar player being fired, and some back-and-forth teasing between the Artificer and Paladin. You can also help steer things a bit, and give some form of award for promoting in-genre gameplay. In my campaign, I award Action Points for doing appropriate things (up to and including making life harder for yourself - e.g. narrating that the rope you're climbing starts to fray). I also allow Action Points to be used as something akin to the Buffy RPG's Drama Points, or Adventure!'s Inspiration...a means to allow some limited dramatic editing on the part of the players in order to make things more interesting. For instance, I'll allow an AP to be used to automatically succeed at something, but it results in an additional complication (for instance, remember how I'd mentioned earlier that my first session ended with the WF PC dangling from a speeding skycoach? Well, he got there by auto-succeeding at a jump to the passing skycoach, but the complication was that his footing on the rain-slicked deck wasn't sure enough to keep his balance). That kind of stuff. I've also awarded AP for particularly good one-liners (the Artificer imbued his pen with the Shield spell, and used it to parry an angry gnoll's falchion, and quipped "A-ha! The pen is truly mightier than the sword!"). As far as Emily goes, I'd like to get her to not be as dismissive as she tends to be of some settings, particularly D&D settings. I'd like to find a way for her to at least find some aspect of the game/setting that she can get into or at least give it a chance in general. So out of curiousity, what games does she normally play? White Wolf? There's enough thematic overlap that I think you'd be able to play to that. From Paul I'd like something more than "Wouldn't it be neat to play a..." description of his character. Even when I ask him to explain backstories for characters with exotic combos, he usually shrugs and stares blankly. For him, I'd really recommend helping him work through his character concept. Play the 20 Questions game (I'll find a link to that, I swear). Don't leave the backstory to him - work with him. He probably won't know the setting (or the changes to it) that you, as GM, are intimately familiar with. Get a general idea from him ("Veteran swordsman"), shoot a slightly fleshed out version back ("How about a military honor-guard/duelist?"), and work from there. Karla I have the fewest problems with. If she'd just come out of her shell, I'd really like it alot. I'm not sure there's really much that you, personally, can do. If you talk to her, you can find out what she'd like to do, and try to go from there... Kendall is a great role-player, but he always wants to make himself the center of attention. He'll become very over-zealous and often overshadow the more soft spoken players. I'd like to find a way to reign them in. Hmm. Aside from having some kind of Secret Catchphrase to let him know that he's overshadowing everyone, you'll have to be particularly vigilant on your own. If he starts overshadowing, you'll want to go and try and do something to shine more light on another player. What it all boils down to, I guess, is that I'd like to find a way to keep both myself and my players excited about this game... Ultimately, I think you'd do best by finding out what it is that people like, and then trying to do that. As your girlfriend noted, Eberron's fairly Kitchen Sink-y. That can be REALLY helpful at times like this, because you can basically find a way to bring in whatever it is someone wants.