Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nature-boy 10-11-04, 11:45 PM	I'm very new to Eberron, but I'm learning the book and it all just seems overwhelming. How do you all do it? You didn't read the entire section on the world and all its cities and countries, did you? What would you all say is the best way to familiarize yourself with the setting?
TyrDrakul 10-11-04, 11:50 PM	Ummm i read the book cover to cover.... a few times over and then i go back to places of interest... Note taking is good... basicly read it and keep going, try to write up campaign idea's as you go it helps too. Chow TyrDrakul Duncan, BC, Canada
Brastan 10-11-04, 11:53 PM	Focus Pinky, focus. ;) Seriously, its best to pick one particular aspect to focus on and read up on it. For example, if your interested in Sifters I'd read the entry, then read up on the Eldeen Reaches and the Church of the Silver Flame (because of the prosecution against Werecreatures). Other board members may have better suggestions. Are you going to be playing, DMing or both?
GMSteve 10-11-04, 11:54 PM	I read the 10 things you need to know, the blurb in the middle of the book about society etc, the general stuff. Then I picked one or two regions that interested me. I actually ran my first adventure after only reading the sections on Eldeen Reaches, Breland, and Aundair. Then I read a few bits about the houses - but focused on the two or three that interested me the most. IMHO - if you focus on those three you can easily get a good game going....
xnrdcorex 10-12-04, 12:06 AM	if its your book using a highlighter is always useful.
Megatron 10-12-04, 12:09 AM	I memorized the whole thing. /me wins
Nature-boy 10-12-04, 12:39 AM	Focus Pinky, focus. ;) Seriously, its best to pick one particular aspect to focus on and read up on it. For example, if your interested in Sifters I'd read the entry, then read up on the Eldeen Reaches and the Church of the Silver Flame (because of the prosecution against Werecreatures). Other board members may have better suggestions. Are you going to be playing, DMing or both? I'll be running a campaign as a DM only. This is actually my current method, but it's taking a lot of time.
Doctor X 10-12-04, 01:42 AM	I read it cover to cover, more or less. If you have the time and the dedication, I recommend you do the same, especially if you're the DM. Don't worry about memorizing it all, though... You just want a good idea of what each region and organization is like. Afterwards, you can pick out what kinds of stuff you want to get your PC's involved in, and then write out some ideas based on the specific details.
Dahrik 10-12-04, 02:32 AM	"10 Things You Need to Know" (pg 8-9), Ch.8 Organizations (pg 227-247), "Life Across Khorvaire" (pg 131-133), and Religions (pg 67-71). Those are the things that drew me into the world the most, especially the organizations. Currently running a campaign with the Cult of the Dragon Below as the primary focus, intermingling plenty of other organizations into the mix (intrigue within Dragonmarked Houses are seeing a bit of play). If there's only one thing you read in Organizations, read the Dragonmarked Houses.
ImmortalBlueMage 10-12-04, 04:00 AM	You didn't read the entire section on the world and all its cities and countries, did you? Yes. If that's too much for you though, I recommend reading the timeline at the end of the world section. One of my players gave it a once over right after I bought the book and I'm increasingly surprised by how educated he is in Eberron history just based on that single document. It's only two pages long and as straight-forward as the history of the world can be. Give it a go.
tete 10-12-04, 04:36 AM	I would say what you are experiancing is my single bigest problem with D&D. Too much information. The PHB, DMG, and MM are bad enough then you tag on a book like Eberron and probably Sharn before you as a DM finaly feel semi versed in everything you need. More than any other RPG i have played D&D asks the DM to memorise alot of information. You need to know what a 5th level human barbarian from the eldren reaches (sp? i dont have my book with me) has for skills, attack bonus, armor etc. Part of it comes with the territory of making a game simple for new players to grasp (ie classes). My sugestion for any D&D book is read it cover to cover once noting parts that are confusing or intresting. Now read just those parts followed by another cover to cover read. This time write down any questions you have and post them to a forum. After that your ready to get your feet wet in the DMing world. A few one shots with pre gen characters help you work out concepts you may be having trouble with (like what exactly can a 5th level warforged fighter do). This also helps your players get a general idea of the type of campaign you will run and give them ideas for characters. Thats my 1/50th of a dollar
Ch@pel 10-12-04, 04:15 PM	Too much?? I'd never read (cover to cover) any D&D book other than the core three, and to me this just is not enough. I think when I got my pre ordered CSB from amazon.com, I read it cover to cover within 36 hours. Then, I bought another copy (I don't need the grubby hands of my PCs all over my bookage ;)) and read that one too. I guess it can seem like a lot, but there is certainly plenty of info in there that is not neccessary to running a successful and fun game. Just read at your own pace and don't let the reading take too much time away from preparing for your session; thats the important part.
Master of shaarat'khesh 10-12-04, 04:58 PM	I have also read it several times. The day I got it (on a Friday) I started and it seemed like I had finished it over the course of that weekend. Since then I know I've read it at least three times fully (cover to cover). I took a notebook the first time and jotted down the more interesting things for the type of campaigns that I'd be running. Later, I went back to those notes and would work out a campaign idea. It can be overwhelming to try and incorporate all that goes on in a setting. Just pick what interests you the most and study, study, study. Don't worry about trying to "fit" PC characters into the campaign, that will come in time as long as they're not way out there. Eventually you'll get around to all of the setting. But don't be disheartened if it takes time. I ran Forgotten Realms since the day it came out (15+ years ago?) and I still have not ran an adventure everywhere in the realms. I am familiar with most if not all the info on the realms, but only a few places I am very knowledgeable about. It'll come, just give it time. :)
Saurenda 10-12-04, 05:02 PM	I memorized the whole thing. /me wins :cookie: Yes, we all know I have as well. Not to mention Jhonen and a few others :mymy: But then again some of us are very excited about it. If it feels overwhelming just put it down for a bit. A few people suggested focus, which is good. For now only look at what interests you, it will soon grow into other races and regions as they are all connected in some way...Must learn prophecy...excuse me.
m15a 10-12-04, 05:29 PM	i don't see it as necessary to have ready it all. the more you read, the more you'll have an idea of how aspects of the game interact. but nature-boy sounds hesitant to reading it all just yet, and it'll be fine if he doesn't, i'm sure, not ideal, but fine. anyway, nature-boy, i'm not dming an eberron game, i'm playing, but i would think it's just like creating your own world: just focus on what your upcoming sessions will cover. if your characters are first level, they won't necessarily be doing any globe-trotting yet. so "start small" as they say. read the stuff about sharn and breland if that's where you want to start. read the intro stuff and the chapters on races, classes, and religions. i'd say to *skim* almost everything, though. if you don't, you won't know what elements you'll want to focus on. i think that's what you're doing now, more or less. just do that until you feel like you have enough material for your game. depending on your players, you might want to put some responsibility on them for knowing some information. ideally, they should know as much as the book has to offer regarding the races/classes/regions/organizations/etc. that they belong to. you might want to make sure they only thouroughly read the stuff relevant to their characters, though. or they might lose out on the element of surpirse (or metagame).
Makseb 10-12-04, 05:55 PM	I think the main thing about Eberron is it's flavor. That's what sets it apart from other campaign settings-- the whole pulp/noir feeling. The campaign book just provides a backdrop for this feeling to exist in. Personally I don't like to get hung up about the specifics too much. Imagination and building off of players ideas is what makes a game successful for me. Sooo... my advice to you is to stay true to the flavor of the setting, find out about a couple of places or things that embody that flavor, like the lightning rail, Sharn, a house or two, and build your adventure off of those aspects. This works especially well if your players are new to the setting as well. If it isn't in your adventure, it doesn't exist yet. After all, the whole premise of Eberron is that there has been a massive war for the last hundred years or so. Who knows what the heck is really going on now anyway?
Saydivosh 10-12-04, 06:04 PM	Actually, the book itself isn't what I'd call a hard read. I would simply suggest reading through it once. Then, once you've got a general idea of what's going on in the world, start from there. But, if you find yourself stumped concentrate on a section and make use of the "Adventure Hooks..." at the end of each region's description. Or find some elsewhere, I would suggest "Steal This Hook" on the Eberron Homepage. Then, fashion a campaign around that. Reading the whole thing won't take that long, just read a chapter every night. And once you get to the regions chapter, just read one or two regions every night and in two weeks you'll be finished.
Nature-boy 10-14-04, 04:00 PM	Thanks to all who posted. This really helps and is quite encouraging. Considering I do have a few more weeks before the campaign starts and a general idea where I want to go with the adventure, I think I will be ready. Thanks again.