New DM: Getting Eberon this weekend [Archive] - Wizards Community

New DM: Getting Eberon this weekend [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
chesstiger
08-31-04, 12:53 PM Greetings fellow gamers:

I haven't played D&D in many moon. I went full monty, I got the "adventure begins here" box set and all three v3.5 books. My kids and I play. We have been gaming for about three weeks now. My 17yo and 10yo have two PCs each that they play. My 3yo is the assitant DM. He rolls all the dice for me, the DM.

I strip the rules down as much as possible to keep it simple and fun for the kids.

They LOVE the game (or are they playing just to amuse dear old dad?). Any way, I'm planning on getting the Eberon campaign book and the "Shadows of the Last War" this weekend. Is it possible to "strip the rules down" in this adventure and still keep the "feel" of Eberron?

Also, I want to create my own adventures using the Eberron setting. Has anyone on the board did this? Since I haven't done this in a while, what will I need outside of the campaign book?

Thanks in advance for any responses.
ENHenry
08-31-04, 03:07 PM Greetings fellow gamers:

I haven't played D&D in many moon. I went full monty, I got the "adventure begins here" box set and all three v3.5 books. My kids and I play. We have been gaming for about three weeks now. My 17yo and 10yo have two PCs each that they play. My 3yo is the assitant DM. He rolls all the dice for me, the DM.

I strip the rules down as much as possible to keep it simple and fun for the kids.

They LOVE the game (or are they playing just to amuse dear old dad?). Any way, I'm planning on getting the Eberon campaign book and the "Shadows of the Last War" this weekend. Is it possible to "strip the rules down" in this adventure and still keep the "feel" of Eberron?

Also, I want to create my own adventures using the Eberron setting. Has anyone on the board did this? Since I haven't done this in a while, what will I need outside of the campaign book?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

You will not need anything else to enjoy Eberron - the Expanded Psionics Handbook is nice to add, but if you want to keep it simple, you have everything you need. Don't worry about cutting rules - in fact, in some cases you'll get a more fast-flowing and "cinema" style if you gloss over the rules a little more. Since you're playing with family, and your kids in particular, I doubt you'll have a whole lot of rules arguments if you don't follow every little thing. :)

In short, congratulations and good luck! This is a friendly crew who frequents these forums, and if you have any questions, they'll be glad to help, I have no doubt!

Oh, and www.enworld.org will be happy to see you, too! ;)
Vintar
08-31-04, 09:08 PM Great thing about playing with kids - if they disagree with you, you can just ground them!
WizO_Sith
08-31-04, 10:04 PM Also, I want to create my own adventures using the Eberron setting. Has anyone on the board did this? Since I haven't done this in a while, what will I need outside of the campaign book?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

If you're looking for what you NEED, the answer is "not much" - if you've got the D&D core rulebooks, that's all you need.

Now, if you're looking for inspiration...

I recommend paying a visit to a local video store, renting a few movies (I'd recommend The Magnificent Seven - even better The Seven Samurai, Blade Runner, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madres).

And robbing them blind in terms of plot and pacing.
Edymnion
08-31-04, 10:19 PM Yes, Eberron is heavily inspired by certain kinds of movies (it even outright lists the biggest inspirations, like Pirates of the Carribean and Raiders of the Lost Ark). As such, the feel of eberron isn't so much in the mechanics as it is in good old pulpy action/adventure. Over the top fight scenes, potentially cheesey dialogue... to put it simply, you CANNOT over-ham-it-up in Eberron.

You can essentially play it with exactly the same stuff you're running now with one little rules addition, Action Points. Essentially, the PCs get so many action points per level (use 'em or lose 'em). When they need to, the players can spend an Action Point to add 1d6 to just about any roll in the game. It lets them really pull off some spectacular stuff when it really, really counts.

As for the feel of the game, I get the impression that its actually very similar to the PSX game Final Fantasy 9. Its got magic, and magic is EVERYWHERE. But, its all very low level magic for the most part, anybody that can cast better than a first level spell is considered something special.

Bottom line though, I think your kids should really love Eberron. Its got cool flying ships, a lightning train, and the best part for them, their characters will be some of the most powerful people in the game pretty early on. There is no super-NPC like Elminster in the background. They hit level 10, and by gum, they're the most important people around. By the time they hit level 15, they'd be world famous. By lvl 20, they're practically gods in relation to everybody else. And kids like being the center of attention. Eberron can give them that.
The_Declaration
08-31-04, 10:35 PM I think Eberron might be a really good pick for you. Several reasons:

- Eberron is fresh and new. The core book is kinda the only source we have so far. That means the setting is very easy to access and understand, furthermore the book is easy and fun to read. The contrary of the Forgotten Realms which will look pretty scary for the beginner, with its thousands of pages of information.

- There are many ways to play Eberron, you can focus on the pulp, you can also play without the pulp, play Indiana Jones style, play Bladerunner/Dark City style, go into politics or avoid it totally, etc etc.

- Eberron has lots of things that can seduce children, from airships to warforged, and so on. While the Forgotten Realms or Dawnforge are - as i see it - settings that are designed for teenagers for example.

You can't be wrong with Eberron i think, just forget the Psionics part (at least at the beginning) to make it easier.
chesstiger
09-01-04, 08:34 AM Greetings,
What about good old fashioned dungeon crawls. Is Eberron a good place for them? Those are the type of adventures I like to create.
Slizaro
09-01-04, 08:54 AM Eberron can easily handle those too, there's almost an entire content of the world set up for almost Only dungion crawls, and you can fit them easily into everywhere else too.
The_Declaration
09-01-04, 09:10 AM dungeonning has its place in Eberron, it is even much better inserted in the setting than in others. Adventurers and "Dungeon cleaners" have even a specific social role that justify their existence.
q'afuu
09-01-04, 09:26 AM Greetings,
What about good old fashioned dungeon crawls. Is Eberron a good place for them? Eberron just emerged from a 100-year war. It must be chock-full of old fortresses and ruins. ;)
chesstiger
09-01-04, 01:19 PM Holy cow, sounds like I should have fun with this. Can't wait until Friday to pick it up. I've got a three day weekend coming so I'll have some time to take a pretty good look at it. :D

Has anyone on the board played "Shadows..." yet? How much did you enjoy it?
Edymnion
09-01-04, 03:27 PM The coolest thing you'll find about Eberron (after you get through finding all of the other coolest things and settle into DM'ing it), is that the setting has EVERYTHING.

Sharn is a freaking huge city full of skyscrapers, and has people from all over the world living there. Perfect for city-based games, or political intrege (however you spell that).

The Mournlands are essentially post-apocolyptic remains of the Eberron version of Hiroshima.

Xen'Drik is an entire continent of forgotten stuff once ruled by a very advanced civilization that destroyed itself. You can even buy a "Letter of Marque" which is essentially permission to go explore the continent, loot anything you can find, and come back to sell it to the normies.

The Talenta Plains are wide open plains filled with dinosaur riding halfling barbarians.

The Demon Wastes are burning deserts filled with nasty things.

And the best bit is that most of the major areas are connected together via the Lightning Rail, essentially a plot device that lets you get the party from one area to the next without having to do a 6 month hike (and I mean real time, not game time :P)

Essentially, ANY kind of game you could EVER want to play can be done in Eberron.
m15a
09-01-04, 05:01 PM wow. i'm kinda jealous. it's great that your kids love the game! i don't have any of my own, but maybe i'll grab some. j/k! j/k! :) but, yeah, kids are a lot of fun to play with sometimes. they have a real different perspective on things then old-time gamers. easier to get excited, too.
chesstiger
09-02-04, 08:02 AM I've found the hardest thing with my kids is the age difference 17, 10 and 3. I have to try keep the intrest of the 17yo while keeping it simple enough for the 10yo (my daughter). The 3yo well...I have to keep a real close eye on the dice. :D

So keeping it balanced is the key for me.
DMSkippy099
09-02-04, 08:35 AM My 5 year old little girl asked to look at one of my books the other day......her favorite is the MM. She comes back to me a few minutes later with a piece of paper where she copied the words: Belker, Bodak, Bugbear, and Combat! hehehe This was all on her own!

I suppose she will be ready to play sooner than I thought. Right now we just have a couple of different plastic swords and shields that we LARP with! hehehe She makes up the story and we act it out. (A future DM like her old man I guess)

Anyway, have fun with Eberron....it really is a great setting, and have fun playing with the kids. I can't wait to play DnD with mine!

Skippy
godpunch
09-02-04, 09:10 AM Has anyone on the board played "Shadows..." yet? How much did you enjoy it?

I usually avoid adventures because I'm poor (heh). But after playing through the mini-adventure in the back, I wanted more and bought SotLW.

So I would suggest you do the same thing; wait until you've gotten the Eberron campaign setting, and play through the mini adventure in the back (The Forgotten Forge). If you and your kids liked it, go ahead and grab Shadows of the Last War, because it continues the story of the Forgotten Forge...
The Rooster
09-02-04, 10:49 AM Eberron is a great setting for playing "rule lite." You can have a lot happen based on cinematic storytelling without too much concern for the rules.

Rooster
ZiD
09-02-04, 11:19 AM I really like Eberron... its very... cool... I dunno haha, cant explain it right now with my mom stomping around the house.
Alac Luin
09-02-04, 12:15 PM For the Psionics part, you can download the Psionics SRD (System Reference Document). Here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35)
The Expanded Psionics Handbook is better, but just to have a workable psionics sytem the SRD works.

I love this statement!!!
... My 3yo is the assitant DM. He rolls all the dice for me, the DM.

My 4 yr old would never give me the Dice Back!!!!
chesstiger
09-02-04, 01:26 PM I have to ham it up for them when describing the action. Which is part of the game I guess.

Each game I intorduce their PCs, like they do at the pro basketball games. They do a drum roll, I'll say something like "Here's a rouge who wants to steal a gold tooth out of a dragon's mouth...while it is still awake!!!" Then I'll call out their character's name. They'll clap and cheer for the character.

Then I have to chase the 3yo down so we can have dice to roll with. :eek:
Alac Luin
09-02-04, 01:46 PM Then I have to chase the 3yo down so we can have dice to roll with. :eek:
:rofl:
I can relate!!!
ZiD
09-02-04, 02:47 PM lmao!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
chesstiger 08-31-04, 12:53 PM	Greetings fellow gamers: I haven't played D&D in many moon. I went full monty, I got the "adventure begins here" box set and all three v3.5 books. My kids and I play. We have been gaming for about three weeks now. My 17yo and 10yo have two PCs each that they play. My 3yo is the assitant DM. He rolls all the dice for me, the DM. I strip the rules down as much as possible to keep it simple and fun for the kids. They LOVE the game (or are they playing just to amuse dear old dad?). Any way, I'm planning on getting the Eberon campaign book and the "Shadows of the Last War" this weekend. Is it possible to "strip the rules down" in this adventure and still keep the "feel" of Eberron? Also, I want to create my own adventures using the Eberron setting. Has anyone on the board did this? Since I haven't done this in a while, what will I need outside of the campaign book? Thanks in advance for any responses.
ENHenry 08-31-04, 03:07 PM	Greetings fellow gamers: I haven't played D&D in many moon. I went full monty, I got the "adventure begins here" box set and all three v3.5 books. My kids and I play. We have been gaming for about three weeks now. My 17yo and 10yo have two PCs each that they play. My 3yo is the assitant DM. He rolls all the dice for me, the DM. I strip the rules down as much as possible to keep it simple and fun for the kids. They LOVE the game (or are they playing just to amuse dear old dad?). Any way, I'm planning on getting the Eberon campaign book and the "Shadows of the Last War" this weekend. Is it possible to "strip the rules down" in this adventure and still keep the "feel" of Eberron? Also, I want to create my own adventures using the Eberron setting. Has anyone on the board did this? Since I haven't done this in a while, what will I need outside of the campaign book? Thanks in advance for any responses. You will not need anything else to enjoy Eberron - the Expanded Psionics Handbook is nice to add, but if you want to keep it simple, you have everything you need. Don't worry about cutting rules - in fact, in some cases you'll get a more fast-flowing and "cinema" style if you gloss over the rules a little more. Since you're playing with family, and your kids in particular, I doubt you'll have a whole lot of rules arguments if you don't follow every little thing. :) In short, congratulations and good luck! This is a friendly crew who frequents these forums, and if you have any questions, they'll be glad to help, I have no doubt! Oh, and www.enworld.org will be happy to see you, too! ;)
Vintar 08-31-04, 09:08 PM	Great thing about playing with kids - if they disagree with you, you can just ground them!
WizO_Sith 08-31-04, 10:04 PM	Also, I want to create my own adventures using the Eberron setting. Has anyone on the board did this? Since I haven't done this in a while, what will I need outside of the campaign book? Thanks in advance for any responses. If you're looking for what you NEED, the answer is "not much" - if you've got the D&D core rulebooks, that's all you need. Now, if you're looking for inspiration... I recommend paying a visit to a local video store, renting a few movies (I'd recommend The Magnificent Seven - even better The Seven Samurai, Blade Runner, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madres). And robbing them blind in terms of plot and pacing.
Edymnion 08-31-04, 10:19 PM	Yes, Eberron is heavily inspired by certain kinds of movies (it even outright lists the biggest inspirations, like Pirates of the Carribean and Raiders of the Lost Ark). As such, the feel of eberron isn't so much in the mechanics as it is in good old pulpy action/adventure. Over the top fight scenes, potentially cheesey dialogue... to put it simply, you CANNOT over-ham-it-up in Eberron. You can essentially play it with exactly the same stuff you're running now with one little rules addition, Action Points. Essentially, the PCs get so many action points per level (use 'em or lose 'em). When they need to, the players can spend an Action Point to add 1d6 to just about any roll in the game. It lets them really pull off some spectacular stuff when it really, really counts. As for the feel of the game, I get the impression that its actually very similar to the PSX game Final Fantasy 9. Its got magic, and magic is EVERYWHERE. But, its all very low level magic for the most part, anybody that can cast better than a first level spell is considered something special. Bottom line though, I think your kids should really love Eberron. Its got cool flying ships, a lightning train, and the best part for them, their characters will be some of the most powerful people in the game pretty early on. There is no super-NPC like Elminster in the background. They hit level 10, and by gum, they're the most important people around. By the time they hit level 15, they'd be world famous. By lvl 20, they're practically gods in relation to everybody else. And kids like being the center of attention. Eberron can give them that.
The_Declaration 08-31-04, 10:35 PM	I think Eberron might be a really good pick for you. Several reasons: - Eberron is fresh and new. The core book is kinda the only source we have so far. That means the setting is very easy to access and understand, furthermore the book is easy and fun to read. The contrary of the Forgotten Realms which will look pretty scary for the beginner, with its thousands of pages of information. - There are many ways to play Eberron, you can focus on the pulp, you can also play without the pulp, play Indiana Jones style, play Bladerunner/Dark City style, go into politics or avoid it totally, etc etc. - Eberron has lots of things that can seduce children, from airships to warforged, and so on. While the Forgotten Realms or Dawnforge are - as i see it - settings that are designed for teenagers for example. You can't be wrong with Eberron i think, just forget the Psionics part (at least at the beginning) to make it easier.
chesstiger 09-01-04, 08:34 AM	Greetings, What about good old fashioned dungeon crawls. Is Eberron a good place for them? Those are the type of adventures I like to create.
Slizaro 09-01-04, 08:54 AM	Eberron can easily handle those too, there's almost an entire content of the world set up for almost Only dungion crawls, and you can fit them easily into everywhere else too.
The_Declaration 09-01-04, 09:10 AM	dungeonning has its place in Eberron, it is even much better inserted in the setting than in others. Adventurers and "Dungeon cleaners" have even a specific social role that justify their existence.
q'afuu 09-01-04, 09:26 AM	Greetings, What about good old fashioned dungeon crawls. Is Eberron a good place for them? Eberron just emerged from a 100-year war. It must be chock-full of old fortresses and ruins. ;)
chesstiger 09-01-04, 01:19 PM	Holy cow, sounds like I should have fun with this. Can't wait until Friday to pick it up. I've got a three day weekend coming so I'll have some time to take a pretty good look at it. :D Has anyone on the board played "Shadows..." yet? How much did you enjoy it?
Edymnion 09-01-04, 03:27 PM	The coolest thing you'll find about Eberron (after you get through finding all of the other coolest things and settle into DM'ing it), is that the setting has EVERYTHING. Sharn is a freaking huge city full of skyscrapers, and has people from all over the world living there. Perfect for city-based games, or political intrege (however you spell that). The Mournlands are essentially post-apocolyptic remains of the Eberron version of Hiroshima. Xen'Drik is an entire continent of forgotten stuff once ruled by a very advanced civilization that destroyed itself. You can even buy a "Letter of Marque" which is essentially permission to go explore the continent, loot anything you can find, and come back to sell it to the normies. The Talenta Plains are wide open plains filled with dinosaur riding halfling barbarians. The Demon Wastes are burning deserts filled with nasty things. And the best bit is that most of the major areas are connected together via the Lightning Rail, essentially a plot device that lets you get the party from one area to the next without having to do a 6 month hike (and I mean real time, not game time :P) Essentially, ANY kind of game you could EVER want to play can be done in Eberron.
m15a 09-01-04, 05:01 PM	wow. i'm kinda jealous. it's great that your kids love the game! i don't have any of my own, but maybe i'll grab some. j/k! j/k! :) but, yeah, kids are a lot of fun to play with sometimes. they have a real different perspective on things then old-time gamers. easier to get excited, too.
chesstiger 09-02-04, 08:02 AM	I've found the hardest thing with my kids is the age difference 17, 10 and 3. I have to try keep the intrest of the 17yo while keeping it simple enough for the 10yo (my daughter). The 3yo well...I have to keep a real close eye on the dice. :D So keeping it balanced is the key for me.
DMSkippy099 09-02-04, 08:35 AM	My 5 year old little girl asked to look at one of my books the other day......her favorite is the MM. She comes back to me a few minutes later with a piece of paper where she copied the words: Belker, Bodak, Bugbear, and Combat! hehehe This was all on her own! I suppose she will be ready to play sooner than I thought. Right now we just have a couple of different plastic swords and shields that we LARP with! hehehe She makes up the story and we act it out. (A future DM like her old man I guess) Anyway, have fun with Eberron....it really is a great setting, and have fun playing with the kids. I can't wait to play DnD with mine! Skippy
godpunch 09-02-04, 09:10 AM	Has anyone on the board played "Shadows..." yet? How much did you enjoy it? I usually avoid adventures because I'm poor (heh). But after playing through the mini-adventure in the back, I wanted more and bought SotLW. So I would suggest you do the same thing; wait until you've gotten the Eberron campaign setting, and play through the mini adventure in the back (The Forgotten Forge). If you and your kids liked it, go ahead and grab Shadows of the Last War, because it continues the story of the Forgotten Forge...
The Rooster 09-02-04, 10:49 AM	Eberron is a great setting for playing "rule lite." You can have a lot happen based on cinematic storytelling without too much concern for the rules. Rooster
ZiD 09-02-04, 11:19 AM	I really like Eberron... its very... cool... I dunno haha, cant explain it right now with my mom stomping around the house.
Alac Luin 09-02-04, 12:15 PM	For the Psionics part, you can download the Psionics SRD (System Reference Document). Here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35) The Expanded Psionics Handbook is better, but just to have a workable psionics sytem the SRD works. I love this statement!!! ... My 3yo is the assitant DM. He rolls all the dice for me, the DM. My 4 yr old would never give me the Dice Back!!!!
chesstiger 09-02-04, 01:26 PM	I have to ham it up for them when describing the action. Which is part of the game I guess. Each game I intorduce their PCs, like they do at the pro basketball games. They do a drum roll, I'll say something like "Here's a rouge who wants to steal a gold tooth out of a dragon's mouth...while it is still awake!!!" Then I'll call out their character's name. They'll clap and cheer for the character. Then I have to chase the 3yo down so we can have dice to roll with. :eek:
Alac Luin 09-02-04, 01:46 PM	Then I have to chase the 3yo down so we can have dice to roll with. :eek: :rofl: I can relate!!!
ZiD 09-02-04, 02:47 PM	lmao!