Lower Dura Street Station? Miéville in Eberron. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Lower Dura Street Station? Miéville in Eberron. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
JulesCARV
03-14-07, 07:10 PM I haven't read Sharn: City of Towers, but I'm just wondering -- does anyone else ever think about borrowing elements of Sharn from New Crobuzon in Bas-Lag? In some ways, the flavor is very different, of course. Sharn may be corrupt and have bad neighborhoods, but it's not nearly as nightmarish or dystopian as New Crobuzon. Still, some elements seem like they could fit.

... although oddly enough, now that I mention it, I'm not sure exactly which ones.
Romulus LoneWolf
03-14-07, 08:34 PM Have you seen Dragon #352? It contains information from the Perdido Street Station series, and D&D conversions from it.
JulesCARV
03-14-07, 09:02 PM No, I haven't. Was it good?
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer
03-14-07, 09:59 PM Let me put it this way after reading that article I ordered all 3 books, I read the first one in 1 day, and Melvile became one of my favorite authors over night. The Articles are a brilliant use of the matereal.
Caul
03-15-07, 03:27 PM Funny, I just read PSS and I thought it would be great to instill a bit of that feeling into Sharn in my upcoming game. Working on some ideas now...

Definately have to include the rivebow though. I love it.

The Dragon with the PSS info as well as another recent one about Magical Pollution will be very useful indeed...
Zombomaniac
03-15-07, 04:36 PM Ya I read the Dragon artical and went and bought PSS and that issue of Dragon that day.
PSS was awsome and I am using Slack Moths in my next game and then a Weaver in the one after that.

With how it could fit in Sharn:

The Vodanoi would fit i real easy. They would work a lot in the dock a lot and their Watercraeft adility would be sought after for obvious reasons.

The Cactar would likely come from Drooam.

The hardest thing would be the Kepri.
JulesCARV
03-15-07, 04:53 PM In Eberron, I think the Kepri were probably created by the Daelkyr. Sounds like something the Daelkyr would do ("Hey! Let's take a woman's body, and put a beetle on top! Awesome idea! Almost as good as squashing two goblins together!"). The Kepri could be one of the few Daelkyr-created races that managed to break from the madness, evil and such of Khyber.
Romulus LoneWolf
03-15-07, 07:00 PM Eh, if all else fails, make the Kepri native to Xen'drick.
Sereno
03-16-07, 09:36 AM Meiville's work is a good source of inspiration for Eberron, but I think his tone is a little too dark for a "standard" Eberron. The government of New Crobuzon is far more corrupt and dictatorial than most Eberron governments, and the Militia greatly out-guns the citizenry.

I really enjoyed his three Bas-Lag novels (Iron Council the best!) but sometimes is imagery is unnecessarily foul; the moon doesn't *need* to hang in the sky like a bloated corpse.... :)

However, Bas-Lag is a lot more like Eberron than any other DnD setting in that magic and society are joined in ways that make sense, unlike most other settings.

That said there's a lot of Meiville's creations I'd like to bring into Eberron; the Weavers, the slake moths, the Garuda, the floating "nation" from the Scar, probably the cactus people, maybe even some of the Remade (though, the more disgusting of them would have to be Daelkyr-related)....
Caul
03-16-07, 10:59 AM I hadn't thought of using the Slake Moths in Eberron as well...I'll have to look over the Dragon article again...

To answer another poster, the Remade are already in Eberron, look at all the grafts that are available, as well as symbionts. Of course Remaking goes a lot further in Bas-Lag than 6 grafts, which are what allow by the RAW, but maybe work out a feat or two to increase this number, or create a template similar to what is in the Dragon Article (I'm not fond of it) that focusses on allowing more grafts.
Faithful_One
03-16-07, 11:33 AM I hadn't thought of using the Slake Moths in Eberron as well...I'll have to look over the Dragon article again...

To answer another poster, the Remade are already in Eberron, look at all the grafts that are available, as well as symbionts. Of course Remaking goes a lot further in Bas-Lag than 6 grafts, which are what allow by the RAW, but maybe work out a feat or two to increase this number, or create a template similar to what is in the Dragon Article (I'm not fond of it) that focusses on allowing more grafts.

Ya I think they kinda messed up on the Remade in the Article, other then that I love it and even like their Remade template a bit, but ya Remade isn't a Template it's grafts.
Sereno
03-16-07, 11:44 AM The slake moths strike me as something Quori (sending out bad dreams to an entire city!) or Daelkyr with the mutable physiology and Fascination effect and "feeding" on mind/brains like a Mindflayer.

However, as depicted in the book they'd be nearly too deadly for anything but a high-level party. Basically, their Fascinate had no save!! The ONLY way to avoid it was to look at them through a mirror! :eek:
Zombomaniac
03-16-07, 04:28 PM The slake moths strike me as something Quori (sending out bad dreams to an entire city!) or Daelkyr with the mutable physiology and Fascination effect and "feeding" on mind/brains like a Mindflayer.
Mabye in Eberron they are both. Originaly they were some weaker race of dream eaters with the Quori, but then the Daelkyr got ahold of them and morphed them into the Slack Moths we now know.

However, as depicted in the book they'd be nearly too deadly for anything but a high-level party. Basically, their Fascinate had no save!! The ONLY way to avoid it was to look at them through a mirror! :eek:
Their stated out versions seem way to weak to me. I think their Fascinate has a Will save DC 19 or something.

Also dont forget that if you look at them through the reflection of two mirrors then you are able to be Fascinated.:cool:
Romulus LoneWolf
03-16-07, 07:24 PM That said there's a lot of Meiville's creations I'd like to bring into Eberron; the Weavers, the slake moths, the Garuda, the floating "nation" from the Scar, probably the cactus people, maybe even some of the Remade (though, the more disgusting of them would have to be Daelkyr-related)....

I'd just tie the Remade to a Cult of the Dragon Below made up mainly of Artificers.
JulesCARV
03-16-07, 10:16 PM One possibility for Remade -- Last War veterans. They lost their legs to swords, or to cuts followed by gangrene, or whatever. The government couldn't or wouldn't get Regenerate cast by high-level clerics/archivists/druids/Jorasco healers/whatever or scrolls of it scribed by artificers, and instead gave them grafts. Some of the grafts are good. Some aren't. Some are clearly not humanoid-like -- for example, a Last War veteran who lost both legs might be installed into a magical self-locomotive wheeled tripod.

It's a bit different from New Crobuzon, but a somewhat similar, if less sinister, feel. They weren't directly mutilated by their government, but they were sent by their government off into a stupid, protracted war that ended up leaving them mutilated.

In fact, I find it somewhat odd that Eberron doesn't really have much about wounded or severely traumatized war veterans. At least, not much that I've seen.
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer
03-16-07, 10:31 PM I used Remade as the Lord of blades's canonfodder, and a revenge. His kind were made as solders, now hes remaking his makers as solders of his own rather than feild warforged in there place.
Sereno
03-18-07, 05:17 PM In fact, I find it somewhat odd that Eberron doesn't really have much about wounded or severely traumatized war veterans. At least, not much that I've seen.

Emotionally traumatized, sure! Even Daine (protagonist from KB's novels) has what seems to be the Eberron equivalent of Shell Shock as do most of the Cyre survivors.

However, horrific injuries and lost limbs/body parts didn't really become common during wars until guns became prevalent. A sword wound is pretty clean and you either heal or you died outright. But, a bullet wound is filthy because the ball/bullet drags the victims clothing and surface dirt deep into the body where gangrene is likely to fester.
Elvenshae
03-20-07, 12:34 PM I used Remade as the Lord of blades's canonfodder, and a revenge. His kind were made as solders, now hes remaking his makers as solders of his own rather than feild warforged in there place.

That's exactly what I thought as soon as I saw the Remade.

Of course, the LoB focuses on the more mechanical side of remaking.
cancerousmango
03-20-07, 01:52 PM I think if Air Bud had Scabmettler genes, he'd be indestructable on the basketball court.
Lord Zeb
10-22-07, 11:57 AM Has anyone used this in their Eberron campaigns yet? I read PSS and am about 1/2 way through the Scar. I think gaming in the world itself would be really challenging, but interesting. Incorporating the feel and some of the creatures into Eberron seems a bit easier and could make for a really different Eberron campaign.

Having the Remade as LoB footsoldiers mentioned above is a great example!
ChaoticGood
10-29-07, 01:23 AM My Sharn has an internal elemental rail system run by Gnomes that uses older, less-reliable fire-elemental-powered railcars. The central station is in Lyrandar Tower, but I could certainly see the Tavick's Landing station being a lot like Perdido Street.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JulesCARV 03-14-07, 07:10 PM	I haven't read Sharn: City of Towers, but I'm just wondering -- does anyone else ever think about borrowing elements of Sharn from New Crobuzon in Bas-Lag? In some ways, the flavor is very different, of course. Sharn may be corrupt and have bad neighborhoods, but it's not nearly as nightmarish or dystopian as New Crobuzon. Still, some elements seem like they could fit. ... although oddly enough, now that I mention it, I'm not sure exactly which ones.
Romulus LoneWolf 03-14-07, 08:34 PM	Have you seen Dragon #352? It contains information from the Perdido Street Station series, and D&D conversions from it.
JulesCARV 03-14-07, 09:02 PM	No, I haven't. Was it good?
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 03-14-07, 09:59 PM	Let me put it this way after reading that article I ordered all 3 books, I read the first one in 1 day, and Melvile became one of my favorite authors over night. The Articles are a brilliant use of the matereal.
Caul 03-15-07, 03:27 PM	Funny, I just read PSS and I thought it would be great to instill a bit of that feeling into Sharn in my upcoming game. Working on some ideas now... Definately have to include the rivebow though. I love it. The Dragon with the PSS info as well as another recent one about Magical Pollution will be very useful indeed...
Zombomaniac 03-15-07, 04:36 PM	Ya I read the Dragon artical and went and bought PSS and that issue of Dragon that day. PSS was awsome and I am using Slack Moths in my next game and then a Weaver in the one after that. With how it could fit in Sharn: The Vodanoi would fit i real easy. They would work a lot in the dock a lot and their Watercraeft adility would be sought after for obvious reasons. The Cactar would likely come from Drooam. The hardest thing would be the Kepri.
JulesCARV 03-15-07, 04:53 PM	In Eberron, I think the Kepri were probably created by the Daelkyr. Sounds like something the Daelkyr would do ("Hey! Let's take a woman's body, and put a beetle on top! Awesome idea! Almost as good as squashing two goblins together!"). The Kepri could be one of the few Daelkyr-created races that managed to break from the madness, evil and such of Khyber.
Romulus LoneWolf 03-15-07, 07:00 PM	Eh, if all else fails, make the Kepri native to Xen'drick.
Sereno 03-16-07, 09:36 AM	Meiville's work is a good source of inspiration for Eberron, but I think his tone is a little too dark for a "standard" Eberron. The government of New Crobuzon is far more corrupt and dictatorial than most Eberron governments, and the Militia greatly out-guns the citizenry. I really enjoyed his three Bas-Lag novels (Iron Council the best!) but sometimes is imagery is unnecessarily foul; the moon doesn't need to hang in the sky like a bloated corpse.... :) However, Bas-Lag is a lot more like Eberron than any other DnD setting in that magic and society are joined in ways that make sense, unlike most other settings. That said there's a lot of Meiville's creations I'd like to bring into Eberron; the Weavers, the slake moths, the Garuda, the floating "nation" from the Scar, probably the cactus people, maybe even some of the Remade (though, the more disgusting of them would have to be Daelkyr-related)....
Caul 03-16-07, 10:59 AM	I hadn't thought of using the Slake Moths in Eberron as well...I'll have to look over the Dragon article again... To answer another poster, the Remade are already in Eberron, look at all the grafts that are available, as well as symbionts. Of course Remaking goes a lot further in Bas-Lag than 6 grafts, which are what allow by the RAW, but maybe work out a feat or two to increase this number, or create a template similar to what is in the Dragon Article (I'm not fond of it) that focusses on allowing more grafts.
Faithful_One 03-16-07, 11:33 AM	I hadn't thought of using the Slake Moths in Eberron as well...I'll have to look over the Dragon article again... To answer another poster, the Remade are already in Eberron, look at all the grafts that are available, as well as symbionts. Of course Remaking goes a lot further in Bas-Lag than 6 grafts, which are what allow by the RAW, but maybe work out a feat or two to increase this number, or create a template similar to what is in the Dragon Article (I'm not fond of it) that focusses on allowing more grafts. Ya I think they kinda messed up on the Remade in the Article, other then that I love it and even like their Remade template a bit, but ya Remade isn't a Template it's grafts.
Sereno 03-16-07, 11:44 AM	The slake moths strike me as something Quori (sending out bad dreams to an entire city!) or Daelkyr with the mutable physiology and Fascination effect and "feeding" on mind/brains like a Mindflayer. However, as depicted in the book they'd be nearly too deadly for anything but a high-level party. Basically, their Fascinate had no save!! The ONLY way to avoid it was to look at them through a mirror! :eek:
Zombomaniac 03-16-07, 04:28 PM	The slake moths strike me as something Quori (sending out bad dreams to an entire city!) or Daelkyr with the mutable physiology and Fascination effect and "feeding" on mind/brains like a Mindflayer. Mabye in Eberron they are both. Originaly they were some weaker race of dream eaters with the Quori, but then the Daelkyr got ahold of them and morphed them into the Slack Moths we now know. However, as depicted in the book they'd be nearly too deadly for anything but a high-level party. Basically, their Fascinate had no save!! The ONLY way to avoid it was to look at them through a mirror! :eek: Their stated out versions seem way to weak to me. I think their Fascinate has a Will save DC 19 or something. Also dont forget that if you look at them through the reflection of two mirrors then you are able to be Fascinated.:cool:
Romulus LoneWolf 03-16-07, 07:24 PM	That said there's a lot of Meiville's creations I'd like to bring into Eberron; the Weavers, the slake moths, the Garuda, the floating "nation" from the Scar, probably the cactus people, maybe even some of the Remade (though, the more disgusting of them would have to be Daelkyr-related).... I'd just tie the Remade to a Cult of the Dragon Below made up mainly of Artificers.
JulesCARV 03-16-07, 10:16 PM	One possibility for Remade -- Last War veterans. They lost their legs to swords, or to cuts followed by gangrene, or whatever. The government couldn't or wouldn't get Regenerate cast by high-level clerics/archivists/druids/Jorasco healers/whatever or scrolls of it scribed by artificers, and instead gave them grafts. Some of the grafts are good. Some aren't. Some are clearly not humanoid-like -- for example, a Last War veteran who lost both legs might be installed into a magical self-locomotive wheeled tripod. It's a bit different from New Crobuzon, but a somewhat similar, if less sinister, feel. They weren't directly mutilated by their government, but they were sent by their government off into a stupid, protracted war that ended up leaving them mutilated. In fact, I find it somewhat odd that Eberron doesn't really have much about wounded or severely traumatized war veterans. At least, not much that I've seen.
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 03-16-07, 10:31 PM	I used Remade as the Lord of blades's canonfodder, and a revenge. His kind were made as solders, now hes remaking his makers as solders of his own rather than feild warforged in there place.
Sereno 03-18-07, 05:17 PM	In fact, I find it somewhat odd that Eberron doesn't really have much about wounded or severely traumatized war veterans. At least, not much that I've seen. Emotionally traumatized, sure! Even Daine (protagonist from KB's novels) has what seems to be the Eberron equivalent of Shell Shock as do most of the Cyre survivors. However, horrific injuries and lost limbs/body parts didn't really become common during wars until guns became prevalent. A sword wound is pretty clean and you either heal or you died outright. But, a bullet wound is filthy because the ball/bullet drags the victims clothing and surface dirt deep into the body where gangrene is likely to fester.
Elvenshae 03-20-07, 12:34 PM	I used Remade as the Lord of blades's canonfodder, and a revenge. His kind were made as solders, now hes remaking his makers as solders of his own rather than feild warforged in there place. That's exactly what I thought as soon as I saw the Remade. Of course, the LoB focuses on the more mechanical side of remaking.
cancerousmango 03-20-07, 01:52 PM	I think if Air Bud had Scabmettler genes, he'd be indestructable on the basketball court.
Lord Zeb 10-22-07, 11:57 AM	Has anyone used this in their Eberron campaigns yet? I read PSS and am about 1/2 way through the Scar. I think gaming in the world itself would be really challenging, but interesting. Incorporating the feel and some of the creatures into Eberron seems a bit easier and could make for a really different Eberron campaign. Having the Remade as LoB footsoldiers mentioned above is a great example!
ChaoticGood 10-29-07, 01:23 AM	My Sharn has an internal elemental rail system run by Gnomes that uses older, less-reliable fire-elemental-powered railcars. The central station is in Lyrandar Tower, but I could certainly see the Tavick's Landing station being a lot like Perdido Street.