Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Chigaru Oct 18, 2013 17:18:05	I'm about to start a 1st-level game of Eberron, in an opening adventure that's designed to catch some of my new players (new to the group and the setting) up to where Eberron is sociopolitically speaking, and to provide for them a foundation to adventure on.   The early stages of the idea I had is that they'd be hired by the foremen of an engineering and construction crew tasked with rebuilding the White Arch Bridge to protect the site while they work. I figure this gives them a good home base, plenty of places nearby that are loaded with history (what with the WAB being on the border between Karrnath and Thrane), and a variety of possible threats, including rogue monsters spilt from the Mournland (it's just upriver a ways, after all), the ever-popular Emerald Claw, and even just regular people who view the reconstruction as an insult against family who died in the war fighting the other side.   Not to mention the other foreign actors who don't necessarily want to see Thrane and Karrnath get such a lucrative trading route rebuilt. Can't be easy moving goods over the river, probably costs a lot of money over the course of a year.   The adventure can end either when the players decide they don't want to stay (which would be a breach of contract, leading to all sorts of other fun), when the construction is halted/discontinued, or when the bridge is rebuilt. The latter could be when the players have to stop the unveiling ceremony from being crashed by some ne'er-do-wells, of course. And Kaius III and perhaps a Cardinal of Thrane or three could be there and "under threat" from whoever attacks, yes?   Does this sound like a decent 1st-level adventure path? Is there anything I'm missing? Do you have any suggestions to improve the situation or just some cool encounter ideas (system agnostic, but I'm using 4E)?   Thanks.
#2 Beoric Oct 18, 2013 22:20:07	It seems unlikely that such a project could avoid becoming embroiled in the mess that is Thaliost, which is the most likely source of labour on the Thane side.  Which draws in Aundair and its Royal Eyes.  Which draws in agents from everywhere else, clandestinely supporting one faction or another.  It could get ugly fast.
#3 Chigaru Oct 20, 2013 20:29:32	Yeah, I imagine the construction will take like a whole year due to ugly political stuff.
#4 StrikerGreen Oct 21, 2013 8:23:13	Hey Chigaru!   I love the setting for your campaign! I've been running an Eberron game for the past 31 months (we game every two weeks) and at the beginning I found it difficult to get too deep into the politics of Eberron because my players were not Eberron experts. I had to very slowly introduce aspects of the world, from creation myths, to the concept of Dragonmarked houses exiting outside normal laws, to say nothing of all the names/personalities of the varied nations on Khorvaire (and beyond). I'm happy to say that after two years plus of playing, most of my players have a firm grasp of Khorvaire and what's going on there.   Our game has focused much more on Aberrants, the Broken Tower, and the Prophesy, so there hasn't been a ton of socio-political manuevering.   At any rate, I would encourage you to start with a very narrow focus, maybe just the WAB and the relationship between Thrane/Karrnath and, as Beoric so expertly pointed out; Thaliost could be the center of a campaign in and of itself, to say nothing of Rekkenmark on the OTHER side of the river in Karnnath.   Rekkenmark is where I set my first Eberron campain and it has an abundance of adventure threads.   Lastly, I would encourage you to work closely with your Players to create their characters; grounding them in a society or organization (I used the Kings Swords, Shields & Wands from Breland for my PCs; though they in very short order quit that organization) will give them a slice of the world that they are an expert on and, hopefully, the players being to 'cross pollinate' their specific knowlege.   Good luck!
(Reply to #3) Beoric	Not to mention terrorist attacks.  The (to make up an organization) Thaliost Liberation Front tries to sabaotage the construction becuase it supports Thrane, while the Popular Front for the Liberation of Thaliost opposes them because the bridge is an Aundairan symbol, and the Aundairans for Thaliost are trying to hold peaceful protests.  Noone can tell which is which, and Thaliost's governor (whose name escapes me) initiates pogroms.  What could start out as guarding supply lines could turn into a nice moral dilemma for your players.
#6 StrikerGreen Oct 23, 2013 11:19:13	There are also some great 'Sharn Inquisitive' articles deep in the WotC site archives.   Many of them reference locations discussed above. Enjoy!
#7 Chigaru Oct 28, 2013 10:02:40	Ran my first session yesterday, next one is in two weeks.   For this session I emphasized the fact that the continent just got finished with a massive war. I made up roughly 20 NPCs with limited backstories, and the PCs talked to them all and mingled and such and discovered that all of them were veterans and roughly half of them had some sort of lasting significant injury (missing eyes, limbs, etc...).   I also introduced a couple of dragonmarked NPCs who were clearly Better Off than the "blue collar" workers. I didn't mean for them to come across as "We're totally better" elitism, though I think I did that on accident. I was aiming for a more general "We were separate from the fighting, and while we suffered a little (Cannith was headquartered in Cyre, remember) on the whole members of the Houses got through the war unscathed.".   They were also made aware of the post-war warforged opinion: they were warned not to bring up warforged at all to some of the workers "Just to avoid an argument". And they get that Thaliost isn't totally Thranite, that despite this project Thrane and Karrnath are not the best of friends, and thanks to a shifter in the group they get that the Silver Flame and shifters have a storied history.   Next time I'm introducing an aberrant-marked warlock with daelkyr grafts, working in more warforged drama, and balancing my unfavorable depiction of the wealthy with some sympathetic high-class characters.   The adventure I have planned starts with a single encounter: raiding party belonging to the Lord of Blades attacks, trying to break stuff (the PCs jobs will be to defend these points and drive off the attackers). The strike was clearly planned and precise, and some of the anti-'forged NPCs will claim one of the warforged in the camp have been revealing secrets about security and construction. They'll be correct, of course, but the PCs will likely defend her (the accused) and/or try to find some evidence of her involvement (of which there is a bit).   This will be the beginning of a longer warforged-centric arc culminating in a riot scene that the PCs will attempt to suppress between warforged laborers and anti-warforged laborers.   The feedback I got, by the way, was more about how the players loved the "secondary" objectives of each combat, usually saving workers and dealing with tactically-minded enemies (doing this in 4th Edition), so I'll be throwing lots more of that in.
#8 StrikerGreen Oct 28, 2013 11:04:26	Sounds like your first session was a big success, congrats! I hope we were able to help in some small part. Very much looking forward to hearing how things turn out in your Eberron game!