Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 goatboytim Sep 18, 2009 11:07:51	I know building your own campaign is all about freedom, only using what you want and how you want to, but my question is... if I want to run kind of a 'Diet Eberron' only pick and choose a few elements, am I going to cheat myself or my potential players out of having a more enjoyable time? Details:  I'm trying to put together a group to run KotS with some Eberron variations thrown in, and I want to basically use the Nentir Vale from the Points of Light setting as their 'home court' as it were.  Well, I also want them to have a taste that this valley is only a tiny pinprick of the continent they are on.  In the future I want to incorporate things like the Lightning Rail, Elemental Airships, eventually Sharn, but it doesn't make sense to have this fantastical technology linking small villages and towns. I'm not terribly fond of the monsters of eberron, Dolgaunts and such, I like the classic goblins/trolls/orcs etc... and likewise, I like the idea of the Shadowfell/Fewild as opposed to Khyber and all of that.   Same with Dragonmarks and prophesies and such, they just don't make a whole lot of sense and dno't have a large appeal for me... I guess my overall question is, am I missing the entire point of Eberron, and should I just keep my campaing set in the classic setting?  Or is it possible to use some elements and have that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" cinematic feel while staying true to 'vanilla' D&D?
#2 AvonRekaes Sep 18, 2009 23:28:34	It'd say that for the most part you're not missing much. If you don't want to deal with the Prophecy? Don't. If you don't want to use dolgaunts? Who cares? No one says you HAVE to use Khyber Cults lead by aberrant creatures. The only thing I'd give pause with is your desire to use "regular monsters" and including goblinoids in there. You certainly can have a tribe of goblinoids raiding villages and whatnot, but if you keep this as the extent of goblin society, you're missing out on some of the coolness factor of the Dhakanni Empire. It gives cultural identity and pride to the goblinoids that's usually absent from other settings. Also, more civilized cities, especially Sharn, have goblinoid populations, and if you start your PCs off with KotS and portray goblinoids as your average bloodthirsty savages, you would have to start explaining things like Malleons Gate, the goblinoid district in lower Sharn, Darguun being a recognized nation, and whatnot. You COULD just ignore all signs of goblinoid civilization, but I really think that keeping them somewhat civilized is important to Eberron's tone of "Not everything that's evil in the Monster Manual is evil in Eberron". Speaking of which, there ARE mauradding orcs, some in the Shadow Marches, some in Droamm, some in Mror Holds, but there are ALSO peaceful nature-worshipping orcs.
#3 goatboytim Sep 21, 2009 11:37:11	I think once I thought about it, I kind of answered my own question, but I do appreciate the input. I love the idea of a civilized monster city.  Which is what the 'goblinoids' sound like...   Picking and choosing definitely sounds like the way to go though... throw the KoTS setting in Khorvaire somewhere and call it good, let the group discover the larger world in time...
#4 Alas Sep 21, 2009 14:59:51	I know building your own campaign is all about freedom, only using what you want and how you want to, but my question is... if I want to run kind of a 'Diet Eberron' only pick and choose a few elements, am I going to cheat myself or my potential players out of having a more enjoyable time? Details:  I'm trying to put together a group to run KotS with some Eberron variations thrown in, and I want to basically use the Nentir Vale from the Points of Light setting as their 'home court' as it were.  Well, I also want them to have a taste that this valley is only a tiny pinprick of the continent they are on.  In the future I want to incorporate things like the Lightning Rail, Elemental Airships, eventually Sharn, but it doesn't make sense to have this fantastical technology linking small villages and towns. In the real world, small villages and towns sprang up near rail lines or even shifted a mile left or right to get closer to them. If you want the Nentir Vale to have a link to Orien's Lightning Rail, just not right away, consider this angle: House Orien ran a branch of the Lightning Rail through the Nentir Vale in (Breland? Aundair? wherever you are) because it offered the path of least resistance connecting X and Y (two other cities more important later on). At some point during the Last War, it became necessary to shut the branch down. Maybe it was sabotaged, maybe Orien reappropriated conductor stones to fix a more important branch, or maybe one of the cities is no longer a safe destination (in Droaam, Darguun, or the Mourning). Whatever the reason, the station is still there, but the coaches haven't come by in a decade or more. Nor will they until someone can convince House Orien that the Nentir Vale is ready for business again... If you want to use the traditional goblin baddies but put an Eberron spin on them, all you have to do is tie their typical activities (banditry and badness) to an organization or theme of the setting. Maybe the goblins are slavers, smuggling their victims back to Darguun. Maybe they're demobilized mercenaries cheated out of the money they feel House Deneith owes them. Maybe they're disenfranchised Sharn goblinoids looking to carve out their own little fiefdom. Their immediate impact on the game session is the same-- they're creepy little dudes who rob, kidnap, and ally themselves with a local villain. Their motivation, however, gives the players something to think about between adventures, and a hook to carry them out into the world. The same goes for just about any other "classic" monster. In short, cherry pick the setting to your heart's (and your players') delight. After all, you only spend so many hours actually rolling dice at the table. Why wait to get to the good stuff?
#5 Ogiwan Sep 21, 2009 15:59:18	I just think that you have to be careful. One of the main themes of Eberron is that there are evil things-that-are-traditionally-good, and good things-that-are-traditionally-evil (generally). The whole moral ambiguity thing. You just have to think about it carefully, methinks. If that helps.
#6 AvonRekaes Sep 21, 2009 16:38:36	I think one of the best ways you can highlight "eberron goblinoids are different" is to replace an NPC with a goblinoid NPC. Then you clearly have "bad goblinoids" and "good goblinoids". Have, say, the master of the guard for Fallcrest be a retired Hobgoblin mercenary. He can be gruff and maybe a bit bitter at his race's betrayal of House Deneith and Cyre, but essentially a good person. This will leave a lasting impression with the PCs, that not every goblinoid is going to be evil.
#7 beholdergaze Sep 24, 2009 11:53:20	The campaign i'm currently running is very similar to yours. I'm running the whole KotS arc in the Nentir Vale, and set the vale within Eberron in northeast Karrnath close to the Mror Holds. I think a Dragon article showed how you could incorporate Nentir into Eberron or something. Anyway, the reason the lighting rail (and other elements of Eberron) doesn't show is because the vale is far enough away from any other civilization that I can keep the game vanilla until I decide to let the group out of the vale. I chose to make the vale the last reminents of an empire that Karn the Conqueror almost destroyed. It only survived because of its remote location and the "backburner" attitude of Galifar for the last few centuries. The vanilla gods are those of the Nerath Kingdom, so on and so forth. Basically, the last of vanilla D&D in Eberron. The point is, from here, I can pick and choose which elements of Eberron I want all from the comfort of the Nentir Vale. Being a fan, I want to throw in a little of everything to show off the setting, but I know I have to choose wisely. Good Luck!