After looking the setting over I finally picked up a used copy at my FLGS this weekend. I have to say that I am impressed and like how the setting deviates enough from standard settings. After my 5e FR campaign wraps up I will be running in the setting.
That all said, is there any tips or advice that can help get me ready? I already have the UA article (Please refrain from turning this discussion into one about it) and am looking at converting a couple things that did not make it. While it will be some time before I get going on the setting I would like to get the basics together.
Azarik wrote:
Thanks for the good info! To answer your question I picked up the 3.5 setting book as I was not a fan of 4e. I have been reading through it and have been very happy with it. I also like that the setting has steered away from meta-plot and letting the high level NPC's overrun things. Though I will say when you have run a certain setting as long as I have you learn how to ignore all of that. 
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While it looks like I have a lot of reading to do, I don't mind due to how things are presented. One other question; was there a full size map of the main continent produced?
Azarik wrote:
The best map I have found is the 4e one, but it is a different scale from the 3e version. Although Hellcow has suggested that he likes the smaller scale better. There are plenty available with good resolution if you just google images for "Khorvaire". Here are a couple: http://mephitjames.wikidot.com/cities-of-khorvaire or http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/map_images/784786/D_D_-_4th_Edition_-_Eberron_Map_Khorvaire.jpg
There is also one that shows the size of Khorvaire (4e version) in comparison to Texas: http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3003936.
As for presenting Eberron generally, a lot can depend on how likely it is that your players are going to familiarize themselves with the setting ahead of time. My players usually prefer to reveal it through play, so I make a point of making sure every encounter reveals something about the world. The first dragon plot they encounter will involve the prophecy, the first orcs they encounter will be gatekeepers, the first dragon they encounter will be a schemer (if it is metallic it will be evil, and if it is coloured til will be good), ruins in Khorvaire will be Dhakaani, gnolls are Znir pact, elves are Valenar or Aerenal, dwarves are merchants, etc. Plots are always "Eberron" plots, full of shades of gray, and involve established factions, behaving in a way that shows the players what those factions are about.
If your players are like mine, don't expect them to make "Eberron" characters off the bat. Just let them make what they want; once you see where they are going, you can suggest some tweaks to the build or backstory to bring them in tune with the setting. Allow a little retconning later; as they become familiar with the setting, they may wish to "Eberronize" their characters.
@Tempest: The contradictions don't bother me. Our history is full of them and I always look at setting books as being compiled by unrealibale narrorators. So the Elves could be telling one side and hostorians another. The same goes for what you said about Forge of War and the Player's guide. I could see myself getting FoW just to throw some confusuion in for the players. 
@Beoric: Knowing my players and myself I can already see what will appeal to them. The feel of the years between WWI and WWII and them possibly wanting to play vets with no place in society will be the jumping point. I will be playing that up along with the intabilities and ruins laying around. Of course knowing them they may try to start another war or play the houses against each other.
It will be playing these points up that will involve them in the world.
More inspiration: Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Chinatown, Big Trouble in Little China, Congo, and L.A. Confidential. L.A. Noire is a good video game example, particularly if you are dealing with former soldiers.
Magic is everywhere but it is not everything. You'll find all manner of conveniences but the big, powerful stuff is rare. Color changing gloves or a pair of self-cleaning boots are good ways to illustrate that magic is common and mass-produced without having to fiddle with the power level of the setting. A trip by lightning rail or airship is also a good way to introduce "big" magical things.
Society in the Five Nations is more bureaucratic than in many other settings. See how they react to a corrupt guard saying "papers, please" and then abusing his authority. It will illustrate a large portion of the moral nature of the setting very quickly. Moral ambiguity rules the day. The players should have to make hard choices and not always come out totally on top. Maybe they defeated the bad guy but an innocent is now in prison. In keeping with that, the villains should grow with the players. Villains should often be pragmatic. Cackling egomaniacs certainly have a firm place in Eberron but so do creative, "human" villains. Being able to "buy off" some of the villains should be an option if the players are not morally against it.
Religion is about belief in Eberron, not the patronage of gods. What do your players' characters believe and why?
I wouldn't say the PCs "should" have to make hard choices and not always come out on top. That's certainly one way to play Eberron, but it's far from the only way.
Some games are LA Confidential, others are The Mummy.
The "monster" races aren't necessarily evil. There are even gnolls who reject the rapid, demon worshipping ways of their brethren, and orcs are the setting's oldest druids. The big lost empire on Khorvaire was a goblinoid empire. The biggest proponent of lasting peace is the King of Karrnath, which employs undead in it's armies.
The main gods of the setting aren't a certainty, but there is a supernatural power for good that is inarguably real, and that's the Silver Flame, whose church is dedicated absolutely to protecting the innocent from supernatural evil.
Oh, and the Elves basically worship their ancestors, and for some of them that means keeping some of their ancestors alive after death, in a weird non evil undeath state, to lead them.
And the gnomes are completely nuts, in the coolest/most terrifying way.
In terms of giving hooks, I think the 4e Eberron Campaign Guide was great. Ignore all the 4e stuff, and just revel in its hooky goodness.
In terms of the other Eberron books.....Forge of War is regularly derided. If you have questions about the Last War, either make it up, look up past threads here, or ask us. We've come up with some awesome stuff in the past. Dragonmarked is prety rad, and Sharn: City of Towers is wonderful. Player's Guide to Eberron gives some good, general coverage.