It has things like:
1) Often you only get a name for a location or a name and a paragraph. This is designed to stimulate your imagination and make up your own place. When you're given more, its often lacking in a lot of information (particularly history) so you can use your own ideas however you like. A lot like 4th edition.
2) Everything can have a place in the world. Similar to the "everything is core" concept of 4th edition.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I thought I'd post the observation.
It has things like:
1) Often you only get a name for a location or a name and a paragraph. This is designed to stimulate your imagination and make up your own place. When you're given more, its often lacking in a lot of information (particularly history) so you can use your own ideas however you like. A lot like 4th edition.
This is due, in large part, to the type of book SoX is. It is designed to allow various pieces to be mixed, matched, and dropped into a game. It was not designed as a detailed sourcebook of Xen'drik.
That said, Eberron came along late in the life of 3E. I've seen aspects of Eberron in nearly every 4E sourcebook released to this point. Even the FR have been influenced, now having a world-changing magical cataclysm, earthmotes, and spellscars. The Shifter race, created for Eberron, is now a "core" race. There are more examples, to be sure.
So, while Eberron was the first setting designed specifically for 3.5E, it has also heavily influenced the development of 4E. This isn't surprising, really, since Eberron is one of the two currently published settings.
Furthering the concept of PCs as protagonists; being treated differently than NPCs. PCs that are capable of amazing things and that change the world.
A general downplaying of alignment's impact in the world, especially as it pertains to entire groups of creatures and specific classes.
A greater desire to take advantage of D&D's entire library, designing the world so that content can be more easily ported from one book to together.
Moving more towards having elements of the world be unexplored or mysterious. Specifically not explaining and detailing certain things, and leaving them wide open to interpretation.
Continuing to pursue the fantastic aspects of fantasy. Magic is widespread and common, not rare and feared. Creatures and characters that are markedly non-Human are an accepted part of the world and its history, and not treated so much as something foreign or alien to it.
Personally, I don't think the spellplague and spellscars of Faerun were inspired by Eberron. The spellplague was shakeup in the way magic functions based on the war of the deities, just like the Time of Troubles that bridged 2E FR's transition to 3E. Likewise, spellfire and its traits were spawned in an old Forgotten Realms novel.
He worked on both core Eberron et core D&D4E at the same time.
Rekko
Not that I didn't like Eberron, but Eberron is Eberron, and FR was FR.
Now everything is 'Core'.
What's the point of even publishing different settings, when anything you can do in one you can do with another?
The purpose of a setting is to provide a flavorful backdrop for the rules, which isn't condusive to a "make-it-up yourself" attitude, nor designing every world to include evrything from every other.
Anyone can draw a pretty map - its creating unique things that sets a setting apart.
I guess you guys know about that last DDi article about using Warforged in the Realms (and Tieflings in Eb)?
Well, at least I know why 4eFR sucks now. :P
Not that I didn't like Eberron, but Eberron is Eberron, and FR was FR.
Now everything is 'Core'.
What's the point of even publishing different settings, when anything you can do in one you can do with another?
The purpose of a setting is to provide a flavorful backdrop for the rules, which isn't condusive to a "make-it-up yourself" attitude, nor designing every world to include evrything from every other.
Anyone can draw a pretty map - its creating unique things that sets a setting apart.
I guess you guys know about that last DDi article about using Warforged in the Realms (and Tieflings in Eb)?
Before Eberron even appeared, it was pretty much implied that everything in the other books had a place in Forgotten Realms in one form or another. It had become the default published setting, after all. Eberron just explicitly stated this fact because the setting was new and different. People were likely to think it had new restrictions.
Having a couple of Warforged in Faerun- which was home to the magical land of Lantan, where magical constructs were commonplace- doesn't suddenly make it just like Eberron.
Neither does introducing Tieflings and other formerly planetouched races (which were always in Eberron, if only touched upon briefly) make it just like Forgotten Realms.
Their presence and roles in each setting are very different, especially considering the small presence they have in either. If Eberron and Forgotten realms can take Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and other extremely common races and make them different enough, it should be no problem taking races that make up a minuscule fraction of the global population, and slipping them in without changing the general themes and dynamics of the setting.
Part of specifically stating that there is a place for everything in Eberron, and actually making efforts to provide a place for such things was part of Eberrons's success. Likewise, the printing of multiple exclusive campaign settings with exclusive races, classes, and other options was part of why the TSR lines failed.
4E, on the other hand, bears the stamp of a lot Eberron influence; Eberron had a lot of cool stuff in it that people started swiping for their own games (I know one of my DMs purchased almost every Eberron book and never actually ran the setting, instead yoinking things like warforged and shifters wholesale and dropping them into his homebrew world.)
Eberron bears the stamp of a lot of 3.5-specific influence. The dragonmarks almost all model specific 3.5 spells that regular casters could learn, the dragonmarked races are exclusive to the list of PC races in the original PHB (so they could give each "normal" race something special and setting-specific, in addition to introducing new races), and there are a lot of little setting details that key off of specific spells or racial abilities. Zilargo's culture is significantly influenced by the fact that 3.5 gnomes had prestidigitation and ghost sound as spell-like abilities, and the existence of the low-level continual flame spell is why "cold fire" is so prevalent throughout civilized Khorvaire.
Well it did have to use the 3.5 system :P It'd be silly to make the setting and not utilize any of the mechanics.
I guess you guys know about that last DDi article about using Warforged in the Realms (and Tieflings in Eb)?
Genasi, not Tieflings. Yes, I did, and I thought it was a very good article.
Zilargo's culture is significantly influenced by the fact that 3.5 gnomes had prestidigitation and ghost sound as spell-like abilities...
For which reason I'm very glad that the PHB II has a feat that allows gnomes to perform prestidigitation (in addition to having ghost sound as a racial), since it's something worked into both the general flavor of the culture and the literal flavor of their cuisine. I'd created a similar feat when 4E first came out and I was making my own Eberron house rules prior to talking to WotC.
The fact that ghost sound is essentially also ventriloquism is also nice; it lets the Trust be a little creepier. So now when the PC is about to do something unwise in Zilargo, he can hear that little voice in his ear... "We're watching you."
For which reason I'm very glad that the PHB II has a feat that allows gnomes to perform prestidigitation (in addition to having ghost sound as a racial), since it's something worked into both the general flavor of the culture and the literal flavor of their cuisine. I'd created a similar feat when 4E first came out and I was making my own Eberron house rules prior to talking to WotC.
The fact that ghost sound is essentially also ventriloquism is also nice; it lets the Trust be a little creepier. So now when the PC is about to do something unwise in Zilargo, he can hear that little voice in his ear... "We're watching you."
Then you get to slap the bard upside the head when he starts singing "I always feel like ... somebody's watchin' me ..."
What's the point of even publishing different settings, when anything you can do in one you can do with another?
I'm hoping to start a home campaign in Eberron in a few months time because I'd something different from the Forgotten Realms (been playing LFR until now). Although clearly the two settings are identical because of 4th edition
But, with regard to the FR in 4e...
Spellplague = A worldwide version of the Mourning.
Plaguelands = The Mournland, in multiple locales.
Spellscars function in nearly an identical fashion to the intended purpose of Dragonmarks, and is likely exactly how Dragonmarks will function in Eberron 4e.
I'd really love to say that the FR were nothing more than a filthy rat used to test out a few Eberronian concepts in 4e before they let it out...but I don't think that would really be reasonable. The FR are their own setting, and as much as it would please me deeply to know that it was twisted and used and thrown away like the worthless ***** it is...I don't actually believe that's the case.
So while the FR were influenced by Eberron in my opinion, it's still plenty of the same garbage it was before. It's just slightly better, because it's 4e now, and losers like Elminster can't do anymore than the PCs...though I do wish he'd gone bye-bye permanently.
On a closing note...I cackle gleefully as I recall the demise of Pun-pun and CoDzilla with 4e.
Then you get to slap the bard upside the head when he starts singing "I always feel like ... somebody's watchin' me ..."
"... People call me on the Sivis messenger stone I'm trying to avoid
Or can the people in the Phiarlan illusion see me, or am I just paranoid? "
On a closing note...I cackle gleefully as I recall the demise of Pun-pun and CoDzilla with 4e.
Pun-Pun didn't die when 4e came out.
Perfect Conversion
Prerequisite: Pun-Pun
Benefit: All of Pun-Pun's stats remain unchanged when converted to 4e rules. Any rules questions or ambiguities related to the new ruleset are arbitrated by Pun-Pun himself.
;)
The ideas espoused in Eberron and 4e does go back quite a bit.