Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 juhan Apr 23, 2010 8:19:33	I keep reading that Eberron is about having a dark adventure. How the world of Eberron is dark compared to other dnd worlds? What is particuarly dark about Eberron? The artwork is not convincing me either.
#2 pluisjen Apr 23, 2010 8:22:27	I haven't read anything about Eberron being dark, but I did read a lot about Eberron featuring many shades of gray instead of the "Good vs Evil" that most other D&D worlds have. Probably that's what they're talking about.
#3 ChrisTheS Apr 23, 2010 9:48:06	It's not 'dark,' it's 'noir.'  'Dark' has grim themes, excessive violence and horror, while 'noir' has moral ambiguity, mystique, and suspense.  An example is the difference between The Dark Knight (dark) and Batman Begins (noir), or between Stephen King (dark) and Jim Butcher (noir).
#4 Ogiwan Apr 23, 2010 11:18:59	Seconded. Here's a TVTropes article on Film Noir, which is what they were aiming for: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Film... When we get a little more discussion, I'll chime back in.
#5 ChrisTheS Apr 23, 2010 18:35:59	You lead people into the Trope Trap and then talk about more discussion?  Are you mad??!!
#6 dieffenbachj Apr 23, 2010 23:39:17	12 hours after the trope trap, nobody has responded... except one person crying in horror about the trope trap of course
#7 requiemofblades Apr 23, 2010 23:44:47	Well...Part of the 'dark' feel comes from the fact that it is..i think between 5 and 15 years after a horrendous hundred year long war. One entire country Disappeared. Another turned into a Wasteland. I mean,it does depend on how much those aspects are played up,But everywhere you look in eberron there is plenty of examples of war and atrocities. That is the source of the "dark" bits
#8 Ogiwan Apr 24, 2010 20:34:55	Hahaha. Perhaps I should reconsider TVTropes.....it's almost as ensnaring as Wikipedia. Actually, more so, i think.....meh. There's an XKCD comic, "The Problem with Wikipedia." It's true as hell, and applies to TVTropes as well. Anyways. ReqOBlades, the Day of Mourning was four years ago, 994 YK. The Treaty of Thronehold was signed in 996 YK, and the campaign starts in 998 YK. Also, the country that was turned into a wasteland and the country that disappeared are the same country, Cyre. You do raise a point, though: the scars of the Last War still show on nations, places, and people. Any PC or NPC may have served, and have serious PTSD. Cities were destroyed, and huge tracts of land contaminated by death. Nations don't trust eachother, and are constantly trying to get ahead. It's very dark and grainy, if you will.
#9 JohnLynch Apr 24, 2010 20:48:25	I keep reading that Eberron is about having a dark adventure. How the world of Eberron is dark compared to other dnd worlds? What is particuarly dark about Eberron? The artwork is not convincing me either. I don't know if Dark is the right word. But these are some rules I have: There are no heroes except for the players. And even then I'm still a bit unsure about some of them. Its rarely obvious who is the bad guy. In one adventure the players were asked by 2 banshrae (all banshrae are members of the royal guard in the feycitadels) because an eladrin king wanted to speak with one of his citizens who had migrated to Sharn. The players looked for her and in the process discovered she was the leader of a gang that had ruled the underworld of an entire city district. When they caught up with her they discovered she was a professor in a university and had a sob-story that explained why she had to turn to a life of crime and how she never wanted to but simply had to in order to survive during the Last War. She then went on to explain how the banshrae were first created by an insane king (which is true) and how they would execute her for being a criminal mastermind. Finally she offered to repent and dismantle her gang and also bribe the players with a set of magical armbands (two of the players had the item on their wishlist so it was a big temptation for them). They took her up on the offer, lied to the royal guards (and still got paid by the guards). There isn't always a happy ending. Sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing you can do.
#10 joni-san Apr 25, 2010 12:55:40	Seconded. Here's a TVTropes article on Film Noir, which is what they were aiming for: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Film... When we get a little more discussion, I'll chime back in.
#11 requiemofblades Apr 25, 2010 22:59:52	I couldn't remember offhand on the dates. I also thought that there was another country that got really messed up other then Cyre...But I cant remember which it was. It was mentioned in the Orb of Xoriat book. I mean...take a look at places like Afghanistan if you want an example of what a long term war can do to a country. Now if i could only find a GM that runs eberron =(
#12 opskt Apr 26, 2010 20:21:02	Aundair (or what's left of it to them) suffered pretty badly in the latter years of the war. Really, they were better off that Cyre went boom and ended the war, ir it might have ended up the trading card of the Nations.
#13 Ogiwan Apr 27, 2010 11:27:40	Ah! The Orb of Xoriat begins around Ghalt and the Crying Fields, an area near the Thrane-Aundair border with battles so bloody that they scarred the land. Now all sorts of spectral battles are fought and re-fought there. I had forgotten about that. Good thinking, Req. There is another area like that on the northwest shore of Lake Cyre, IIRC, called the Fields of Ruin. Different kind of haunting, though.