Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 jelmore Dec 11, 2013 15:48:36	If you were going to run an adventure that wasn't set in Sharn, what elements or themes would have to be present for you to say, "This is definitely an Eberron adventure"?   As for elements, at least one or more of the following: The iconic Eberron races (warforged, kalashtar, shifters, changelings) The Eberron religions (The Blood of Vol, The Church of the Silver Flame, The Undying Court, The Sovereign Host) Dragonmarks and the dragnmarked houses Elemental vessels   But what about themes?
#2 Syltorian Dec 12, 2013 8:46:12	I'd say the mixture of pulp and noir, which have been the main catchwords for the setting, since it's inception need to be there. There's the looming threat of war and the state of cold war between nations and houses, or the everpresent corruption and moral shades of grey, and the presence of dystopias like Riedra, all good noir elements. And then there's the idea that the characters are unique and not one of a large series of important NPCs (which can be fun, but isn't Eberron).  There's the use of magic as technology, too. Finally, there's the pulp aspects; exploration in the jungles of Xen'drik, following the Indiana-Jones-like red lines from one city to the next whilst staving off the next Mourning; all of that is Eberron for me.
#3 StrikerGreen Dec 12, 2013 13:55:05	Syltorian is spot on (as usual) though I would add that one of Eberron's important themes is its multi-cultural setting.   Since there are so many strong cultural themes associated with each nation of Khorvaire, ethnicities between people of the same race (are you a city elf, an Aerenal Elf, or other?), visitors far off lands, and truly ancient traditions an important theme is identity.   Most characters *know* how their people feel about Cyrians or Reachers or the Valenar (as examples) because of their own unique cultures.   I would encourage you to spend a whole session on character building to tack down these identities; it will make the whole campaign world that much richer for your players!   Good luck, have fun! Let us know how it goes?
(Reply to #3) jelmore	I'm not running an Eberron campaign, at least not right now. I used to play in an Eberron campaign before 4E came out.   I do want to run one again at some point, and I was trying to figure out what makes a session set in Eberron different than one set in the Realms (for example). What can I add to environmental descriptions? How do NPCs interact with the PCs? What goal the party is trying to accomplish? Who gets in their way, and why?
#5 Syltorian Dec 13, 2013 11:14:08	Well, as opposed to the realms, and other high-fantasy settings, here's my ideas.   jelmore wrote:
(Reply to #5) jelmore	Syltorian wrote:
#7 PaladinNicolas Dec 16, 2013 12:21:41	I am late to the discussion, and previous comments have perfectly answered the original question. I just wanted to add a few thoughts. To me, Eberron is a campaign with cohesive freedom. This means that it has an internal logic and every nation and organization has a place and logical links or relations with others, reason why it is not a kitchen sink. Yet, Eberron is based on the assumption of freedom, revealed in the open nature of some interesting mysteries, as the cause of the mourning, or even the liberty for DMs to decide what is the true nature of the Silver Flame, as mentioned in Faiths of Eberron. Keith Baker himself, who is a really friendly guy and gives great adventuring ideas, mentions that he disagrees with some canon concepts and encourages you to change even basic assumptions of the setting if that suits your game. As to themes, apart from the ones mentioned you could really like religious intrigue games, and choose to focus on possible schisms from pure flame faithful that intend to separate from the official Church of the Silver Flame, or on conflicts between host and Flame followers, permitted by the mysterious aspect of religions. You could also focus on legal thriller games, given the questions of extraterritorial jurisdiction of the sentinel marshals, diplomatic conflicts and territorial disputes, the law in Sharn or Stormreach, arguing against a Sivis prosecutor who indicts you or persuading the Sivis expert on international law in Stormreach to convince the lords thar they should extradite someone who framed the PCs for war crimes, among different examples. Those are great aspects not usually found in other settings. To me, Eberron permits to choose the themes I like and play in an interesting system with many other potential aspects for other groups to play with.