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Which Books?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
malcaor
Mar 16, 2008 20:45:01 I'm a semi experienced DM just starting an Eberron game. I have the Campaign setting book, but which other Eberron books would you suggest I get?
#2
Nived
Mar 16, 2008 21:27:32 First question would be are you planning on updating to 4th edition in June?

If so, then you might want to stick to the fluff heavy books, City of Stormreach (which will have an online 4e update), Dragons of Eberron, Faiths of Eberron, Forge of War, Five Nations, Player's Guide to Eberron.

If you want to stick with 3.5 and are looking for a lot of crunch, Dragonmarked, Magic of Eberron, so on and so forth.
#3
cloud_divider
Mar 16, 2008 22:11:59
I'm a semi experienced DM just starting an Eberron game. I have the Campaign setting book, but which other Eberron books would you suggest I get?

I definitely recommend the Sharn:City of Towers supplement as the #1 on the buy list. Not only is it chock-full of plot seeds and dramatic hooks, it comes with a sweet background music CD.

Next up is probably Forge of War and/or Five Nations, again for some excellent setting material. Forge of War is one of the few books that has any meaty information on the new post-Galifar nations (like Zilargo, the Eldeen Reaches, Darguun, etc), but again, mostly related to their involvement in the Last War. It's overall VERY well written. Five Nations is generally pretty good info-wise, but the overall quality and utility is somewhat hit-and-miss. Some chapters are great, others rather more ho-hum. But some of the hits are big home runs.

The Player's Guide to Eberron's not bad either, as basically an addendum to what's in the Eberron Campaign Setting (ECS) book - essentially lots of 2-4 page sections on a bunch of setting topics, expanding on many of the ideas in the ECS.

Dragonmarked is pretty keen, if you plan on involving them much.

I was pretty meh about Races of Eberron; it didn't do much for me on the whole. Ditto the Explorer's Guide to Xen'drik. That last one shouldn't be at all confused with Secrets of Xen'drik, which I thought was very good (...but unlike the other recommendations, is really only useful if you plan on going to Xen'drik).

My Eberron collection is far from complete, though. I don't have Magic of Eberron, Dragons of Eberron, or Secrets of Sarlona.

Edit: I probably should say I'm a heavy, heavy fluff/flavor guy - I like my drama, politics, and intrigue. Feats, classes, and so forth do absolutely nothing for me. Why someone is doing something is far more interesting to me than what feat/spell/weapon/optimization scheme they're using to do it. My currently-running Eberron campaign is being run using the Savage Worlds system. It's working out very well for us.
#4
Edymnion
Mar 17, 2008 13:07:54 As a DM, I would suggest Faiths of Eberron, Dragonmarked, and Five Nations.
Basically, the books that flesh out the important parts of the setting, without giving you a bunch of highly location dependent information.

Sharn: City of Towers is an exceptional book, almost a mini-campaign setting in it's own right, but unless your party is pretty much never going to leave Sharn, it's usefulness is limited. If you're doing a Sharn based game, however, its pure gold. Same goes for City of Stormreach, Secrets of Xen'Drik, Dragons of Eberron, and Secrets of Sarlona. All good books, but they are very dependent on you actually spending a great deal of time in those areas before they prove themselves worth the price.
#5
malcaor
Mar 17, 2008 21:21:40 Thank you for the suggestions, now I just need to get the money to buy all these books =P

To clarify I'm sticking 3.5.
#6
Nived
Mar 18, 2008 1:05:31 Well if you're sticking 3.5 E I'll say Five Nations and Dragonmarked are imho the 'best' books. But it really depends on what aspects of Eberron you like, if you want to run a game in Q'Barra and none of your players want anything to do with the d'mark houses those aren't going to do a lot of good.

So my question would be what is your favorite part of the setting or what do you want to know more about?

With that we can stear you towards the books you'll get the most use out of.
#7
Edymnion
Mar 18, 2008 8:02:36
Thank you for the suggestions, now I just need to get the money to buy all these books =P

To clarify I'm sticking 3.5.

Okay, if you're sticking to 3.5 you're in luck, because you can pick up all the books on the cheap at used book stores and amazon/ebay as the stupid people panic and sell off anything that isn't 4e in some kind of asinine cleansing ritual.

Go with my above suggestions, then get Player's Guide to Eberron for the players to read (ignore the sidebars, they're crap, but the rest of the book is gold), and Magic of Eberron especially if you have an Artificer in the party.

Still steer clear of the location specific books until you actually decide that you will be spending a lot of time adventuring there.
#8
malcaor
Mar 18, 2008 15:39:26
Okay, if you're sticking to 3.5 you're in luck, because you can pick up all the books on the cheap at used book stores and amazon/ebay as the stupid people panic and sell off anything that isn't 4e in some kind of asinine cleansing ritual.

The owner of my local gaming store has been joking around about raising the prices on his 3.5 stuff since he knows its gonna sell out...

Right now, I'm planning to make Sharn the PC's home base, so I think Sharn City of Towers will be good, and then the the ones Edymnion were good. The crunch books I probably won't buy, since my players tend to pirate those kind of books anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
#9
Edymnion
Mar 18, 2008 18:04:15
The crunch books I probably won't buy, since my players tend to pirate those kind of books anyway.

Ahem, it might not be wise to come onto the official message boards for a product and blatantly admit to stealing their product...
#10
malcaor
Mar 18, 2008 20:21:35 Hehe... did i say pirate? I meant... ok i said pirate. I'm not stealing it personally so whatever =P
#11
Edymnion
Mar 19, 2008 12:33:03
Hehe... did i say pirate? I meant... ok i said pirate. I'm not stealing it personally so whatever =P

You can probably expect a unit of WotC's Anti-Pirate Ninja Lawyers to come kick your front door down any day now. :P
#12
dragonmagess
Mar 19, 2008 14:24:36 Hmm, to get deeper into the setting I agree Five Nations is VERY useful, as well as Dragonmarked (mainly for the political intrigue and how to involve players with their houses... assuming they have one). So with EBCS and the aforementioned 2 you have, a comprehensive introduction, a geography gazetteer and a guide to political factions. If you're campaign is going to remain static (i.e in one area) then it's up to you to choose where (Sarlona, Xen'drik or Sharn and now Stormreach) I'd stick to Khorvaire and/or Xen'drik, as they have far more information available online and in supplements than does Sarlona but if you want to have a psionic heavy campaign... then Sarlona it should be.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 malcaor Mar 16, 2008 20:45:01	I'm a semi experienced DM just starting an Eberron game. I have the Campaign setting book, but which other Eberron books would you suggest I get?
#2 Nived Mar 16, 2008 21:27:32	First question would be are you planning on updating to 4th edition in June? If so, then you might want to stick to the fluff heavy books, City of Stormreach (which will have an online 4e update), Dragons of Eberron, Faiths of Eberron, Forge of War, Five Nations, Player's Guide to Eberron. If you want to stick with 3.5 and are looking for a lot of crunch, Dragonmarked, Magic of Eberron, so on and so forth.
#3 cloud_divider Mar 16, 2008 22:11:59	I'm a semi experienced DM just starting an Eberron game. I have the Campaign setting book, but which other Eberron books would you suggest I get? I definitely recommend the Sharn:City of Towers supplement as the #1 on the buy list. Not only is it chock-full of plot seeds and dramatic hooks, it comes with a sweet background music CD. Next up is probably Forge of War and/or Five Nations, again for some excellent setting material. Forge of War is one of the few books that has any meaty information on the new post-Galifar nations (like Zilargo, the Eldeen Reaches, Darguun, etc), but again, mostly related to their involvement in the Last War. It's overall VERY well written. Five Nations is generally pretty good info-wise, but the overall quality and utility is somewhat hit-and-miss. Some chapters are great, others rather more ho-hum. But some of the hits are big home runs. The Player's Guide to Eberron's not bad either, as basically an addendum to what's in the Eberron Campaign Setting (ECS) book - essentially lots of 2-4 page sections on a bunch of setting topics, expanding on many of the ideas in the ECS. Dragonmarked is pretty keen, if you plan on involving them much. I was pretty meh about Races of Eberron; it didn't do much for me on the whole. Ditto the Explorer's Guide to Xen'drik. That last one shouldn't be at all confused with Secrets of Xen'drik, which I thought was very good (...but unlike the other recommendations, is really only useful if you plan on going to Xen'drik). My Eberron collection is far from complete, though. I don't have Magic of Eberron, Dragons of Eberron, or Secrets of Sarlona. Edit: I probably should say I'm a heavy, heavy fluff/flavor guy - I like my drama, politics, and intrigue. Feats, classes, and so forth do absolutely nothing for me. Why someone is doing something is far more interesting to me than what feat/spell/weapon/optimization scheme they're using to do it. My currently-running Eberron campaign is being run using the Savage Worlds system. It's working out very well for us.
#4 Edymnion Mar 17, 2008 13:07:54	As a DM, I would suggest Faiths of Eberron, Dragonmarked, and Five Nations. Basically, the books that flesh out the important parts of the setting, without giving you a bunch of highly location dependent information. Sharn: City of Towers is an exceptional book, almost a mini-campaign setting in it's own right, but unless your party is pretty much never going to leave Sharn, it's usefulness is limited. If you're doing a Sharn based game, however, its pure gold. Same goes for City of Stormreach, Secrets of Xen'Drik, Dragons of Eberron, and Secrets of Sarlona. All good books, but they are very dependent on you actually spending a great deal of time in those areas before they prove themselves worth the price.
#5 malcaor Mar 17, 2008 21:21:40	Thank you for the suggestions, now I just need to get the money to buy all these books =P To clarify I'm sticking 3.5.
#6 Nived Mar 18, 2008 1:05:31	Well if you're sticking 3.5 E I'll say Five Nations and Dragonmarked are imho the 'best' books. But it really depends on what aspects of Eberron you like, if you want to run a game in Q'Barra and none of your players want anything to do with the d'mark houses those aren't going to do a lot of good. So my question would be what is your favorite part of the setting or what do you want to know more about? With that we can stear you towards the books you'll get the most use out of.
#7 Edymnion Mar 18, 2008 8:02:36	Thank you for the suggestions, now I just need to get the money to buy all these books =P To clarify I'm sticking 3.5. Okay, if you're sticking to 3.5 you're in luck, because you can pick up all the books on the cheap at used book stores and amazon/ebay as the stupid people panic and sell off anything that isn't 4e in some kind of asinine cleansing ritual. Go with my above suggestions, then get Player's Guide to Eberron for the players to read (ignore the sidebars, they're crap, but the rest of the book is gold), and Magic of Eberron especially if you have an Artificer in the party. Still steer clear of the location specific books until you actually decide that you will be spending a lot of time adventuring there.
#8 malcaor Mar 18, 2008 15:39:26	Okay, if you're sticking to 3.5 you're in luck, because you can pick up all the books on the cheap at used book stores and amazon/ebay as the stupid people panic and sell off anything that isn't 4e in some kind of asinine cleansing ritual. The owner of my local gaming store has been joking around about raising the prices on his 3.5 stuff since he knows its gonna sell out... Right now, I'm planning to make Sharn the PC's home base, so I think Sharn City of Towers will be good, and then the the ones Edymnion were good. The crunch books I probably won't buy, since my players tend to pirate those kind of books anyway. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
#9 Edymnion Mar 18, 2008 18:04:15	The crunch books I probably won't buy, since my players tend to pirate those kind of books anyway. Ahem, it might not be wise to come onto the official message boards for a product and blatantly admit to stealing their product...
#10 malcaor Mar 18, 2008 20:21:35	Hehe... did i say pirate? I meant... ok i said pirate. I'm not stealing it personally so whatever =P
#11 Edymnion Mar 19, 2008 12:33:03	Hehe... did i say pirate? I meant... ok i said pirate. I'm not stealing it personally so whatever =P You can probably expect a unit of WotC's Anti-Pirate Ninja Lawyers to come kick your front door down any day now. :P
#12 dragonmagess Mar 19, 2008 14:24:36	Hmm, to get deeper into the setting I agree Five Nations is VERY useful, as well as Dragonmarked (mainly for the political intrigue and how to involve players with their houses... assuming they have one). So with EBCS and the aforementioned 2 you have, a comprehensive introduction, a geography gazetteer and a guide to political factions. If you're campaign is going to remain static (i.e in one area) then it's up to you to choose where (Sarlona, Xen'drik or Sharn and now Stormreach) I'd stick to Khorvaire and/or Xen'drik, as they have far more information available online and in supplements than does Sarlona but if you want to have a psionic heavy campaign... then Sarlona it should be.