Eberron – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:36:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Eberron – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Eberron – Nerds on Earth false episodic Eberron – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Eberron – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ Secret Wars: A Review of Eberron: Rising from the Last War Plus Thoughts on the Future of D&D https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/11/review-eberron-rising-from-the-last-war/ Wed, 27 Nov 2019 12:35:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=27750

A review of Eberron: Rising from the Last War, the latest book for D&D 5e.

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The 320-page Eberron: Rising from the Last War is one of several hardcover books released by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (5e) this year, joining other hardcovers like Descent in Avernus and Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

Eberron: Rising form the Last War is a setting book, a detail I’ll go into fully a little later on. For now, let me give you an overview of Eberron, then share a few bullet points on the book’s contents.

Eberron is set in a period after a devastating 100 year war ravaged the continent of Khorvaire, splitting the once mighty kingdom into 12 quarreling states. It is called the Last War because it was thought that when this war finally ended, the taste for bloodshed and battle would thankfully be over.

But while Khorvaire is technically at peace, the nations continue to vie for economic and political power through espionage and sabotage. Five nations in particular are the most powerful, this largely driven by the dynasty families and signaled by a dragonmark, which are unique, hereditary, arcane sigils that grant them magical power.

This political intrigue gives Eberron a wonderfully noir vibe, but that is not all that the setting is known for. Eberron baselines a classic fantasy flavor, then adds layer upon later of pulp adventure elements and non-traditional fantasy technologies such as “lightning rail” trains and mechanical sentient beings, all powered by magic. It’s a wonderfully pulpy, high adventure setting.

If you are new to the Eberron setting, don’t worry. The lore is engagingly laid out in the introduction and Chapter 2: Khorvaire Gazetteer. You get even more in Chapter 3, which introduces Sharn, City of Towers, a major locale in Eberron that *could be a hub for lots of adventuring.

You may have noticed I skipped past Chapter 1: Character Creation. That’s because it includes a new class, the Artificer! Although aimed at DMs, this inclusion alone will entice plenty of players to purchase the book.

The Artificer class is great and exactly what D&D 5e needed after years of no new classes. Artificers are a blend of high magic and science, being that they infuse items with magic. At 3rd level, you choose what type of specialist you want to be: Alchemist, Artillerist, or Battle Smith. I want to be all three.

Eberron also introduces several races that are unique to the setting, including the spirit-bound Kalashtar, the lycanthropic shape-changing Shifters, the, uh, shape-changing Changlings. There is also the sure-to-be-popular Warforged, constructs who were created to fight in the Last War.

If the above paragraph sounds fun to you, then you aren’t alone. Eberron turns up the fun dial just a little higher than your standard elf / dwarf / gnome fantasy fare. And when Eberron does include a standard fantasy race like Halflings, they give them dinosaur mounts, because that’s what pulpy fun insists upon, that’s why.

Chapter 4: Building Eberron Adventures is key. The pulpy adventure and noir flavor should feel distinct from the Forgotten Realms, which has served as the “default” setting of D&D for 5 years now.

Providing a chapter on how to build adventures unique to Eberron is important because there aren’t any hardcover adventure books available that support Eberron. You need to have an itch to homebrew to adequately play in the sandbox of Eberron.

“Write your own adventures,” they might say. Of course that’s a option. But should we have to? As the product line currently exits, we do.

Sure, there is the DM Guild, the online marketplace of downloadable PDF adventures and hordes of other stuff. But it’s famous for uneven quality and finding something of high standards is no guarantee. It feels like an errand to sort through a bunch of random online reviews just to find a good adventure to run, when as a busy DM I likely just want to pick up a WotC hardcover and trust its professional quality.

In short, there is unclear adventure support beyond the included “Forgotten Relics” adventure on pages 260-273 that only takes players to a measly level 2, a full whole level before the Artificer actually gets to do cool stuff.


I’m finding it difficult to do “typical” reviews of D&D 5e products of late. First, I have little use for what passes as a typical review nowadays, as too many are not much more than than a listing of the product’s table of contents. A review shouldn’t simply regurgitate easily Googled marketing material, it should add insight, commentary and thoughtful, nuanced and fair opinion. So let’s pivot this review into an unexpected direction.

The most interesting thing about Eberron: Rising from the Last War isn’t what is included in the book, it’s the book’s place in the overall D&D 5e product line and the product strategy that WotC is taking as D&D 5e becomes a fully mature product.

Here is my bias, clearly spoken: Eberron is my absolute favorite D&D setting and I love how Eberron: Rising from the Last War presents it. Yet I have no idea what to do with it. It’s almost like WotC is content with it being a book that is purchased, yet not played.

I already addressed the lack of adventure support, but there is a lack of organized play support as well. I’ll admit that I have given up on Adventurers League (AL; the organized play program of D&D 5e). Way too many bad apples eventually spoiled the experience for me. But I have Google, so I looked it up: AL is planning monthly opportunities for organized play. Those will slot among the regular AL content set in the Forgotten Realms, creating a potentially confusing environment for newcomers.

Maybe parent company Hasbro hosted focus groups and determined that the words “secret” and “wars” were popular among gamers, so they mandated a setting that was high in espionage and in-fighting in order to boost corporate profits. That’s a cynical take, because the Eberron setting really is fantastic. That it has potential for popularity is a feature, not a corporate bug.

But one does wonder about the pattern created by the last several WotC hardcovers, all of which have the potential to divide the player base–Tomb of Annihilation and the distinctive jungle-exploration vibe, Ghosts of Saltmarsh with a half-hearted dip into Greyhawk, yet another D&D setting, Descent into Avernus with its devilish hue, and now Eberron, a whole new setting.

Ironically, it is a retread of Tyanny of Dragons that represents the only “meat and potatoes” classic fantasy in recent D&D 5e products. To be clear, I’m not saying the recent product roadmap is bad. Just interesting.

Each of the products presents the opportunity for D&D players to say, “I’m glad this exists, but it’s not for me.” Eberron indeed feels like it is exactly for me. I just hope the player base doesn’t become so fractured and divided that they aren’t able to ascertain that Eberron can be for them as well.

We’re no longer all on the same page. Players now have to choose between settings. That has been an issue in the history of D&D, but things are different today. WotC understands their releases as transmedia, meaning there will certainly be streamed entertainment content set in Eberron.

Maybe that’s who the product is for? Those who listen to the Eberron pod or watch the Eberron stream might buy the book out of curiosity, with no real intention of playing, so no real demand for adventure support is created. Again, that’s a cynical take but WotC makes money from a “coffee table” book just like they would an adventure book.

I’m being a crank here; I understand that. But, again, Eberron is my favorite setting, so it’s hard for me to have the book in my hand and not see clear stepping stones that would allow me to play it regularly. I’d love to share the setting with my nephews. They’d love it. As it stands, I can take them to level two. But what do I say to them when they excitedly ask, “Now what?”

You can get Eberron: Rising from the Last War here or, better yet, from your FLGS.


[Disclosure: Nerds on Earth received a copy of Eberron: Rising from the Last War from Wizards of the Coast in exchange for an honest review.]

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Nerd Nostalgia: The Eberron Campaign Setting for D&D https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/09/eberron-dnd-5e/ Mon, 30 Sep 2019 21:49:46 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=26618

Remembering Eberron, perhaps the coolest campaign setting for D&D. Will there ever be an Eberron 5e?

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Us nerds are very nostalgic, often long after our favorite things are no longer supported. So, let’s wax nostalgic on the world of Eberron, perhaps the coolest of all Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) campaign settings.

In just a few hundred words I want to tell you why Eberron is so cool, as well as why Eberron is actually important and significant. Spoiler: We’ll also talk about how Eberron will also be supported again with new products.

combat_eberron

What is Eberron?

Eberron is a campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons. It’s set in a period after a devastating 102 year war that ravaged the continent of Khorvaire, splitting the mighty kingdom into 12 quarreling nations. It is called the Last War because it was thought that when this war finally ended, the taste for bloodshed and battle would thankfully be over.

But while the continent of Khorvaire is technically at peace, the 12 nations continue to vie for economic and political power through espionage and sabotage. This is largely driven by the dynasty families and signaled by a dragonmark, which are unique, hereditary, arcane sigils that grant them magical power.

Eberron is designed to keep what’s best about the traditional D&D elements and races, but offer them in a setting that is toned very differently. Eberron combines classic fantasy flavor, then layers on pulp adventure elements and non-traditional fantasy technologies such as trains and mechanical sentient beings, all powered by magic.

Eberron is COOL. There are elements of the modern world that are seen in the Eberron setting. The great cities contain skyscraper castles and light posts line city streets. Transportation is handled via airship or the lightning rail, a system of carriages that connect city to city.

But Eberron isn’t driven by technological advancements, it’s driven by magic, which is built into the very fabric of society. The working class aren’t engineers, they are magic-infused adepts, whose job it is to power Eberron with arcane energy. Again, it’s cool.

Of course, this gives rise to a host of new character classes and options, such as the Artificer, who tinker and dabble with magic for the purpose of imbuing ordinary items with arcane “technology.”

There are new races as well, which serve to complement the elves, dwarves, orcs and goblins who traditionally populate D&D settings.

  • Changelings are humanoids who are descended from doppelgängers, so they have some subtle shape-shifting qualities. Yup, that’s the party’s assassin all right.
  • Kalashtar are humans who willingly fuse with incorporeal alien quori, and often lead the life of a monk. It’s weird, but you have to trust me this: they’re cool.
  • Perhaps the most well known of Eberron’s races is the Warforged, a race of living, sentient constructs composed of a blend of materials like stone, wood, and some type of metal. They were created as war machines, yet now serve as adventurers in the post-war “peaceful” era Eberron.
  • Shifters descend from lycanthropes and have the ability to partially change form in order to embrace their animal aspect.

Have I mentioned yet that Eberron is cool?

Why is Eberron Important?

But Eberron isn’t just cool. It’s important as well. Eberron was the winning entry in a $100,000 contest to select a new world for Dungeons & Dragons fans to play in.

In 2002 Wizards of the Coast launched a competition that asked freelance writers to submit a world for D&D. They received 11,000 entries. Keith Baker’s brief synopsis of Eberron was selected as a finalist, so he was asked to write 100+ pages to further flesh out the world. Baker at the time was inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other pulpy fun, so he mashed that with the fantasy magic of D&D and set it in a world that feels like the war-weary time after WWI.

Long story short, 3 finalists had their submissions purchased by WotC, two were sealed in an underground dungeon somewhere, and Keith Baker’s Eberron emerged as the grand champion. Thus, Eberron was shared with RPG fans everywhere and they loved it.

A decade+ later, self-publishing and freelance writing has become much more democratic, but for a then unknown Keith Baker to have his name on a D&D book was a HUGE deal back then, and a source of hope and inspiration for budding nerds everywhere. (Indeed, James Wyatt–who served as Keith Baker’s co-writer for the official Eberron product is a former Methodist pastor who turned his writing hobby into a D&D and Magic: The Gathering gig.) Never give up on your dream, kids.

What is the future of Eberron?

With D&D 5e continuing to explode in popularity, there has been renewed interest in Eberron. WotC further stoked the flames with an unofficial Eberron digital only test product on dmsguild.com.

That test proved popular, so there will be an official Eberron hardcover in fall 2019! In other words, us nerd will soon be getting the cool Eberron stuff like jungle Drow, magic trains, Shifters, and Warforged. And you should know: Eberron also features halflings on dinosaurs!

I have no doubt that Eberron 5e will be just as cool as when it first burst on the scene way back when. It releases in November 2019, but you can pre-order Eberron 5e here.

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Wizards of the Coast Announces TWO NEW Settings for Dungeons and Dragons https://nerdsonearth.com/2018/07/wizards-of-the-coast-announces-two-new-settings-for-dungeons-and-dragons/ Tue, 24 Jul 2018 14:36:27 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=19100

Wizards of the Coast announces two new settings for D&D: Eberron and Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering.

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First, the press release, then I’ll follow with some thoughts.

“Wizards of the Coast is psyched to announce the first collaboration on a major product between Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering with Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica releasing everywhere on November 20. The book will contain everything fans need to play D&D in the world-spanning city of Ravnica, the fan-favorite Magic setting populated by ten rival guilds, each with its own ethos and agenda.

Wizards is also announcing D&D fans can now return to a magic-heavy noir setting with Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron, a new document written by Keith Baker available online now. The exploration of these settings is a testament to how fan excitement can shape where D&D travels to next.”


Now, some thoughts. First, it’s rad that WotC used the word “psyched” in their official press release. I whole-heartedly support that.

Second, dovetailing Magic and D&D is a sharp business move. There area lot of Magic: The Gathering players out there who are D&D adjacent but haven’t yet jumped into the game. Allowing them to get their feet wet with D&D while playing in a setting that is beloved and familiar to them is smart.

It’s good for old school D&D players as well. I’m not familiar with Magic’s Ravnica but folks rave about it, so who am I to poo-poo it. In stead, I plan to go with it. Once case scenario is I realize it’s not for me, yet others will enjoy it.

Yet, I suspect I will enjoy it myself. From what I understand, Ravnica is a splash of Planescape’s city of Sigil, while also having strong lore and a hint of the pulp of Eberron (more on that in a moment).

The hardcover is nice. The Ravnica setting being released as a hardcover is nice. This will allow it to be presented to Magic players in a FLGS, hopefully catching their attention as they come in for Friday Night Magic tournaments or whatever. I suspect it was a crowd where WotC wouldn’t have been able to grab their attention with a PDF.

Now to Eberron. Eberron doesn’t go as far back as some of the OG D&D settings like Dragonlance or Greyhawk, but it’s just as beloved. (Read this for a quick history of Eberron.) And Eberron’s high-adventure, pulpy playstyle will fit in really nicely with today’s Twitchin’ D&Ders.

Eberron’s creative team is who you’d want. The setting’s creator–Keith Baker–produced the PDF, so it will be a solid, grounded product that maintains the core of what made Eberron great.

PDF only for Eberron is not surprising. The release of the Eberron document as a PDF on DMsguild.com makes some sense. WotC has shown they are comfortable with using that platform as a testing ground. Releasing as PDF allows them to seed the world-building flavor text that won’t need further refinement. Meanwhile, they can “playtest” and crunchy bits, like the implementation of the Warforged race.

Eberron inspired content like the Artificer class has long been playtested via the Unearthed Arcana monthly column. Expect that to continue, as WotC seems pleased with the data and feedback they are receiving form that outlet. Then, if the PDF sells well and interest in Eberron is show strong through community created adventures through the DMsguild, then WotC can later add in that Artificer content and slightly rework the Eberron document as a full-fledged printed hardcover.

Nerds are thrilled or they are miserable. As with everything these days, the response is either bliss or disaster.  Many nerds (particularly Magic players) are thrilled that Ravnica has been announced as a D&D setting. Other nerds are tweet-storming their displeasure that their preferred setting–whether it be Dark Sun, Spelljammer, or what have you–was beaten to the punch by another WotC property.

But business is business, nerds, and WotC is a business, man. From a business standpoint, it’s really hard to say much critical about Mike Mearls and team. D&D is stronger than it had ever been. And even if that news doesn’t warm your soul, a new hardcover and a new PDF for D&D is is a pretty great thing, even if it’s not marketing 100% to you.

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Rage of Demons: What do Neverwinter Releases tell us about Future D&D 5e Storylines? https://nerdsonearth.com/2015/05/neverwinter-future-dnd-5e-storylines/ Sat, 23 May 2015 19:14:16 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=1975

By this point most Dungeons and Dragon nerds have read Wizard of the Coast’s press release regarding upcoming D&D 5e products. In short, the Fall of 2015 will bring a RAGE OF DEMONS!!! I’ll link the full press release, but the purpose of this post is not to simply regurgitate the press release. That’s the work […]

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By this point most Dungeons and Dragon nerds have read Wizard of the Coast’s press release regarding upcoming D&D 5e products. In short, the Fall of 2015 will bring a RAGE OF DEMONS!!!

I’ll link the full press release, but the purpose of this post is not to simply regurgitate the press release. That’s the work of WotC’s publicist, after all, and I’m sure the marketing team at WotC gets paid well enough that they don’t need Nerds on Earth to do their work for them.

Instead, I want to attempt to read between the lines in order to speculate on what future D&D 5e releases might be.

[divider] Clues Pointing to Future D&D 5e Storylines [/divider]

On the last two Dungeons and Dragons storyline press releases the Neverwinter MMORPG was listed prominently, with the D&D pen and paper role playing content lucky to merit a footnote. A pattern is developing.

This is understandable. Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the owners of the D&D brand, is a for-profit corporation that answers to shareholders. It’s not a charitable organization. If WotC executives can buy a bigger boat with the profits from their video game properties, then it only stands to reason that that will be their focus, letting Neverwinter drive future D&D 5e storylines.

Alas, I do wish they’d treat D&D 5e pen and paper tabletop products a bit more charitably, but their official press releases tell a different story.

D&D is without a doubt one of the biggest brands of gaming and its roots is in pen and paper tabletop play. But the popularity of computer-based RPGs has vastly hill dwarfed dice rolling for some time now. And even though I haven’t touched a MMORPG since my World of Warcraft days, I know when I’m beaten.

So I did some research into Neverwinter, but not because I was interested in the game. No. I went in for clues into upcoming Dungeons and Dragons releases. If Neverwinter is going to dictate D&D storylines, then I needed to get into its head.

Unfortunately, I learned bupkis that would point to future D&D 5e releases. Neverwinter has released 7 expansion modules, beginning with the Fury of the Feywild up through Tyranny of Dragons and Elemental Evil which seamlessly matched those same storylines from the pen and paper tabletop RPG. Then, of course, the Rage of Demons / Underdark story will release simultaneously for Neverwinter and D&D 5e in Fall 2015, making all 3 storylines since D&D 5e was released match perfectly with Neverwinter storylines.

All we know for certain is that the stories of Neverwinter (and the upcoming Sword Coast video game) and D&D 5e will be intricately intertwined and that storylines are mapped out through 2018, but if there are clues within Neverwinter that point to those future releases, I couldn’t find them.

But there is something we DO know for certain. The existence and focus on the Neverwinter MMORPG solidifies that the pen and paper RPG setting is tied to the Forgotten Realms for the foreseeable future. There won’t be any D&D 5e Dark Sun or Eberron campaign setting any time soon. Instead, WotC plans to open up more of the Forgotten Realms, letting Neverwinter development lead future storylines.

 

[divider] Clues on Future D&D 5e Campaign Settings [/divider]

out-of-the-abyssFans are clamoring for 5e versions of campaign settings for worlds like Dark Sun and Eberron, but it’s clear that WotC intends to stay in the Realms for the foreseeable future.

Indeed, the Forgotten Realms are getting an update. One get tweeting Mike Mearls and Chris Perkins, both WotC employees, this: “I don’t understand why you guys did the Sundering if you weren’t going to update the Realms. Can you clarify that for me?” Perkins’ reply was clear: “We ARE updating the Realms.” (You can read more here.)

But if the Realms – through both video games and pen and paper – will be getting all the fresh storylines for the foreseeable future, what od campaign settings like Dark Sun and Eberron? Well, I think it’s clear that WotC’s strategy is to release teasers via their Unearthed Arcana blog posts, letting creative DMs flesh it out on their own.

Indeed, Unearthed Arcana included a post that gave us a taste of D&D 5e Eberron. I suspect a future Unearthed Arcana will give us Dark Sun. There won’t be a fully formed splat book.

 

 

[divider] Clues on Future D&D 5e Products [/divider]

The official press release is quite clear here. To quote: “Partners such as WizKids, GaleForce 9 and Smiteworks will all support Rage of Demons with new products to help bring your tabletop game to life.

  • WizKids will produce an Underdark and demon-inspired line of miniatures.
  • Galeforce 9 will continue to produce collectable miniatures and other gaming aids.
  • And Smiteworks with their Fantasy Grounds platform has solidified its place as part of WotC’s digital strategy.

We can assume that all D&D 5e products are being evaluated via market feedback. In short, if folks buy them and WotC makes money off them, then we’ll see more.

 

[divider]What Pen and Paper RPGers Can Look Forward To[/divider]

Straight from the press release:

WotC will release the new Out of the Abyss adventure book, which will include details about the races of the Underdark, as well as settlements of mind-flayers, duergar, derro, svirfneblin and myconids, among others.

The book is scheduled for release on September 15, with WPN stores Core level and above qualifying for ealy release on September 4. MSRP is $49.95.

Certainly, there will be downloadable content for players, just as there was for Elemental Evil.

tl;dr – Future D&D 5e storylines will be set in the Forgotten Realms for the foreseeable future, and WotC’s video game properties will drive the development, not the tabletop RPG. Fans clamoring for additional pen and paper content for other campaign settings like 5e Dark Sun need to get comfortable that Unearthed Arcana will be their source.

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The World Serpent Inn: Introducing 7 New Campaign Settings for D&D 5e https://nerdsonearth.com/2015/05/the-world-serpent-inn-introducing-7-new-campaign-settings-for-dd-5e/ https://nerdsonearth.com/2015/05/the-world-serpent-inn-introducing-7-new-campaign-settings-for-dd-5e/#comments Thu, 14 May 2015 22:51:34 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=1977

Several years ago in Dragon Magazine #351 the bulk of the issue revolved around the World Serpent Inn. Now – only 18 measly words into this article – I’m going to take you on a sidebar quest, because hack writers like me don’t have the good sense to know that you shouldn’t do such a thing. Here […]

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Several years ago in Dragon Magazine #351 the bulk of the issue revolved around the World Serpent Inn. Now – only 18 measly words into this article – I’m going to take you on a sidebar quest, because hack writers like me don’t have the good sense to know that you shouldn’t do such a thing. Here it goes:

Do you remember both Dungeon and Dragon magazines? Because, really, they were the best. I can remember being so excited to read the adventures and extra class and character options that were packed into the pages of those magazines. Both Dungeon and Dragon magazine consistently contained imaginative content because darned if those magazines weren’t the absolute best.

Now back to our main quest: The World Serpent Inn was a tavern between worlds which served as a clever way to introduce your D&D campaigns to a new, temporary setting. The conceit was that the world spanning tavern contained a portal that allowed PCs to jump from Greyhawk to Dragonlance to Arthas, or to whatever D&D setting your heart desired.

Think about it this way: What if Marvel 616 characters could jump over and interact briefly with Ultimate Marvel characters, or even into the DC universe, then hop right back? That’s good fun, folks, that allowed little jaunts which add variety into campaign.

So far the only supported setting for D&D 5e is the Forgotten Realms and it appears it will be that way for a while. But let’s take a trip to the World Serpent Inn! What follows are 7 additional campaign settings that need to come to D&D 5e.

7 Campaign Settings for D&D 5e

1. Eberron

I’ve written about Eberron before, so I’ll point you there in order to be brief here. Briefly, Eberron is a campaign setting set in a period after war. What’s wonderful about Eberron is that it accommodates traditional D&D elements and races, but within a setting that has a wholly different tone.

Eberron contains pulp and dark adventure elements, plus some clever non-traditional fantasy technologies such as trains, skyships, and mechanical beings, all of which are powered by magic.

Wizards of the Coast have introduced the beginnings of a ruleset that will convert Eberron, so there’s hope that it will be the beginning of official campaign settings for D&D 5e. Until then, let the World Serpent Inn be a plot device that allows your home campaigns to sojourn briefly within the world of Eberron.

2. Oriental Adventures

Prone_attackI’ve also written about Oriental Adventures before, which is understandable, because I am a ninja. Within D&D lore, Oriental Adventures occur in the land of Kara Tur, which has been retconned to be a part of the Forgotten Realms.

Being that the Forgotten Realms is currently the only supported campaign setting for D&D 5e, Kara Tur being a part of the Realms is good news, as it makes it easy to imagine your homebrew setting taking a quick jaunt there.

In short, Kara-Tur is a fantasy analogue of medieval China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and other regions of East Asia and, as a result, contains classes, races, weapons, and equipment to reflect that. Let the World Serpent Inn take your campaign to a place where your characters can interact with Samurai.

3. Dark Sun

Arthas – the home world of the Dark Sun campaign – is a brutally unforgiving place. Arthas is a harsh desert planet filled with creatures that have survived only through being tougher and nastier than the rest.

Even though I took a stab at adding the Thri-kreen as a playable race in D&D 5e and Wizards of the Coast have released the Aarakocra as a playable race (but not in Adventurers League play), making Dark Sun suitable for an official D&D 5e release is tricky for a couple reasons:

First, characters needed to be heartier in Dark Sun campaigns because the setting was so unforgiving. In fact, Dark Sun campaigns introduced a character tree because they know you’d need additional characters because characters flat out died off so much. If you introduce a character to the Dark Sun setting via the World Serpent Inn, you might not get them back.

Second, Dark Sun was know for its rules on psionics, which aren’t officially supported yet in D&D 5e and may not be for a while.

4. Dragonlance

I’m busy because I’ve got articles to write, so let’s just cut straight to quoting Wikipedia, because why not?

Dragonlance is set on the world of Krynn. The world’s major gods are the High God and his children: good Paladine, neutral Gilean, and evil Takhisis. The gods are opposed by Chaos, who seeks to destroy Krynn.

Depending on the time period, the evil chromatic and the good metallic dragons are rare or plentiful. Humans are Krynn’s most common humanoid race, but elves, dwarves, kender, gnomes, and minotaurs occupy the world as well. Clerics derive magical powers from their gods, and wizards derive their power from the three moon gods, Solinari, Lunitari, and Nuitari.

During Krynn’s various wars, armies of draconians are used as troops. Draconians are created by corrupting a dragon egg, thereby creating a reptilian humanoid. The eggs of good dragons create evil draconians, and vice versa.

Dragonlances are weapons first created in the Third Dragon War, designed with the purpose of killing evil dragons, and are the only weapons with which mortals can kill dragons.

Now name a character Keifer Sutherland and push him through a portal in the World Serpent Inn into the world of Dragonlance.

5. Ravenloft

Outside of Buffy, I’ve never been hugely interesting in the vampire genre, but I certainly can’t minimize it’s appeal among the masses. People love vampires, so why not mix up your D&D 5e campaign by using the World Serpent Inn to serve as a way to allow your players to briefly adventure in Castle Ravenloft, even though it is yet to receive official D&D 5e support.

Ravenloft is a Gothic horror setting full of vampires, werewolves, and other things that go bump in the night, so it gives opportunity to create an adventure that includes apprehension and fear, in addition to the typical combat and role-playing of D&D.  Better, the characters that are morally impure risk coming under the influence of the Dark Powers, gradually transforming themselves into figures of evil. That will spice up a campaign.

6. Al-Qadim

180px-Sha'irEh, we already had one sandy setting in Dark Sun, so Al-Qadim ran the risk of being redundant. But I decided to include it because it has an entirely different flavor and feel.

Al-Qadim is a D&D campaign set in the land of Zakhara, a blend of the historical Arabian Empire with a wealth of Hollywood history. Fortunately, Zakhara is a peninsula on the continent of Faerûn, the locale of the Forgotten Realms, the current D&D 5e campaign setting.

Pull an adventure from an old Al-Qadim D&D product like Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures, a sourcebook describing character creation rules, equipment, and spells unique to the setting, or Al-Qadim: Land of Fate, a boxed set with separate sourcebooks for the players and the Dungeon Master. Then have your players visit the World Serpent Inn for a one off adventure that you could modify the rules to allow a magic carpet ride through Al-Qadim 5e.

7. Golarion

partyGolarion might seem like an odd choice for a D&D 5e campaign setting, considering that it is the official setting of Pathfinder, D&D 5e’s main competitor. But Paizo, the company behind Pathfinder, has built a wonderful world in Golarion, and there is no reason to leave it only for the D&D 3.5 rule set. Let’s consider some Golarion 5e action and perhaps have D&D 5e characters interact with some NPCs that are the iconic characters of the Pathfinder RPG.

We’ve gone horror in Ravenloft to survivalist in Dark Sun. We’ve had pulp adventures in Eberron and battled ninjas in Oriental Adventures. So it feels right to visit Golarion in our D&D 5e adventures, being that it would exhibit a real familiarity among our regular campaign, while also giving it a creative twist.

World Serpent Inn: Campaign Settings for D&D 5e

And that’s what was fun about the World Serpent Inn. It was a fun storytelling device back in 2007 when Dragon Magazine #351 featured it, and it can be a fun storytelling device today. Wizards of the Coast have been mum in releasing new campaign settings for D&D 5e. That doesn’t mean we can’t use creative means like the World Serpent Inn to introduce campaign settings for D&D 5e, even if it’s just for a one off adventure.

 

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Dungeons and Dragons 5e Release Schedule Through 2018 https://nerdsonearth.com/2014/12/dungeons-dragons-5e-release-schedule-2018/ https://nerdsonearth.com/2014/12/dungeons-dragons-5e-release-schedule-2018/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2014 20:03:11 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=969

It's confirmed that the Dungeons and Dragons 5e release schedule is plotted out through 2018. Let's use what clues we have to speculate.

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Mike Mearls, chief D&D wizard, has confirmed it: The D&D braintrust have plans laid out for two D&D storylines per year from now through 2018.

So right now as we are enjoying the current storyline – Tyranny of Dragons – scheming is afoot in creation of the storylines we’ll enjoy for the next several years. But we know VERY little about these future stories. All we can do really is speculate.

But this is the internet, after all. It would be irresponsible NOT to speculate, because that’s what us crazy kids do on the internet. So, here I go with my best guesses on what the publishing schedule for the next several years of D&D will be.

 

Early 2015: Elemental Evil

This is the only portion of Wizard of the Coast’s (WotC) D&D publishing plan where we have official confirmation. The Elemental Evil Adventurer’s Handbook will be released in March 2015 and will be accompanied by Princes of the Apolcalypse of huge hardcover adventure fitting the elemental evil theme. (Update: The public finally got an official press release update. The storyline stayed exactly as anticipated, but the delivery method was tweaked from 2 books into 1. Here’s a concise recap, plus a look at auxiliary products.)

Here’s what else we know:

  • The setting is once again in The Forgotten Realms, specifically the Sumber Hills and Dessarin River Valley, as confirmed by Grand Master Dungeon Master, Chris Perkins, who serves as D&D lead for story and world building, a position for which you will not find a better fit.
  • The Adventurer’s Handbook will provide new options for character creation, with additional skills and abilities that are created to fit the elemental theme. This is excellent.
  • The adventure is published by Sasquatch Game studio, which is comprised of industry veterans. The Tyranny of Dragons storyline was similarly outsourced by WotC, which illustrates their collaborative nature (while also highlighting that clues about future releases may come from well-known independent publishing partners, not from WotC themselves).

From this it is reasonable to assume we can expect to only have official story confirmation about 6 months in advance. It seems they’ll tease us to keep us on the hook, but we shouldn’t expect them to play their full hand, as the plans are sure to shift based on market and player feedback.

A final tidbit that is interesting from the only official information we have is that Elemental Evil marked the 2nd straight campaign set in The Forgotten Realms. Two points don’t plot a pattern, but is it reasonable to assume that they’ll remain in a single setting for two release cycles? Let’s speculate…

 

Late 2015: “Alice in Wonderland” Inspired Storyline

The only thing confirmed about D&D’s late 2015 releases (which I’m sure we can assume will drop at GenCon) is the general inspiration for the storyline: Alice in Wonderland. Let’s collect the clues we have, then I’ll share my best guess:

  •  inc610Chris Perkins dressed as the Mad Hatter when he was the Dungeon Master for the 2011 PAX celebrity D&D game featuring Wil Wheaton and the talent from Penny Arcade and PVP. Perkins has previously expressed his appreciation for Alice in Wonderland. Can the tone of that PAX session – The Last Will and Testament of Jim Darkmagic – provide us with a clue into the tone of D&D’s future storyline release? (It was theatrical, it had a touch of silliness, and was packed with quirky and darkly humorous NPCs.)
  • Lewis Carroll’s famous book was known for it’s madcap mental imagery and mind-bending physics. Could this open the door for a psionics handbook? Mind Flayers can’t be trusted, my friends! But this angle would most likely keep us in The Forgotten Realms.
  • Speaking of The Forgotten Realms, it seems unlikely that WotC don’t want to capitalize on the financial possibilities that their popular Drow ranger Drizzt character would offer. Alice went deep into the rabbit hole. Could D&D’s late 2015 storylines take us deep into the Underdark? Update: Ding, ding, ding! It seems this is the pathway that WotC took, largely as a tie-in to their D&D MMORPG, and a year earlier than I predicted (read on). Official press release for Rage of Demons
  • But there is one more possibility. In 1983 Gary Gygax – the world’s first Dungeon Master – wrote an adventure called Dungeonland. Get this, the direct inspiration for the adventure was – wait for it – Alice in Wonderland. The adventure had a light and zany spirit, but also had veins of dark humor. In the adventure, players explored the world under Castle Greyhawk.

I think that Dungeons and Dragons will take us back to the World of Greyhawk in late 2015. WotC have been proven sincere when they say that they have a deep appreciation for the history of D&D, and little is more classic than Gary Gygax’s Greyhawk setting.

Sure, I may be off base in my speculation that a 1983 module would be reimagined for a modern 5e player base, but Chris Perkins has an appreciation for the source inspiration and could really make it shine.

But there is another reason why I think late 2015 will be setting us up in Greyhawk…

 

Early 2016: “Shakespearean Inspired” Story of Giants

Chris Perkins also intimated that the storyline after the Alice in Wonderland inspired story will be based on giants and a spark for the story will be a Shakespearean play.

Giant_Ogre_by_loztvampir3Consider these things:

  • If the Alice in Wonderland storyline is set in Greyhawk (and why wouldn’t it be?)
  • And we’re assuming a developing a pattern that each D&D setting gets a two cycle treatment (and why wouldn’t we?)
  • Then the giant-based storyline is also set in Greyhawk.

From 1976-1979, Dungeons and Dragons published some of the most iconic stories of giants, each of which were set in the World of Greyhawk.  Against the Giants contained three adventures: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, and Hall of the Fire Giant King.

It would be a giant move (Boom! Dad pun!) by WotC to keep with the old school feel and rewrite these modules for today’s D&D faithful, while infusing some Shakespearean intrigue. I’m stoked with the Tyranny of Dragons miniatures, and you know they’ll sell me some giant miniatures (Hmm. That reminded me of jumbo shrimp).

 

Late 2016: The Underdark

We’re no longer on the map at this point. It’s all baseless speculation and if there have been clues dropped, I haven’t been able to sleuth them out.

motu01But here’s something interesting: Back in the day the Against the Giants adventures served as a lead-in to the Underdark, and a series of Drow centered adventures. Of course, these are the Drow of Greyhawk, not Drizzt of The Forgotten Realms.

An Underdark D&D storyline in late 2016 (let’s assume all late year releases will be at GenCon) would break pattern, as it would most likely be set in The Forgotten Realms or the World of Greyhawk, but we all know the Underdark is coming, and probably sooner, rather than later.

But Drizzt, the Drow, and Underdark are just too popular and profitable not to create storylines for. WotC is not a charitable non-profit corporation. They’ll not leave that money on the table. So even though two years into D&D’s 5th edition release, you would think the time would be right to unleash something new and fresh, my gut guess is we’ll stick strongly with traditional D&D lore like the Underdark.

 

Early 2017: Eberron

If all the above speculation proves true, then the time is past right for WotC to go a little buck wild jiggy with it and deviate strongly from traditional Arthurian fantasy themes.

eberron 5ePsionics (Dark Sun), the Feywild, and (maybe?) Planescape are worthy options, but please swallow any food stuffs in your mouth, because you may do a spit take when I share that I think there’s a more likely option for D&D’s 2017 publication schedule.

Eberron.

Eberron consists of oodles of non-traditional fantasy tropes such as magic powered trains and zeppelins, plus sentient mechanical beings. Eberron also includes dinosaur riding halflings. You’d get new classes, new races, and a fresh shot in the arm after marathon two years of more predictable fantasy themes.

 

Late 2017: Dragonlance

By late 2017 I fully suspect that D&D’s publishing schedule will be releasing full campaign settings much more quickly. By this point it’s likely that a new Open Gaming License (OGL) will be in place and D&D players will be getting more third party content, making it less onerous on WotC to supply all the published adventures for a setting. taniswinsthecrown

Given this new found flexibility, I speculate that WotC will focus on adding value in their core strength – their rich campaign settings – and leave much of the one off adventure writing to third party publishers.

By this point players would have had 5e storylines for The Forgetten Realms, Greyhawk, and Eberron. Why not add Dragonlance to those options?

Dragonlance would add interesting sub-races and aquatic races, plus some great throwback options like minotaurs. Dragon lance is hugely popular and could draw back from Tracy Hickman’s great work in the 80’s.

 

Early 2018: Ravenloft

Strahd_VampireLet’s stick with our guess that at this point WotC is releasing 5e editions of popular campaign settings at a rate of 2 per year. If the previous year’s GenCon was the release of Dragonlance as a campaign setting, why pivot 90 degrees and drop a campaign setting with a uniquely different tone.

Ravenloft is gothic horror, which would fit a gap that at this point is a niche that hasn’t gotten attention in the D&D 5e release schedule. This would be an opportunity to flesh out 5e mechanics like MADNESS!, plus offer new player classes like vampires and lycanthropes.

 

Late 2018: Feywild

Tyler_Jacobson___Bramble_QueenMike Mearls said they had a D&D release schedule up through 2018. I have to believe that The Feywild is plotted somewhere on that roadmap.

After detours through Eberron and Ravenloft, The Feywild could provide fresh options for classic classes like the ranger, barbarian, and druid. (Maybe they could buff the Moon Circle Druid! Kidding.)

But it wouldn’t just be classic classes who would benefit from an infusion of some primal storylines. New Shaman and Warden classes could be introduced as well. I’m down.

 

Where does that leave Planescape, Spelljammer, and some of the others? Where does that leave space for something entirely new and off our grid entirely (like perhaps following the lead of Pathfinder’s popular pirate themed Skulls and Shackles, but use Chris Perkins’ Iomanda campaign setting)?

I don’t know. Again, this is all crazy speculation. Remember, there is 40 years of Dungeons and Dragons history to pull from, which is all the more remarkable because there was a brief period of time in there where Coldplay was popular.

So let’s put speculation aside, and remark on what we know to be confirmed true. Mike Mearls, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford et al. have shown that they care deeply about the rich history of D&D. They’ve also shown through 5e that it’s also important that D&D feel modern and play elegantly.

The success of 5e is strong proof in the pudding that there will be a long release cycle of D&D 5e products, and we don’t have to speculate on if it will be good. We know we’re in for a treat.

Update: Chris Perkins replied via Twitter that this is 33% accurate, adding that it’s not too shabby with a handclap emoticon. That’s a clever way to say that of course some of this is right, but not give anything away as to which of it is right. He’s a crafty DM.

So the big question becomes if more of this is actually accurate in terms of content, albeit time shifted slightly. Of course, of that he didn’t say.

See also:
Is Chris Perkins Writing a New D&D Campaign Setting?
Review of Princes of the Apocalypse
Review of Out of the Abyss
Is Out of the Abyss the Campaign Setting We Didn’t Kew We Were Getting?
A GIANT D&D Storyline coming in 2016

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Nerd Nostalgia: The Eberron Campaign Setting for D&D https://nerdsonearth.com/2014/12/eberron-5e-past-future-dungeons-dragons/ https://nerdsonearth.com/2014/12/eberron-5e-past-future-dungeons-dragons/#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2014 19:27:51 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=857

Remembering Eberron, perhaps the coolest campaign setting for D&D. Will there ever be an Eberron 5e?

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Us nerds can be very nostalgic, often long after our favorite things are no longer supported.

Today I want to wax nostalgic on the world of Eberron, perhaps the coolest of Dungeons and Dragons campaign settings. In just a few hundred words I want to tell you why Eberron is so cool, why Eberron is actually important and significant, and if in the future there may be an Eberron 5e.

 

combat_eberron

What is Eberron?

Eberron is a campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons. Eberron is set in a period of healing after devastating 102 year war that ravaged the continent of Khorvaire and split the mighty kingdom into 12 quarreling nations. It is called the Last War, for it was thought that when this war finally ended, the taste for bloodshed and battle would thankfully be over.

Eberron 5eBut while the continent of Khorvaire is technically at peace, the 12 nations through espionage and sabotage continue to vie for economic and political power, largely driven by the dynasty families, signaled by a dragonmark, which are unique, hereditary, arcane sigils that grant them magical power.

Eberron is designed to keep what’s best about the traditional D&D elements and races, but offer them in a world with a very differently toned setting. Eberron combines classic fantasy flavor, but adds pulp adventure elements and non-traditional fantasy technologies such as trains and mechanical sentient beings, all powered by magic.

This is where Eberron is WAY COOL. There are elements of the modern world that are seen in the Eberron setting. The great cities contain skyscraper castles, light posts line city streets, and transportation is handled via airship or the lightning rail, a system of carriages that connect city to city.

But Eberron isn’t driven by technological advancements, it’s driven by magic, which is built into the very fabric of society. The working class aren’t engineers, they are magic infused adepts, whose job it is to power Eberron with arcane energy. It’s really cool.

Of course, this gives rise to a host of new characters classes and options, such as the Artificer, who tinker and dabble with magic for the purpose of imbuing ordinary items with arcane “technology.” (Boom, I’m an artificer, so I just magically made this sword be +2 awesome!)

eberron 5eThere are new races as well, which serve to complement the elves, dwarves, orcs and goblins who traditionally populate D&D settings.

  • Changelings are humanoids who are descended from doppelgängers, so they have some subtle shape-shifting qualities. Yup, that’s the party’s assassin all right.
  • Kalashtar are humans who willingly fuse with incorporeal alien quori, and often lead the life of a monk. It’s weird, but you have to trust me this: they’re cool.
  • Perhaps the most well known of Eberron’s new races, the Warforged are a race of living, sentient constructs composed of a blend of materials like stone, wood, and some type of metal. They were created as war machines, yet now serve as adventurers in the post-war “peaceful” era Eberron.
  • Shifters descend from lycanthropes and have the ability to partially change form in order to embrace their animal aspect. Again, it’s cool.

Have I mentioned yet that Eberron is cool?

 

Why is Eberron Important?

But Eberron isn’t just cool. It’s important as well. Eberron was the winning entry in a $100,000 contest to select a new world for Dungeons & Dragons fans to play in.

Eberron 5eIn 2002 Wizards of the Coast launched a competition that asked freelance writers to submit a world for D&D. They received 11,000 entries. Keith Baker’s brief synopsis of Eberron was selected as a finalist, so he was asked to write 100+ pages to further flesh out the world. Baker at the time was inspired by Raiders of the Lost Arc, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other pulpy fun, so he mashed that with the fantasy magic of D&D and set it in a world that feels like the war weary time after WWI.

Long story short, 3 finalists had their submissions purchased by WotC, two were sealed in an underground dungeon somewhere, but Keith Baker’s Eberron emerged as the grand champion, and Eberron was shared with RPG fans everywhere, who loved it.

Over ten years later, self-publishing and freelance writing has become much more democratic, but for a then unknown Keith Baker to have his name on a D&D book was a HUGE deal, and a source of hope and inspiration for budding nerds everywhere. (Indeed, James Wyatt who served as Keith Baker’s co-writer for the official Eberron product is a former Methodist pastor who turned his writing hobby into a D&D gig.) Never give up on your dream, kids.

 

What is the future of Eberron?

With the latest edition if D&D (5e) being met with great reviews (our review is here), there is also renewed interest in Eberron. Fans want to know is Eberron will be updated and rereleased for this new generation of D&D.

In other words, when are we getting the cool Eberron stuff like jungle Drow, magic trains, Shifters, and Warforged? I want more halflings on dinosaurs, by golly!

There is no definitive word yet, but hint after hint has been dropped that Eberron will be making a triumphant return with the next three years. Eberron 5e would be cool, just as it was when it first burst on the scene.

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