Thema: [Eberron]Keith Baker über Eberron 4E

[Wormys_Queue]

Keith hat sich in seinem Blog über das 2009 neuaufgelegte Eberron Setting geäußert:

I'm working on a number of projects at the moment, including a big Eberron article for DDI (a longer piece than anything I've done for Paizo or the old WotC website) and the 4E Eberron core book. For anyone who hasn't heard the news, WotC has announced that they will be putting out three books for Eberron in 2009: a Campaign Guide (aimed primarily at DMs), a Player's Guide (including material relevant to both DMs and PCs), and an adventure. Beyond this, the setting will be getting DDI support; it's possible that there will be further print books, but that's entirely dependent on whether it proves to be economically feasible - so a lot will depend on how those core books do. Likewise, at the moment there's some significant support planned through DDI, but if you want to see that continue, it will certainly help to let the folks at DDI know that you're interested.

Looking to the 4E Campaign Guide and the Player's Guide, I want to say that these are NOT simply 4E translations of the ECS and the PGtE. You're not going to see a lot of duplication of material between the two; because they are coming out around the same time, if there's material that is equally relevant to both PCs and DMs, it's going to go in the Player's Guide. So looking to the current ECS, things like feats, dragonmarks, racial descriptions, the artificer, spells, and so on would all go in the Player's Guide. Nation descriptions will be aimed at what you need to know to create a character from a particular region - as opposed to the Campaign Guide, which will tell you things like which noble may be undead, who wants to go back to war and who wants to stop it, and so on. First, this means that there will be a much clearer delineation of "These are things known to the public, and these aren't". Second, it means that we will have room in the Campaign Guide to present information NOT available in the 3.5 ECS... whether it's just a greater level of depth on old ideas or organizations (what's House Tarkanan up to? How do you actually use the Dreaming Dark?) or presenting a few entirely new ideas to play with. With the benefit of hindsight, there are certainly things I wish we'd done differently in the 3.5 ECS, along with issues where we've had conflicts and contradictions between sourcebooks in the following years. MY goal is to have the 4E core books provide a solid and consistent foundation for the setting, and to ensure that they are interesting and useful both to newcomers to Eberron and to people who have been playing it since the start. Of course, I'm not the only person working on the books, and a lot can happen over the course of a year - so I can't promise specific coverage on any specific topics or go into great detail about anything. However, I'm excited by the potential I see in these books, and I believe that we've got far more to offer than just a mechanical update to 4E.

und aus den Kommentaren:

Q:This just means that WotC only plans to put out those 3 Eberron books in 2009, right? Not like they are thinking of putting those out and then abandoning the setting altogether?

A:Sort of. Bear in mind that I'm not a WotC employee, so everything I say here is based on my impressions as a freelancer, not any sort of inside information.

Up to this point, WotC has essentially supported two settings: Forgotten Realms and Eberron. Every year there's been a certain number of sourcebooks produced for each setting. You could expect in a random year to see three or four printed Eberron products.

The problem is that setting-specific material is a big financial risk for a company. Some people won't even look at a book because it's got "Eberron" on the cover. If that book is really aimed solely at DMs... which at the end of the day, a book like Dragons of Eberron is... that narrow audience is cut even further. And the sad fact of the matter is that WotC has a bottom line; Hasbro is interested in making money, not just supporting Eberron fans.

So, the policy that has been stated is that WotC is going to devote a year to each setting. Forgotten Realms in 2008, Eberron in 2009... and in 2010, something else. Dragonlance? Ravenloft? Planescape? Dark Sun? They've got lots of options to choose from. The Setting of the Year will get a campaign guide, player's guide, and large adventure, as described.

What has been specifically stated is that this does not rule out the production of additional material for a pprior setting "if it makes sense." So if there is clearly a strong demand and ready market for a particular Eberron book, it may be produced. But you aren't going to see them producing lots and lots of Eberron books just because, well, that's what they've been doing for the last few years.

Obviously I'm disappointed about this. There are many subjects in Eberron that we haven't had a chance to explore yet. With that said, it's WotC's property and sadly, I can understand the financial issues at stake. What remains to be seen is the extent of the DDI support (as I've said, the article I'm working on now is quite large... and dealing with one of those subjects I've wanted to explore in more depth). And there's always the possibility that if WotC decides it's not going to produce additional sourcebooks that they may license the property to a smaller company.

In any case, it's really too early to put too much weight on this, in my opinion. It's a plan. It's based on projected sales. So a lot will depend on how well the 4E Eberron books do, and if there IS a clear demand for more print books. We don't know what 2010 will bring yet - but it is two years away, and I'm not going to worry too much about it today. I'm excited about 2009, and as I've said before, I think 4E is a great system for Eberron... so perhaps the setting WILL do well enough in 2009 to justify future sourcebooks.

As far as I know, this policy is aimed at RPG material and doesn't affect the novel line; as long as the books continue to sell, you should see Eberron novels for years to come (I'm still planning on resolving the issues left hanging at the end of The Gates of Night!). But again, I'm not a WotC employee, so take it all with a few grains of salt.

Q:Are Warfoged, Shifters, Kalashtar and Changeling included in the 4th Monster Manual?

A:It has been confirmed by a WotC source that Shifters, Warforged, and Changelings/Doppelgangers (now one race) are in the 4E Monster Manual. Nothing's been said about Kalashtar, so I can't speak to that.

Q:Here's a question for you--how much of the material from the 3.5 books will be a necessary resource?

A:None of the 3.5 books will be a NECESSARY resource. The core 4E books will completely replace the 3.5 ECS, and provide enough information that you can use the setting with nothing else.

With that said, this won't stop the 3.5 books from being a USEFUL resource. There won't be a 4E Sarlona sourcebook, so if you want to run a 4E campaign in Sarlona, Secrets of Sarlona is still the go-to book. The 4E ECS will mention Stormreach, but it's going to cover it in a few paragraphs, not a sourcebook. I know that WotC has said that DDI will be providing 4E support for City of Stormreach and Dragons of Eberron; I wouldn't be surprised to see support for some of the earlier books as well.

With that said, the 4E core books should provide more information about certain topics. It's not going to have as much information about the kalashtar as Races of Eberron. However, I want you to have MORE information about the kalashtar (and shifters, and changelings, etc) than the 3.5 ECS did... to make sure that you can play these races out of the box without owning RoE. Likewise, I want the 4E core books to give a stronger sense of what national identity means for a PC. This won't REPLACE Five Nations, but it will help the purely 4E player who doesn't have access to the older books.

Q:Will time have passed, and so the geography/politics be updated?

A:After much discussion, the decision was made not to advance the timeline for Eberron. Geography will remain intact. However, as I said, I'd like to see use explore a few of the broader issues of the setting from the begining this time around. The original 3.5 ECS really didn't give you that much of a sense of the impact of the Last War, for example.

While much of this could be seen as simply drawing in elements of other books - Five Nations, Forge of War - it's also my hope to explore aspects of the setting that have been mentioned but never explored in great detail. And there's going to be a few new surprises. Nothing that contradicts what's gone before - interesting things that could have always been there, and simply gone unnoticed, or new threats that are just arising as of 998 YK.

Q:Out of curiosity, how are you all dealing with the changes that will have to happen in the fiction to reflect 4e (Zilargo, particularly)?

A:Well, you may be jumping to conclusion. There's no plans to make any vast changes to Zilargo. You may be basing this on the fact that gnomes aren't in the 4E PHB - but they're available as a playable race in the 4E MM, and if necessary we'll provide additional information for the Zil. So Zilargo and the Trust will continue to be gnomes, and I won't have to suddenly say "Oh, Alina was actually an elf all along." With that said, I've got some ideas to help make Zilargo a more interesting and compelling place for PCs to visit - but nonething that invalidates what's gone before.

As for dealing with things as a novelist and a game designer, we have the advantage that the novels aren't canon - so they don't have to perfectly match up. I LIKE to have my novels reflect the world, so you can say "If I was to run this as an adventure, I can see how it would work." However, if it turns out that my 3E novel has a wizard cast a spell that doesn't exist in 4E, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. The main question will be what happens when those characters return in the future. We haven't seen the 4E artificer yet. When we see Lei again, do I keep her as she was, or suddenly have her using different abilities? Personally, I'll probably err in favor of keeping her character consistent; it's a novel first, and a game novel second. But that's partially up to the editors!

[Nathan Grey]

Weiss schon jemand ob die Shifter, Kalashtar und Warforged im MM für die 4ed sind?? Damit man wenigstens seine Runde schonmal einigermaßen umstellen kann.

[Zechi]

Weiss schon jemand ob die Shifter, Kalashtar und Warforged im MM für die 4ed sind?? Damit man wenigstens seine Runde schonmal einigermaßen umstellen kann.

Die Liste der Monster findest du im Tidbit-Thread und zwar hier.

Gruß Zechi

[Nathan Grey]

Upps, übersehen. Danke Dir Zechi.

[Nathan Grey]

Schade finde ich das die Changelings und Doppelganger nun eine Rasse sind. Ob es da wohl eine Erklärung oder wird der Fluff nun so abgewandelt, dass es einfach immer so war oder gibt es die Changelings als Rasse im ECS oder EPH?? Was denkt Ihr??

Ausserdem merke ich grad, dass die Kalashtar nicht im MM vertreten sind, also werden diese wohl im ECS oder EPH drin sein oder vielleicht im PSI-Zusatzbuch.

[Goemoe]

Bei uns werden Changelings und Doppelgaenger nach wie vor unterschiedliche Rassen sein. Dafür sind ja Hausregeln da, um das Flair zu erhalten.  

[Taraxacum]

Schade finde ich das die Changelings und Doppelganger nun eine Rasse sind. Ob es da wohl eine Erklärung oder wird der Fluff nun so abgewandelt, dass es einfach immer so war oder gibt es die Changelings als Rasse im ECS oder EPH?? Was denkt Ihr??

Ausserdem merke ich grad, dass die Kalashtar nicht im MM vertreten sind, also werden diese wohl im ECS oder EPH drin sein oder vielleicht im PSI-Zusatzbuch.

Changelings wurden zu Doppelgängern. Hm, sie hätten ruhig den Namen behalten können. Doppelgänger konnten im Grunde vieles das auch die Drachen können, also irgendwie doppelt gemoppelt. Sie werden mir nicht fehlen.

Ich hatte angenommen, das der Spruch "back to basics" ernst genommen wäre und es keine Psi mehr gibt. Aber nun dachte ich, Kalashtar sind eine nette Rasse, und diese basieren auf dem Psi. Ich bin neugierig wie das Psi 4.0 aussieht und ob es endlich mal eine Einheitsgröße mit der Magie bekommen hat.