Thema: Gen Con Seminar: Secrets of Eberron

[Zechi]

[ur=http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20080814]Hier[/url] finden sich so einige Tidbits:

Seminar: Secrets of Eberron
Take a look at our online catalog: the Eberron Campaign Guide has been added, set for release in June 2009. What else can we now reveal about Eberron?

Thursday, 2PM (Gen Con Time): The Secrets of Eberron Seminar with Keith Baker, James Wyatt, Stephen Schubert, and Jeremy Crawford sought to answer this tricky question (although, as James pointed out, the panelists would be addressing the facts of Eberron more than its secrets).

Eberron in Novels

Discussion began with a look at the novels that have recently released, leading up to November and Keith Baker's The Queen of Stone -- a spy novel of sorts, much different from The Dreaming Dark and something with a strong Eberron feel.

2009 will see DeWolf's Death Comes Easy, Wyatt's Dragon War, Bassingthwaite's Word of Traitors, and more (look for these to be added to the online product catalog shortly). According to the panel, these novels will take a step away from traditional high fantasy novels and toward what makes Eberron more, well, Eberron.

Eberron in RPGs

Again, first a look back:

Feb 2008: City of Stormreach (the 4th Edition conversion guide has been turned over and is currently sitting with the R&D development team).
March: Adventurer's Guide to Eberron.
Now: DDI's Playing Warforged, Expeditionary Dispatches, and the Artificer playtest articles are already online and available to read. In the future, you'll see previews of next year's Eberron Campaign Guide.
Now a look ahead:

Player's Handbook II: includes gnomes, half-orcs, and shifters. What are the ghostly-looking felines on the cover? James remains coy.
Eberron Campaign Guide: June 2009, "a fresh look at a familiar world."
Eberron Player's Guide: July 2009.
Secrets of the Ashen Crown: July 2009.
DDI: continue to look for further Eberron content online in Dragon and Dungeon Magazines.
What's happening with the setting? The general philosophy involves not advancing the timeline or making drastic changes to the world but refocusing on certain components of the setting. For example:

The Last War: Just two years out, this event will be given a greater presence in the setting, as it should. No one thinks that it's truly ended -- tension remains that it is going to start again.
The Draconic Prophecy: Dragonmarks are the prophecy written on the skin of races, and characters should have a connection to this prophecy -- the fate of the world -- played out at all levels but especially seen in new epic destinies.
Points of Light: The Last War already brings this philosophy to the setting, with centers of civilization surrounded by large areas of uninhabited space. This is not entirely the humans' land.
Threats New and Old: Details and hooks to bring danger into your game, some of it new to the setting. Some of these might be things waiting to happen in your campaign, and some are "evolutionary," in that they match the levels of your players as they advance.
Questions

How will kalashtar work in the absence of psionics?
They are given a psionic flavor without confining them to a psionic class, much as current powers have a psionic flavor, dealing psychic damage.

What was easy and difficult to convert about Eberron to 4th Edition?
Dragonmarks were a challenge to balance properly because of the changes to the powers structure. Overall, though, Eberron is a D&D world, fully able to be converted to the new edition. Skill challenges, for example, work really well in this noir-style setting, and rituals show that magic is a part of everyday life.

How will the new races be worked into Eberron?
Eladrin can easily be moved between planes into Eberron. The dragonborn, tiefling, and eladrin are all given hooks to help fit them into the setting.

How is the artificer developing?
Stephen Schubert is handling this class's development and is looking at two current builds: the guy who makes 'minions' and the guy who imbues items and weapons. The design of the class is essentially complete. Now development is taking place, thanks to the feedback coming in through the message boards and dndinsider@wizards.com.

Is DDI the place to go for the advancement of the Eberron storyline?
Yes, that is the plan for campaign settings moving forward. Printed campaign setting books (such as the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide) that are useful to all campaigns, not just those focused in that particular setting, will be accompanied by articles and support on DDI.

Will campaign setting material be legal in organized play games?
Yes.

Will Eberron's cosmology be adjusted for 4th Edition?
Yes. It will remain distinct, however. Consider an orrery as a metaphor to describe Eberron's cosmology -- while things might not have changed significantly, there may be a new metaphor to describe the cosmology.

Will eldritch devices ever be statted out?
Yes and no. Some can be statted now, while others function more as plot devices (those might be better handled with skill challenges, for examples).

Will the new races have their own dragonmarked houses?
There will be no new dragonmarked houses introduced, with one exception. As part of making the dragonmarked houses more accessible, the race restrictions are being lessened if not outright removed.

What is the importance of the aberrant marks?
More about these will be revealed.

Was it difficult not to advance the timeline for a new edition?
Yes. Moving it only two years forward was discussed, in order to show what's changed in the setting for a new edition (such as new races being introduced). Novels were even written as if the timeline actually did advance. In the end, though, the planners decided not to do so, but to come up with a different solution.

How does the demi-god epic destiny work in Eberron?
In Eberron, there is a belief that mortals can ascend to godhood (such as the belief great dragons can become sovereigns). Are these heroes actual demi-gods or simply mad and powerful? Essentially, that's something for the DM to decide!

[Eldan]

As part of making the dragonmarked houses more accessible, the race restrictions are being lessened if not outright removed.

Was? Wie bitte? Sagt mir, dass ich nciht mehr englisch kann.

[Fabius Maximus]

As part of making the dragonmarked houses more accessible, the race restrictions are being lessened if not outright removed.

Was? Wie bitte? Sagt mir, dass ich nciht mehr englisch kann.

Du hast leider richtig gelesen.

Mechanische Änderungen? Wenns denn sein muss. Inhaltliche Änderungen? Nur wenns Sinn macht, verdammich!

[Wormys_Queue]

Treffer.Und.Versenkt.

[Nightmare]

Interessant, dass die Reaktionen der Eberron-Fans hier aus dem Forum auf diesen Punkt bisher alle ziemlich identisch sind.

Kann man die Beiträge zu dem Punkt aus dem ECS-Thread vielleicht hierher verschieben? Nicht, dass bald zweimal parallel die gleiche Diskussion/Gespräch geführt wird.