Customer Reviews

Eberron Campaign Guide: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hey there space cadets,


All of the fans of D&D out there know this already, but it bears repeating: this month sees the release of the second Campaign sourcebook for Eberron, and the second campaign guide for 4e. The question to be answered here is simple. Is the Eberron Campaign Guide worth my $30+ dollars?


The short answer is yes.


The longer answer is maybe. (By 2 letters!)


First all, to anyone out there reading this who isn't a DM (and has no aspirations to be one) this book will not be of use to you. Go get Divine Power this month instead.


Now, to my fellow DMs: ask yourselves a question. What kind of stories do I like to tell?


If the answer is high action, swashbuckling, intrigue filled, noir-influenced, gritty, pulp, etherpunk (thanks goes to a buddy of mine for that word) style games, then Eberron is a perfect match. If your answer is high fantasy, good vs. evil, light vs. dark, order against chaos, heroes and villains, ancient swords and reborn kings, then you probably want to look at Forgotten Realms. But then again, maybe you need a change ...


Eberron games have been described (by the folks at Wizards, no less) as cinematic in nature. Encounters (both combat and social) are set pieces, with one major item of information to be imparted during the course of the scene. And there is plenty of cinematographic stuff: the high towers of Sharn, battles on flying airships, monsters on the high seas, train robberies on the lightning rail, eldritch monsters from the age of demons trapped in ancient ruins deep beneath the earth, old jungle temples choked with vines and dark spirits, and on and on. And Eberron is full of factions who seek everything from information to ancient maps to treasure forgotten by time, factions who aren't necessarily friendly, and who may or may not have the heroes interests in mind ...


The reason this sort of setting is a good match for 4e is the nature of the game itself. Traps and hazards are set up to be less punishing and more group interactive; the tiers of power allow a simple measure of what threats are realistic for your players; the healing surge mechanic is great for time-sensitive missions; monsters are more varied and have more staying power, allowing more complex encounters and a better chance of recurring villains; item creation is faster and simpler, allowing artifice to play a much bigger role; the new Dragonmark mechanics emphasize marked characters as being the best of the best, rather than giving you a minor and highly circumstantial boost or two; and the integration with all currently (and subsequently) published materials eases play and saves your wallet. Plus, you can still use all of the 3rd edition stuff (at least as far as fluff is concerned) and you only need 2 books to get up to speed with 4th!


You're probably thinking: "That's all fine well and dandy, CJ, but what does this book offer me that makes it worth my [..]" Well there are several things.


The guide contains advice on how to run Eberron games that feel like Eberron games. It has expanded information on the various antagonistic factions throughout the land, including example monsters/NPCs associated with said factions. It has information on threats and challenges for your heroes ranging from 1st level all the way to the completion of an epic destiny at 30th. It comes with an adventure, ready to play, with two battle maps. It comes with two battle maps. It has a huge map of Khorvaire. It has expanded cosmology rules and information on how to bring the planes into play. And it has expanded information on history, locations and the world in general.


All in all its a pretty solid resource for grabbing ideas and frameworks around which to build a delve, an adventure or a full on campaign. It supports (out of the box) all published material to date. It's also a damn cool setting, and worth checking out or your idea mill if nothing else. So my final verdict? Yeah. If you have money to spare, or need need to use up that gaming budget this month; if you like pulp noir etherpunk stories; if you have always wanted to make your players run away from a giant boulder into a hostile jungle full of unfriendly drow (ala Indiana Jones); and if you like stories set in a world torn by war, where magic abounds and you can't trust anyone, least of all the person you're working for ... the Eberron Campaign Guide is for you.


[...]

NOTE: At the moment I have only had about 1 solid hour of time to browse through this book. But it has definitely left an impression on me already.

This book is filled to the brim with information to bring this Campaign world to life. I have not owned the Original 3.X guide, so I can't compare this to that, but I can say that I think it is head and shoulders above the 4E Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide.

The world seemed much more interconnected than the 4E Forgotten Realms guide. With the various Faiths, Dragonmarked Houses, nations, and other organizations all interacting with each other working towards their own agenda, Eberron seems a lively and interesting place where any type of adventurer can find something interesting to do.

If you are new to 4E, and are trying to decide which Campaign guide to get. Jump into Eberron, I don't think you will be disappointed.

I just got this book last night, and I'm very excited about it so far. It gives a great overview of the world geographically, historically, politically, and more. There is a lot of information to inspire many adventures. The same can be said for the art work, since I think I came up with several adventure ideas just from some of the illustrations.

This is a campaign setting that encourages pulp action, political intrigue, fantasy noir, steampunk-like elements (except being magical instead of industrial and steam driven).

The Eberron setting is a really great match for the 4th Edition D&D rule system, and this book is an excellent resource for a DM who wishes to run a game in this setting. If you are a player (and not the DM), you should get the Eberron's Player's Guide instead of this, however this is an excellent book for the DM. It's definitely an improvement over last year's Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide.

Eberron is easily the most evocative gaming setting I've ever come across, and the 4e Campaign Guide does a fantastic job bringing out Eberron's best elements and ensuring that they are gameable. That's the key to the greatness of this book: not only does it detail a wonderful world in which to play, it gives the DM solid information for bringing it to life around the table, with just enough detail to stir the imagination without bogging us down with details. In fact, there are so many adventure hooks, I have difficulty deciding which ones to leave out of my game.

The Eberron setting itself can be described as "Lord of the Rings" plus "Raiders of the Lost Ark" plus "Sin City." It's a pulp/noir world where every institution and interaction is colored by shades of gray. Magic takes the place of science, to improve the daily lives of the people but to also bring horrifying destruction. A prophecy chronicled and influenced by dragons provides a unifying mythology. There are several elements that really set Eberron apart from other fantasy settings, such as the warforged, airships and the ever-popular lightning rail.

The only quibble I have is minor: the prices of many goods and services (especially those it the city of Sharn) are described as "modest," "expensive" or some other subjective term. It would have been nice to get some solid pricing information on these things, but like I said, it's not a huge problem. Overall, this was an excellent purchase, and combined with the Eberron Player's Guide and the core D&D books will provide a group with many months of enjoyable gaming. In my opinion it's the finest 4th Edition release yet.

Great book, great map, great content. Plenty of baddies for levels 1-30, including the terrifying Daelkyr lord of eyes, but for those of you that bought the 3.5 Ebberon campaign guide you'll be pleased to know that you don't need to carry it around anymore. This book works great with the Player's guide, fills in all the blanks and back stories that are hinted at in the players guide and leaves the DM with plenty of material to pull from. It's exactly what a campaign guide should be... and in case you were wondering, that's the lord of blades and his two loyal steel predators on the cover, their stats are in the Mournland entry, best stay out of the Mournland if you value your life.

Eberron is a setting unlike any other blending fantasy, pulp, intrigue, serial adventure, and more and this book masterfully brings it to life for the DM. One of the things I really like about this book is how each nation or area is detailed with at least a couple of pages to include not just a writeup of the major NPCs but also lore, plotlines, and backstory making it easy for the DM to give the players a lot of information just out of the book as well as providing many, many threads and ideas from which to work. The history section goes into good detail and covers not just the events but some of the intrigue and plots behind them. One thing 4e is emphasizing more than 3e did is the ramifications and tensions resulting from the recent end of the Last War which is good as it brings more role-playing and plots to the table. I thought I knew Eberron before I got this book but this brought it to a new level of ideas and appreciation for me.

The ECG brings the Eberron campaign setting fully into D&D's fourth edition (4e), and does a fine job of it. Keith Baker and James Wyatt do, for the most part, and excellent job on integrating the 4e rule set into the setting and retain its style from 3.5. There are a few things that don't quiet mesh for some players of the previous edition, such as the cosmology and some of the Fey Spires, but for players new to the setting and/ or edition the ECG does a fine job introducing them to the system and the world. A definite must buy for Eberron fans and PnP RPGers looking for a less traditional fantasy setting.

I've used the Eberron setting as my campaign world for DnD 3.5 and loved the setting. It was a combination of steampunk and fantasy in the game I learned roleplaying in High School, a great combination. When Dnd 4e came out, I liked it so much. So, I've been waiting for an adaptation of the Eberron setting for the new edition.
I wasn't disappointed. The shift to 4e was done well. With a separate player's book for the setting, this book was able to concentrate on information for the dm. There's more information on the Dragonmarked houses and the lands beyond Khorvaire, updated stats for NPCs and villains for the 4e and a great starting adventure for 1st level. It was definitely worth getting. Coupled with the Eberron Player's Guide, running Eberron for the 4e will be great.

...but not if you prefer your fantasy the old fashioned, traditional, Tolkienesque way. If you like: magical skyships boarding sky pirates for loot or treasure; magic that can function as technology (but not technomagic); elves that live in magical towers and seem to be from another dimension; gnomes who have developed magic to amazing levels and have created their own realm; a continent ruled and governed solely by dragons; ancient jungle ruins ala Indiana Jones; a world that has over a dozen moons; magical automatons that were constructed for an old war (and that can be played as player characters); shapechangers as a race; magical floating cities and high fantasy with a noir feel (and by this I mean intrigue, swashbuckling and murder/mystery) then Eberron is for you.
This book is for the DM of the group, if you want to play then pick up the Players book which is the companion to this one. I have to admit that of the current D&D settings this is the one that has sparked my imagination like no other (except Dark Sun, which is another gorgeous setting). Me, I prefer this type of fantasy role playing action to the somewhat cookie-cutter/bland feel of Forgotten Realms. But that's just me. Enjoy!

I just adore this book. What else can I say? It is jampacked with so much material that you could spin a dozen campaigns from it and still not exhaust all the possibilities inside it. Eberron is that great steampunky fantasy world where you can fight a dragon on top of a moving lightning rail (train). While Forgotten Realms is more of the classic fantasy vein, Eberron has a more urban, fresh edge that I love.

The map included in the back is stunning, just gorgeous. My only wish is to have a decent detatchable map of the city of Sharn. It's so huge that it could be a definite plus. Other than that, I have no complaints. This is definitely a great DnD world.