Eberron is a complex setting where you can delve the depths of intrigue, go on crazy adventures, and take magically powered trains to different places in the world. In the world, it has always just come out of a long war which was ended by the Day of Mourning. What happened in the day of Mourning, there is no canonical answer, but whatever it was, the people of the world are scared into a peace that is shaky, but no one wants it to happen again. So the nations are at peace and the families/corporations are doing their things which can be travel, body guarding, healing, and several different things. And that’s just the main lands, then there is a jungle section with many ancient giant ruins, an island where the dragons live, the underdark, and a monstrous city/country where you can easily play monstrous characters.

Eberron is really a setting that is created to let you play almost anything. Whereas the Forgotten Realms were more standard fantasy, Eberron is always going to be colored by the magic punk nature of the setting and this pulp style where you are better and more powerful than most people. The best example to give of this is that magic is common in Eberron, magically powered airships and trains are a thing, but it’s generally lower level magic, so when you get to be a PC casting 4th level spells, you’re more powerful for than a normal spell caster, and probably even earlier than that. So you get to do the heroic things that the heroes of pulp fiction do, the genre not the movie. You’re going to be able to interact with dragons without just being eaten, go exploring giant ruins or venture into the Mournland in hopes of finding out what happened on the Day or Mourning.

In the land, there are also new races, War Forged who were created for the war and now are on their own, what does that mean for them and for them in society is something that is struggled with, because they are sentient but they are also made for war. Changlings and Shifters are two more races that can show up, Changlings can look like other people and change their shape, while shifters are almost were-people, but not quite. Plus races like Goblins, Orcs, and Hobgoblins are playable in this world and something that might not be quite normal to see around the main city on the main continent, but also aren’t out of the normal. So you can really play whatever you want to play in Eberron. And there’s even more for races that you can play.

And there is also a new class that has been added to fifth edition for Eberron and that’s the Artificer. The artificer is basically a magical tinkerer. They are going to be creating magical contraptions, potions, etc. that can help them in combat or in other encounters. It might be mundane and just be something that looks cool, but it could also be that they have a turret in their backpack that’ll blast magical bullets at their enemies or shield them from attacks. It really helps build up that magic punk feel of the setting to have that class that almost is steam punk, but it’s really more based off of magic.

Eberron is really a fun setting and one that I’m looking forward to running a game in. There’s a lot that you can do from that massive explorations into the ruins of a giant civilization. Or maybe it’s a crime story that is happening in the vertical city of Sharn. Maybe the party is going to go into the Mournland to try and find the cause of the Day or Mourning and find out what happened to the land of Cyre. Or perhaps there is something that the Church of the Silver Flame is doing that you need to help with or stop. You have a ton of different options from if you want it to be a more epic adventure to a more contained story, and it’s up to you what you play. But whereas the Forgotten Realms places it so that you can do all of those things but doesn’t add flavor in to help with that, in Eberron it’s created and there are places that make sense for different types of campaigns so that the campaign is going to feel more special.

Have you played a game in Eberron? If so, what type of game was it? If not, is Eberron a setting you’d want to play in?

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Forgotten Realms
This is a high fantasy setting where you’re going to see all the content (almost) from Wizards of the Coast coming out in. It’s your typical fantasy setting where Dwarves act like Dwarves and Elves act like Elves. This setting can be seen as a little bit vanilla in how standard it is, but it also makes it an amazing jumping off point for new players because it has a level of familiarity to it. The main cities in the Forgotten Realms are going to be Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate.

Eberron
Eberron is a very different setting than your typical fantasy setting. Magic is basically used as technology in this world. And it isn’t just a world where you have your standard races that you can play, there are shifters, changlings, and monstrous races that you can play as well. What also makes this setting unique is that the setting and call the adventures are set after this great war has ended when a country wiped off the map do to some cataclysm, but it’s never stated what it is, so it leaves it open for players and DM’s to decide for their campaign. The setting is very pulp and noir in it’s feel.

Ravenloft
Another different sort of setting where it’s less your standard fantasy setting and more focused on a Victorian Gothic setting. It is also going to be focused on a lower level of magic. The land is ruled by a vampire, Strahd, that is basically locked into the cursed land and most adventures set in Ravenloft are going to be about finding out Strahd’s history and then dealing with him. In 5th Edition the Curse of Strahd adventure pulls players from the Forgotten Realms and sticks them into this setting that is different than the world that they know and they are stuck there until they can defeat Strahd, if they ever leave.

Dragonlance
One of the first, if not the first D&D setting, Dragonlance is going to be another epic fantasy setting. The world is greatly influenced by the deities and a lot of the stories revolve around the good deities fighting the evil deities or the return of dragons after centuries of absence. It’s going to be much more in the standard version of fantasy and another good jumping off world that you could use to introduce Dungeons and Dragons.

Grey Hawk
As compared to the epic fantasy settings, Grey Hawk is more of a sword and sorcery setting. It is going to be darker and more dangerous for your characters. Magic is going to be less common than some settings. Grey Hawk is more of a world that is on it’s way out and the adventures that you might be more about keeping the world going versus bringing the world into a new great place which some Epic Fantasy stories can focus on more so.

Spelljammer
Now, if you want something completely different. Spelljammer is kind of a setting, but it can hit up most settings as you have magically powered space ships. This is going to be a game where you want to hop between a lot of worlds, have grand space exploration sort of adventures, versus a more traditional traveling adventure like Lord of the Rings. It really isn’t something that they’d call it’s own setting anymore, but it’s something that you could easily focus on to move between the worlds in your own campaign.

Dark Sun
This used to be a great world, but now, magic has defiled and the land and use of magic can make it even worse. And there is a god-like Sorcerer King who is ruling and can you stay out of their wrath or will they crush you and your party as you try to survive the harsh lands. Dark Sun is going to be a lower magic game that is much more focused on the survival throughout the lands and avoiding the halflings who are jungle cannibals. There are some new races that you can play in this setting as well and one of the biggest types of magic is psionics.

Birthright
If you want to play that extremely epic nation level game, Birthright is going to be the setting of you. In Birthright every player is going to be connected to a nation and have some sort of royal blood. These campaigns are going to be more about that nation ruling, epic wars, versus that smaller adventuring party. Birthright is a setting you’re going to have to come up with or tweak combat for to make it done at a bigger scale.

Planescape
This setting wraps several planes of existence into a single setting. It also takes it out of the normal medieval fantasy setting and puts it into a more Victorian and pseudo-steam punk world. There is a city of Sigil which is the home base for the players and is generally where you are going to be sending them out to the other planes to have their adventures and then returning back to Sigil to resupply, recover, and get new adventures.

Now, that’s just the start of Dungeons and Dragons settings. There are new ones being created as well as old ones that might come back. Most of these settings don’t have official books for fifth edition, but if you find older world setting books, you’d be able to turn them into something that you can use in 5e.

Do you have a favorite setting or is there a setting that you’ve really wanted to play in?

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