Using Eberron to inspire your campaign lore is an excellent shortcut to having depth and diversity that make sense. Most of your play group are teenagers, so lean into their naturally lower demand for internal consistency in the world. Prep what you need for the next session. Require the players to set a direction at the end of each session so you know what to prepare. Lean into pistol tactics and have 😁
You nailed it, man. Just stay in this mindset while you're at the table. Rewatch this regularly. I feel like you finally found the setting that your players will thrive in and supports the system that showed the most promise for your player's agency. Awesome GM; you should be proud. Sorry about your Grandpa ❤
Yo Nate! I think you nailed it man. My experience with restricting player options, even a little, is that I'll always have a player come to me and ask "well what about this?" And it's usually a solid idea! Much like how your son asked to be am Emberheart Library Knight. I like the idea of having common classes, and then classes that "tend to be" a certain Ancestry based on cultural norms. It allows your to solidify the world in your mind,while leaving it open enough to be explored.
Hey sir, KraftyMatt sent me! I like your Eberron twist. Eberron is my favorite campaign setting and I like the bits that you have adapted. I'm looking forward to how it works out. Keep it up!
@@GamingWithADHD thank you - I’m going to be working on it for a while. In the mean time I will be running the Dragonbane Campaign adventure for our game group. Thank you for checking out our channel.
Heya TTF! Thanks for the video, enjoyed watching. Let me start by mentioning stuff I really like! It's really cool you worked out this primer and setting! I also think it's really great you made some secrets and rumors the players can act on (or not) depending on their character's desires. The setting sounds really intriguing. I like the island name xD But I understand it may be best to change it due to the food association. Also goblins and orcs are fine, but I'm sure it may flesh things out in a unique way to change them. Might I suggest a weird, cute animal the players could adopt as a pet? 😉 If nothing else I wanted to pose a suggestion I don't think I've seen in other comments. You mentioned the players would be investigating the fort to see what happened to it. Depending on how you intend to unfold the answers to that mystery, you might run into some friction. Make sure it's not a murder mystery style mystery. Mystery is difficult to pull off. If the mystery is going to be self-evident and the clues are easy to find, that would be best, I think. Less confusion and conspiracy theories from the players.
You are getting it, Theme supported by Setting supported by Mechanics. Also Story is directed by Three forces: Player Character choices, DIce, and you the DM.
This sounds like a good mix of primer info. A good name for the Orcs and Goblins (whether it's one faction or two) would be cool (assuming Alliance is the name of the players' side). It's fine as it is now, but the Hand of Markluk, Parnor's Eyes, or the Gold and Silver Company could make it even cooler (or whatever they "appear to want", a mining company or outreach for a conqueror are possible options; remember it could always be a cover for why they're always attacking people in "their territory"). Thinking about what they are, even if it's not in the primer and just in your own notes, will help you escalate them later when they become too low level a threat. A Company with private soldiers or private assassins might use different tactics than a warlord with fleets of soldiers at their disposal. What if they're a coalition also and so you begin getting different tactics from each side? and then a mix of both strategies as they begin to work together better? (Sorry, the mirrored team is a fun concept because half the work is done by simply being the same but different. Individualistic vs Group-oriented, Altruistic vs Selfish, Guns vs explosives, Upfront fighters vs guerrilla tactics etc.) It can also be overdone (especially the evil dopplegangers), but it still can be fun. or - have the players name the Alliance and the Orc/goblins group(s). Anyway, Good luck. This sounds like you'll have fun.
If you haven’t come up with something for the mimikin with the crystals, one option is that they want to also ingest the crystals like the elves except it’s because the crystals let the mimikin mimic organic forms without the uncanny valley effect for a time.
Nice job! Once the players have an understanding of the world and their place in it I like to have them come up with character or group goals they want to accomplish. I always have them come up with at least one goal or ideal they have so that I can work it into the story. If the players know the setting I do this during session zero and character creation.
In Eberron, it's the goblinoid races in the Shadow Marches that are holding the gates to Xoriat closed against the daelkyr. The dinosaur-riding barbarian halflings of the Talenta Plains are a real terror. The Undying Court of the Aerenal high-elves in Eberron are just weird. The Dragonmarked Houses play a HUGE role in the setting and provide a rationale for the "steampunk" nature of the world. The nature of the Warforged goes back 40,000 years and are linked to an invasion from Dal Quor. It doesn't make sense that just because someone is a human, that they'll know all the secrets! That sort of thing is going to only be known to a handful of humans. In the traditional Eberron setting, perhaps just to senior humans in a number of the Dragonmarked Houses (and they may have non-human trusted confidants that are also in on it - loyal to the House and to their own pockets). I think that, by "dumbing down" (I'm not being fair here, I know) the setting a lot of potential is being lost. I'd really be inclined to use Eberron as-is (it really is a great setting) and just use the Shadowdark rules for the game mechanics. You don't need to invent an island called Coriander, you can just use Xen'drik as the "wild frontier" where empires clash.
Here's my (hopefully constructive) criticism of your setting. Strictly IMO, subjective, etc. - This is no longer relevant once I got to the part where you described each nations relation to the crystals. But I was taking notes so I leave it here. The crystals stuff was EXACTLY what I was missing, so well done in that regard! I put it in parenthesis because it no longer applies: (I don't really understand the concept of the Alliance going on a joint effort mission but then still each nation trying to secure advantages for them selves. It can be good, I see a lot of potential story seeds there but I'd need more details to be able to think in that frame.) - Please rename the island! Coriander is a vegetable. - There should not be goblins and orks on the newly discovered island. Those are the enemies of the main land. In order to make the island unknown and mysterious you need to come up with alien and unknown enemies (ofc mechanically they can just be plain old goblins and orks but reskinned to I don't know crystaline creatures, living shadows, automations built by a forgotten civilization or something). Also there can be goblins and orks if there's a story reason for their appearance (e.g.: one of the nations secretly transporting them there in order to set back another nations progress on acquiring the crystals).
Great suggestions - thank you. You are right about the Orcs and Goblins - I will come up with some new enemies to put in the Island. lol, what’s wrong with vegetables? You’re right about the island name - I’ll come up with a new name.
@@FamilyTableTop aw man, I disagree - those were great decisions you made. Coriander island could simply because there's lots of Coriander growing there. I also think it's fine to have Goblins and Orcs, especially when you said they also came to the island. If you want to have a mystery of unknown enemies, that's fine and sounds like peti29music94 just likes a good mystery. I agree that it's fun to have a mystery in newly discovered places. I just wouldn't throw out the Orcs and Goblins while you're at it. :)
The only thing I didn't really notice was what is the group the players belong to as a central driving motivation. Are they part of a holy order or tinkerer's guild, etc. It'll help connect them to the world more clearly so they will act as a unit in some respects. I find ancestry/class restrictions weird because I think it should be cultural restriction more than ancestry, but a lot of people use it as a shorthand for culture so I get why people do it.
Question about your firearms. Do they operate basically as a crossbow, or are they more difficult to load & as a result they can only be fired every other round, and if that is true do those weapons do a lot more damage like 2d8, 2d10 or even more? Just interested in how those are different than using a crossbow if those are at all. Hope it is a fun time.
These are really good questions - I think the firearms should definitely be different from a crossbow otherwise why have it in the game if it’s just “flavor”. I think I would create a mechanic where the gun could fire through targets often, and also misfire. I think a reload action would make the gun different enough from a crossbow, but also depending on world and location, it might be something where the ammo is sparse and my players need to forage for iron to make shots. Have you seen any compendiums that do primitive firearms well?
@@FamilyTableTop (Goodness that is frustrating. I responded through the notification & it just cycled for 3 minutes before I came to the channel to see if it posted & apparently it never did.) No, I do not know of a good system but in the past I just always used hand crossbow with the crossbow expert feat to represent a handgun. You need to talk to your player (son) about his expectations. If you found what you thought was the perfect idea & it didn't scratch the itch he is looking for, you will both be frustrated. If his expectations is modern rifles/pistols he needs to understand that is not how firearms worked in a medieval setting & talk to him about the loose ideas I brought up. Explaining to him the reason many weapons had a bayonet was because the gun couldn't be fired as non-stop or as rapidly as today's. Might even want to watch a few TH-cam videos talking about muzzle loaders. You may want to look at D&D's artificer because a few of those subclasses have arcane cannons & maybe you can develop something from those. As I have seen in other comments Eberron & SpaceJammer both have guns though I have not heard anything great about those.
You mentioned if you did your due dilligence, that would prevent the players being confused or lost on who their character is and why they're here. In my opinion, it is the player's responsibility to figure out their character and their character's motivations. You have provided a clear starting scenario with the expedition to the island, that is probably enough. Obviously you can work with them to ground the characters in the setting you made. Just be careful not to burden yourself with the responsibility of things outside of your control, or you're likely to burn out and get the urge to start all over again. It will turn into "If only I did this one thing different, all these problems would go away!" ad nauseam. You are not solely responsible for your players' enjoyment of the game, it is a collaboration involving everyone at the table.
My personal opinion, thus something you have not to give any considerations to it, is that this setting sounds too much like late stage colonialism. Which is of course reasonable for steampunk and Eberron inspired scenario. But I think Eberron handles the diversity of different people groups better, since it draws no racial lines, but national ones and thus i better at avoiding unnecessary racism traps. Instead of painting orcs and goblins as bad, and thus justifying the genocide you put casually there into the history, I would suggest leaving that more open and explore the option that the colonialism of the Alliance you have there is maybe not the true horror and thus leave it up to the players to maybe at one point reject their home country and try to build a new world that could feel like the founding of the United States. Having a little more thematic depth might also be helpful for the players to discover who they want their character to be.
Using Eberron to inspire your campaign lore is an excellent shortcut to having depth and diversity that make sense. Most of your play group are teenagers, so lean into their naturally lower demand for internal consistency in the world. Prep what you need for the next session. Require the players to set a direction at the end of each session so you know what to prepare. Lean into pistol tactics and have 😁
My grandmother deteriorated all at once, too.
A hug, friend 💙
You nailed it, man. Just stay in this mindset while you're at the table. Rewatch this regularly. I feel like you finally found the setting that your players will thrive in and supports the system that showed the most promise for your player's agency. Awesome GM; you should be proud. Sorry about your Grandpa ❤
Yo Nate! I think you nailed it man. My experience with restricting player options, even a little, is that I'll always have a player come to me and ask "well what about this?" And it's usually a solid idea! Much like how your son asked to be am Emberheart Library Knight.
I like the idea of having common classes, and then classes that "tend to be" a certain Ancestry based on cultural norms. It allows your to solidify the world in your mind,while leaving it open enough to be explored.
@@IndentYourCode thank you. I appreciate the feedback
Very sorry about your grandfather. Prayers for your grandmother, you and your family.
@@andrewthomas7202 thank you, brother.
Hey sir, KraftyMatt sent me! I like your Eberron twist. Eberron is my favorite campaign setting and I like the bits that you have adapted. I'm looking forward to how it works out. Keep it up!
@@GamingWithADHD thank you - I’m going to be working on it for a while.
In the mean time I will be running the Dragonbane Campaign adventure for our game group.
Thank you for checking out our channel.
I can't hear coriander without thinking of Cilantro - we call it that in the UK 😅
100% if his players are anything like mine, he'll never hear the end of it 😂
I still like it though! Like, maybe the archipelago all have spice names. That'd be alright.
I keep thinking of Calvin and Hobbes and the tales of "Commander Coriander Salamander and Singlehander Bellylander"
Heya TTF! Thanks for the video, enjoyed watching.
Let me start by mentioning stuff I really like! It's really cool you worked out this primer and setting! I also think it's really great you made some secrets and rumors the players can act on (or not) depending on their character's desires. The setting sounds really intriguing.
I like the island name xD But I understand it may be best to change it due to the food association. Also goblins and orcs are fine, but I'm sure it may flesh things out in a unique way to change them.
Might I suggest a weird, cute animal the players could adopt as a pet? 😉
If nothing else I wanted to pose a suggestion I don't think I've seen in other comments. You mentioned the players would be investigating the fort to see what happened to it. Depending on how you intend to unfold the answers to that mystery, you might run into some friction. Make sure it's not a murder mystery style mystery. Mystery is difficult to pull off. If the mystery is going to be self-evident and the clues are easy to find, that would be best, I think. Less confusion and conspiracy theories from the players.
You are getting it, Theme supported by Setting supported by Mechanics. Also Story is directed by Three forces: Player Character choices, DIce, and you the DM.
Wow in a paragraph 😮
This sounds like a good mix of primer info.
A good name for the Orcs and Goblins (whether it's one faction or two) would be cool (assuming Alliance is the name of the players' side). It's fine as it is now, but the Hand of Markluk, Parnor's Eyes, or the Gold and Silver Company could make it even cooler (or whatever they "appear to want", a mining company or outreach for a conqueror are possible options; remember it could always be a cover for why they're always attacking people in "their territory"). Thinking about what they are, even if it's not in the primer and just in your own notes, will help you escalate them later when they become too low level a threat. A Company with private soldiers or private assassins might use different tactics than a warlord with fleets of soldiers at their disposal.
What if they're a coalition also and so you begin getting different tactics from each side? and then a mix of both strategies as they begin to work together better? (Sorry, the mirrored team is a fun concept because half the work is done by simply being the same but different. Individualistic vs Group-oriented, Altruistic vs Selfish, Guns vs explosives, Upfront fighters vs guerrilla tactics etc.) It can also be overdone (especially the evil dopplegangers), but it still can be fun.
or - have the players name the Alliance and the Orc/goblins group(s). Anyway, Good luck. This sounds like you'll have fun.
If you haven’t come up with something for the mimikin with the crystals, one option is that they want to also ingest the crystals like the elves except it’s because the crystals let the mimikin mimic organic forms without the uncanny valley effect for a time.
Some alternatives to Coriander (though I personally like it):
Corianthum
Coriandus
Imperiander
Skolander
Corimacus
And Cilantro
Nice job! Once the players have an understanding of the world and their place in it I like to have them come up with character or group goals they want to accomplish. I always have them come up with at least one goal or ideal they have so that I can work it into the story. If the players know the setting I do this during session zero and character creation.
I use rumors and mystery to do that especially since my game is suddenly Theify
In Eberron, it's the goblinoid races in the Shadow Marches that are holding the gates to Xoriat closed against the daelkyr. The dinosaur-riding barbarian halflings of the Talenta Plains are a real terror. The Undying Court of the Aerenal high-elves in Eberron are just weird. The Dragonmarked Houses play a HUGE role in the setting and provide a rationale for the "steampunk" nature of the world. The nature of the Warforged goes back 40,000 years and are linked to an invasion from Dal Quor.
It doesn't make sense that just because someone is a human, that they'll know all the secrets! That sort of thing is going to only be known to a handful of humans. In the traditional Eberron setting, perhaps just to senior humans in a number of the Dragonmarked Houses (and they may have non-human trusted confidants that are also in on it - loyal to the House and to their own pockets).
I think that, by "dumbing down" (I'm not being fair here, I know) the setting a lot of potential is being lost. I'd really be inclined to use Eberron as-is (it really is a great setting) and just use the Shadowdark rules for the game mechanics. You don't need to invent an island called Coriander, you can just use Xen'drik as the "wild frontier" where empires clash.
Here's my (hopefully constructive) criticism of your setting. Strictly IMO, subjective, etc.
- This is no longer relevant once I got to the part where you described each nations relation to the crystals. But I was taking notes so I leave it here. The crystals stuff was EXACTLY what I was missing, so well done in that regard! I put it in parenthesis because it no longer applies:
(I don't really understand the concept of the Alliance going on a joint effort mission but then still each nation trying to secure advantages for them selves. It can be good, I see a lot of potential story seeds there but I'd need more details to be able to think in that frame.)
- Please rename the island! Coriander is a vegetable.
- There should not be goblins and orks on the newly discovered island. Those are the enemies of the main land. In order to make the island unknown and mysterious you need to come up with alien and unknown enemies (ofc mechanically they can just be plain old goblins and orks but reskinned to I don't know crystaline creatures, living shadows, automations built by a forgotten civilization or something).
Also there can be goblins and orks if there's a story reason for their appearance (e.g.: one of the nations secretly transporting them there in order to set back another nations progress on acquiring the crystals).
Great suggestions - thank you.
You are right about the Orcs and Goblins - I will come up with some new enemies to put in the Island.
lol, what’s wrong with vegetables?
You’re right about the island name - I’ll come up with a new name.
@@FamilyTableTop aw man, I disagree - those were great decisions you made. Coriander island could simply because there's lots of Coriander growing there. I also think it's fine to have Goblins and Orcs, especially when you said they also came to the island. If you want to have a mystery of unknown enemies, that's fine and sounds like peti29music94 just likes a good mystery. I agree that it's fun to have a mystery in newly discovered places. I just wouldn't throw out the Orcs and Goblins while you're at it. :)
The only thing I didn't really notice was what is the group the players belong to as a central driving motivation. Are they part of a holy order or tinkerer's guild, etc. It'll help connect them to the world more clearly so they will act as a unit in some respects. I find ancestry/class restrictions weird because I think it should be cultural restriction more than ancestry, but a lot of people use it as a shorthand for culture so I get why people do it.
@@nicklikethesoup how could you implement cultural identity into a TTRPG? Aren’t dwarves a culture?
Question about your firearms. Do they operate basically as a crossbow, or are they more difficult to load & as a result they can only be fired every other round, and if that is true do those weapons do a lot more damage like 2d8, 2d10 or even more? Just interested in how those are different than using a crossbow if those are at all. Hope it is a fun time.
These are really good questions - I think the firearms should definitely be different from a crossbow otherwise why have it in the game if it’s just “flavor”.
I think I would create a mechanic where the gun could fire through targets often, and also misfire.
I think a reload action would make the gun different enough from a crossbow, but also depending on world and location, it might be something where the ammo is sparse and my players need to forage for iron to make shots.
Have you seen any compendiums that do primitive firearms well?
@@FamilyTableTop (Goodness that is frustrating. I responded through the notification & it just cycled for 3 minutes before I came to the channel to see if it posted & apparently it never did.) No, I do not know of a good system but in the past I just always used hand crossbow with the crossbow expert feat to represent a handgun. You need to talk to your player (son) about his expectations. If you found what you thought was the perfect idea & it didn't scratch the itch he is looking for, you will both be frustrated. If his expectations is modern rifles/pistols he needs to understand that is not how firearms worked in a medieval setting & talk to him about the loose ideas I brought up. Explaining to him the reason many weapons had a bayonet was because the gun couldn't be fired as non-stop or as rapidly as today's. Might even want to watch a few TH-cam videos talking about muzzle loaders. You may want to look at D&D's artificer because a few of those subclasses have arcane cannons & maybe you can develop something from those. As I have seen in other comments Eberron & SpaceJammer both have guns though I have not heard anything great about those.
@@FamilyTableTop Ted talks about muskets from D&D 5.24 DMG rules. th-cam.com/video/ivYHqkCycQ4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sSC5Rjoh2KxDlP_o
You mentioned if you did your due dilligence, that would prevent the players being confused or lost on who their character is and why they're here. In my opinion, it is the player's responsibility to figure out their character and their character's motivations. You have provided a clear starting scenario with the expedition to the island, that is probably enough. Obviously you can work with them to ground the characters in the setting you made. Just be careful not to burden yourself with the responsibility of things outside of your control, or you're likely to burn out and get the urge to start all over again. It will turn into "If only I did this one thing different, all these problems would go away!" ad nauseam. You are not solely responsible for your players' enjoyment of the game, it is a collaboration involving everyone at the table.
My personal opinion, thus something you have not to give any considerations to it, is that this setting sounds too much like late stage colonialism. Which is of course reasonable for steampunk and Eberron inspired scenario. But I think Eberron handles the diversity of different people groups better, since it draws no racial lines, but national ones and thus i better at avoiding unnecessary racism traps. Instead of painting orcs and goblins as bad, and thus justifying the genocide you put casually there into the history, I would suggest leaving that more open and explore the option that the colonialism of the Alliance you have there is maybe not the true horror and thus leave it up to the players to maybe at one point reject their home country and try to build a new world that could feel like the founding of the United States. Having a little more thematic depth might also be helpful for the players to discover who they want their character to be.