Setting the Stage

About my current most active game: my uni group does its best to run once per week. There are six players and then myself as DM in this D&D 4e (boo hiss) Eberron campaign.

Eberron's pretty swanky, as far as settings go, though I'll be damned if my group evokes a realm akin to anyone else's Eberron out there. With werewolves, cults of the Dragon Below, royal family conspiracies, chaotic evil swords, the warforged and the Queen of Air and Darkness, we've still managed to sit staring down the less magic, more P.I. barrel. Airships and artifacts go down a treat, but the real magic - the gritty 'hurts to think about it' magic - of our world lies in the shadows underground. Obviously both figuratively and literally speaking.

Should be like this

But it's more like this

And this

This too, why not

Set 10 years after the Last War. The nation of Breland thrives, though tensions toward both the Houses and King Boranel grow strained: corruption grows on trees, the warforged have resurfaced and Houses Jorasco and Lyrandar both have atrocities to answer for. Doubtful as to whether the latter will ever happen in Sharn, where the government was felled with the axe that is exploding airships and wrestling warlocks.

The cults of the Khyber thrive as the seeds of doubt grow in Brelish citizens by the week. Releasing the Son of Khyber from his prison could end the tyranny of the Houses, but then one could argue that the Twelve would be the lesser of two evils in this scenario.

Werewolves, once troublesome, have been purged by a party that's still trying to figure out its place in the big, wide world. This wouldn't be a problem if it didn't mean unleashing the Queen of Air and Darkness and a drow servant of Vulkoor the scorpion god who has dubious alliances. The Queen, of course, was whiling away her time in the Unseelie Court, whilst the ever-unknowing adventurers decided to leave her a body that she could use. Nice.

Where the Queen of Air and Darkness and magical books are involved, no NPC can truly be trusted. Her black-eyed idol ties her to her vessel and channels her powers of darkness and illusion magic: few can resist as darkness captures Aundair in its entirety. As of yet, no fire can be considered holy, with the Silver Flame's home of Thrane lying in the carnage of the Queen's wake. Shadow creatures serve her Majesty and the darkness cast by flames only bolsters them.

The Queen cannot be held solely accountable for the recent instability of the continent of Khorvaire; King Boranel's family and the government of Breland in Wroat are moving. The king's life was taken by his precious foster daughter, but naturally only the party has the privilege of knowing this. They've been on the run ever since. In saying so, several potential allies across the continent stand to benefit from Breland's weakened capacity. That is, if they manage to avoid the wrath of the Queen and find a way through the darkness that threatens to swallow Khorvaire.


The Party

Sammy J the human rogue - he's got a weakness for the ladies and only wine & hard liquor can strengthen him

Mako the genasi swordmage - tried stoic but never made it. Instead has to deal with his chaotic evil sword

Kai the doppelganger hybrid (changeling in 4e terms) - investigator extraordinaire with an ever-growing network of vagrants

Xena the dragonborn barbarian - captains an airship and wears magical reading glasses despite being illiterate

Hope the tiefling bard - an orphan with serious belonging issues, he tries to convince everyone else that he deserves to handle super important powerful items for the sake of spinning a bloody good yarn

Ephraim the pixie warlock - the cigar-smoking first mate to Xena, he just really likes being an asshole with his pixie dust


Specific region profiles/happenings posts to come in due course, but I'll mix things up a little with other tidbits that could work for any D&D game first.