I said in my initial EBERRON REMIXED post that some aspects of the setting were a little too try-hard; i.e. they maybe would have been better had they been unshackled from the need to "fit" into the D&D paradigm, as it had evolved into by the time Eberron was released. Part of what this means is making some changes to some of the setting. One that I mentioned specifically was that Droaam as a "nation of monsters" felt like a trash-can where anything that we didn't know where else to fit was just tossed in. It was kinda aesthetically unpleasing.
So, in that same spirit, what are some other minor changes that I think need to be made to the setting of Eberron? For the most part, I intend to completely and totally use the map as is, but I may need to make some changes to the "flavor" of some nations/regions. Although, I'm trying to remix the setting, not remake it. So the changes are mostly to increase the pulpy, cinematic, sword & sorcery + pulp noir feel (as opposed to weird, tactical 3.5 D&D feel) so the changes will mostly be along the lines of: 1) limiting the exposure to weird and esoteric D&D monsters; if they exist, they'll be much more unusual or even unique, rather than commonplace, and 2) make every portion of the setting usable right "out of the box" to a 1st level group of characters. This last doesn't mean that there won't be powerful opponents beyond the scope of 1st level characters, of course, merely that there aren't places like the Demon Wastes or Droaam that are really more "high level" areas. And finally, I'm mostly going to just focus on Khorvaire. I do have the book Secrets of Sarlona, although I haven't read it in years. I don't really know much about the details of Xen'drik or Argonessen or anything, other than the rather brief stuff in the campaign setting book. I'll treat the entirety of those continents with less detail than a single Khorvairan nation—as the setting book does. Which reminds me; I should point out that this is the annotated notes for remixing, but it is assumed that you own the setting book in order to properly use them. I only have the 3.5 version, but I presume that with the 4e or even 5e version, you could probably still pull this off too.
I'll split this topic into at least four posts—after which, EBERRON REMIXED will be more or less ready to play! After that; there were some more things I wanted to do with the CULT OF UNDEATH setting before I wrapped up that project. I've already talked about what I'm going to do with AD ASTRA. And I haven't done anything with the namesake setting of this blog in quite a long time, which may need to be revisited soon...
Post I: The Demon Wastes, the Eldeen Reaches, the Shadow Marches, Droaam, Aundair, Thrane, and Breland.
Post II: Zilargo, Darguun, the Mournland, Karrnath, the Talenta Plains, Valenar, and Q'barra.
Post III: The Mror Holds, The Lhazaar Principalities, Xen'Drik, Sarlona, Aerenal, the Frostfell, Argonnessen, and Everice.
Post IV: Other power groups and important details, churches, etc.
The Demon Wastes. I don't really care for rakshasas. They do come from mythology, although nothing in Western civilization, so they fit uneasily in a fantasy setting that's mostly based on Western civilization, and written for people who belong to Western civilization. I prefer to use more commonly known daemons, many of which are listed in the monster section for FANTASY HACK and can be used as is.
I also think Ghaash'kala is a pain to say, but I'll let them and the Carrion Tribes remain mostly as written—although living in a cursed environment, it shouldn't be surprising that many of the humans have become Cursed over the generations. This means that the majority population of the Demon Wastes are savage, originally Sarlonan humans, with orcs as the second major population. The demons and monsters will be, on the other hand, relatively rare.
The Eldeen Reaches. I dislike the hippy vibe of the Eldeen Reaches as the peaceful, harmonious pseudo-Wiccans, persecuted by the intolerant pseudo-Christians of the Church of the Silver Flame, so that will be eliminated in favor of a more superversive, old-fashioned pulp like vibe. I don't have anything like a druid class, and I think having a druid caste as they were historically makes little sense too—but frightening, terroristic sorcerers of this kind of vibe work very well for me, though. The Gatekeepers as holding back Lovecraftian horrors is still a thing.
The Shadow Marches. This is a backwater area of xenophobic savages; human and orc, mostly. It is also an area beshrouded with hints of Lovecraftian horrors. The grim hills and fetid swamps are homes to cults best left uncovered, and peoples best kept isolated, as their reaction to civilization is not likely to be good for either them or the civilized. This, like Droaam, is less a "country" in the traditional sense of implying political unity, and is more akin to a "region" with some level of cultural unity only.
Droaam. The Daughters of Sora Kell are not monsters in the literal sense; they are hags in the more traditional sense; witches (female liches, to be precise). Humans given over to the power of the devil, and given in return awful power of their own. As noted above, though—this isn't a politically united country, merely a region. The Daughters are powerful, of course, but they do not desire domination over the others who live here. Monsters do tend to be more common here than elsewhere on Khorvaire, and tribes of savage ratmen and thurses wander the countryside eating whatever (or whomever) they can get their hands on. We won't have any of the "Star Wars cantina, but with D&D monsters" cities here. Various types of monsters are more likely to be encountered here, but they tend to be singular, or very small tribes, taking advantage of the desolate, depopulated frontier nature of the area, rather than trying to build a "monster society" under the auspices of the Daughters.
Aundair. Aundair is a human nation, and it's meant to evoke Musketeer era France, at least to a minor degree. According to the setting book, it's only 51% human, but EBERRON REMIXED is a much more humano-centric version of the setting; I'd pump that up to nearly 90%, with half-elves making up by far the majority of the remainder.
Thrane. This nation is silly. Intolerant, pseudo-Christian crusaders as a theme in D&D and other modern fantasy is just not only super tired, but honestly deliberately insulting and offensive. I will go so far as to say that yes, the Church (of the Silver Flame; but I'm going to make it more overtly Christian in character) is headquartered here, but you don't see Italy looking like a nation of bizarre religious fanaticism. You're not, as the setting book says, "more likely to meet a missionary than a farmer." Of course, that means that Thrane loses some of its uniqueness relative to its neighbors; although "uniqueness" in this case is over-stated. As I said, this isn't a unique trope, it's a lazy, offensive trope of social justice crap. I would tend to mostly gloss over Thrane; it's a nation much like Aundair, I suppose—just politically separate from it.
Breland. With the advent of Sharn, Breland is (kinda) the protagonist nation of Eberron, and certainly where I expect most campaigns would spend some time, if not most of their time. I'm not going to change Breland much from where it is as written, except (of course) to minimize the non-humans and the racial cosmopolitanism, ad refocus on a much more humano-centric interpretation of the setting.
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