Some interesting things at Wizards of the Coast

[Jester of the FoS]

Well, the last two comments are really better used to describe the Realms. It really is some guy's homebrew, you can spot who his PCs and friend's characters are.

Eberron is more of a concept world, some guy's idea for an interesting world. He created it and helped write it, but he probably didn't do it all himself. The world reeks of commitee...

[BlackBoxGamer]

Actually, the world is a concept world, created by Keith Baker, and then heavily modified by James Wyatt and Bill Slavicsek. Many of the original concepts are Keith's, but James and Bill modified, expanded and created whole new areas just so that anything that is in one of the sourcebooks can fit into the campaign world (somewhere).

As for it promoting munchkinism and powergaming, yeah, it can do that quite easily (some guy on the WotC boards was bragging of how he figured out a 12th level character could deal over 250 points of damage in a single round and turn around and do it again the next round). But the Realms and Greyhawk both have their share of powergamers and munchkins too. It's just natural for any setting to be abused by some group or gamer who is more interested in racking up a body count or having the most powerful character than they are in actual play balance or story. Don't blame it on the setting, blame it on the geeks who want to abuse the rules.

Overall, I like Eberron. It's entertaining and has a fresh look on the differing races/cultures, plus has some nice twists on old hat ideas (sort of like what Ravenloft did for the classic baddies). Granted, I don't suggest buying all of the books for Eberron (some of them are more than a little whack), but I do suggest browsing through a copy of the main book and see if it appeals to you all. Judge it for yourself, just don't listen to pre-concieved or ill-informed notions of what the setting is like.

BBG

[Jester of the FoS]

When I look at Eberron I think it might be fun to run a campaign akin to the short lived comic series Battle Chasers. But it'd be just as easy in a homebrew.
I just really don't like the missing information and absent facts, just enough to tease you with the mystery and what's not there and motivate you to buy the forthcoming novel series or supplemental book.

And I think we're slightly off topic...

[Le Noir Faineant]

When I look at Eberron I think it might be fun to run a campaign akin to the short lived comic series Battle Chasers. But it'd be just as easy in a homebrew.
I just really don't like the missing information and absent facts, just enough to tease you with the mystery and what's not there and motivate you to buy the forthcoming novel series or supplemental book.

And I think we're slightly off topic...

Me being quite a fan of steampunk and gothic, I got fairly interested into EB when it came out. Now, my personal problem is, it's too far from usual fantasy to combine it with style of game. David, if you're interested, check *Blackmoor*; it's traditional fantasy mixed with a BIT of steampunk/Battlechaser flair, but not overall. Personally, it reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy 6. Personally, the ravenloft/blackmoor hybrid campaign I am currently running is among the best I ever did.