Adapting Eberron

[Hrtofdrkns]

I like eberron. A lot.

I think some of the material could be adapted for ravenloft (a mournland domain with the Lord of Blades as darklord, the warforged could be all that's left after an ancient war).

But some people tell me I'm crazy. Perhaps, but I still like my ideas.

How about you?

[ScS of the Fraternity]

I think your crazy, as does my invisible friend Colonel Sprotz.

[Jester of the FoS]

Eberron is pretty damn fantastic. It's pure unadulterated high fantasy with magic being common, monsters being average, non-humans a regular sight and all the rest.
Ravenloft, on the other hand, is a land where magic is rare and many people go their entire lives without seeing a single spell cast. Monsters are common but hide discreetly, most folk never catch a glimpse of a beast. Meanwhile, demi-humans are rare and feared with even the most human-like seeming alien and evil.
The settings really contrast against each other. Especially with the elements of fear. It's hard to be afraid when you know about monsters and magic, who's frightened of a vampire when you've just seen a century of warfare with dragons crossing the sky and armies of orcs and goblinoids crossing the plains?

That said alot of Eberron can be adapted, some of it might work as an isolated Island of Terror, especially one that has less of the magic-tech.
Shifters and Changelings are fun races that I think work well in Ravenloft. Someone struggling with their inhuman heritage and bestial nature is akin to being a werewolf and might be a compromise for a playing wishing to play a true werebeast. And Changelings are just interesting and cause some fun paranoia
Warforged are harder as they are so obviously inhuman. They might work better if they looking more individual and human; if they looked more like someone in heavy plate armour. They’d be best suited to pretend to be that rather than a construct. Warforged might also work if they were each individually constructed, much like golems, rather than mass produced. As we were most recently reminded in Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends an individual is horrifying and folklorish but a race is fantastic and ordinary. Each Warforged in Ravenloft should be unique and specially built for someone or some cause. A race of mass-produced magic-robots for a 100-year war is OUT.

[Jasper]

The Warforged could easly fit into Falknovian history.

During the last war Falknovia, with the help of Lamordian scientists created a small band of human like golems. Each one a work of weapon makers art, and deadly as a whole squad of talons. But as it happens offten in Ravenloft thier creator put too much of himself into his creations. He, a half elven slave , loathed war and all it stood for. He longed for freedom and to ive his own life.
So while thier minds were filled with the art of war the creatures clockwork hearts were filled with his pleas.
And so they marched upon Darkon, fifty strong. Marked upon thier chests and heads was Drakovs falkcon. But as they stood before the mass of Darkonian soldiers the creatures droped thier weapons, turned and walked away into the mist.
Over the years a few sighting of these misterous creatures have arisen as they walk the land searching for a true perpose and hoping one day to free thier creator from his prison...

[Olly]

The Warforged could easly fit into Falknovian history.

During the last war Falknovia, with the help of Lamordian scientists created a small band of human like golems. Each one a work of weapon makers art, and deadly as a whole squad of talons. But as it happens offten in Ravenloft thier creator put too much of himself into his creations. He, a half elven slave , loathed war and all it stood for. He longed for freedom and to ive his own life.
So while thier minds were filled with the art of war the creatures clockwork hearts were filled with his pleas.
And so they marched upon Darkon, fifty strong. Marked upon thier chests and heads was Drakovs falkcon. But as they stood before the mass of Darkonian soldiers the creatures droped thier weapons, turned and walked away into the mist.
Over the years a few sighting of these misterous creatures have arisen as they walk the land searching for a true perpose and hoping one day to free thier creator from his prison...

An excellent idea, Jasper!

What if a few of these pacifistic warforged became so obsessed with the prevention of violence that they sought to eliminate all those who would dare to harm another living thing? The irony, of course, being that, by doing so, they become what they seek to destroy.

Imagine, if you will, that one of the PC's oldest and most trusted acquaintances disappeared, seemingly into thin air, during the night, perhaps with a crude note written in a large, deliberate hand, reading: 'We have taken him away. He cannot hurt them any more' or something similar.

Naturally, the PCs will want to investigate.

It turns out that the old acquaintance was actually a petty-minded sadist who, behind closed doors, regularly beat his wife and children. These pacifistic warforged had somehow learnt of his violent actions, and thus, sought to 'remove' him and rescue his family from the violent man.

Quite where they took him and what they did to him are unknown... leading to all manner of interesting adventures, as the PCs decide where their allegiences truly lie, with their old friend, who has probably helped them out in numerous investigations before, but has been recently outed as a wife beater and child abuser, or with these strange, inscrutable machines who have taken it upon themselves to punish those they see as wrongdoers.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

I like this idea of pacifit golems.
Perhaps not very Ravenloftian, but what about a take on The Day the Earth Stood Still?

The golem and a human servitor arrive on a war torn land (perhaps Rokushima Tiyao?), and declare the end of all war and violence. After demonstrating the power of the golem, the mortal interpretor declares that all weapons will be rounded up, all defences destroyed and all martial leaders will be replaced with citizen councils.
Resistance is futile.
The local nobles send a squad, only to have it demolished. The nearest village is also leveled as an example to any of the peasantry who continue to "support the brutal regime".
Village by village, castle by castle, the invincible golem slays all who stand in the way of peace.

[JinnTolser]

I like this idea of pacifit golems.

A whole clan of Karns! Hopefully they don't take their pacifism quite as far as he did, though. I remember Volrath tortured Karn by locking him in a room with a bunch of goblins where the floor kept tilting back and forth, causing him to lose his balance and fall, squishing the goblins. Even though they were evil he was still distressed at having inadvertantly been used to harm them.

[Manofevil]

Sounds like a combination of Robocop and The Terminators actually.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

The Warforged could easly fit into Falknovian history.

During the last war Falknovia, with the help of Lamordian scientists created a small band of human like golems. Each one a work of weapon makers art, and deadly as a whole squad of talons. But as it happens offten in Ravenloft thier creator put too much of himself into his creations. He, a half elven slave , loathed war and all it stood for. He longed for freedom and to ive his own life.
So while thier minds were filled with the art of war the creatures clockwork hearts were filled with his pleas.
And so they marched upon Darkon, fifty strong. Marked upon thier chests and heads was Drakovs falkcon. But as they stood before the mass of Darkonian soldiers the creatures droped thier weapons, turned and walked away into the mist.
Over the years a few sighting of these misterous creatures have arisen as they walk the land searching for a true perpose and hoping one day to free thier creator from his prison...

Jasper, this is awesome. I also had the exact same idea about warforged in Ravenloft (collaboration between Falkovnia and Lamordia), except that IMC a single forge was made so long ago in pre-RL Falkovnia, and only the Lamordians could re-activate it when it was re-discovered by Drakov somewhere in Silverbas after the second invasion of Darkon. It could only churn out one warforged every month, and all warforged created are torn between fighting for Drakov or fleeing civilized areas in search of acceptance from the fear they could evoke.

Also IMC, I do not allow warforged outside Darkon, Lamordia, Falkovnia and the Renaissance domains. Even then, warforged in these areas evoke all sorts of bad sentiments against the warforged, ranging from scientific curiosity ("I need warforged specimens so I could studty them more") to outright bigotry ("I hate warforged because they're less than human[oid])."

On the matter of Kalashtar, IMC they are a race that co-existed with the abber nomads of the Nightmare Lands, but were hunted down so much by the Nightmare Court that they fled the dream world and sought refuge within the lands bordering the Nocturnal Sea. They are of course less feared by mundane humanity but they evoke a sense of awe, and are occasionally feared because kalashtar still serve as a link between RL's waking world and the Nightmare Court.

[tec-goblin]

And of course you can have classic "Crime in Orient Express" stories in lightning rail...

[Jester of the FoS]

I might have the Forge fueld by human souls that are partially consumed and partially transformed. Volunteers 'die' and become Warforged with only partial knowledge of their past lives.
Some are tormented by fragments of memories or their lost past while other embrace their 'second chance'.