Savage Eberron - Savage Fan Creation Review

I am not a big D&D player, nor I have a great deal of knowledge of the D&D settings, but Eberron caught my attention. It was he winning entry for Wizards of the Coast's Fantasy Setting Search during the 3rd edition era. From what I know, it is a fantasy setting with some pulp and noir elements mixed in. I haven't played in the setting per-se, but I have translated some elements (Warforged!) into my Savage Worlds campaigns in the past. Now +Kristian Serrano has made a proper conversion for Savage Eberron, where he tackles all of the unique aspects of the setting.

Savage Eberron

Unlike other conversions, Savage Eberron does not come in a pdf or a downloadable file. It is hosted on google docs as a living document. Anyone can comment on the document, request addition and/or changes. I think it is a great approach for conversion of this scale and it seems that the author is keeping the file up to date and takes the comments and requests into consideration. At the time of this review the file "weights" 58 pages and includes more or less everything you would want from a conversion. New Races, Edges and setting rules.

The file is pretty stark on the graphic design. What it lacks in flair it makes up in readability. It will work great, if you plan to read the file on a phone or a tablet. The file is "bookmarked" (all the content is hyper-linked in the table of contents) and laid out really well. Overall, the conversion is really accessible.

Overall, I can classify every Savage conversion into one of two camps. There are the people who translate all the rules from a given game and people who translate just the "feel" of the original content. Savage Eberron fits more into the former camp. It is logical, as D&D games rely pretty heavily on rules. The file has a plethora of new Edges and Arcane Backgrounds for the players to use, as well as every race from Eberron setting. For me, it is a little too much info to digest at once, but it is a personal opinion and I can see the fans of the original game enjoying the choices offered.

With all the system options the conversion gives you, it might be a little confusing for someone who is not familiar with the Eberron setting. The author includes only the mechanical aspects of the conversion and no fluff whatsoever. I understand this approach, but adding little fluff would make the file more accessible to users who are curious, but not fans of the setting itself. I am not talking about coping text from the source material, but explaining, in laymen terms what Warforged and Dragon Marks are would be greatly appreciated.

While Savage Eberron doesn't bring anything new or game-changing to the table, it is the most complete Eberron conversion that I have seen and a solid piece of work. It pushes the Savage Worlds system into a bit more rules heavy approach, making the experience a bit closer to the original D&D, by adapting almost every aspect of the setting. If you enjoy Eberron, but don't want to deal with the clunkiness of the D20 system - you should definitely check out Savage Eberron. On the other hand - if you are looking for some extra content for you Savage fantasy campaign - you will find plenty of content to choose from here. New Races, Edges, Archetypes and even a selection of monsters. Just make sure you google the more unique details of the setting.

While I am more for capturing the "feel" of a setting, Savage Eberron's detailed approach works very well, especially when combined with the "living document" development. If you are a fan of Eberron go and comment on the file, so it can be even better in the future.