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The Good: The dragon NPCs are well thought out and interesting. When the book does strive to add something new to the setting it does a very good job of it.
The Bad: The adventure hooks are mostly clichés. A giant city filled with high and epic level humanoids seems at odds with what the setting otherwise strives for, and is a strange addition. Some of the adventure locations seem a little difficult to insert into a game which, when combined with how small/short they are, means that they’re less than satisfying final destinations. While that’s not a problem with everything (adventure locations aren’t necessarily final destinations, after all) it is a problem with some of the more arcane and unusual locations.
The Physical Thing
For $29.95 it’s hard to beat these production values. A 160 page full color hardcover, Dragons of Eberron showcases excellent editing, formatting, and artwork. The art clearly places the reader in the world of Eberron, and the text is easy to read.Under the Cover
Introduction - 15 pages.This is less of an introduction and more of a general overview of dragons in Eberron and simple tips on how to present them. I really wish there was more of this material, but we have to settle for the entire history of dragons in five pages. In addition to history, roleplay suggestions for presenting dragons (different roles they occupy), the Draconic Prophecy, and the relationship between various organizations and dragons.
Like some other Eberron products, this book does little to expand the setting. The history is vague and tends to repeat information presented in earlier products (such as the core book) with only slight expansions. A single paragraph on Draconic Religion says very little and is somewhat confusing since a large section on it is present in the very next chapter – perhaps the result of different authors with different writing objectives. A bullet point on the back cover, one of three, promises the secrets of the draconic prophecy and how to use it. These secrets encompass three pages, the core of which is six small bullet points of suggested meanings for the prophecy. For the truly idea starved reader these might be helpful, but otherwise they fail to really explore one of the central mysteries of the setting.
Any of the topics presented here could be fascinating to read about and provide valuable background into the setting, dragons, and roleplaying both together. However, since they’re presented in such general language, tend to rehash information, and offer little in the way of new ideas/information, the introduction is far from the resource it could have been. While some readers may object that it’s called an introduction, this portion of the book could easily have been its own chapter on dragons generally. Instead of reintroducing dragons to the reader, it seeks to develop the setting but fails to do so.
Chapter 1 Dragons of Argonnessen - 55 pages.
Argonnessen is the continent home to the dragons, and it’s presented as just that – a really big homeland. Dragons are solitary and territorial, living in their own small domains across the continent. The enormous numbers of humanoids and monsters present have been imported by dragons for various purposes, thereby allowing the continent to serve as a playground for DMs who want to mix and match completely unrelated monsters from a variety of resources to create interesting and strange encounters.
For me the best part of the product comes in the form of brief discussion of dragon government and religion. It may seem like damning with faint praise, given how small these sections are, but the thing I most wanted from Dragons of Eberron was greater understanding of dragon social organization. How does government work, what do dragons do, and what motivates dragons to go out (or stay home)? In essence, high government occurs as a republic with regionally appointed dragons attending large meetings to vote on issues. Law and justice is handed out Judge Dredd style with secretive dragons who investigate crimes and dispense justice as they see fit.
Religion receives a similar short treatment and, as with so much of the setting material, I really wish more had been written. Thir, the core religion for dragons, involves worship of the three progenitor dragons and careful following of the draconic prophecy which is believed to be their will. Interesting and simple mechanics are provided for DMs wanting dedicated priests worshipping specific aspects of Thir (as seen in the Sovereign Host).
The continent is geographically split into four major sections, each of which comes with important locations (including encounters), information on local government, population, industry, and organizations, and similar information. For those unfamiliar, the encounters are grided maps with around 5-10 special locations and random encounter charts attached. The idea is to save the DM some work by providing an adventure location ready for play, though many will only work well as stopovers on the way to another location.
It’s worth noting that one of the locations, the city of Io’Lokar, receives nine pages of coverage. I find the location to be the exact opposite of everything I love about Eberron, but some readers may enjoy it. The idea is that Io’Lokar is an ancient city protected by dragons that exists in a quasi-communist setup where workers have equal access to goods based on nothing more than putting in a hard day’s work, but where living and society is sharply divided based on character level. Yes, that’s right, character level. High level people (20+) live in the center of town while low level people (8+) live at the far edge. With its extremely high levels, confused government, and utter lack of appropriateness to the setting, I find Io’Lokar to possibly be the worst addition to the setting I have yet encountered. The city is meant to be a novelty for the player characters to visit, or so I expect since there’s no real discussion of what the incredibly powerful citizenry actually do. They are described as perfectly content and having no desire to ever leave.
On the whole, the coverage of Argonnessen from an adventuring perspective is acceptable. Some of the locations tie in with the setting in fun ways (such as by including the remains of demons long dead) and the pregenerated NPC dragons have enough personality to give me something to roleplay at the table. There’s just nothing exceptional here, however, and there’s enough bad material to make up for the gems.
Chapter 2 Dragons of Khorvaire - 27 pages.
Since the world outside of Argonnessen is by definition not the homeland of dragons, dragons are presented as rogues. The Khorvaire material particularly focuses on dragons hiding among mortals for various reasons and constructing lairs in apartments and basements. Urban lairs are discussed a bit, but the main focus (along with the following sections) is on adventure locations and NPCs. A good job is done of incorporating the Mournland into the discussion, and the mad dragon who lairs in living flesh makes for an interesting and unusual encounter. The other encounters range from the mundane (shipwreck, urban warren) to the incredible (library filled with forbidden knowledge). It’s a good mix, though with the exception of the urban environment’s there’s nothing that makes these encounters particularly appropriate to Khorvaire.
I would like to have read more on the plots and problems of hidden dragons. The focus is definitely on encounters, however, and only a very general sense is provided for what dragons on Khorvaire are like. As far as encounters go, the Mournland one remains one of my favorites in the book because it encompasses bizarre geography (flesh cavern), living spells (living breath weapon), and a dragon with an understandable purpose all together. It’s a good piece and well worth working into any higher level adventure into the Mourlands.
Chapter 3 Dragons of Sarlona - 24 pages.
I admit to being a little disappointed that Sarlona received just as much attention as Khorvaire, given that the majority of readers are unlikely to be adventuring in Sarlona. Even less is said about dragons in Sarlona than in Khorvaire, with the key point being that dragons dabbling in psionics are driven insane. Adventure locations take up most of the section, and they tend to be very generic with only a tenuous connection to Sarlona. This is good in that these locations, along with just about all of the others, could easily be dropped into any campaign and seem right at home. However, setting enthusiasts are unlikely to take away anything of great interest here.
The best thing I can say about Dragons of Sarlona is that any DM who needs an interesting dragon’s lair to drop into a game can find several detailed lairs for just that purpose.
Chapter 4 Dragons of Xen’drik - 26 pages.
The most interesting setting blurb presented here, for me, is that Xen’drik is used as a dragon penal colony. Sending criminal dragons anywhere else is just too dangerous, as they could fall in with a powerful enemy, so dark hearted rogues are instead banished to Xen’drik. In addition to the same general discussion of the continent, the same mix of generic and spectacularly interesting adventure locations is included here. My favorite is a sort of dragon boneyard modeled after elephant graveyards. I like it because it’s interesting, believable, and promises intrigue and adventure. Otherwise there’s not much to comment on here, except that the other adventure locations maintain the same general mix as the rest of the book.
