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This post was originally written and posted on Amazon as a product review.
I'd never heard of Eberron prior to getting interested in D&D. When I did heard about it, I was unsure if I liked it. I considered myself one of those people who didn't necessarily like technology in my fantasy setting. Also the book had some weird halfling and a velociraptor-thing on the front, so it must be a little weird, right? Man, was I wrong.
Eberron is AWESOME. Fantasy noir, magic so common it appears like advanced technology, political intrigue, mysteries all around just the continent of Khorvaire as detailed in the book. And there's like four or five more continents left to find.
This book is probably one of the best WOTC products for 5e. It is a true setting sourcebook, providing setting information and practical advice for crafting adventures in Eberron. The level of setting info is particularly rare amongst 5e products which have lately focused their page count on player options and mechanics as well as providing long adventures instead of providing useful setting information and story hooks (see Dragonlance and Spelljammer as examples of this). That deficiency is not the case in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. There are descriptions with adventurer hooks for numerous locations in the continent of Khorvaire and short sections on other continents and locales in the world of Eberron.
There is a good player section with mechanics for Eberron character and a significant amount of setting information. If you just let your players read the first few chapters of the book they will have all the setting info they need for a satisfying experience in Eberron. The bestiary isn’t bad either. I always think there could be more monsters though.
The flip side of this is that all of the work to create an adventure is on the DM. This is not an “out of the box” adventure. It is a setting book. There are plenty of story hooks and villains provided that can be used to create adventures. Other adventures can be adapted to the setting fairly easy with several like Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Princes of the Apocalypse, and others having notes on how to use them in multiple settings including Eberron. The plus side of this exclusively being a setting book is that it has significant longevity. You can still use your Eberron book regardless of the edition of DnD you are playing. When the new core book versions come out in 2024 this book will remain relevant to anyone planning to use the Eberron setting in the future.
