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Five Nations
A Geographical sourcebook for play in the Five Nations of the Eberron world.
Five Nations™ offers players a rich source of information about playing and
dealing with characters from the Five Nations of the Eberron world. As any
play in the Eberron world is likely to involve the Five Nations or characters
from them, the book is useful to anyone involved in an Eberron campaign.
The individual nation chapters include information on culture, geography
(including maps), guilds and factions and, new prestige classes, equipment,
creatures, spells, magic items, and adventure sites.
BRIAN CAMPBELL has worked as a designer on over 40 books, including
rulebooks and sourcebooks for Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Fading Suns, and the Star Wars ® Roleplaying Game. He’s been writing and editing for the game
industry for more than ten years. SCOTT GEARIN is the award-winning
designer of innovative games such as Spycraft and Stargate SG-1. His most recent credits include The Black Company, Dark Inheritance, and Ex Machina.
Five Nations™ offers players a rich source of information about playing and
dealing with characters from the Five Nations of the Eberron world. As any
play in the Eberron world is likely to involve the Five Nations or characters
from them, the book is useful to anyone involved in an Eberron campaign.
The individual nation chapters include information on culture, geography
(including maps), guilds and factions and, new prestige classes, equipment,
creatures, spells, magic items, and adventure sites.
BRIAN CAMPBELL has worked as a designer on over 40 books, including
rulebooks and sourcebooks for Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Fading Suns, and the Star Wars ® Roleplaying Game. He’s been writing and editing for the game
industry for more than ten years. SCOTT GEARIN is the award-winning
designer of innovative games such as Spycraft and Stargate SG-1. His most recent credits include The Black Company, Dark Inheritance, and Ex Machina.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2005
42 people want to read
About the author
Brian Campbell
129 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 14, 2020
Certainly helps flesh out the world of Eberron. If you want to run an Eberron campaign it will give you a much better understanding of the world and help you make it feel much more real and lived in.
May 26, 2020
Much like the last D&D sourcebook I read based in the Eberron world (specifically, Sharn: City of Towers), Eberron: Five Nations is a useful addition to any campaign set in that part of the Wizards of the Coast multiverse, if less so than Sharn: City of Towers. Perhaps a bit too 3rd/3.5 edition-centric (insofar as it's rather heavy on "prestige classes" [options for higher-level characters unique to the 3rd editions of Dungeons & Dragons], even if these prestige classes are adaptable to 5th edition, albeit with not insignificant work on the DM's part, not to mention 3rd-edition monster mechanics), Five Nations, as advertised, discusses the "core" countries that emerged in the wake of the Last War that devastated Eberron's continent which ended only a couple years before the time set forth in the setting; it succeeds in providing ample information about the respective cultures of these nations, as well as important figures, organizations, and adventuring sites. I could've done with more fleshing out of geographic information in the mode of a gazetteer, but I suppose that's an inevitable tradeoff as far as allowing the DM and PCs in a campaign to explore the world for themselves without being beholden to That Which Has Come Before or being railroaded into certain story tracks; at the very least, I have certain options not only to use for my own upcoming campaign, but to present to my players for their use. Worthwhile, if just a tad superfluous.
May 30, 2012
Stuff I Read D&D Edition – Five Nations
I’m starting to run down in the number of books I have to review yet. Obviously I’ve gotten through a lot of the ones I was very excited about, like The Forge of War and Dragons of Eberron. I have also been through the books about the areas not covered in the Eberron Campaign Setting. And so sitting down to read Five Nations, I wasn’t too incredibly excited. These nations are covered in the Campaign Setting, after all, and so I wasn’t expecting an incredible amount of new material. What surprised me was how interesting I found the book and how much additional information it brings to bear. It helps that this is the core of the setting, that the five nations themselves are really the main area of the game. Which means that they have enough to fill an entire book with stuff not contained in other books. Or, at least, mainly not contained in other books. Because there is a bit of redundancy. But it is more that this book expands what is presented in the Campaign Setting, really running with it. Not only does it reintroduce the major players of the various kingdoms, but it also gives them full stats and more personality, information, cohorts, and motivations. Where in the Campaign Setting they were more two dimensional by constraints of space, here they are allowed to breath and the book presents a vast number of organizations and plots that run in the background of the five nations and were not mentioned in the Campaign Setting.
And of course the book also introduces new area specific prestige classes and such, new monsters and spells and things that give each area more of a unique feel, a distinct differentness when compared to the other areas. I regret that I hadn’t put a bit more of those differences into my own Eberron campaign now, because this book goes to great lengths to show how different these nations are ideologically, politically, and personally. And while I don’t really care for prestige classes as a rule, they work well into the politics of the areas they come from and do present some interesting ideas for role playing. And the more modern politics are quite interesting as well. Combine this book with The Forge of War and a much better picture of the political landscape of Eberron appears. Because this is very much the modern picture of the five nations and does not delve much into the past. It does provide new aspects that can be incorporated at every level of the game, from small to large groups of thieves and killers to secret societies and royal intelligence to religious orders and militant revolutionaries. It does offer quite the range for working within the five nations, and attempts to widen the intrigue and web of plots at work constantly, helping the setting attain more of the dark, steampunk, and noir atmospheres.
At the same time I think I was most intrigued by some of the small information that they throw into the mix. In particular the sections about art and cuisine, which fascinate me. Already they have started me on creating a way to make an Iron Chef style system that could be incorporated into an Eberron campaign, because I think that those details are great and deserve even more attention. The political stuff was all to be expected, but I think it almost more interesting to know how the nations express themselves through art and food. These are the details that really give me a sense of the people. It also gives me ideas for cooking related campaigns, but I have already mused about that before. It does not take away, though, that this book really does go much more in depth to what makes the people of the five nations work as people, what makes them happy and how they think. And that insight is valuable when running a campaign. So in the end I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It exceeded my expectations and chimes in at an 8.5/10
I’m starting to run down in the number of books I have to review yet. Obviously I’ve gotten through a lot of the ones I was very excited about, like The Forge of War and Dragons of Eberron. I have also been through the books about the areas not covered in the Eberron Campaign Setting. And so sitting down to read Five Nations, I wasn’t too incredibly excited. These nations are covered in the Campaign Setting, after all, and so I wasn’t expecting an incredible amount of new material. What surprised me was how interesting I found the book and how much additional information it brings to bear. It helps that this is the core of the setting, that the five nations themselves are really the main area of the game. Which means that they have enough to fill an entire book with stuff not contained in other books. Or, at least, mainly not contained in other books. Because there is a bit of redundancy. But it is more that this book expands what is presented in the Campaign Setting, really running with it. Not only does it reintroduce the major players of the various kingdoms, but it also gives them full stats and more personality, information, cohorts, and motivations. Where in the Campaign Setting they were more two dimensional by constraints of space, here they are allowed to breath and the book presents a vast number of organizations and plots that run in the background of the five nations and were not mentioned in the Campaign Setting.
And of course the book also introduces new area specific prestige classes and such, new monsters and spells and things that give each area more of a unique feel, a distinct differentness when compared to the other areas. I regret that I hadn’t put a bit more of those differences into my own Eberron campaign now, because this book goes to great lengths to show how different these nations are ideologically, politically, and personally. And while I don’t really care for prestige classes as a rule, they work well into the politics of the areas they come from and do present some interesting ideas for role playing. And the more modern politics are quite interesting as well. Combine this book with The Forge of War and a much better picture of the political landscape of Eberron appears. Because this is very much the modern picture of the five nations and does not delve much into the past. It does provide new aspects that can be incorporated at every level of the game, from small to large groups of thieves and killers to secret societies and royal intelligence to religious orders and militant revolutionaries. It does offer quite the range for working within the five nations, and attempts to widen the intrigue and web of plots at work constantly, helping the setting attain more of the dark, steampunk, and noir atmospheres.
At the same time I think I was most intrigued by some of the small information that they throw into the mix. In particular the sections about art and cuisine, which fascinate me. Already they have started me on creating a way to make an Iron Chef style system that could be incorporated into an Eberron campaign, because I think that those details are great and deserve even more attention. The political stuff was all to be expected, but I think it almost more interesting to know how the nations express themselves through art and food. These are the details that really give me a sense of the people. It also gives me ideas for cooking related campaigns, but I have already mused about that before. It does not take away, though, that this book really does go much more in depth to what makes the people of the five nations work as people, what makes them happy and how they think. And that insight is valuable when running a campaign. So in the end I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It exceeded my expectations and chimes in at an 8.5/10
June 29, 2009
In a line of great books, this might just be the best one that was done. Covering the "Five Nations" of Eberron in exhaustive detail, this provides information on each region's history and dramatis personae, as well as important details on cities and other geographical information. There's a lot of good game info here.
What's really cool, though, is that beyond all the practical information, there's a ton of good flavor here. The art, the food, the culture of each nation is covered, and it allows a DM to easily give Eberron a little more small and unique flavor, fleshing out the world.
When I'm planning for my campaign, there are a few books that I always reach for. This one, the Eberron campaign book and the Explorer's Guide are always in that stack.
What's really cool, though, is that beyond all the practical information, there's a ton of good flavor here. The art, the food, the culture of each nation is covered, and it allows a DM to easily give Eberron a little more small and unique flavor, fleshing out the world.
When I'm planning for my campaign, there are a few books that I always reach for. This one, the Eberron campaign book and the Explorer's Guide are always in that stack.
January 11, 2016
Some people don't like this book, but I think it is perfect for getting inspiration on what the nations are like, what cities they have, and various adventure hooks for each nation. I am actually using some of this information for my own campaign. I do think the mileage on this varies, so purchase only if you want very in-depth info about the human nations on Khorvaire, such as population counts, statistics, and information on power players (political) in each nation.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews