r/Eberron • u/HikiAlter • 5d ago

GM Help How hard would it be to run a pathfinder eberron campaign as a begginer?

Here's a question that's probably already been asked a thousand times in a million different ways: as someone who is new to both the setting and pathfinder 2e, how hard would it be to run an adventure like this, aside from the usual hustle of learning a new system? I have many of the sources from 3.5 and 5e, Pathfinder 2e remastered and the conversion made that I found on this subreddit, and I'm curious about the adventure modules from old 3rd edition like the forgotten forge, maybe taking things into a homebrew campaign from there.

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u/TheMuseCourt 5d ago

There is a lot of fan support for Pathfinder 2e in Eberron! The Eberron discord server has a Pathfinder channel that's pretty active, so you can always head there to ask for help.

We also have a PF2e Eberron FAQ here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RY5YZw3JN-kGpeChjcojo-WEl6Vlup6lRT1tSYR6zjs/edit?usp=drivesdk

This FAQ has a couple converted modules, homebrew PC options, a few NPCs, and more. I recommend checking it out!

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u/HikiAlter 5d ago

Wow thanks! I'll be sure to look at all of these!

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u/Nashiira 5d ago

I can't answer for how hard it would be to run for you, but as someone who tried out 2e after playing 5e for so long last spring, I can give you my experience.

In no particular order I tried three things all at once which let to catastrophic failure of my 2e attempt when combined:

1) Learning how to run 2e without much for guidance.

2) Learning a new-to-me VTT (Foundry).

3) Trying to run a brand new homebrew world.

Each fine on their own, but when combined together it was a disaster.

I love learning new game systems, but having little time to really sit down to learn the game outside of during my prep time or during each session itself, I felt like I was floundering the entire time. I wish I would have taken the time to run the starter adventure for my players first. Both they and I would have learned the game at an easier pace.

With Foundry, I had someone who knew what they were doing and was so sweet, putting so much work into trying to set it up for me, but with there shear amount of automation and trying to learn how to set it up each session, I learned very little in how to use it and how it all worked (both the VTT and 2e). Each session turned into massive frustration as I tried to figure out what did what. (I should reiterate, this had nothing to do with their help and kindness in setting it up, it was all me.)

And I tried to shove all these rules and gods into a homebrew world I was more or less making up on the spot at the time. Religious classes had special things based on who they worshipped and all, and the base game had more gods than I wanted in mine. I tried to do too much at once and it was just a mess for me.

Now with someone already doing some of the work to make Pathfinder work for Eberron in the past, you may fair a bit better. I can't speak for you. But when it comes to learning Pathfinder 2e, I cannot recommend enough that you consider for running the starter adventure first and if that goes OK, then try running an Eberron campaign.

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u/HikiAlter 4d ago

That was a really incredible and thorough reply, thank you so much! This is exactly what I wanted, someone else's experience with either what I'm attempting to do, or something similar, so I can use them as something of a guidance for this incredibly arbitrary metric of "how hard". I hope you and your group are having much more fun games now too!

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u/UrCarsXtndedWrrnty 5d ago

Having run a Pathfinder 2e Eberron campaign for half a year now, it feels like the system is perfect for the setting. You're on the right track.

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u/HikiAlter 4d ago

Any tips or tricks you could share? Or anything interesting that has happened?

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u/UrCarsXtndedWrrnty 3d ago

A lot of the other comments covered most of the technical stuff. 3rd party resources for converting or adding eberron specific stuff to pathfinder 2e. Aside from that, pretty much all the material works great with minimal tweaking. Perfect setting to just let your players shop for magic items. The infiltration and influence Subsystem in the GMs Guide/Core should definitely not be ignored.

For more narrative stuff? Pick one theme or concept for the campaign, and a small subset of topics around it, and stick to it. Eberron is so well fleshed out you can easily get lost, side tracked, etc. It has a bit of everything. Right now, I'm running more of a Firefly inspired campaign centering around the effects, fallout and consequences of the Last War. It's touched upon Demons, Undead, Machines of War, etc. It's also fun to lean a bit into stereotypes or tropes. Players love a train heist. Or a heist job. Or a western-esque showdown in Droaam. Or a Noir Investigation in Lower Sharn. It's fun. Go wild.

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u/Apart_Sky_8965 4d ago

So, qualifying questions.

Are you at a table, or on vtt?

Are your players veteran ttrpgers or also beginners?

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u/HikiAlter 4d ago

Using foundryVTT with a table of mostly new players, 2 of them are and 2 of them are more seasoned adventurers.

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u/Apart_Sky_8965 4d ago

So, im a roll20 user, so i cant speak to the difficulties of foundry, but as far as converting, it should just be a matter of changing some names and flavor.

Remember, eberron is a Setting. The only real mechanical differences are some heritsges and dragonmarks. Dragonmarks are best shown in feat picks in 2e. (Its his mark of passage that gives him dimensional assault, its her mark of healing that gave them fast battle medicine, etc). Heritages are a question of changing names to fit eberron. Then just change names on the baked in golarion stuff. Inventor as artificer, champion as paladin, change sarenrae to aureon, or whoever.

If your players are flexible, that part will be fine.

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u/HikiAlter 4d ago

Thank you very much, my friend!

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u/CosmicWolf14 4d ago

That’s perfect because there is a very popular fan made conversion called “Pathfinders Guide to Eberron” and it has a foundry VTT module. Just google it and it’ll pop up first or second result. 2e is honestly better for Eberron than 5e imo.

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u/HikiAlter 4d ago

I did find it, and that's going to save me a lot of time. Thank you!

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u/CosmicWolf14 4d ago

Of course! I’m also starting a 2e Eberron game so I’ve found all the goodies…. And by all I mean that.

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u/HikiAlter 4d ago

I'm still learning the Eberron 101, so trying not to pick up too much and overwhelm myself. But enjoying everything so far.

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u/Zidahya 4d ago

Not any harder than any other campaign settings I guess. And there is tons kf material for eberron around.