The Game Design Round Table Season: RPG - Constructing Eberron with Keith Baker
Nov 25, 2025
Keith Baker, the legendary designer behind Eberron and the card game Gloom, shares his insights on world-building in this engaging conversation. He reveals the origins of Eberron and how its unique blend of pulp, noir, and magic-as-technology was born. The discussion dives into the design philosophy of player autonomy and narrative flexibility. Keith also touches on how different D&D editions have impacted Eberron, and offers advice for GMs on creating meaningful stakes and inviting player input to enhance storytelling.
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Episode notes
Action Points Encourage Cinematic Risk
- Action points let characters push for cinematic success while keeping rare usage meaningful.
- They enable pulp-style risk-taking without trivially removing consequences.
Keep NPCs Mechanically Ordinary
- Make ordinary NPCs mechanically weaker than PCs to keep player characters feeling remarkable.
- Use simpler NPC classes so heroes stand out in both fiction and play.
Rituals Make A Magical Economy Believable
- Rituals and cantrips in 5e express everyday magic use and support magical professions.
- Encoding economic costs for rituals makes magic a believable trade and worldbuilding tool.
