Sell me on Sharn

[rounser]

"Sharn" is already established as the name of a monster from the Forgotten Realms, so this city is automatically on the back foot in terms of suspension of disbelief. Unnecessarily re-using names that already belong to other things like that screams "bad homebrew" to me, like naming your wizard "Merlin".

 

[Shadowdancer]

Sharn can be used in Eberron campaigns or can be placed in other campaign settings; it doesn't take much imagination or invention to place it somewhere else. It would make an excellent location for a planar adventure/campaign, for example.

It's really pretty generic enough it can be used anywhere. The Eberron-specific stuff can be removed or changed very easily.

I highly recommend you buy this, whether you plan to adventure in Eberron or not.

 

[Azazyll]

Sharn is an excellent sourcebook. And not just for Eberron. What's great about Sharn is the crunch isn't your standard feat-prestige-spell-monster variety, that section of the book is minimal. Keith Baker has earned my undying respect for his work on both this book and the dragonshards for his minor modifications to the rules, rather than grand changes (like Monte's AU or WotC UA). For instance, sidebars on guard reactions and how to apply ad hoc adjustments, ideas for what it means game wise to be a regular at a bar, getting discounts with the dwarf merchant if you make friends with him, these are the kind of things which bring the fluff to the game. It's fine to write pages and pages of background, but this is a game, and connecting your great ideas to the mechanics is what makes you a great game designer rather than a novelist. This book has all the ad hoc stuff already put together, and it's clever and innovative. ANYONE can take advantage of these rules. Add to that tons of brilliant ideas which anyone can loot for any setting and any kind of city (cult forming fallen angels incapable of ever flying again, a new crime family composed of mosters competing with the established halflings and doppelgangers, and lots more), and you've got one brilliant sourcebook. Take the time to read it thoroughly, there are inspirations on every page.

 

[Desdichado]

I dunno -- I can't actually vote. I prefer Sharn to Waterdeep (although I'm not intimately familiar with that product, I don't really like their design philosophy either) but it's certainly not better than Cthulhu!

 

[Gez]

"Sharn" is already established as the name of a monster from the Forgotten Realms, so this city is automatically on the back foot in terms of suspension of disbelief. Unnecessarily re-using names that already belong to other things like that screams "bad homebrew" to me, like naming your wizard "Merlin".

It's even worse than that! Sharn is the first name of Sharn Waldron, the famous author of Jungs Thought in Relation to Calvinist Theology. Unless it was after the family name of Abu-Laban Sharn, the mediatic author of an essay entitled Arab World Dynamics of Development (International studies in sociology and social anthropology).
More importantly, every gamers worth their salt will remember of Sharn gra-Muzgob, a female orc in the city of Balmora in TES III: Morrowind.
Those who work in the medical field will of course think of Sharn Anesthesia Inc., while those who like to listen to feminine voice will immediately think of Sharn, the Lincolnshire's Premier Female Vocalist. Finally, if you need store fixture, you can count on Sharn Entreprise Inc. At this point, it is blatant that Keith Baker has been bought by advertisers.