"Forgotten Realms 4e is three books, period, done, end of line: Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, Player’s Guide to FR, and DM’s Guide to FR. All settings will be done like that, one per year, until they run out of settings. They mentioned Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Spelljammer as settings on their list! Eberron, of course, is the ‘09 setting release (same three books), but it will also get DDI updates starting in June."

"...the news bite is wrong. The three books are: Campaign Guide (DM), Player's Guide (players, and DM for good measure), and Adventure."

I'll just note that I have a player in one of my playtest groups playing a shifter. While I can't give specifics, I think the 4E translation works well. I'm not claiming it's a revelation, since I'm providing no real information. I'm just saying that the MM provides enough information about shifters to have fun with them from day one.

I'll just say that I have a dragonborn PC in one of my Eberron playtest groups, and I love the backstory we've come up with for him. And this stage, I have no idea if it will turn out to be the final path the official setting material takes, but I think it's certainly possible to give the dragonborn a role that makes sense within the setting.

It's all how you define "relevant". As I've said before, what I want is a role that makes sense, and a role that provides players with a wide range of interesting hooks to use as the foundation for PCs. This doesn't require us to say "Oh, when we said 'orc' in the 3.5 Eberron, we actually meant 'dragonborn'."

Anything we do is going to require some shifting. If, for example, tieflings keep approximately the same role in Eberron that they have in the PHB (and I'm not saying they WILL, just saying IF), then they should be found in human cities, and you'd expect to have a tiefling community in Sharn... likely in Lower Dura or the Cogs. That's a change. However, it's not as much of a change as "House Thuranni? Don't you remember? They've always been tieflings."

Same thing with dragonborn. I want dragonborn to have a role that is both logical and supports a range of dragonborn PCs. This doesn't mean that we suddenly turn Karrnath into "The Kingdom of Dragonborn". But it may mean that when you encounter a dragonborn in Karrnath, people aren't all scratching their heads and saying "What is it? I've never seen anything like that before."

Dragonborn aren't half-dragons. They don't have dragon daddies. The relationship is far closer to Rhashaak and his blackscale lizardfolk... they are dragon-y, nothing more. The reason most of the dragons of Argonnessen dislike half-dragons is because they think they are disgusting - it's the way I'd expect most humans to feel if someone had sex with a dog and produced a creepy, stunted puppy with fingers on its front paws and a human nose and chin. It's an ugly, crippled little thing produced by perverse behavior, living proof that one of our own demeaned himself and his blood by breeding with one of these little rodents. Dragonborn, on the other hand, are more like a breed of dogs that are amusing because they act like humans - aww, look at his mouth, doesn't he look like he's smiling? And he can shake hands! But there's no creepy "When I look at you I am reminded that my uncle had sex with a maggot in order to produce you" that you get with half-dragons. (And not all dragons ARE against half-dragons - which is how you got Erandis d'Vol in the first place. Hey, some people LIKE having sex with dogs.)

• Confirmed at the R&D presentation: Eberron in 2009! Exactly when in 2009 is still up in the air.

For what it's worth, I've come up with a way to work the eladrin into the world that I really like, both from a cosmological and roleplaying perspective. I'm not at liberty to provide details, and I don't know if it's the approach that will be used in the end. But as the guy who thought up the setting to begin with, *I* think that they can be brought into the world in a way that is both interesting and provides a wealth of story and roleplaying opportunities without completely shattering everything that's gone before..

Whatever people are assuming, 4th Edition D&D is not simply WoW or any other MMO dropped on the table. Looking at it, I can see places where it has drawn inspiration from those games. It's challenged previous assumptions in order to evolve. The result is not WoW, or Everquest, or Third Edition D&D. It's something new. And all I can say about it is that personally, I'm having more fun as a DM than I have in years.

So was I. I'd guessed [4E] was coming out some time before the big announcement. I was very concerned about what it would mean for Eberron, and whether it would actually be an improvement or just a way to sell more books. But as I said, now that I've had a chance to play, I want to play more. I want to share it with my friends. And I want to play with it in Eberron... and I am.

I think that people who want to make the transition will be able to do so without too much trouble, and I know DDI will be providing some level of support before any print 4E Eberron products are released (though I don't know exactly what form this support will take). There are things you'll have to wait on; no one in my gaming group will be playing an artificer, for example. But I know artificers will come into play in time, and they can be a part of the world even if I don't know exactly how the mechanics will work yet; House Cannith may keep its doors shut for a few months, but it's still a part of the world, and I know we'll figure out the mechanics soon enough.

You may not like the system, and you may not want to deal with these teething troubles. You may choose to stick with 3.5 until a 4E ECS comes out, or you may stick with 3.5 forever. All I can say is that ever since I've gotten my hands on the full rules, I've been working full steam on my 4E Eberron campaign, and I'm having a great time with it.

Hey folks!

Having talked to some of my employers, I've got permission to speak in general terms about some of my mysterious projects of the moment.

To begin with, I've been playing 4th Edition D&D in preparation for work on the 4th Edition incarnation of Eberron. And so far, I'm having heaps of fun with it... not only will I be shifting my Eberron campaign to 4E when the time comes, I'm shifting it now. While I think that there's a lot of subjects to cover in a 4th Edition ECS, I also think that people who want to jump in right away will be able to do so with a few tweaks - and I think that D&D Insider will be taking steps to help with that, though I don't know for sure.

On that front, I'm also starting work on a few articles for D&D Insider. I can't provide many details at the moment, but I think it's going to be a good opportunity to explore some of the dark corners of the setting, and you should get to see a few 4E bits designed purely for Eberron!

Return of the Warforged Introducing new options for warforged characters, expanding on the material for the race in the Monster Manual.

• The Korranberg Chronicle - Yes, it's back on the web!
• 4th Edition - All you need to know about Eberron in 4e before its launch.
• WotC RSS feed - Look down to the left to keep up with the latest official articles.
• New 'Trolls of Eberron' feature - A prestige class for daring Droaamite trolls.