1. Yes. It was fun but it was "sold" by the GM. He literally had maps where you would come to an area and nothing would be there but a picture of a legendary monster with "here be the lair of (x)". When we moved about unless we tried we were noticed. We were big people and we knew it. We also had big toys -- not many of them but the items were basically "badges of office" with the office being "offical bad@$$". Problems would be brought to us, and generally they weren't insurmountable -- indeed normally they *should* have been pretty trivial -- except for time limitations, in addition to kingdom running, plus travel restrictions from other countries (which were rightfully afraid of us just walking through their borders) to not wanting to kill the hostages when we took the town back. Mundane issues that really mattered.
2. Spell research was a bit of an issue, and figuring out how to get around when we needed to. Also while the GM did great with challenges I could tell it took a large amount of work on his behalf to keep it fresh and not be "here is a CR equal monster" or just move us into the planes or what not. Honestly "high level magical stuff" wasn't a huge issue -- sometimes it was just a cloak that a farmer had that he didn't know was so important (it looked just like a regular cloak and was "dormant" simply passed down as a family heirloom). Artifacts were occassionally the villians.
The key to this was really the GM -- if you want your players to be "legendary" and what not you as the GM sell it. If you don't make them feel it and believe it and really make them it -- then they won't be.
PUTTING THE LEGEND BACK IN LEGENDARY
Give me back my 36 Level Wizard with a 36D6 Fireball. Now that was legendary :D hehehe
In contrast to the superheroes of Forgotten Realms, the elite NPCs of Eberron are generally no higher than 12th level. There are a couple of exceptions such as the 18th level prelate of the Silver Flame...who drops to 5th level if she ever leaves her temple. And the Grand Druid who is a sentient oak tree... he doesn't move around much.
Agreed. The loss of new "usable" Eberron material is the one thing I lament about WotC's move to 4e. Paizo's setting is growing on us, but slowly. The move from Forgotten Realms to Eberron was super rapid because... well, Keith Baker designed great stuff. The Last War having just finished, the warforged, shifters, the very obvious and visceral feuds and politics between the nations... it spoke loud and clear.
In Eberron, yeah, named NPCs were "all" low-to-mid-level. The world as a whole worked great that way. And yes, players could play in that sandbox. Didn't much matter if you were 15th level. Take out the king of Breland and try to sit on the throne? Well, there's a lot of Karnathi Zombies that might just be sent to displace you.
So, to the OP, yeah, it can be done.
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In contrast to the superheroes of Forgotten Realms, the elite NPCs of Eberron are generally no higher than 12th level. There are a couple of exceptions such as the 18th level prelate of the Silver Flame...who drops to 5th level if she ever leaves her temple. And the Grand Druid who is a sentient oak tree... he doesn't move around much.Imagine a world in which no one has been over 16th level in oral history.
When the PC Wizards get to that level, they have to go on significant quests just to find spells and spell components.1.) Has any of you ever played in such a world?
2.) Are there any known problems with such a world?
This is the exact reason I love Eberron so much. Of course, the 3.5 support for Eberron is gone, but that has made the procurement of the entire 3.5 Eberron Collection that much easier. Which I have finally done. Woo-Hoo! I'm actually playing in an Eberron Campaign online right now, that uses Pathfinder Rules. Its running smoothly.
I want to try a world like this. I would limmit it even further though, arround 10th level. By that time you can easily start to achieve epic DC40 skill checks. It would be a big shift from my groups normal game, where everyone of import is level 15+. One of the things I would consider is for magic item sales, restrict things by caster level as well as cost. Low level stuff can be found, and there are people for it, but high magic is rare. And make high skill checks rare, but amasing. Let the players go for the DC40 walk on water.
I am currently running a homebrew with a simmilar ideology. Though there are a handful of select NPCs that have advanced past 20th level.
What I want to impart to my players is that their existence is significant. I hated 2nd and 3rd ed Forgotten Realms for this reason. You couldn't throw a rock without hitting a 25th level NPC. I mean, really, Khelben, Elminster, and Hallaster are essentially the same NPC with different alignments.
In my campaign the PCs are 8th level and they are highly regarded as capable and bad ass by people who know about such things but they are not famous just yet. I plan on putting them on the map around 12th level.