Earthdawn info

[Graf]

Decided recently that I wanted to make sure I had some of the original non-DnD setting materials I’d encountered when I was younger (before they disappear?)
I blame the [Game a Day] series of posts.

Anyway Earthdawn was probably one of the best campaigns I played in ages ago. I didn’t love the “everyone is a wizard!” type magic style, but in some ways it was pre-anime anime. (I.e. you weren't just somebody who was good with a sword.... you were some kind of super magical I-can-hop-around-like-Yoda type of magical person).

Anyway, the wiki on Earthdawn suggests the supplements by RedBrick are 1) 500 pages of all the original earthdawn material 2) somewhat changed from the original.

So I want to know if anybody has them how changed they are…
Does anyone know of any D20 conversions?

 

[Aus_Snow]

These are a couple of d20 conversions. . . not spectacular ones perhaps (in that they are rather incomplete, at least), but well. . . it's a start I guess.

http://members.aol.com/talonstudio/earthdawn/
http://earthdawn.20m.com/

 

[mcrow]

I wish I could help you on this, but I only own the Redbrick versions of Earthdawn.

It's pretty cool.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Personally, I suggest the Earthdawn 2nd edition rules from Living Room Games. They clean up a bunch of the stuff that was kinda...irky...with 1st edition (which, as I understand, the Redbrick edition is a fairly direct port).

For one, the skill system is more robust than in 1st edition. And Knacks are incorporated from the beginning.

 

[Voadam]

PDFs of 19 earthdawn products are available at dtrpg.com

Player's Compendium http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...h=229_235&products_id=2726&affiliate_id=17596

GM's Compendium http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...h=229_235&products_id=3221&affiliate_id=17596

I really liked the magic supplements from the 1e game

Magic a Manual of Mystic Secrets http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...h=229_235&products_id=2656&affiliate_id=17596

and Arcane Mysteries of Barsaive http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2629&affiliate_id=17596

I haven't gotten it but Horrors looks good http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2150&affiliate_id=17596

as well as the denizens books for the races

I http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2199&affiliate_id=17596

II http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2632&affiliate_id=17596

 

[kigmatzomat]

haven't read the Redbrick as I've got the LRG 2nd ed rules. 2e is fundamentally ED and many players may not even notice the changes. They made the "talents as skills" less powerful but they decreased the legend costs of skills by a large margin so that skills (despite being weaker than in 1e) are still quite appealing because of their low cost.

They also "recalibrated" some of the Disciplines. In most cases, the same Talents are present but they appear in a different order. The idea is to make lower Circle viable (like letting Thieves get combat Talents sooner) and make the really shiny Talents a few Circles in. Not a big change but it does help.

The last of the notable changes is the multi-Discipline rules. In 2e it is hard, very hard. In 1e it was quite cost-effective to be a multi-discipline character at around 6th level, kinda like old AD&D multiclassing meant you could be a 10th level fighter or an 9/10 fighter/rogue. Now it is more expensive to get a second discipline. Makes sense, our 1e game had only ONE single-disciplined character. Mine was a Weaponsmith7/Warrior6/Nethermancer6. In 2e I'd still have made him a Weaponsmith/Nethermancer.

You can also hunt around for the 1e Earthdawn CDROMs. They gave them away in Dragon or some other game magazine before FASA crumbled. HTMLized version of the original book.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Side note: you can probably mix and match FASA, LRG and Redbrick materials without much concern. The differences are relatively subtle and probably not worth worrying about.

I cannot recommend enough that you get the Denizens books. They are great supplements for helping every character comprehend their race's outlooks. The magic books are incredibly rich supplements but they may have rules that are contradicted by LRG or Redbrick. Regardless of source, the Group True Patterns, enchantment via summoned spirit, spell matrix objects, and blood magic items should be in your EarthDawn game. They are, IMO, the flavor of the ED magic system, akin to the One Ring.

 

[Voadam]

The magic books are incredibly rich supplements but they may have rules that are contradicted by LRG or Redbrick. Regardless of source, the Group True Patterns, enchantment via summoned spirit, spell matrix objects, and blood magic items should be in your EarthDawn game. They are, IMO, the flavor of the ED magic system, akin to the One Ring.

I liked the Group True Patterns so much I imported them into a 2e game. The group followed Baba Yaga's instructions to carve their party symbol into their arms and perform a ritual and it went over very well.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I forgot to mention it but I have a *very* alpha translation of ED thread magic into d20. It completely supercedes the normal item creation system but allows non-mages to make magic items. It also causes magic items to be worthless without spending XP on bonding.

The quick summary is:
Non-casters are limited to adding enhancement bonuses and imparting any feats or skills they know that would be use-activated (Improved Sunder on a sword, Improved Run on boots, etc). Only casters can add spell effects, stat bonuses or cause an item to give a non-use activated bonus.

Permanent items require the thread weaving skill to create or bond; expendable items like potions & wands can be used by anyone and are created without the use of thread weaving. Threadweaving is cross-class for non-casters, class-skill for casters. The rating of a magical effect (enhancement, stat boost, save, natural armor, etc) is based on the XP spent and creation is done assuming a minimum (+1) bonus so it is XP-light for casters but XP-heavy for users.

 

[Graf]

Wow. Glad to see the love!

To be honest our first Earthdawn game was fairly odd and we didn’t deal much with mechanics. We played for over a year and I (and only I) had gotten to second circle. The DM(keeper?secret master of horrors?) thought it was weird and greedy of me to want to level and said that (in addition to giving up all my worldly possessions) my Tsrang swordsman could only find savage trolls to train me in the next level…

If I recall correctly the party had to carry my broken (but 2nd circle!) body around for a day or two until I could heal enough to move…

My image was that magic was just broken…. The wingling wizard could basically kill anything with his ice darts; the rest of us roleplayed our way though this sprawling, magnificent world where mushroom sellers plotted world domination and riddles could save the world.

I am very tempted by the denizens books.

Does anyone own:

Player's Compendium http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

GM's Compendium http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...iliate_id=17596

(And thanks for the d20 links...!)