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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 4197463" data-attributes="member: 40177">See, Jhaelen, I disagree with much of what you said, but I'm happy you enjoyed the game more than we did.When we started playing Earthdawn, it was near the end of our FASA phase.  We were regular D&D players, and switched to DARK SUN D&D because it was a helluva lot cooler than plain old medieval D&D.  We really liked weird fantasy.We started getting into FASA games, mostly because we liked the way the products were laid out, and the focus on storytelling (with gamist rules).  When we picked up Earthdawn, though, the general complaint was that it was much like D&D in too many ways.  Random ability score generation was one thing that really irked us, as we had always figured FASA games should follow the priority system (still one of my favourite CharGen mechanics).  And we didn't like the class-based system at all - we figured either go completely class-less, or allow for more flexibility in character design, like AD&D.(I should mention here that that statement isn't exactly true;  both AD&D and Earthdawn were fairly limited in what the classes could actually do.  In many ways, Earthdawn offered a wider variety of character archetypes then D&D, purely from a rules standpoint.  But, I always found that a fighter in D&D could just as easily be an archer as a knight... in Earthdawn, it always seemed like one archer is much like another)The innate magic of the setting was also something I was never able to grok - but then, our group always liked gritty, low-magic worlds.  Really, I always thought magic should be an all or nothing affair.  You're either a full wizard, or you can't use magic at all.  And since all earthdawn characters were adepts of one sort or another... yeah, it didn't fit well.I don't remember much about playing it.  I do remember that there were only two players - my friend James and I.  I was playing an archer (probably human), and James was a T'Skrang (think Lizardman) Swordsman (Swashbuckler?).  Our first adventure involved some basic fights against zombies, and there was an evil nethermancer involved somehow.  I remember there being a lot of fiddly issues with talents (one of us totally dominated;  I don't remember who), and once the nethermancer got involved, the GM got lost in the spell system.  Spellcasting checks abounded;  and they weren't relatively easy, as in Shadowrun.  When we played again, I tried to make a mage, and that's what killed the game for me.That being said, there's some great things in this setting, and I'm tempted to pick up the second edition and the Earthdawn Companion (which has new disciplines, plus rules for playing disciplines, and I think it adds "Cleric" PCs).  I think it could work for a mini-campaign... maybe.  As a plus, Earthdawn had the best art in the business at the time.  Lots of full-colour inserts, and they were pretty nifty.  And the feel of the world was very non-medieval, which was a plus for us.  Like most of FASA's art, though, it hasn't aged well.</blockquote>

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