Why is everyone trying to get me to play Earthdawn?

SubversionArts · Post by **SubversionArts** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 9:37 pm

Calling Forth The Army Of (Thread) Decay!

Yeah, so 4th ed Player's Guide is finally out, and I'm not terribly encouraged by the things I'm hearing.

I'd really like to get back into Earthdawn, and I've been doing a bit of edition shopping. Back in the day, I got several of the 1st Ed books, so I have plenty of the fluff and the things that got me interested in the setting in the first place, but I'd like to move to an improved edition.

I found this horrible, horrible thing on "FASA Games" website...

Game Editions
First Edition (ED1) is the original game created and published by FASA Corporation in 1993.
Second Edition (ED2) was published by Living Room Games (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2001.
Classic Edition (EDC) was published by RedBrick Limited (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2005.
Third Edition (ED3) was published by RedBrick LLC and Mongoose Publishing (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2009.
Revised Edition (EDR) is the current edition of Earthdawn, published by FASA Games, Inc. (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2012.

Ugh, and it looks like through their site, you can buy stuff from every edition under the sun published from 2005 on. But this thread has convinced me that even if I don't go to 4e, then 3e would be a fine choice.

That said, do any of the participants of this thread have any knowledge of 4e? I haven't purchased it because I want a physical copy of the book in my hand.

I'm sad to hear some of the layout is crap, and the art is ordinary, but I feel like I can look past this if the system works. My 1e books still have nice art and fluff, and I can still use all of that, even if 4e is lackluster.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 9:57 pm

I really haven't been following it, but the whole thing of "all the books in 1e are still usable and damn sight more pretty" has basically been true of...well, every edition so far. Whatever minor tweaks, corrections, and additions were made in the other editions, I don't know that any has substantial claim to be better than 1e.

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 10:54 pm

Yah, I'm still playing a 1e Earthdawn campaign. We started it like 7-8 years ago, had a long hiatus and then started up again last year and have been going strong with regular biweekly sessions. If 4e was a substantial improvement then I could imagine us converting over, but barring that, we already have our books and understand these rules. It's hard to justify changing editions.

SubversionArts · Post by **SubversionArts** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:58 am

erik wrote:Yah, I'm still playing a 1e Earthdawn campaign. We started it like 7-8 years ago, had a long hiatus and then started up again last year and have been going strong with regular biweekly sessions. If 4e was a substantial improvement then I could imagine us converting over, but barring that, we already have our books and understand these rules. It's hard to justify changing editions.

That's the thing, I'm asking from the perspective of not precisely needing to change editions. Obviously the 1e stuff is out of print, so that's a non-starter for this question (but still valuable to know. Thank you), but I was getting the impression that 3e sounded most satisfying overall. At least for someone starting in with little exposure to any of the editions.

SubversionArts · Post by **SubversionArts** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:00 am

And I hadn't even heard that the Savage Worlds ED had become a real thing. When I was researching, it sounded like it was in the works, but I hadn't encountered any final product. And now, I even learn that there's a Pathfinder conversion?!

Sheesh, edition mayhem.

erik · Post by **erik** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:04 am

Out of print doesn't mean unattainable.

The copy at my house is from Half-Price Books.

PDF version is available for $18 on FASA's site.

Savage Worlds would make a terrible scaffold for a fantasy game. Or most any game.
Pathfinder/3.x could be interesting depending upon which conceits you keep and which you dump from each source before blending. There's lots of ways to go wrong, but there are plenty of things that one edition or the other got right that could blend like peanut butter and chocolate. From the review I just read, it sounds like they used a little too much d20 sauce. Pity, but not a shocker.

SubversionArts · Post by **SubversionArts** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:20 am

erik wrote:Out of print doesn't mean unattainable

No, of course not. But I already own some 1e material, and honestly, it's probably plenty enough for playing. But I like the idea of gaming technology advancing, and I like the idea of seeing where games have gone in my absence.

I dropped out of Shadowrun right as 3e was beginning, and got back in right as 5e was beginning. And I got out of D&D right as 3e was beginning, and now, it seems, I've gotten back in right as 5e is beginning.

Whither hast Earthdawn been and gone?

SubversionArts · Post by **SubversionArts** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:26 am

erik wrote:PDF version is available for $18 on FASA's site

And although I'm no luddite by any means, reading a pdf on anything but a full-page tablet is not an ideal format. My ol' Nexus 7 probably could handle whatever smaller format some of the more recent ED books have been in, but there's nothing like the luxury of a full 8 1/2 x 11 formatted book in full size.

Fucks · Post by **Fucks** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:14 pm

SubversionArts wrote:And I hadn't even heard that the Savage Worlds ED had become a real thing. When I was researching, it sounded like it was in the works, but I hadn't encountered any final product. And now, I even learn that there's a Pathfinder conversion?!

Sheesh, edition mayhem.

Both conversion suck. They had been written by one dude and been released without playtest or at least feedback from other developers at RedBrick.
Don't buy that crap. Don't spend your money on it.

SubversionArts · Post by **SubversionArts** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:09 pm

Fucks wrote:
SubversionArts wrote:And I hadn't even heard that the Savage Worlds ED had become a real thing. When I was researching, it sounded like it was in the works, but I hadn't encountered any final product. And now, I even learn that there's a Pathfinder conversion?!

Sheesh, edition mayhem.
Both conversion suck. They had been written by one dude and been released without playtest or at least feedback from other developers at RedBrick.
Don't buy that crap. Don't spend your money on it.

Good to know. And I never would have seriously considered it. RedBrick seriously allowed some edition confusion that I have to wonder if 4e is only going to end up making that confusion so bad that it kills off the setting.