Other Editions

Discussion on the Earthdawn game line, errata, and feedback not related to playing or GMing.
Anunnaki
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Re: Other Editions

Post by Anunnaki » Wed May 30, 2018 10:07 pm

Which books do you have, Tzunder?

tzunder
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Re: Other Editions

Post by tzunder » Sat Jun 02, 2018 11:39 am

:?
Well I have got out the box and deary me I have picked up a lot over the years.

Earthdawn first Edition core rule books (4)
Earthdawn Companion
Magic: a manual...
Earthdawn survival guide
Barsaive Boxed Set
Skypoint and Vivane boxed set
The Serpent river
Cara Fahd
Crystal Raiders
Blades
Terror in the Skies
Shattered pattern
Mists of Betrayal

Picked up over the years in jumble sales, bring and buy, second-hand bookshops, charity shops, donations, the occasional eBay purchase and I've not read a single one.

How embarrassing!

Tattered Rags
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Re: Other Editions

Post by Tattered Rags » Sat Jun 02, 2018 6:36 pm

I miss my first editions. I misplaced them, and my brother swears he didn't take them. :(
Adventure I'm running:
Under the Stars

Adventure GM post-mortem:
Under the Stars Postmortem

Anunnaki
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Re: Other Editions

Post by Anunnaki » Sun Jun 03, 2018 3:31 am

That's a good selection out of the gate, Tzunder. Plenty to work with.

Core Rulebook + Companion covers your core rule needs nicely.
Magic: A Manual of Mystic Secrets adds rules for Shaman, creating spells, talent knacks, and enchanting, plus a bit more on blood magic.
Only books I would recommend filling these out might be: The Adept's Way and the Denizens of Barsaive books (for info on the races). Not critical, however. You have plenty to work with already.

ED Survival Guide is good for information on typical dangers and obstacles when adventuring in the wild places. Otherwise, you can safely ignore this if you want to cut down on book bloat.

Barsaive Boxed Set: Map of Barsaive, plus info on key places and dangers. Plus more critters for the GM. Useful when combined with The Serpent River.

Skypoint/Vivane. Less useful out of the gate unless you are planning on more Theran-centric adventures. You can safely ignore this for book bloat reasons.

Cara Fahd and Crystal Raider. Same as Skypoint/Vivane. Can be ignored for book bloat reasons, though Cara Fahd has useful info for Blades.

Adventures: Useful for getting into play. Mists, then Terror in the Skies, then Blades/Shattered Pattern. You are missing Infected, but you can probably make something out of what you have. Mists has some tough parts for newbies, so watch out for those. But by the time you work through it you will have a good feel for the game and likely can easily work from there.

Just my 10 silvers. Hope this helps!

Take kaer, James
Last edited by Anunnaki on Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Mataxes
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Re: Other Editions

Post by Mataxes » Sun Jun 03, 2018 4:22 pm

Anunnaki wrote:
Sun Jun 03, 2018 3:31 am
Barsaive Boxed Set: Map of Barsaive, plus info on key places and dangers. Plus more critters for the GM. Useful when combined with The Serpent River.
(Emphasis mine.)

While technically true, the creatures in the Barsaive box are either specialized, highly dangerous, or both. There are 9 creatures in the set's GM book:

Blood Monkey - Blood Wood specific, and their swarming is dangerous (I first used them as written and it ended up with a group of five 7th-Circle characters running away).

Broccha -Death's Sea specific. Not really dangerous on their own, but the environment certainly is.

Crojen - Not as dangerous-location specific (the text says Liaj Jungle), but they can be dangerous (especially in packs). Interestingly, reviewing the original text it plays up their danger a lot more than the rules would indicate. It says "no armor can withstand a crojen attack" but they don't get armor-defeating hits on a lower success or anything like that. The most dangerous part is their frenzy -- if a crojen makes a successful attack (and they normally have 2 attacks per round), they must pass a Willpower (7) test (they have a Step 6 Willpower, so less than 50% chance of success) or frenzy. They don't gain any inherent bonuses, but do gain a third attack. With an Attack Step of 13 (and that's before you add in the Aggressive option if you use it) and multiple attacks... you're looking at decent odds of one or more hits (with some of them armor defeating) against many character types (only highly Dex-focused combat builds have a better chance). Like cadaver men, their danger in ED1 is out of proportion of their Legend Award.

Drakes - Shape-changing servants of the dragons, and kind of specialized as a result. Not really a critter, as such.

Fire Eagles - Another Death's Sea creature. Like the Broccha, not really dangerous outside the hazards of its environment.

Fire Wraiths - Another Death's Sea creature. A little more dangerous than the others listed so far, given the flame/heat damage it can cause, along with its Initiative-reducing effect and spells.

Viraas - Yet another Death's Sea creature. It's got a decent Physical Defense (13), but not much armor, and it's Attack/Damage isn't especially high. It does have multiple attacks (3), which amps up the danger a little bit.

Witherfang - Blood Wood creature. Dangerous because of their venom -- if it takes effect, there's a good chance of the character losing a limb to the effect, which only high-Circle magic can reverse (C7 Nethermancer). It's Step 12, no armor reduces the damage, and a Wound from the poison causes the withering. You need an 18 or better Toughness to have a Wound Threshold of 12 in ED1, so the vast majority of characters will have a better than 50% chance of suffering a Wound from the venom. It's other stats aren't particularly dangerous, but that venom... ouch.

Invae - Stats are given as part of the legend of the "Invae Burnings". Multiple attacks (2), but the stats aren't especially high. Their movement rate is insane (even by ED1 standards). They have a paralytic venom, high Wound Threshold, and Karma on top of all that. If you have a group of them you might be in trouble, but I don't think they're too much trouble for Circle 5 and up. They're still mildy specialized, in large part because of their connection to Shadowrun's Insect Spirits, and how they would pop up in an Earthdawn adventure/story.

So, other than the crojen and invae, you're looking at mostly "environmental" creatures. You might find excuses or reasons to use some of them in a limited fashion. Maybe I underestimate the number of games that venture to Death's Sea or the Blood Wood often enough to make them worthwhile? Not to say they aren't cool -- but their utility is up in the air.
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tzunder
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Re: Other Editions

Post by tzunder » Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:15 pm

I feel I need Parlainth and Blood Wood.
Not sure about Denizens, someone will sell them to me for 30GBP but I don't usually like splat books.
Do like culture books though.
Advice?

BTW, I do have Infected!!

Looks like I have enough for just running 1e.

Once I have done that I can rethink the very oddly sized 4e, not that I have ever seen a copy in a FLGS in the UK.
Shame..

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Mataxes
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Re: Other Editions

Post by Mataxes » Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:17 am

Parlainth is excellent.

The Denizens books are more culture-books than splat-books. They give a fairly in-depth view of the 'racial culture' of the sapient races of Barsaive. A little bit of rules, but lots of tasty, tasty setting development.

Blood Wood is pretty good, but other than insights into some of the setting's deeper mysteries, I never found much use for it in my games over the years. In my opinion, a game with Blood Wood often ends up being about Blood Wood, if you get my meaning. I would like to do a Blood Wood focused campaign at some point, but then my campaign "wish list" is long.
Josh Harrison - josh@fasagames.com
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Personal Website: www.loremerchant.com

tzunder
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Re: Other Editions

Post by tzunder » Thu Jun 07, 2018 4:34 pm

Thanks.

I just want to read about Blood Wood.

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