Old sourcebooks

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Golgo408
Posts:4
Joined:Wed Feb 08, 2017 7:57 pm
Old sourcebooks

Post by Golgo408 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:11 am

So I'm new to earthdawn 4th edition only would it be worth it to pick up old source books or are they obsolete now ? Also any advice for a new player/gm?

PiXeL01
Posts:111
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:53 pm

Re: Old sourcebooks

Post by PiXeL01 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:14 am

I'd say yes. they are full of lore that you cannot get anywhere else. i am really enjoying reading them as I am new to the setting as well (played six months)

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The Undying
Posts:696
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:25 pm

Re: Old sourcebooks

Post by The Undying » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:33 am

Totally go buy the old stuff.

ED4 is very much in its infancy and is taking some time with product development (not a complaint, just a fact). Much of the effort is focused on source books versus scenarios (although I am not privy to their long-term line up, only what they've mentioned so far on these forums or Kickstarter). Even in the case of the source books, they're focusing on developing NEW material versus rehashing old stuff (prior ED publishers have taken considerable, and reasonable, flack for perpetual re-release of old material with minimal alteration). So, good chances that the old material is going to be your best source for a HUGE variety of information and scenarios for years to come, and maybe even throughout the life of ED4.

That said, as I always mention whenever something similar to this comes up - do the community a favor, post any ED4 updates you do to the material so we can help develop the unofficial ED4 catalog and reduce overall effort. For updates, I'm specifically considering stuff like NPC stat blocks, tests, etc. Any updates that people do to source material to bring it in line with the ED4 time line would be hard to consider canon - but who knows, maybe if you post it, Mataxes will look at it, say "yeah, that's good," and wah lah, insta-canon from fan material. :D

Tattered Rags
Posts:374
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 12:04 am

Re: Old sourcebooks

Post by Tattered Rags » Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:20 pm

One caveat, Skypoint and Vivane: they are drastically changed. This, however, started towards the end of 1st edition. And its treatment in 2nd edition is not considered canonical. There was a war and a big battle fought there, but it isn't a bastion of undead civilization.

Other than that it's only a few years later, so almost everything in the sourcebooks is valid.
Adventure I'm running:
Under the Stars

Adventure GM post-mortem:
Under the Stars Postmortem

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