Adventures for 4th edition

[Calabim]

Wow, amazing post, thank you so much The Undying.
Will definately go down that route.

And as you requested, if I do make some structured changes to other adventures, I will try to post them.

[Loba]

- The best way, IMHO, to bring a completely new ED table into the universe is with a kaer start: it allows them to have zero meaningful information about the world as it is now while still giving you flexibility for where in the timeline you want to be when they exit.

Oh, the days. That brought me back. It is true that this is an excellent introduction to the game. It also brings out the wonder and fear of entering the world of Barsaive (should the characters even OPEN the doors?).

To add to that, it is "relatively" simple to convert other modules. Be wary the steps and defenses.

As for thread items and all the other things people work around to make very pointy characters - at Circles 1-4 this hardly matters due to the LP cost and the players will then tend to build their characters in a more organic, less pointy way - which is always fun.

[The Undying]

Since Loba brought up Thread items, I will say this: use pre-ED4 published items with EXTREME caution. These things tend to be way out of whack, especially ED1 items. Compare the item to the ED4 guidelines in the Gamemaster's Guide and err on the side of caution. You can easily ignore giving players Thread items for a Circle or 2. Hopefully, by then, you've felt out the system a bit. Personally, I love Thread item creation, so the idea of taking an old item and using it as inspiration for an ED4 balanced item is fun; YMMV.

[Lys]

Because of the Fibonacci sequence of costs in Earthdawn, the players won't be able to unlock the potential of even a fairly powerful Thread Item until they're higher circle. So while you will want to make sure your items are appropriately balanced for the kind of game you want to run, you also shouldn't be afraid to give them the Plot Device Sword of Dramatic Powers early on*. It's can be pretty cool if, for example, a player finds out that her family's heirloom sword was actually a powerful magical artefact all along. Also you can control how quickly they unlock higher Thread Ranks through access to the required Research Knowledges, or opportunities to perform the appropriate Deeds. The one thing to watch out for when giving players Thread Items are low circles is that they may neglect advancing their Discipline in favour of advancing their magic items, as it's very hard to do both at low circles.

(*This is in fact what my GM did. At Circle 2 we found a sword we learned is called Banishment inside a breached Kaer. At Circle 5 we still only know it's name, and the Troubadour still hasn't tied more than 1 Thread to it, even though we suspect both in and out of character that it's very important. Though in this case it really doesn't help that the sword was meant for the Swordmaster, and the Swordmaster (played by me) is not interested in it. She wants to make her own sword legendary by her own deeds, not lean on someone else's legend and deeds. This GM really didn't expect the answer to his giving me a legendary sword to be, "No thanks, i'll make my own.")

[Loba]

Since Loba brought up Thread items, I will say this: use pre-ED4 published items with EXTREME caution. These things tend to be way out of whack, especially ED1 items. Compare the item to the ED4 guidelines in the Gamemaster's Guide and err on the side of caution. You can easily ignore giving players Thread items for a Circle or 2. Hopefully, by then, you've felt out the system a bit. Personally, I love Thread item creation, so the idea of taking an old item and using it as inspiration for an ED4 balanced item is fun; YMMV.

I echo this. Honestly ED4 is way more balanced. I am not convinced balance is always required - but certainly ED1 has Thread Items that are just bizarre (3 ranks each with fairly potent abilities).

I will agree with Lys tough - you can control how fast the item is useful for beginner characters. It can be fairly difficult to gather the information you need to actually use the item - heck some items may even require a Deed for their third thread rank - which if the characters do the Deed may bring them from Circle 2 to Circle 5 (find the bones of the owner's lost mother and give her a proper burial or dip the tip of the crystal spear into a special point in Death's Sea protected by fire elementals in an area ravaged by pirates and Therans, etc)