I Love Earthdawn But...

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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Jaracove
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I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by Jaracove » Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:44 am

I have a weird opinion with Earthdawn, on the one hand, I simply love it. The general rule system, the specific magic system is one of the best I've ever encountered, all the races are really cool, and the setting is very interesting...

But there's the problem; whilst I appreciate and find the setting exotic and interesting, I'm not sure the setting is for me :/

I'm a dyed in the wool "medieval" Tolkien setting type of guy and any deviation from this (even Conan's sword and sorcery setting) rubs me the wrong way.

Any advice?

Slimcreeper
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by Slimcreeper » Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:23 pm

Run DnD with the Corestep Engine! Add some hobbits, take out the trolls, change orcs to half-orcs, etc. It's not that much of a stretch. Pretty much all of the published Earthdawn stuff could be dropped into a Tolken setting.

It's funny, most "I love Earthdawn but ..." goes the other way. I like the system quite a bit, I never understood it.

Oh, and just so no one else can say it: "HERETIC!"

*I'm reading the Hobbit to my 7yo right now. First time I've read it in 10 years. Still great!*

Jaracove
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by Jaracove » Tue Jul 04, 2017 3:24 pm

Slimcreeper wrote:
Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:23 pm
Run DnD with the Corestep Engine! Add some hobbits, take out the trolls, change orcs to half-orcs, etc. It's not that much of a stretch. Pretty much all of the published Earthdawn stuff could be dropped into a Tolken setting.

It's funny, most "I love Earthdawn but ..." goes the other way. I like the system quite a bit, I never understood it.

Oh, and just so no one else can say it: "HERETIC!"

*I'm reading the Hobbit to my 7yo right now. First time I've read it in 10 years. Still great!*
I don't mind keeping all the races, I just need to change the setting, but in a way that the horrors and magical themes still make sense.

But mostly, it's the magical talents that'll need tweaking. For example, Air Dance - can't have them gliding along on thin air

Is the Corsestep Engine an actual thing you can buy/download or is it just the name for the ED system?

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Mataxes
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by Mataxes » Tue Jul 04, 2017 5:28 pm

Jaracove wrote:
Tue Jul 04, 2017 3:24 pm
Is the Corsestep Engine an actual thing you can buy/download or is it just the name for the ED system?
It's the name for the system for ED4, as well as the 1879 and Demonworld (in development) RPGs.

Basically, the Step dice mechanic determined through Attribute+Skill/Talent Rank, with the different Defense Ratings, Health Ratings, and the like. The exact talents and skills, and the structure for the magic systems are a little different in each.

Whether a generic "Core Step" book will ever come out remains to be seen. We've got to get a bit more awareness of our games before a 'generic' system book would be worth doing.
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Telarus
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by Telarus » Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:29 pm

Any specific core aspects of the setting or the politics that get in your way?

The system is setup for a high-magic world, so that would be a big change, but you could pull it off by adjusting the rarity of things.

Maybe Air Dance is only known by a specific warrior cult off in the badlands, and you use them as a GM plot tool when they show up. Maybe spells over 5th circle are SUPER rare, airships are one-off inventions by mad enchanters, etc, etc.

As a GM, look at the various aspects of the system, and think, "What if this is Rare or Not Available? What in-setting change does this produce?"

Earthdawn's setting and system are so tied closely together that these changes should be noticeable once you start tinkering with availability. I've played in a campaign where Windlings were not a player-race. So the GM had them as super rare encounters, and when we did run into them they acted much more like fae/otherworldly things. Made the "Changelings" we encountered later kinda terrifying.


Also, just pick an old-school adventure you really liked (played or ran), and run it with Earthdawn. Don't sweat too much about conversions, most of it can be done very quickly with the Player's Guide, GM Guide and GM Screen material. Just run it, see how it goes.

Jaracove
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by Jaracove » Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:14 am

There's nothing intrinsically wrong or that I don't like about the setting. It's just that it's not medieval enough in tone.

PiXeL01
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by PiXeL01 » Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:23 am

Do away with airships, fire boats and cannons, keep Theran flying forts rare.

Maybe the problem is Barsaive is not very feudal as a society. It isn't oppressive but rather gives me at least the feeling that there's hope.
Earthdawn is about rediscovery rather than preserving status que which most other fantasy settings go for.

Make the tone more grim perhaps.

BRW
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Re: I Love Earthdawn But...

Post by BRW » Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:25 am

Honestly, there are not that many systems which support Tolkien-like style of games. Burning Wheel comes to my mind, maybe some games specifically designed for the Middle Earth, but not much more than this.

Many fantasy games tend to be much more comicbook or videogamish in style. Part of the Tolkien feeling is that actually despite being so epic, it is so toned down. The creatures are not that weird, the magic is rather subtle with definitely no fireballs. No man would survive surrounded by twenty orcs.

In role-playing games there is this natural tendency to put more stuff within the world that could conceivably be found in anything Tolkien could write to make GM's life easier. The results can get somewhat silly.

What I really like in Earthdawn is that it consistently tries to build a world which really is rich enough for an RPG and that the world is designed so that all the tropes of high fantasy (very high in fact) actually make sense.

I also think that the step mechanics works best in such rich worlds because one of its main features is that it is so scalable: it really provides a framework in which you can model both a random dude with a knife and a dragon. If you really don't need this, then it might be too heavy.

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