Earthdawn

From Free net encyclopedia

{{Infobox RPG |title= Earthdawn |image= Image:Earthdawn rulebook 2e 200.jpg |caption= Earthdawn 2nd edition cover |designer= Greg Gorden |publisher= FASA (1st edition)
Living Room Games (2nd edition)
RedBrick Limited (Classic edition) |date= 1993 (1st edition)
2001 (2nd edition)
2005 (Classic edition) |genre= Fantasy |system= Step System |footnotes= Set in the same world as Shadowrun, millennia earlier }} Earthdawn is a fantasy role-playing game produced originally by FASA. It has since been licensed to Living Room Games, which is producing the Second Edition line, and RedBrick Limited, a company that is producing the Classic line (which is basically an alternate second edition, see History below for more information).

The game is similar to fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons, but draws more inspiration from games like RuneQuest. The rules of the game are tightly bound to the underlying magical metaphysics, creating a richer, more realistic fantasy world. Like many role-playing games from the nineties, Earthdawn focuses much of its detail on its setting, a region called Barsaive.

Contents

[edit]

Setting

In Barsaive, magic, like many things in nature, goes through cycles. As the magic level rises, it allows alien creatures called Horrors to cross from their distant, otherworldly dimension into our own. The Horrors come in an almost infinite variety -- from simple eating machines that devour all they encounter, to incredibly intelligent and cunning foes that feed off the negative emotions they inspire in their prey.

In the distant past of Earthdawn's setting, an elf scholar discovered that the time of the Horrors was approaching, and founded the Eternal Library in order to discover a way to defeat them — or at the very least, survive them. The community that grew up around the library developed wards and protections against the Horrors, which they traded to other lands and eventually became the powerful Theran Empire.

The peoples of the world built kaers, underground towns and cities, which they sealed with the Theran wards to wait out the time of the Horrors, which was called the Scourge. After four hundred years of hiding, the Scourge ended, and the people emerged to a world changed by the Horrors. The player characters explore this new world, discovering lost secrets of the past, and fighting Horrors that remain.

The primary setting of Earthdawn is Barsaive, a former province of the Theran Empire. Barsaive is a region of city-states, independent from the Therans since the dwarven Kingdom of Throal led a rebellion against their former overlords.

The Theran presence in Barsaive has been limited to a small part of south-western Barsaive, based around the magical fortress of Sky Point and the city of Vivane.

[edit]

Races

The setting of Earthdawn features several fantasy races for characters and NPCs:

  1. Dwarf - Dwarves in Earthdawn are similar in appearance to the classic D&D or Tolkien dwarves. They are the predominant race in Barsaive, and the Dwarvish language is considered the common language. Their culture, especially of the dominant Throal Kingdom, can be considered more of a Rennaisance-level culture then in most other fantasy settings, and form the main source of resistance to a return of Thera's rule in Barsaive.
  2. Elf - Elves in Earthdawn fit the common fantasy role-playing convention; they are tall, lithe, pointy-eared humanoids who prefer living in nature. Elves in Earthdawn naturally live a very long time; some are thought to be immortal. Such immortal Elves feature in many cross-pollinated storylines with Shadowrun. A subspecies of Earthdawn Elves are called the Blood Elves. The Blood Elves rejected the Theran protection magic, and attempted their own warding spells. These wards failed, and a last-ditch ritual caused thorns to thrust through the skin of the blood elves.These ever-bleeding wounds caused constaint pain, but the self-inflicted suffering was enough to protect the blood elves from the worst of the horrors.
  3. Human - Humans in Earthdawn are physically similar to humans in our own real world. They are granted a special Versatility Talent to make them more mechanically appealing. Humans in Earthdawn are considered to be somewhat warlike in general outlook.
  4. Obsidiman - Obsidimen are a race of large, rock-based humanoids. They stand over 7 feet tall and weigh over 900 pounds. Their primary connection is to their Liferock, which is a large formation of stone within four hours of their place of birth. Obsidimen are loyal to the community around their Liferock, and eventually return to it. Obsidimen can live around 500 years away from their Liferock, and their ultimate lifespan is unknown, as they generally return to it and remain there. Due to their rocky nature and long lives, Obsidimen are rather slow moving and deliberate in both speech and action, and can have difficulty understanding the smaller races' need for haste. However, if aroused by a threat to self, friend, or community, Obsidimen are fearsome to behold.
  5. Ork - The Ork race in Earthdawn is similar to other depictions of orks in fantasy role-playing. They are tribal, nomadic and often barbaric humanoids, with green, tan, beige or ebony skin. They are relatively short-lived, and as a result many attempt to leave a legacy marked by a memorable death - preferably one that leaves no corpse. Before the Scourge almost all orcs were enslaved by other races.
  6. Troll - The Troll race in Earthdawn is also similar to other fantasy role-playing depictions of trolls. They are very tall humanoids, with a hardened skin and horns. Socially, they form clans to which they are fiercely loyal. Troll clans often raid one another, and a significant subset of the troll race are Sky Raiders, which command many of the airships of Barsaive. Other trolls, known as lowland trolls, have merged with mixed communities around Barsaive, although most retain the fierce cultural and personal pride of their less-civilized cousins.
  7. T'skrang - The T'skrang are lizard-like amphibian humanoids with long tales and a flair for dramatics. Many of them exhibit the behaviors and characteristics which are stereotypical to a "swashbuckler". T'skrang are often sailors, and many t'skrang families run ships up and down the rivers of Barsaive. A rare subrace of t'skrang, the k'stulaami, posess a flap of skin much like a flying squirrel, allowing them to glide. While k'stulaami can be born as a random mutation in any T'skrang line, they tend to congregate into communities filled with their own kind.
  8. Windling - The Windlings are small, winged humanoids, similar to many depictions of fae creatures, which means they resemble small elves with insect-like wings. They have the ablity to see into the astral plane, and are considerably luckier than the other races. Windlings are often somewhat mischievous, hedonistic, and eager for new experiences, and are culturally similar to the Kender of Krynn, but without the same kleptomaniacal tendencies. They have wings similar to a dragonfly's and are one to two feet in height.
[edit]

Political entities

Barsaive:
Outside Barsaive:
[edit]

System

Image:Earthdawn companion ldged-201.jpg

[edit]

Magic in Earthdawn

Earthdawn's magic system is both its most innovative and most derivative aspect. It is highly varied, but the essential idea is that every player character (called Adepts) has some access to magic, used to perform abilities attained through their Disciplines.

One of the most innovative ideas in Earthdawn is how magical items work. At first, most magical items work exactly like a mundane item of the same type. As a character searches for information about the item's history, performs certain tasks relating to that history, and spends legend points (the Earthdawn equivalent of experience points) to activate the item, he unlocks some of the magic in the item. As the character learns more about the item and its history, he can unlock more and more power within the item.

Each magical item, therefore, is unique by virtue of its history and the scope of its powers. For example, one magical broadsword may have only 4 magical ranks and only increases the damage of the blade. On the other hand the legendary sword Purifier, has 10 magical ranks and grants its wielder numerous powers.

Despite the similarities to the new 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Earthdawn's ideas and particularly its integration of the setting's magical philosophy into the game's rule system are distinctive and enjoyable.

[edit]

History

Image:Earthdawngmc.jpg FASA closed down production of Earthdawn in January 1999. In late 1999, FASA granted Living Room Games a licensing agreement to produce new material for the game. There have been several books released since then, including Earthdawn 2nd Edition and the 2nd Edition Companion (Jan 2002).

Image:EDplayerscomp.jpg The 2nd Edition does not alter the setting, though it does update the timeline to include events that took place in Barsaive. There are a few changes to the rules in the 2nd Edition; some classes have slightly different or altered abilities from the original. Generally speaking, it allows for rounded-out characters and balance of play.

In 2003, a second license was granted to RedBrick Limited, who also develop their own line based on FASA and release the original FASA books in PDF form. The Earthdawn Player's and Gamemaster's Compendia are basically an alternate second edition, but without a version designation (since the material is compatible anyway). Each book has over 500 pages, and summarizes everything FASA did — not only the game-mechanics, but also the setting, narrations and stories. For example, each Discipline has its own chapter, describing it from the point of view of different adepts. Likewise, Barsaive gets a complete treatment, and the chapters contain a lot of log entries and stories in addition to the setting descriptions; the same applies also to Horrors and Dragons. While RedBrick Limited tried to remain faithful to FASA's vision and also tried to keep the visual style, they revised almost everything, and introduced some new material to fill the gaps.

[edit]

External links

pl:Earthdawn

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Earthdawn"