PDA

View Full Version : Earthdawn (3rd)



JellyPooga
2011-01-10, 06:53 AM
Hello again everybody! It's been a good long while since I last haunted these boards, but it's nice to be back (albeit only temporarily).

This is only a quick one really; I'm about to start running an Earthdawn campaign, on slightly short notice. I have enough sourcebooks to be going with (for the complete list, see the bottome of this post), but haven't read half of them nearly as well as I'd like to have done. I'm pretty sure of the rules (rules seem to stick in my head like feathers in treacle) and I adore the setting, but am not sure enough of it yet to have any ideas on just what sort of campaign to run, or indeed how.

So this is my plea; anyone that's played or run Earthdawn (from any edition), please share your stories, give me some tips and any advice you care to!

Thanks,

JP

(Books I own: Players Guide & Companion, GM's Guide & Companion, Namegivers of Barsaive and Nations of Barsaive: Serpent River)

Earthwalker
2011-01-10, 08:53 AM
I can't see the list of books you have ?

I have played Earthdawn and loved it to bits I do really like the game world and the nameing magic.

As to what kind of game to play that depends on what kind of game you want.

In the last game I played I was a weapon smith and alot of the action took place around keeping my business running as well as fighting horrors.

You can start small a simple dungeon crawl, that gets the players some weapons and other magic. That they then have to find out how to use, leading more dungeons with omre items leading too....

JellyPooga
2011-01-10, 09:40 AM
Oops! OP editted to include the books I have.

Hmm...interesting angle I hadn't considered with the Weaponsmith there...a static adventurer (inasmuch as he is defending a place rather than invading one) is something of a novel idea and potentially one I might steal!

You recommend a basic kaer-dive as the intro then? I suppose it's inevitable and really will throw the players into the crux of the setting, both from a historical and current perspective (this was what the Scourge resulted in and it's state now is what resulted in the world we live in, kind of thing). The only question is, I suppose, is what to put in this kaer? Is the Horror-infested kaer too much of a cliche? Or, even, simply too much of a threat to throw against 1st Circle, newbie to the system, players?

kestrel404
2011-01-10, 10:27 AM
I'm a longtime Earthdawn fan. I've played every edition, been in 6 or so campaigns and run 2. My time playing Earthdawn outstrips my time playing all other systems combined. Here's what I've learned in basic:

1) Make sure the character sheet has the step table on the front page. Even if you print out handy cheat-sheets with the basic rules and mechanics on them, the step table is more important and should be prominent at all times for ever player. I prefer Ash's character sheets, they work nicely. I think there's an updated step table for 3rd edition on his site.

2) Adventuring is best done in stages - as you gain in circles, you also start going on more important missions. This sounds obvious, but you really need to pace things in Earthdawn. It's very easy to get in over your head and end up with a TPK. You should probably gift the party with a Last Chance Salve (one, and only one) while they're still 1st circle. Then you introduce them to the setting and mechanics by having them guard caravans, travel to several of the cities in the setting (Barter town, Vistrimon and Kratas, in that order, are my favorites for this) and perform services for important people in those cities. This will not only get your players contacts and a support network which you can later use to direct plot their way, but it also will get them up to about 3rd or 4th circle.

3) No Kaer delving until 3rd circle. That's about when everyone's become comfortable with the basics of what they can do and the Casters have started to get a bit of magical healing. At this point, you can throw serious threats at them. When Kaer delving, you needn't always throw the horror-infested kaer at them first thing. Some of my most fun kaer delving experiences were with kaers that simply hadn't opened yet - all the defenses were still in place, and you had to convince the people inside to let you in, and once they did there was usually a really insanely divergent culture inside, which always leads to interesting RP.

4) At 4th circle, hand out a few magic items. Make them interesting, tie them to plot. Don't hand out generic magic items until the party is higher circle - they don't need them and the items tend to skew power levels. But by 5th and 6th circle, all of the melee types should have at least 1 custom item and a couple of generic ones - because otherwise they run into much the same issue as melee types in D&D, lack of interesting options. It's not nearly as big of an issue - ED casters are closer to tier 2 than tier 1, and almost all of the ED paths are at least tier 3 - but without the boost of 'something unique' that they get from a good custom item, it starts to get to be a bit dull playing the melee character, and life starts getting really tough for the non-fighters like Troubadors and Traveled Scholars.

5) By 7th circle, the party should be leaving Barsaive. At this point, they're becoming the movers and shakers of the world, so have them move and shake. Let them meet dragons, and battle armies and do all the epic stuff that the setting is meant to encourage at higher level play. By the time you get to this level, you should probably go out and find a copy of the Theran Empire sourcebook from 2nd edition to give you an idea of what the rest of the world is like, or at least make up your own stuff.

Generally, getting from 1st circle to 7th circle takes about 40-80 game sessions, if you're handing out legend at around the recommended rate. If you're interested in one theme or another (for instance, if you want to explore outside Barsaive early on), you can adapt the difficulty of the adventuring to the level of the party, but from my experience there just seems to be a natural progression built into the system, that as you go up in circle, the scope of the gameplay changes. Kind of like idea behind the 3 tiers of play in 4th edition D&D.

Hope that helps. If you've got specific questions or requests just ask, or PM me.

JellyPooga
2011-01-10, 10:50 AM
Wow, thanks! That's just the sort of advice I was looking for.

Yeah, having the step table handy was one of my priorities. If not on individual character sheets then at least to hand so that everyone has easy access to it. For the first couple of games, I was also considering having some crib sheets for the various Talents and Skills the players' characters have.

So no kaer-diving 'till a bit later, then. I like the idea of travelling about a bit to get the players (and characters) into the setting. Given the players I have and the long-term campaign I have in mind, this will probably involve traversing a great deal of the Serpent River and much interaction with the T'skrang (given that I have the relevant Sourcebook and all!). Any advice specific to those kind of areas? None of my players are T'skrang (specifically I have a Troll Weaponsmith, a Dwarf Swordmaster and an Elven Wizard, a good mix I thought), do you think I should focus less on the Serpent River and more on areas that are more typically relevant to the PC's?

kestrel404
2011-01-10, 11:35 AM
Travel along the Serpent River is an excellent start to a campaign. All of the T'Skrang cities make for interesting settings, with enough variation between them to keep things interesting. And since the Serpent River is also the major artery of commerce and travel within Barsaive, there is no shortage of waypoints, bandits, people in trouble, etc. to make for useful encounters between major stops.

While you may want to keep the Serpent River as a major theme in your game, don't let it dominate the game completely. Introduce side quests and plotlines that require a bit of cross-country travel as well. There's lots to see that's not directly on the river (like Barter Town, which is a good half-week's travel from the closest branch), but having the party always return to the river could make for a good 'binding theme' or 'refrain' to the game. Make the river a home and a place of peace (or at least regular and expected adventure), for your PCs to return to when they're done with a big quest. Give them a home base in one of the T'Skrang cities.

Speaking of the T'Skrang, play up both their outgoing personalities and their clan-based politicking. In my world, every T'Skrang is a cross between a bad Shakesperean actor and a used car dealer with a heart of gold (heart of gold optional, use only as recommended, your mileage may vary). They tend to be 'good folk' among themselves, and they're very welcoming to outsiders, but they're also highly competitive with other T'Skrang and they can get downright catty with T'Skrang from other areas. And if your PCs choose one T'Skrang city over the others...they might start to feel that cattiness directly.

Tengu_temp
2011-01-10, 12:16 PM
The T'Skrang are great. They're a whole race of large hams! Besides, they're lizardmen with awesome magical steamships. What's not to like?

JellyPooga
2011-01-10, 12:38 PM
I love the T'skrang...between their love of cooking (which includes both a lot of fish and heavy spices), flamboyant attitude and not to mention the fact that they live by (and in) a river, I can't help but think of them as being very much based on a stereotypical creole lifestyle.

The main long-term campaign I have in mind will probably involve some kind of intrigue between the T'skrang Houses and perhaps touch on the Therans a little (what with the T'skrang House, I forget which one right now, that's allied with them).

Thanks again, invaluable advice for an Earthdawn 1st timer