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The System.
Like D&D 4th edition, healing is handled via healing surges, called recovery tests in Earthdawn. Casters have a large spell selection but may only have a few spells ready to cast at any one time. Characters have classes, called disciplines in which they advance in levels, called circles. Actions against characters are resolved with reference to stat derived physical, magical and social defense scores. As characters progress in level they acquire new powers. Each classes powers are for the most part unique to that class (there is some overlap amongst casters). Humans have a versatility ability allowing them to learn the first level powers of other classes. Unlike D&D all of which can be used at will.
All characters in Earthdawn are magically charged “adepts”. Adepts can use magically charged talents, as well as skills. Some talents allow for the creation of minor magical effects, for example boosting the adepts initiative or providing extra hit points. Other talents function just like skills, but take less time to train and are cheaper to advances. For example, the skill speak language takes both time and substantial XP to learn. The talent speak language requires half the XP and listening to about five minutes of conversation. As a character ranks in talents increase his level, called his circle, increases.
Each adept has a class, called a discipline. Limited multiclassing (one additional class) is possible. The core rules include thirteen disciplines: Archer, Beastmaster, Cavalryman, Elementalist, Illusionist, Nethermancer, Sky Raider, Swordmaster, Thief, Troubadour, Warrior, Weaponsmith and Wizards. Elementalists, Illusionists, Nethermancers and Wizards are capable of casting spells.
The core rules also feature eight “name giver” races: Dwarf, Elf, Human, Obsidiman (creature of living rock), Ork, Troll, T’Skrang (lizardman) and Windling (18ing tall Faerie). Additionally one other race, the blood elves, are mentioned. Blood Elves resulted when Horrors from beyond breached the wooden Kaer protecting the Elven Capital. Facing creatures deriving power from the pain and suffering directly caused by the creaters the blood elves set out on a desperate course. Blood elves where created by the willing use of blood magic to cause their bodies to erupt in excruciatingly painful thorns. This rendered the elves in such constant, self inflicted, pain as to leave the horrors nothing to feed on.
The World
Earthdawn set out to provide a logical reason why there are dungeons full of both treasure and undead monsters littering the countryside. The backstory for the game revolves around the Theran Empire, a slave holding mage empire and one of it’s rebel provinces, Barsaive. The state religion of the Theran empire held the worlds mana level to be cyclical, when the man cycle reached it’s high point Horror from the metaplanes would enter the world, destroying all sentient life. Unfortunately, the Theran’s were correct.
Theran society was built to support a caste of mages searching for a defense against the Horror’s. They succeeded, to a point. The Theran’s developed wards capable of fending off the Horror’s, as long as the structure on which the ward was placed stayed intact. As the tide of Horror’s grew, the Theran’s used the offer of knowledge of the wards to blackmail much of the world into submission.
The surviving population retreated into heavily warded underground kaers. For four hundred years the Horror’s raged above them as the mana level slowly dropped. For some reason nobody can explain, the mana level stabilized at a level sufficient to drive off most but not all the Horrors. The first to emerge found that more Kaers then anyone could ever have believed possible had fallen to the Horrors. The game starts eighty years after human reemerged into the world. Many kaer still lie closed, their inhabitants either dead or to terrified to reemerge into the world.
The people of Barsaive emerged years before the Theran empire. Experience with possessing spirits in the dark days before the sealing of the kaers led the dwarfs of Throal to develop a political system that rejected slavery. This doctrine quickly spread to much of the rest of the province. For their part, when they finally learned of this, the Theran’s declared all of Barsaive the personal slaves of the first counsel (emperor). The people of Barsaive where able to drive out the initial Theran return. A second war between Barsaive and Thera is brewing as the official timeline begins.
Besides Horrors from beyond and Evil Empires, Earthdawn attempted to integrate other “wow cool” idea floating around the gaming community in the mid 90’s. Travel by airship plays a large role in the setting. Magic item arise naturally as a result of there history and the deeds in which they are involved. Player’s are better off keeping their great grandfathers sword then replacing it with the first “sword +1” they come across. The gods are unique physical entities that have questors but no established church.
The Book(s).
Physically the first edition core rules are 336 pages, soft bound including four pages of game aid cards and 16 pages of color artwork. The font used appears to be 12 point new times roman. Most pages incorporate some form of artwork. The writing style is crisp and engaging. After fifteen years of occasional use the binding of my copy is still intact.
Besides the core rules FASA produced approximately twenty sourcebooks for Earthdawn. Used first edition core books can still be found on a relatively regular basis in used book stores in most large cities. Many first edition supplements are available for download from Drivethrough. The first edition core book unfortunately is not available for legal download.
