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Earthdawn: Difference between revisions
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After the success of ''[[Shadowrun]],'' FASA tried their hand at a fantasy RPG. They consciously set out to turn the stereotypes on their heads. In the province of Barsaive, humans don't run the world, the dwarves do. Elves aren't carefree forest denizens, the thorns in their skin cause constant pain, and their forest drips blood. There are no all-powerful gods, only passions, and some of them are crazy. Everyone use magic, not just spellcasters.
Fantasy not enough? How about some cosmic horror? Magic ebbs and flows over the millennia, you see. When it increases, the walls between the worlds grow thin, and monsters come through. They are known as Horrors, the ensuing time of darkness as the Scourge. The people built kaers, underground cities with powerful wards, and hid in them for centuries. The level of magic began to
In some kaers, though, the Horrors broke through the wards. Inside you may find treasure and lore, but you may find a Horror. It can mark you without your even noticing, and then it can track you and try to influence you. The only way to remove the mark is to kill the Horror. If that's not bad enough, someone can attract a Horror's attention by casting a spell the wrong way or even by ''thinking'' about a Horror. Going into astral space? fugeddaboutit.
Wait, there's more. The humans run the Theran Empire, they use blood magic, they enslave other races, and they make war in flying castles. The trolls are [[Sky Pirate
How about conspiracies? Everywhere you go there are secret societies, Theran spies, imperial spies, intrigues.
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And Parlainth, the [[Unperson|Lost City]]? Don't get me started. There's a whole boxed set about it.
Of course there are dragons. In fact, they are behind many of the conspiracies. If you know ''[[Shadowrun]],'' you may even [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy|recognize]] some of them ... but that means ... it is [[Earth All Along]]! Yes, you may recognize Thera as the name of a Greek
Then FASA went out of business. Living Room Games brought out a [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|second edition]]. Then LRG went out of business. RedBrick brought out two virtual editions, a third and an alternate second. There's talk that RedBrick is working on a D&D-compatible edition as well.
Wait, you want to ''play'' ''[[Earthdawn]]''? That's a different thing altogether. To use a skill, you have to work out your step number, which is your skill level plus modifiers. Now refer to your Step Table, which tells you how many dice of which types to roll. That's right, using the same skill, you may roll different types of dice from one use to the next. It beats using calculus to simulate swinging on a rope, but there are simpler systems.
This
{{tropelist}}
* [[The Ageless]]: Both dragons and elves have this as a racial trait.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: One of the artifacts included in the first edition main book, Nioku's Bow, was a legendary bow of a famous archer that would glow like the moon if it was ever brought to full power. Doing so required the expenditure of millions of points as well as going on multiple quests, each one of which would be legendary in its own right. The net result of all this is a bow that can do ''almost'' as much damage as the third circle Archer talent Flame Arrow. Flame Arrow involves no special quests and a fraction of the points.
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