Customer Reviews

Earthdawn

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Earthdawn was FASA's brilliant attempt for an original roleplaying game in a fantastic sword and sorcery (and more sorcery) fantasy settings.

The game's premise is that the different civilizations are returning to surface life after 400 years of living in underground citadels. Their ancestors had fled to these citadels to escape an invasion of monstrous beings that had been brought by the rising tide of magical energies in the world.

The setting is rich, with tremendous roleplaying potential. Player characters may interact in the re-emerging governments and politics. They may serve as diplomats or warriors in nation disputes over land that has been unclaimed for centuries.

The setting also provides the best justification for ancient ruins and dungeon-searching adventures of any system I have encountered. An unknown number of citadels were overcome by the invading creatures during the 400 year period and even more were lost when their inhabitants attempted to return to the surface too soon. Players may be contracted to clear out the caves, or search for an artifact. The book offers a listing of several common foes, including soldiers of the different races but also several variants of the evil supernatural beings that have been left behind in their species' recent exodus.

The character races feature standard fantasy faire: orks, humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, and also some added variety with a lizard/human race, a species of rock men, and faeries.
The professions are even better, with over 10 to choose from. Each profession uses magic in accordance with its associated skills, from warrior abilities for toughening skin to thieving skills to make the person nearly undetectable.

The only drawback to the system is the complexity. There is a steps/ranks table for handling all skill uses (including spells and combat), and I have no complaints for it. But character advancement becomes complicated because of the character customization. However, I personally view the trade-off as more than worthwhile.

Buy it, play it, feel it! FASA takes you to a new dimension in fantasy role-playing. Get it while it's still available!!! The thing that makes Earthdawn so special is that it captures all the elements that is needed from a cutting-edge role-playing game. Mystique, adventure, unexplored frontiers, lurking evil powers, conspiracies etc. FASA has made the land of Barsaive come to life unlike anything I've ever experienced before (and belive me, I've been around!). From the bottom of my heart I urge you to buy this product and join me, and many more around the globe, in the gaming experience of a lifetime!

For all you Earthdawn fans out there who don't already know this great game has been picked up by Living Room Games and they'll be releasing a 2nd edition starting this Spring. You can reach Living Room Games website at http://www.lrgames.com be sure to keep an eye out for them. Let's all rejoice in the return of the greatest RPG ever and continue to give Earthdawn our full support.

Long, long ago a company known as FASA was busy going way against the flow, releasing all kinds of highly original roleplaying material that went against the standard Dungeons and Dragons norm. In 2001 FASA quit producing games, and instead licensed their products out to other companies. Earthdawn was FASA's crowning fantasy achievement, an incredibly detailed completely original world with it's own special flavor and feel. The basic concept behind Earthdawn is that most of the peoples of the world have taken to hiding for over four hundred years. Creatures known as Horrors have come from deep out of astral space and are systematically destroying everything and everyone. As the magically adept of the world had prior knowledge that this Scourge was approaching, they built vast underground cities, in hopes that they could wait until the horrors either died or returned to their home realms. People are now returning to the surface to find a wild and untamed land. Adventurers-a-plenty will be needed to search for survivors, plunder destroyed cities, and fend off the few remaining Horrors.

The races in Earthdawn have much more of their histories, backgrounds, and tendencies described than can be found in most other roleplaying games. There is the standard elves, dwarves, and humans, but also races not normally used by players like orks, trolls, obsidman (a human like race made of stone), windlings (tiny people with wings), and the T'skrang (a reptilian species with a flair for the dramatic). There is a good mix of classes, which are known as Disciplines in Earthdawn. The class mix falls somewhere between the simplicity of D&D, which essentially has four class types with a few variations, and the absurdity of the Warhammer roleplaying game, which has hundreds of classes. The Sky Raider, a sort of aerial pirate with a deep code of honor and a variety of cool abilities, is probably the most interesting warrior variant in any roleplaying game.

Character creation is focused firmly on roleplaying, with a whole section devoted to fleshing out a character's personality traits, phyiscal attributes, and moral/ethical beliefs. Essentially all characters in the game are magic users to some extent (called Adepts), as most skills require the use of minor magic. The actual spell casting classes are divided into four types - wizard, illusionist, ethermancer, and elementalist, all of which cast their spells slightly differently. The magic system itself is rather complex, and is intimately tied to everyday life in Earthdawn, which keeps it constantly just at the back of everyone's minds. The only downside to playing Earthdawn is the rule system, which is much more complex than Dungeons and Dragons, and will take some getting used to if your group has been playing D20 games. Once you get the hang of them, though, the style of play is quite fun. A host of supplemental resource books were created for Earthdawn, which are all out of print now. If you can get your hands on them, you'll find a very rich and detailed setting where the characters will have a chance to play an important role in either uniting or causing strife between the various countries and governments emerging from underground. If political intrigue isn't your cup of tea, remember that there is all kinds of dungeon diving mayhem to be had in Earthdawn as well.

If your roleplaying group is up for a change, definitely give Earthdawn a try, as it is one of the best fantasy role-playing games out there.

I had not been roleplaying rpg's in awhile until a friend of a friend told me about Earthdawn, and how great it was. Great it is! The mechanics of gameplay are all based essentially on a single step table that makes the game easy and complex. Overall a worthy addition to any fantasy roleplaying enthusiast. Only problem is Earthdawn is out of print! so get it while it lasts - (or get the main rulebook and create your own!)

FASA outdid Shadowrun when they created Earthdawn. This game is a very simple and easy to understand and use Battle System (we taught my 9 year old nephew in 15 minutes). The Character creation is exceptionally balanced, but offers an amazing amount of diversity, even giving you a REASON to play as humans (the Diversity Talent), which most games don't do.

What makes this game so much better than any other game I played, though, was the deep and immersive world it placed you in, and oparticularly the new level to which it took the game's villain creatures. Other games (such as D&D) pit you against monsters placed at the gamemaster's fancy as you try to kill them and get their loot. But this game... the Horrors are literally evil incarnate. And they're everywhere. Sure, you love to find loot. But this game is about survival, about recaliming your world from destruction. You don't go looking for a tunnel to crawl into; more often than not, you will find your characters in a defensive posture as they try to not die... And the Horrors make it all too easy to fail. I don't think we managed to kill a real one in my gaming group until we got up to about Circle (level) 3 or 4 (Circles only go up to 15, and it's TOUGH to get there!)

Basically, if you're a fan of these type of games, get it! This game is probably the most underrated of it's type, and is completely epic.

Earthdawn deserves more stars than can be granted on this scale. It is simply the best role-playing game I have ever had the pleasure to play or to GM. If you role-play, make up a wish list for everything you want in an RPG then buy this book, you'll find its all there and more. I can't believe that systems this good can go out of print because not enough of us took the time to try it.

FASA has made a great game here. The rules are explained well andcan be easily understood for the most part. The only bad thing that I found about this book is the fact the it only shows the disciples up to 8th circle

FASA's EarthDawn RPG system is till now, the most balanced system that I have played. EarthDawn manages to mix and integrate two opposite requirements, where most systems only have one: The game is both easy to play, and still leaves many many options open to the GM to decide and make the game complex and intriguing. It takes time to understand the Attribute/Step Mechanism, but after that, the game is running easily. The game, in contrast to other systems, is based on the fact that all the characters are adepts, hence using magic. No more AD&D style games, where only magicians could enjoy the benefits of Magic, but everybody can now. The principle is that all characters use magic to enhance their powers ( Talents ). None magical powers also exists, and are called skills. Talents, skills and attributes are being bought during the game, so the player sees his character developing during the campaign , and can be better prepared to face the challenges of the GM. The EarthDawn World is filled with magic and monsters, and with the excellent background story, this game is a winner.

FASA has produced a winner in the fantasy role playing department. A clear and concise combat system and solid magic system with the same flavor that permeats all other FASA role playing games. There is a multitude of player character races and classes to suit the most hardy of adventurers. Earthdawn supports a unique system of legend points as opposed to the staple experience points in other games. It is a welcome addition and ties in well with the game's overall story of the continental exploration of Barsaive after a 400 year event called 'the Scourge'. The only gripe I have is that there should be rules and powers for circles higher than the 8th circle, which is basically a measure of fame and experience of a player's character. All in all a very enjoyable game and worthy of the FASA logo it carries.