Earthdawn RPG Third Edition

By Lily Orias

The Earthdawn RPG has a new edition being released by RedBrick Limited. The first edition was released by FASA. The second edition was released by Living Room Games. This Third Edition released by RedBrick Limited this month looks to improve upon the storyline and rules from the previous editions.

For anyone familiar with FASA's products, Earthdawn was loosely related to the Shadowrun game. Earthdawn was a magical fantasy setting that took place millennia before the Shadowrun world came about. With this new edition of Earthdawn being released, the old editions are no longer being produced.

Earthdawn is a fantasy setting similar to Dungeons & Dragons. A huge focus of the game is magic and how it affects the world. Magic cycles over time in the Earthdawn world. When the magic cycle is low, the world is good and they are able to get by mostly without magic. When the cycle is high, the high amount of magic allows Horrors to come into the world that ravage all living beings.

Just like other typical fantasy setting, you have races like Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orks, and Trolls. There are also Obsidimen, T'skrang, Windlings, and more, which are unique to the Earthdawn world. The classes include many familiar disciplines such as Archers, Warriors, Wizards, Beastmasters, Cavalryman, Illusionists, and more.

Magic in Earthdawn takes a more important role than in other games. The magic system is used for all character disciplines. Even a mundane Warrior or Archer will use magic to attack their foes. Casters use spell matrixes and magical thread weaving to cast their spells. Each and every character uses karma and thread weaving to bond with magical items.

I liked Earthdawn 1st Edition when I purchased it many years ago. The game has a really good history with a solid political history for the gamemaster to use. There are enough good sides, bad sides, and neutral sides to give players enough hooks to roleplay their game.

If I had something to knock the game about, as character level up there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety. I've heard that the Third Edition addresses this issue. But if that is the only problem with the game, that isn't too much to be picky about. It could easily be taken care of by changing up your roleplaying tactics to build you character in a better way.

Overall, I think Earthdawn has more positives than negatives. I highly recommend anyone looking for a different type of fantasy game to give it a try. The new edition was just released by RedBrick Limited and is available for purchase now.

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