And since apparently many of the editions are supposedly compatible with each other, product is still being sold from everything since EDC through today.First Edition (ED1) is the original game created and published by FASA Corporation in 1993.
Second Edition (ED2) was published by Living Room Games (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2001.
Classic Edition (EDC) was published by RedBrick Limited (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2005.
Third Edition (ED3) was published by RedBrick LLC and Mongoose Publishing (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2009.
Revised Edition (EDR) is the current edition of Earthdawn, published by FASA Games, Inc. (licensed from FASA Corporation) in 2012.
The ED4 kickstarter has finally released a (by all reports) lackluster player's guide (pdf only, so far). I'm not even going to go much into the hot mess that the kickstarter was. Several months went by with silence from "FASA Games", with the occasional post about how layout was complete except for some missing pieces of art.
There is still no downloadable character sheet on "FASA Games" website.
I sorta wanted to make a post soliciting opinions on what edition you might recommend to someone completely new to Earthdawn, or who owned nothing from any of the editions. I have ED1 material myself, and had kept some low expectations that ED4 might be something that could bring me back in. But now, with the kind of support that "FASA Games" seems to be interested in providing, I sorta don't care. I'm not afraid of using dead systems, but missing an opportunity to really bring in a new pool of players seems like the death-knell of an otherwise interesting setting.