So I want to GM Earthdawn.
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Silent Wayfarer
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So I want to GM Earthdawn.
What pitfalls should I be aware of system-wise? Lore-wise? What are things I can do to make life easier for the players?
If your religion is worth killing for, please start with yourself.
Which version?
1st? 3rd?
System wise:
Multi discipline is freaking broken, outrageously, do not let people multi-discipline.. they will either be stupidly under powered, or so OP that they'll make everyone else wonder why they are there.
Skills, skills are expensive and hard to get for pc's. Do not be afraid to give them their half-circle magic talent on anything that seems appropriate, not just what the suggestion for the class is.
Sky Raiders, Air Sailors, Cavalry Men.. are great classes.. if they have their mount, or their air ships, and are the outdoors. When you're spelunking in a caern that hasn't seen the light of day and your in 20' wide corridors.. they're just inferior to every other discipline in the game.
In first edition.. the Windling is one of the best races in the game. Windling warriors/archers are incredibly dangerous because of the Karma die.
In 3rd edition, playing a windling is basically asking to get smooshed. They tried to balance windlings, and just.. failed.
That being said. A windling moves faster than a horse, and there are spells with 120' ranges, and Archers have serious range. A single windling can take on mooks like nobody's business. It can make the Dwarven Weaponsmith feel small in the pants. And the GM seriously disgruntled.
In 3rd, Obsidimen got a huge improvement with the karma die changes.
1st Edition:
Windlings D12
Humans/Orcs D8
Elves/Dwarves/Tskrang D6
Obsidiman/Trolls D4
3rd Edition:
Everyone D6.
Horrors are incredibly powerful and dangerous and it's easy to TPK a party when using intelligent horrors. But on the flip side, if all you use are the mindless physical horrors.. you lose a lot of the flavor of Earthdawn.
1st? 3rd?
System wise:
Multi discipline is freaking broken, outrageously, do not let people multi-discipline.. they will either be stupidly under powered, or so OP that they'll make everyone else wonder why they are there.
Skills, skills are expensive and hard to get for pc's. Do not be afraid to give them their half-circle magic talent on anything that seems appropriate, not just what the suggestion for the class is.
Sky Raiders, Air Sailors, Cavalry Men.. are great classes.. if they have their mount, or their air ships, and are the outdoors. When you're spelunking in a caern that hasn't seen the light of day and your in 20' wide corridors.. they're just inferior to every other discipline in the game.
In first edition.. the Windling is one of the best races in the game. Windling warriors/archers are incredibly dangerous because of the Karma die.
In 3rd edition, playing a windling is basically asking to get smooshed. They tried to balance windlings, and just.. failed.
That being said. A windling moves faster than a horse, and there are spells with 120' ranges, and Archers have serious range. A single windling can take on mooks like nobody's business. It can make the Dwarven Weaponsmith feel small in the pants. And the GM seriously disgruntled.
In 3rd, Obsidimen got a huge improvement with the karma die changes.
1st Edition:
Windlings D12
Humans/Orcs D8
Elves/Dwarves/Tskrang D6
Obsidiman/Trolls D4
3rd Edition:
Everyone D6.
Horrors are incredibly powerful and dangerous and it's easy to TPK a party when using intelligent horrors. But on the flip side, if all you use are the mindless physical horrors.. you lose a lot of the flavor of Earthdawn.
It been a long time, but in 1st Edition some of the Critters give so few exp you will be suprised how one of them can fuck players up just by punching them. Gargoyles comes to mind.
First few levels (circles?) Players tend to die like nobodies business, but form around level 4 or 5 you can do terrible things to them without feeling sorry.
Also, if I recall correctly characters need to bind magic items to themselfs, which meant only casters can even use those pre level 4, when everyone else gets thread weaving.
First few levels (circles?) Players tend to die like nobodies business, but form around level 4 or 5 you can do terrible things to them without feeling sorry.
Also, if I recall correctly characters need to bind magic items to themselfs, which meant only casters can even use those pre level 4, when everyone else gets thread weaving.
To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.
Which edition are you using?
I've only played 1st edition, but I've noticed that:
- Windlings are overpowered. Archers benefit from the Flying Archer situation (they can shoot people who can't reach them), and fighters can do an overpowered attack that will make other fighters feel useless.
- Low-level characters are fragile. This is especially true for first level characters who don't have access to HP boosting feats.
- Skills are expensive, so no player will ever take a "fluff skill" or a skill that's fun to have and fits their character but isn't very useful and it's a shame.
- The standard deviation is too big. Characters supposed to be good at something still have a too high chance of failing simple tasks. Those D20 are especially nasty.
- Combat is boring for low-level characters. Some characters (such as mages with no or inefficient attack spells) can't do anything and others will do the same optimal action over and over. They have to roll good enough twice in a rwo which, due to the big standard deviation, isn't very easy. This leads to long and boring games of dice.
Lore-wise: force the player to read about their character's race and path, and focus more on stories, legends and roleplaying stuff than combat. At least in the beginning.
I've only played 1st edition, but I've noticed that:
- Windlings are overpowered. Archers benefit from the Flying Archer situation (they can shoot people who can't reach them), and fighters can do an overpowered attack that will make other fighters feel useless.
- Low-level characters are fragile. This is especially true for first level characters who don't have access to HP boosting feats.
- Skills are expensive, so no player will ever take a "fluff skill" or a skill that's fun to have and fits their character but isn't very useful and it's a shame.
- The standard deviation is too big. Characters supposed to be good at something still have a too high chance of failing simple tasks. Those D20 are especially nasty.
- Combat is boring for low-level characters. Some characters (such as mages with no or inefficient attack spells) can't do anything and others will do the same optimal action over and over. They have to roll good enough twice in a rwo which, due to the big standard deviation, isn't very easy. This leads to long and boring games of dice.
Lore-wise: force the player to read about their character's race and path, and focus more on stories, legends and roleplaying stuff than combat. At least in the beginning.