After two years in publishing limbo, the final chapter in the \"Second Theran War\" storyline is out. Does it live up to the fevered expectations of Earthdawn fans? Despite some obvious signs of publisher inexperience, the answer is yes -- for the most part.
Post originally by Josh Harrison at 2004-02-02 09:15:45
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You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I try not to let the quality of a game's artwork affect my opinion of it too much -- good art is nice, but it isn't critical (at least, IMO).
I am even less concerned with the artwork in this case, because it was the second book by the company, and they obviously have lower production values than FASA did. It is something that I would expect to grow and improve as time goes on.
As I've followed the line, though, the artwork (for the most part) continues to be less than impressive. I can think of a few exceptions.
The visual impression given by the artwork in the game line lacks cohesion -- artwork in a game isn't just there to break up the text, it should also help convey the tones, moods, and styles of the material it accompanies. LRG's products don't have that solid foundation of feeling.
Regardless of my overall opionions on LRG's artwork, I'm not going to fault an early book for later shortcomings.
Post originally by Attila at 2004-02-02 10:03:56
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You are a bit too kind with the book IMO.
The storylines are rather bland and lack detail. Important things are mentioned in the text, but all details remain to the GM.
IMO the writers didn't thought about the characters, who played through the previous, Prelude to war book - they probably became important adepts in Barsaive, with lots of connections, but most of the adventures and ideas basically ignores this possibility. In the first storyline, for example they are basically nothing more than a bunch of postmen. The mayor events are played by bigguys of the setting, without needing the characters - which is a problem, since this is supposed to be the top of the most important epic in Barsaive's history, and the characters are supposed to be, you know, important heroes in the game.
Cara Fahd, the ork kingdom, which seemed to be one of the most important battlefield of the war, due its strategical place is barely mentioned in the book. Ditto for Kratas, or Travar - which is strange, since Travar has one the largest airfleet in the whole province, and don't understand why don't participate in the war at all...
There are no charismatic NPC's in the book, who would help the GM and the players to emotionally attach themselves to the events. In Prelude there were Neden, Aardela, Omasu or Krathis Gron - now nobody.
The editing is confusing, hard to read or find anything in the book.
Having read the hints about the original FASA version and seeing the LRG product I had the impression, that the original storyline was already a bit too much in love with the metaplot and less about the characters. The changes made by the LRG guys did not improve on the problems at all.
LRG improved their standards since this book, and maybe a revised (meaning: a completely rewritten) version would be a good idea... Or maybe not. I consider this one the worst books ever released for Earthdawn, it is even worse than Mists of Betrayal or the Theran Empire sourcebook...
Post originally by Jim Sulivan at 2004-02-02 12:21:30
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Hi Josh,
Thanks for the good review. I have a few questions that I was hoping you could answer.
I was a fan of Earthdawn when it first came out. I found the story and the artwork amazing. In fact, when Wizards ran their contest for a new setting, I was hoping for something along the lines of Earthdawn, since I thought it was dead.
But now I find it isn't dead,at least not quite. I was wondering how to get invloved in the online Earthdawn community. I would love to start my players back onto the campaign trail with the War going on in Barsaive.
Post originally by Josh Harrison at 2004-02-02 19:18:00
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Well, Attila, you're ceretainly entitled to your opinion.
Perhaps I was a bit forgiving of this volume, as it was the second book put out by the company.
The trouble you're looking at with this story in particular is that each game group (assuming they've been through <i>Prelude to War</i>) will have different connections, backgrounds, and relationships with the various NPCs and powers involved. There is no possible way you can cover every possible angle, so the approach is as generic as possible.
Sure, this requires the GM to work a bit more, tying into his own campaign, but you need to do the prep work anyway, so what's the harm?
The other thing you're dealing with here is an inexeperienced writing team; but I decided not to penalize them too harshly, or hold them up to a standard that they couldn't possibly meet (at the time they published this). The story is there, and since you're going to have to do a bunch of work anyway, modifying a few other details to suit your individual campaign doesn't seem too much of a hardship.
Post originally by Josh Harrison at 2004-02-02 19:25:21
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Attila covered things pretty well. Those links are a good place to get started in a return to the fold of Earthdawn.
My recommendations would be the "Earthdawn Mailing List" (which has a companion "Earthdawn GM list") and WERG -- which can be linked through the following:
<a href="http://earthdawn.werg.net/index.php">Earthdawn at WERG.net</a>
The LRG site is okay, but really nothing special. The Earthdawn Classic site, though, has some good forums on it.
One other link that I'll recommend is <a href="http://www.stiggybaby.com">Stiggybaby</a>. It's an online retailer that bought out pretty much all of FASA's backstock, and has *most* of the old 1st edition books available (including the core rules) at a decent discount.
Post originally by Attila at 2004-02-02 23:52:44
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<i>Josh Harrison wrote:
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The trouble you're looking at with this story in particular is that each game group (assuming they've been through <i>Prelude to War</i>) will have different connections, backgrounds, and relationships with the various NPCs and powers involved. There is no possible way you can cover every possible angle, so the approach is as generic as possible.</i>
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The problem is, that BaW doesn't cover the generic elements that well. Basically we have some big events - some of them doesn't really involves the players -, some scattered infos and some adventure drafts.
More setting detail, more important npc's with their own plans in the big scheme would have been more usable IMO.
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<i>The story is there, and since you're going to have to do a bunch of work anyway, modifying a few other details to suit your individual campaign doesn't seem too much of a hardship. </i>
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Make it "you were given some events related to Barsaive, so make up everything you want to use, because the book itself medicore at best and lacks detail" and you are closer to the truth IMNSHO.
I'm fully aware that the folks at LRG were beginners when they released this book. That is why I continue to buy their stuff, since they are able to improve the quality of their work. But professional or amateur work, a crappy book is a crappy book.
Post originally by Evilgaz at 2004-02-05 05:14:16
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A company called RedBrick in New Zealand have picked up the rights to do Earthdawn you can check out their web site at www.earthdawn-classic.com. They seem to be holding true to teh original intent of Earthdawn and so might be a better bet for purists or those that long for the good old days.
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