* Fortress of Sky Point

* Josh avoids gushing about Expedition 33

* 800 feet tall

* Founding of Sky Point before the Scourge

* Comparisons of Sky Point to existing buildings and structures

* Context for impressive architectural presence

* Basic structure; five pillars around the outside and one central pillar

* Constructed over 50 years

* Deserted during the Scourge

* Base of operations for incursions after the Scourge

* Conceptually similar to a military base outside a city

* Main platform is 2000 feet across

* Pillars are 300 feet in diameter

* Alternate between solid stone and hollow structure

* Comparing Sky Point's "footprint" to real world scale

* Impressive magically reinforced engineering

* Demonstration of Theran military might

* Northern pillar is airship hanger and repair

* Southwest tower is slave pens

* Southeast tower is Overgovernor's palace

* Wall around entire platform except northeast edge for airship launching

* Elemental elevators only non-airship access from the ground

* Secure fortress; very hard to sneak in or infiltrate

* Elevators are guarded, vedette and kila patrols

* Fourth edition timeline and destruction of Sky Point

* The ruins and comparison to Ground Zero of World Trade Center

* Engineering discussion of the collapse; forces out of balance

* Sky Point and Parlainth; military vs cultural might

* Quick overview of stationed Theran fleet

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

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Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Mailbag! We asked, you delivered!

* Email from Elie: Alternative mechanics to play in Barsaive?

* Cortex -- https://www.cortexrpg.com/

* Earthdawn: Age of Legend -- https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/176986/earthdawn-the-age-of-legend-english

* Earthdawn: Savage Worlds -- https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/100174/earthdawn-player-s-guide-savage-worlds-edition

* Also discussed: Cypher, Genesys

* Problems with Horror marks as a concept (from player perspective)

* Other active Earthdawn podcasts?

* Email from Maggie: Changes to the Mad Passions' temples or shrines when they went mad?

* Symbols and iconography of the Mad Passions from before the Scourge?

* Email from Scott: Follow up to Mailbag 268 about Beast Spirits

* Another Email from Maggie: T'skrang and Obsidimen as trans metaphors

* Email from Simon: Many questions about the Gate Hound magic drain power

* Range of chakta birds' Mental Assault power?

* Range of the crakbill's paralyzing breath?

* Is there a maximum Circle (0-thread) spell that a manticore can learn?

* Constrict and Grab & Bite maneuvers for the porcupine snake and troll snake?

* Engulf power from an air elemental?

* Descriptions of true element kernels?

* Awareness vs Perception (and limits of Awareness)?

* Spending Karma on secret tests (especially Awareness)?

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

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Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Blades in Depth: A Traitor's Fate

* Interlude: Lighting the Way

* Visit Questor of Mynbruje

* Darkness and paranoia start to intrude on the campaign

* Questor communes with the Passion to find location

* Provides a magical "compass" to point to the traitor's tomb

* Main adventure written by Teeuwynn Woodruff

* Travel to Liaj Jungle

* Encounter with Lightning Lizards

* Encounter Tamers

* Background on the Tamers

* Tamers don't want the group in the jungle

* The curse affects the Tamers

* Potential tweaks to the Tamers' motivations

* Handling the curse appropriately; escalation

* Arriving at the crypt

* Kragen Overtall: The Dark Fetch

* Dealing with Overtall and learning the Name

* Loose ends and follow-ups

* Linear, self-contained adventure

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

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FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Year End 2025

* Spotify for Podcasters Wrapped

* Numbers breakdown: Followers, listening time, etc.

* Analytics

* Thanks and looking back

* Mailbag!

* Email from Frank: Kind words and thanks

* Email from Jesse: Beast spirit questions

* Invertebrate beast spirits (e.g. octopus)?

* Edge cases, writing inconsistencies and oversights

* Where to draw the line on categories?

* Happy New Year! See you in 2026!

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Vivane Province: Travel and Encounters

* We're wrapping up our sixth year!

* Great Roads: Heavily traveled

* Some elemental earth built into them to help ease travel

* Real world parallel: Roman roads

* Vivane is (overall) more developed than Barsaive

* Real world parallel: Pioneer-era United States West vs East

* River travel

* Vivane t'skrang compared to the Serpent River aropagoi

* Musing on Riverboats and t'skrang culture

* Piracy

* Theran military patrols; where and how often

* Reasons for military encounters

* Typical patrol composition

* Non-military members: Kedate and Praetori

* Coaching hostelries

* Earthdawn equivalent of a "truck stop"

* "Not Tolkien" sidebar

* What you can find at a hostelry

* Outlying areas around the cities

* Reactions to adepts walking around armed

* Thoughts on updates for Fourth Edition

* Highlighting differences between Vivane and Barsaive

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Blades: Grave Wisdom

* Interlude: In Search of Knowledge

* Timeline and time limit discussion

* No specific location; just in a library

* Connected NPC: Vanyk Auldsinger

* Like the previous interlude: Points the PCs in the direction of the answer.

* The Adventure: Travel to Cara Fahd to find the Hold of Courage

* Suggested travel encounters.

* How post-Krathis Gron Cara Fahd can change things

* Finding the Hold of Courage

* Entering the Hold

* Problems with the "rules" of entering the Hold

* Statues and Soul Stones

* Description of other aspects of the Hold

* Attack by corrupted spirits

* Answering the question

* Destruction of the Hold

* Capsule review: Straightforward location-based encounter

* Possible tweaks and expansions

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* We're back!

* Post-hiatus update on Josh's latest theatrical production

* Legends of Barsaive chapter 13 should be released soon!

* FreedoniaCon: February 28-March 1

* Overview of Theran Provinces from Vivane boxed set

* Great Thera: Island in the Selestrean Sea (aka the Mediterranean)

* Present-day Santorini/Thira

* Creana: South of Great Thera; city states along river and up along eastern coast of the Selestran Sea

* Inspired by ancient Egypt; desert, ancient tombs

* The groundwork for the Theran Empire sourcebook was laid in this supplement.

* Indrisa: Far to the east/southeast of Great Thera

* Indian sub-continent

* Brief descriptions of orks and trolls feels like Barsaive rehash

* Marac: West/southwest of Great Thera

* Inspired by Arabian Nights and similar materials

* Talea: Due west of Great Thera

* Italian peninsula; fell to Thera due to internal squabbles

* Multiple city-states

* Vasgothia: Northwest of Great Thera

* Dense, haunted forests and forbidding mountains

* Inspired by Roman interactions with Germanic tribes, Black Forest, etc.

* Other areas

* Araucania: Amazon Basin

* Aznan: Sub-Saharan Africa

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* We're still getting new listeners!

* Sidebar about "jumping into the middle"

* Continued sidebar about James Gunn's Superman

* Mailbag!

* Email from Eli: Ideas and inspiration for seaborne adventures?

* Sidebar about campaign theme: Scavenger Hunt

* Email from Scott: Recommended reading order for Earthdawn novels?

* Email from Tim: Highland trolls outside Twilight Peaks?

* Forgot to mention trolls from Kaer Otosk in southeast Barsaive

* Email from Magic Octopus: Authors of Blades?

* Our experience with running any of the adventures?

* Another Email from Scott: More about Blades

* Timing of learning about the curse?

* What if they decide to discard the titular Blades because they're cursed?

* Email from Patrick: Why weave a thread to the cursed Blades?

* Sidebar about Josh's love of putting PCs he is playing in difficult situations.

* Email from Robert: Callback to episode 51 and making game "less corny"

* Attribute values and whether they make an actual difference in play.

* Different ways to offer options and make mechanical choices "matter" in RPGs.

* Some game design philosophy and examining assumptions

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Blades in Depth: Bond Breaker

* Lou P. responds to previous Blades episode

* Origin of the interludes.

* Concerns among the writers about the curse.

* Short adventure

* Written by Robin Laws

* Interlude One: Secret of the Runes

* Open-ended, lays groundwork to kick the story into motion.

* Clearly provides what they need to learn and how they can learn it.

* Good use of higher skill test results for additional detail/insight.

* Handy NPC to provide key info if necessary.

* Designed for Journeyman-tier characters.

* Goal: To find Gnanagh to get key information.

* Discussion of notable NPCs and their stats.

* Copper Cauldron and the Wedding Feast

* Early focus on role-playing and interacting with the orks

* First meeting with Gnanagh and activating the curse.

* The assassination attempt on Moschtug and its aftermath.

* Pursuing the Righteous Vipers and Gnanagh.

* The fortress and navigating the conflict.

* Learning the Key Knowledge... and the curse.

* Open-ended resolution, classic Robin Laws structure.

* Solid adventure, but not an introduction to Earthdawn.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Sky Point and Vivane Boxed Set

* Josh and Dan's experience (or lack thereof) with the set

* FASA's history with boxed sets

* Overview of the box's contents

* Publication history context

* Not capturing attention or focus

* Barsaive vs Vivane as a region

* Dan's misconceptions

* Sidebar about Earthdawn art

* Vivane "province"?

* Writers for the set

* Overview of locations

* Smaller geographical area but still much open area for GMs to develop

* Perspective on Cara Fahd in the set

* Cara Fahd and Theran slavery

* Connection to Blades collection

* Hildingrist Crest and magical weirdness

* Perspective on Landis

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcast

Find and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchant

Get product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.com

FASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesinc

Official Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawn

FASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9u

Earthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW