Earthdawn Survival Guide

* LIVE from FreedoniaCon 2023!

* Where are our attendees from?

* Earthdawn news from the con

* Deeper Secrets is next book in the Kickstarter queue

* An upcoming official Earthdawn Wiki

* Thirtieth Anniversary – new omnibus editions for the J’role trilogy and the “lost novels”

* Email from Polythemus: Returning to Earthdawn!

* Questions about player character deaths in the game and social mechanics.

* Email from K Scott: Fourth edition has lasted longer than first!

* Question about casting from your own grimoire “in the field”

* Email from Ian: Mainlined the whole backlog in 3 months!

* New to Earthdawn and introduced his group.

* Audiobooks? (It’s an idea, but nothing locked down yet.)

* Favorite moments in Earthdawn or other games?

* In an audiobook who would voice who?

* Email from Evan: How much info to reveal to players in combat (target numbers, number of successes, etc.)

* Playing fair as a GM so that players can make informed decisions.

* Chat question from K Scott: Can we trust the info provided about Nebis’s appearances listed in the Horrors book?

* Chat question from Jason: Exploring other Theran provinces?

* Only one currently in development is Arancia.

* Chat question from K Scott: Does the physical size of Parlainth make sense?

* Comparisons with areas of other cities.

* Chat question: Anything planned for the Therans in Barsaive?

* Chat question from British Joel: Population loss because of the Scourge?

* Chat question from Brendan: Troll moots and raiding culture during the Scourge?

* Chat question from Jason: Earthdawn mugs (or other merchandise)?

* Wrapping up. Value of the podcast for both Dan and Josh. Thanks from the chat.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

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

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

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

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

* FreedoniaCon this coming weekend! (Feb 17-19, 2023)

* Update on the Wizards of the Coast/OGL situation.

* Horrors in depth…

* Nebis

* Only recorded appearances after the Scourge, but many of them.

* Questions about connection to existing living legend cults or other secret societies.

* Not overly powerful physically.

* Dual-natured Horror, defeating the physical form is only the beginning.

* After being defeated, marks the adepts and infiltrates their dreams.

* Manipulates them to trust the visions, getting his hooks deeper into them.

* Tattoo Claim: Adepts wake up with marks on parts of their body.

* Learn of a ritual to cleanse themselves, but it forms a new body for Nebis.

* Great end to the Horror’s entry in the book. Nebis Nebis NEBIS.

* Introduce early in a campaign, followed with a slow burn.

* Standard cautions about messing with player characters.

* Bone Crown the Usurper

* Appears as a Namegiver, solves a problem, impresses onlookers.

* Loves being flattered

* Hates mirrors – connection to classic folklore

* Will often have multiple personae that lead different factions it pits against each other.

* Very socially potent Horror, Aura of Awe, significant illusion powers.

* Karma Step is based on how many followers it has. More followers = more powerful.

* Grand schemer and mastermind rather than a personal Horror.

* Likes infiltrating larger communities because of the number of potential followers.

* Defeated by being unmasked and unraveling his machinations.

* Moral dilemma of dealing with its followers/victims.

* Connection with the destruction of Parlainth.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

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

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

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

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

* Live episode of the EDSG at FreedoniaCon on February 19!

* Central Twilight Peaks

* Highest slopes and roughest terrain of the range.

* Skytoucher Mountain, legendary home of the first trollmoot.

* Destination of the Behemoth in the Battle of Sky Point

* Ruins of Ustrect

* Twilight Tower, Order of Silver Twilight

* Blackheart Liferock

* Ironmonger Moot – Northern portion of the central Twilight Peaks.

* Founded after the Scourge.

* Refugees and descendants of trolls from Ustrect.

* Strongly against the idea of reclaiming Ustrect or delving into its ruins.

* Raisers of Ustrect, living legend cult devoted to resurrecting the lost troll kingdom.

* Traditional Earthdawn story hooks with the Horror Ago’astia infiltrating the cult

* Moot tries to stay out of Crystal Raider politics

* Loose agreement with the Thundersky moot about the Grey Forest

* Moot size and raiding territory.

* Thundersky Moot – Descended from the Skytoucher Moot, led by an escaped slave.

* Once the richest, most powerful moot.

* Fallen on hard times because of the Theran assault, many captured.

* Most strongly anti-Theran moot.

* In addition to raiding, also mine and trade. Do not raid other moots.

* Hopes to ally with the other moots to strike back at Thera (prior to Second War).

* Broken Chains – cult dedicated to Lochost and the end of slavery in all forms.

* Trade ore to Ironmongers.

* Strong tactical fighters and raiders, best navigators, and sailors in the Twilight Peaks.

* Most stereotypical trollmoot.

* Moot size and raiding territory.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

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

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

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

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

* Email from British Joel

* Pick Pocket vs Fast Hand

* New Discipline variants? Paths?

* Love for 1879?

* High Circle play?

* Content Ideas: Compare/Contrast between Disciplines? Quests around magic items?

* Favorite Thread Item? Nioku’s Bow?

* Favorite unanswered mystery?

* Email from Jonathan

* Madness or sanity rules?

* Email from Tanner

* Accessibility options for digital editions?

* Horrors in depth: Joie

* Targets isolated communities, infiltrating as a wandering minstrel or the like.

* Makes itself welcome and tries to appear as a good omen or blessing.

* Unique power: Pervert Emotion

* Slow, insidious sense of things being wrong for those not affected.

* Pop culture references: Bradbury and King

* Good mid-tier campaign opponent.

* For long-term plots, PCs can come across the aftermath of its predations.

* Moral quandry of dealing with the Joie’s victims when they try and protect the Horror.

* Natural form and its unnaturally wide grin.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

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

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

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

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

* More Crystal Raiders

* Geographic overview of the Eastern Twilight Peaks

* Mount An’grak

* Stoneclaw Moot

* Adopted several dwarf clans during the Scourge; mining companies that worked the mountains.

* Strongest kaers of all the trollmoots.

* Seen as best option for Throal to establish initial diplomatic relations.

* Stoneclaw chief: Kerththale Farseer Stoneclaws

* Progressive and forward thinking.

* Josh muses on present-day status and development of the Stoneclaws.

* Swiftwind Moot

* Most talented shipwrights and crystalsmiths.

* Legend says one of their founders brought the secrets of the drakkars.

* Partly responsible for triggering the Orichalcum Wars.

* Near the Gray Forest, main source of lumber and True Wood in the Twilight Peaks.

* Conflict with the Ironmonger and Thundersky moots over the forest.

* Chief Ner’ral Skybolt Swiftwind

* Very young, unmarried, hot-headed but willing to listen to advisors.

* Musing on the present-day status of the Swiftwind moot.

* Ulig Stoneshaper: Finest crystalsmith in the moot. Spends lots of time around Mount An’grak.

* Dreams of a crystal that would serve as the foundation of her masterwork (and related story hooks).

* Sk’lag Prowjumper: Master shipwright.

* Either could serve as highly desired mentors for smiths or enchanters interested in airships.

* Trollmoots as allies or antagonists.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

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

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

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

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

* Bonus points to those who catch the reference in the episode name!

* A brief, pre-show message from Josh.

* Email from SaintBlissed: Promise oath in astral space?

* Not clear on what the question is, but oaths don’t work differently in astral space.

* Spirits, spellcasting, and raw magic, with a cut-in from future Josh.

* Questions about the -other- Everliving Flower?

* Email from Scott: I’m caught up… what now?

* Question: Interactive Barsaive map?

* Josh teases there will be an announcement at FreedoniaCon 2023.

* Wizards of the Coast and the OGL.

* Josh’s gaming bona fides

* Historical overview, the change from TSR to WotC

* Context of the OGL and changes over the years.

* D&D Fourth Edition, the GSL, and rise of Pathfinder.

* D&D 5e, the rise of streaming and online content.

* Present day: The current ecosystem and OneD&D.

* Leak of the OGL 1.1 and the subsequent discourse.

* Josh gives his opinions on WotC’s decision.

* Lots of uncertainty and strong feelings, watershed moment in the industry.

* Earthdawn and the OGL.

* Call for empathy and understanding.

* Irrevocable damage to the D&D brand.

* Josh takes another 10 minutes to wrap up and land the plane.

* Be kind!

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

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

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

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

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

* Our Horrors series continues with Named Horrors.

* Ristul

* Narrator Cymric and the novel Prophecy.

* More esoteric: no body, mind, or specific entity -- corruption itself.

* Most Lovecraftian, cosmic horror styled Horror.

* Implacable – nothing concrete to defeat. Might exist as long as magic and corruption exists.

* Subsumes minds and personalities of those it infects.

* Event Horizon

* “What Ristul corrupts, Ristul absorbs.”

* Manifestations of Ristul: Nightwists and Ristular

* Very few game statistics in Horrors book: Spellcasting, Mystic Armor, some Horror powers.

* You don’t defeat Ristul, you survive or escape it.

* Stories involving Ristul: Disrupting Horror cults and their machinations.

* Kaer Otosk, Aras Nehem, and the Mad Passions.

* Other inspirations: The Ring, The Wicker Man, Midsommar

* Tone for Ristul-related stories likely to be more traditional horror-genre rather than dark fantasy adventure.

* Taint

* Pictured on the cover of the original Horrors book.

* Essay by Vasdenjas.

* Taints and corrupts the magic used by adepts.

* Gradual, subtle, and by the time you realize you’ve been affected it’s too late.

* Purely astral Horror, very good at manipulating and hiding in corrupted space.

* Loves magicians – their use of magic gives Taint more opportunities to get its hooks in its prey.

* Must make multiple tests to successfully mark the target, but once marked it can manipulate the target’s use of magic.

* As an astral Horror, very difficult to deal with.

* Very patient – once spent 20 years working its way into a kaer.

* Manipulate Magic: Taint’s unique ability.

* If you are marked, it can turn your magical ability against you or your allies, making it even harder to fight.

* Feeds on the helplessness and self-doubt that comes about from knowing you can’t trust your abilities.

* Well suited as a long-term adversary for player characters.

* Caution and advice for gamemasters using Taint.

* More personal and direct a foe than Ristul.

* Sidebar about Josh’s thoughts on Blades related to players being cursed/affected by a Horror.

* Its astral nature and magic manipulation abilities make it tougher than its numbers might indicate.

* Suggestion as a foe for more experienced characters who might have seen it all.

* Ristul and Taint are good examples of Horrors as more than physically powerful monsters.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

Dan on Twitter: @boice_voice

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

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

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

Earthdawn Guild Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/earthdawnguild

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

* Happy New Year!

* Email from Brendan: Karma as a payment for spirit services?

* Horrors using Karma?

* Horror knowledge of organizations, nations, and politics of Barsaive?

* Horror knowledge and opinions on Horror Stalkers?

* Email from Nicholas: FreedoniaCon in 2023? (Yes, February 17-19)

* Status of Legends of Earthdawn podcast?

* T’skrang racial mount for Cavalryman?

* Limits of permanent threads?

* Email from Brian: Idea about pacing, advancement, and thread items.

* Revisiting highland troll culture.

* While there are many common cultural traits among highland trolls, there is some variety among the moots as well.

* Moots, Clans, and line marriage.

* The origins of the cultural tradition of raiding and strength.

* Troll honor: personal, clan, and racial.

* Praise for the Crystal Raiders book.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

Dan on Twitter: @boice_voice

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

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

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

Earthdawn Guild Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/earthdawnguild

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

* Wrapping up the Serpent River series.

* House Henghyoke: House of the River Otter

* Mysterious pirate federation.

* All members wear a platinum torc around their necks and go mad or catatonic if it is removed.

* Shivalahala is rumored to be a powerful Illusionist

* Silent. They do not cry out, even in pain.

* Ignore the Free Trade Compact and traditional baksheva rules.

* Josh hints at the secret behind the House but does not want to spoil it.

* Geographic recap of the Serpent River system.

* North Reach.

* Glenwood Deep, Sherwood Forest-like base of resistance against the Denairastas.

* Largest population of windlings in Barsaive.

* Scol Mountains: the Firescale Moot, dracoforms, and the Outcast

* Mothingale Rivers in Blood Wood.

* Mid-Reach.

* Valley between the Throal and Caucavic Mountains.

* Tansiarda: Dwarfs trying to build a bridge across the Serpent.

* Sidebar about bridges across the Mississippi

* Denlikyan: One of the finest shipyards in Barsaive.

* Currently independent, likely associated with Syrtis before the Scourge.

* Lake Pyros: many elf settlements, t’skrang village ruins along the shores.

* Servos River network and Servos Jungle: dominates central Barsaive.

* Inspirations for the jungle.

* Velos: Giant, predatory t’skrang.

* Primitive t’skrang villages and Cathan tribesmen.

* K’tenshin and Travar agriculture and plantations, conflict with indigenous locals.

* Portage: Community near the confluence of the Byrose and Tylon Rivers on the Serpent

* Trosk: Base of operations for questors of Jaspree studying the Badlands.

* Mist Swamps: Great Dragon Aban and the Hand of Corruption.

* Aras Coast: Largely uninhabited.

* Kaer Otosk and the Abyss of Aras Nehem.

* Islands in the Aras Sea: Horror cults, “fallen” communities of cave trolls and the like.

* Axalalail: T’skrang and windling village, built in the trees with platforms, bridges, and rope swings.

* Project to build amphitheaters along the southern Coil River.

* Pilgrimage Route

* Ayodhya and the Old Man of the Nets

* Liaj River and the western rivers not part of the Serpent River system.

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

Dan on Twitter: @boice_voice

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

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

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

Earthdawn Guild Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/earthdawnguild

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

* Catching up on the mail bag backlog!

* YouTube comment from Digital Hermit: Updating old adventures more efficient than writing new ones?

* Revisiting the idea of mundane creature stat blocks and NPCs in an e-supplement.

* Email from Lars: Real-world parallel to dread iota – Toxoplasma in wolves

* Referenced Nature article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03836-9

* Named Elementals?

* Email from Jean-Baptiste: Pacing in Earthdawn adventures and campaigns.

* Balancing downtime, story momentum, and thread item side quests.

* Specificity and off-label uses of spells and talents?

* Similar effects spread across multiple talents (Example: Pick Pockets and Fast Hand)

* Follow-up from Jean-Baptiste: Meme about the balancing act a gamemaster faces.

* Josh sidebars about game balance.

* Email from Tim: More focus and support for Names as a feature in a campaign?

* Unweaving permanent threads?

Find and Follow:

Email: [email protected]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoifzUuBjez9V6wnvzom3g

Twitter: @EDSGPodcast

Josh on Twitter: @LoreMerchant

Dan on Twitter: @boice_voice

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

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

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

Earthdawn Guild Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/earthdawnguild

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