Earthdawn Survival Guide

* Mailbag!

* Email from Eli: More about the winged t'skrang?

* Do t'skrang and windlings derive from human stock?

* What about their falling birthrates?

* Email from Matthew: NPC based on Dan to introduce legends?

* Email from Chris: Thanks for the show!

* Blades: Handling different PC approaches to the curse.

* Email from Nicholas: Question about Extended Pattern Spike knack

* Email from Frank: Clarification of Bleed talent knack

* Email from Bernhard: More thanks for the show from a new listener

* Wrap up musing about long-term future of the show

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* Blades: Pure Liquids

* Interlude: Last Words

* Rank 8 Key Knowledge and Deed

* Very open framing; PCs just need to get the info in some way

* Prophetic vision by the last surviving member of the Seven Spokes

* Deed: Visit site of the last battle against Betrayer by the Seven Spokes

* Adventure by Robin Laws

* Destination: Pale Ones dome below the Tylon Mountains

* Escorted by the Vodanicus family

* True Water miners, strongly disliked

* Opportunity for dark comedy; poor, hillbilly-style

* Overland trek with large rafts

* Dangerous journey; ork scorchers, underground rivers, rapids, waterfalls

* Betrayer pits the Vodanicus against each other just before encountering the Pale Ones

* Meet with the Shivalahala; she had a dream about the group's arrival

* PCs must learn a blood ritual to summon Betrayer out of the Blades

* During the week the group spends with the t'skrang, Betrayer continues to work

* Uprising against the Shivalahala led by Vodanicus

* Complete the Deed and may weave the last thread.

* Escorted by adolescent t'skrang to the ritual site

* Face the ghosts of the Seven Spokes, now under the Horror's influence

* Ghosts can only be harmed by the Blades

* Breakdown and analysis of Betrayer's game stats and combat tactics

* Play Betrayer intelligently; make it a difficult fight

* Climax of the story arc, could be a strong campaign ending

* Discussion of Karma Tap

* Closing thoughts about adventure difficulty

* Final thoughts about the overall Blades campaign

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* Blades in Depth: With an Axe in Hand

* Interlude: With a Tale to Tell

* Liferock corrupted by a Horror that resembles the way the Horror operates

* Objective: Find a Troubadour who can provide information about the liferock

* Campaign context and purpose of the interlude

* Open format -- can easily substitute with an existing NPC or change location

* Adventure written by Nicole Lindroos

* Josh talks about his acquaintance with Nicole

* Josh talks about the weirdness of being a "peer" in the RPG industry

* Reminding Dan he has also contributed to Earthdawn

* Act 1: Journey through the Tylon Foothills

* Encounters with villages on route to the liferock

* Purpose of this stage of the adventure

* Darkest adventure of the campaign

* Narrative importance of the curse and its consequences

* "The only way out is through"

* Summarize the three encounters in Act 1

* Act 2: The Corrupted Liferock

* Asmersious, the lone survivor

* Message from the Seven Spokes

* Wait for Asmersious to wake up from hibernation

* Attack by obsidiman Horror constructs

* Objective other than simply killing the PCs

* Act 3: Return Journey

* Consequences of the curse

* Reason for the tragedies and character motivation

* Pacing of the later adventures

* Take care with the dark themes, but Josh advises not overly downplaying them

* Lots of material in a relatively small space

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* 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

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* 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)?

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* 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

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* 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!

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* 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

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* 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

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* 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

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