Kickstarter Earthdawn - 4th edition

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/783548120/earthdawn-4th-edition

Coming down the stretch, the Companion is funded, and I'm projecting that the Elven Nations book will be funded as well.

I'm really proud to be part of the team bringing a new Earthdawn back to the states under the FASA Flag. 

791

Backers

$77,283

pledged of $10,000 goal

50

hours to go

 

$2,717 to go!!!  

 that's only $4 more per backer...

 

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOOOOOOO 

It's heeeeere - Earthdawn 4e Kickstarter

Earthdawn 4th edition Kickstarter Now what's REALLY exciting for me, with my vested interest in this whole process, is of course that after less than 12 hours, the 4th edition of Earthdawn is nearly funded. It is currently at around $7800 of the $10,000 funding goal.

A classic tabletop RPG returns. Set in the Age of Legend, heroes are needed to bring hope to a damaged world. 

What Is Earthdawn?It is the Age of Legend. For hundreds of years, the Horrors ravaged the world, a time of suffering and destruction called the Scourge. People survived, hidden away in magical underground shelters called kaers. Generations lived—and died—locked away from the stars and sky behind their wards. 

The Scourge ended a hundred years ago. The survivors, blinking in the light of the sun, opened their kaers and began to rebuild. Much has been lost and forgotten, and dangers await the unwary. There are those that conspire to seize power and dominate their fellows, and some Horrors still lurk in the darker corners of the land. 

Heroes have emerged in this new world. Some fight to protect those rebuilding their lives. Others uncover mysteries and treasures lost to the past. And some bring the light of hope to those still hiding from the darkness of the Scourge.
In Earthdawn, you take on the role of these heroes.

Play a Swordmaster, whose tongue cuts as deep as his blade. Master the powers of earth, water, and fire as an Elementalist. Use the magic of story and song as a Troubadour, entertaining and inspiring.

Beastmaster. Nethermancer. Weaponsmith. What will the legends say about you?

Earthdawn Kickstarter 4e coming soon

What's that noise? Did you hear it? It's the sound of awesome happening...

Josh Harrison originally shared:
Our #kickstarter  campaign for Earthdawn 4 has been approved, and we will be launching on Monday, January 13th. I'll be taking part in a Q&A at #rpgnet (http://tinyurl.com/rpgnetchat) from 8-10pm EST, with the campaign going live during (or very soon after) the chat.

Earthdawn 4e

Can't say much because of the NDA, but I'm on the dev team for the 4th edition of Earthdawn I blogged about last week! This being due to the open call which FASA Games had put out in November. There are some very cool changes we're discussing.

Earthdawn 4e Announced

PRESS RELEASE FROM FASA GAMES

FASA Games is pleased to announce Earthdawn: Fourth Edition, coming in 2014.


For the past twenty years, Earthdawn has built a loyal fan base as an original and engrossing fantasy gaming experience. As the game enters its third decade, we are taking the opportunity to update the game, revisiting the core systems to find a balance between the game’s legacy and more recent developments in game design.


We are also taking this opportunity to advance the game’s timeline. Earthdawn: Fourth Edition will be set about five years after the end of the Second Theran War. The Therans have largely been driven from the province of Barsaive. Throal has narrowly avoided civil war and has turned inward. The Denairastas clan continue their plans to dominate the province. And the Horrors, as always, lurk in the darker places, feeding on the pain, fear, and uncertainty the war left in its wake. More than ever, the world needs heroes.


In preparation for the release of the Player’s Guide and Gamemaster’s Guide—currently slated for Summer 2014 release—plans are under way for a Kickstarter campaign in early 2014 to fund the printing and new artwork for the core books.


Development is also under way on new, original sourcebooks -- the first since 2011. Currently in the works are books about the city of Travar, a closer look at the Passions and their Questors, and the elven nations outside Barsaive.


More information about upcoming releases, the Kickstarter campaign, and teasers about some of the changes in store for Earthdawn: Fourth Edition, can be found on the Earthdawn Developer’s Blog at www.fasagames.com.


ADDITIONAL POST FROM LINE DEVELOPER

So by now you have probably seen the announcement that we are working on Earthdawn: Fourth Edition, with plans to release the core books next summer. No doubt there are a lot of questions, so let's get too it.

What about the Revised Gamemaster's Guide?

The book is not going to see print. The decision to move forward with a Fourth Edition is probably the biggest decision I had to make so far as line developer. I know that people have been waiting for this book for some time, and I am sorry to disappoint them, but let me try and lay out some of my thinking.

I don't think it is any secret that the last few years have been rocky ones for the public face of Earthdawn. Revised is tied to that history, and is pretty much Third Edition with a different skin. Fourth Edition -- hopefully -- represents a fresh start with a new hand at the helm. It doesn't make much sense to rush the Revised GM Guide to press, only to announce the new edition shortly after that. Not only would this hurt sales of the book, but I don't like the image it presents.

Honestly, I didn't find any of the options to be ideal. I believe the game needs a new edition, and I think it is better to be up front about that -- even if it does mean some disappointment and bad feelings.

What about the time jump?

This is another decision that represents a step forward. When FASA closed up shop on First Edition, Barsaive at War was in early stages of development. While Living Room Games made an effort to address it in Second Edition and advance the game's timeline, RedBrick's Earthdawn Classic rolled back the timeline to before the war, and Third Edition largely maintained this state of affairs.

One of the more common criticisms of the Earthdawn game over the past few years has been the lack of development in the setting. "The War" has been hanging over the line for a while, and Fourth Edition allows us to establish a new status quo. We may revisit the war in future products, but in Fourth Edition it has happened, allowing us to explore the consequences.

More details about how the war has affected Barsaive will be the subject of future posts here.

What can we expect from Fourth Edition?

Other than the setting changes? We're currently working on going through the rules, examining the core concepts and underlying assumptions with an eye towards what works well, what doesn't work so well, and what could simply use some polish. The core dice mechanic -- the Step System -- will remain largely unchanged, and the concepts of Disciplines, talents, thread magic, and other such fundamental game concepts will also remain.

Where we are looking to improve the game is to try and simplify some of the more complex rules, at least with regard to their explanation if not in actual execution. We're also hoping to bring a bit more attention to some of the game aspects that are important to certain character concepts, but are not very well supported by either the rules or GM advice.

There will be the inevitable revisions to individual talents, or the talent selection available to individual Disciplines. Some spells and magic items will see tweaks. All of this is being done with an eye toward helping actual play. Game balance is a nebulous thing, and is a little different for every group, but it is my hope that the books will give you a good set of tools to play Earthdawn.

As with the setting changes, I'll be going into more depth over the coming weeks.

Oh, and you can expect new art.

Hence the Kickstarter campaign?

Exactly. There was new art introduced in some of the Second and Third Edition books, but there has been a lot of recycled artwork -- along with other material -- in the line, and that is another thing that will help mark a fresh start for Earthdawn. A successful Kickstarter campaign will help cover those costs.

I've been going on for a while, but I've hit the high points. If you have questions, you can post them on our forums, or email me (josh at fasagames.com). I may not be able to go into huge detail at this stage, but I will do my best to keep up with the discussion and answer the questions I can.

FASA Games posts about 1879

So the first developer's (Andrew Ragland) post about 1879 is up on FASA Games blog.

If you've been interested in this game, check it out.

"Like any steampunk-genre game, we're using an alternate history, a timeline that diverges from our own at key points so that things go a bit differently. In 1879, Prince Albert survived the coach crash and the subsequent infections, thanks to a massive assemblage of medical and scientific expertise by a Queen determined not to lose her beloved consort. Confined to a wheelchair, Prince Albert continued pushing forward the science and technology that had saved his life, resulting in a Silver Exhibition, 25 years after the famous Crystal Exhibition."

More on their blog.

Earthdawn Appreciation Day June 14th, 2013 (Official Launch)

On June 14th we will be celebrating one of the best Role-Playing Games to ever be produced (In my opinion). How can you participate? By creating some new and fun content for Earthdawn and posting it to your blog, G+ or by emailing your submission to me at epicrpgblog@gmail.com on June 14th. Reply to this post to add your blog to the blogroll of participants. The Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day had over 100 blogs participating, I'd be happy with that many.

FASA Games, Inc has put up some prize support,
via Drivethru RPG with 100% discount vouchers. (requires valid email address)
First prize = choice of any 4 Earthdawn PDFs
Second prize = choice of any 2 Earthdawn PDFs
Third prize = choice of any 1 Earthdawn PDFs
product from the current or back-catalogs
I will have the Following Earthdawn alumni as Guest Judges, Steven Black, Andrew Ragland, and Hank Woon.

Create new original content for Earthdawn (Including Savage Worlds and Pathfinder editions). This can include, but is not limited to:
Thread Items
Adventures
Artwork

Card Games
Charts & Tables

Cities
Equipment

Horrors

Maps 

Monsters
Mundane Flora and Fauna

Namegivers
New Disciplines 

New Sections of the Map (South Africa, Antarctica, Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu, Australia, North/South America, Greenland...The Moon, Mars?)

New Settings (Using Earthdawn Rules in a new setting)
New Talents
NPCs 

System Conversions (Earthdawn Setting in different ruleset.)

I'm setting the date to June 14th, 2013. Entries should be done by midnight on the 14th, so we can use the cool new material for the Free RPG Day!!!

NOTE! All content submitted for Earthdawn Appreciation Day remains your intellectual property, I will lay no claim to your IP nor responsibility for any copyright infringement you commit. If I am informed that your entry infringes on someone else IP, the entry will be disqualified and the Link removed. No Challenge is created to the Earthdawn Intellectual properties, all IP remains the property of their respective copyright holders. All rules subject to change.

If you wish to release your work under CCNA, add a rider to your work stating that it is released under Creative Commons.

If you wish to participate, put a link to your blog in the comments of this post, I will create a separate blogroll  specifically for EAD2013. Multiple entries will be allowed, however remember, that more is not always better, entries should be really impressive, a single well written article will beat out multiple poorly written articles. Note also, that only 1 prize will be awarded per person, so even if you enter 5 amazing pieces, you can still only win 1 prize. Though the community will love it, and the Judges will see it as well. 
  

 (I'm still looking for additional sponsors as well, so if you'd like your name attached to this fun project, something as little as a $5 gift certificate prize would be a welcome addition. Contact me at the email address above.)

EDIT: If you're going to participate and just send your entry in, PLEASE still let me know so I can keep track of how many people are participating. It may help in getting additional sponsors.