Monday, June 27, 2011

Plotting a Return to the Age of Legend

I'm sitting here at my cube on lunch, finishing my meal, and flipping through my old 1st edition, well loved, spine split and peeling, corners rubbed to near nothing copy of Earthdawn (by FASA!). 

I haven't picked up this book in over fifteen years.

Why am I picking it up now?  because some crazy-ass friends of mine picked up on the fact that while I love running Star Wars SAGA edition, I'm hankering for a different flavor to supplement my favorite sci-fi game.  Their argument was that back in college I ran a MEAN Earthdawn* game, and my friends who still love the system and it's latest incarnations wonder what I could do with an Earthdawn game.  With my current capabilities and experience in running scores of enjoyable campaigns, they tempted me to see how it woudl go. 

Now, I'd successfully held off their advances and pressure for several years now.  Not sure why, because really the system was solid.  Maybe it was because I did play Earthdawn a lot back in the day.  I had three campaigns going; Fitchburg State College Prime, the Keene Game, and Fitchburg State College Two (after Prime went away).  I played the hell out of that game, and it was my main game until D20 rolled out with D&D 3rd Edition, and OCR Star Wars.  From there on, WotC was my master, and they got my money.

The fact that FASA folded didn't help either.  I was in a very "No company support, not interested in the game" mentality, and when Living Room Games took over the franchise I didn't want to "start over". 

But now it's been over fifteen years.  I've learned a lot, and I've really refined my style of storytelling and gamemastering.  Is it time to return to the land of Barsaive?  A time of Adepts, and Dragons, and the Horrors of the Scourge?

Maybe it is.

* As a funny side note, thanks to the bombardment of Cialis and Viagra commercials in recent years I can no longer abbreviate Earthdawn to "ED".  Damn you, Pfizer!  Damn you!

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