RedBrick Limited recently released the Earthdawn Player’s Guide, 3rd Edition. The original Earthdawn, also known as Earthdawn Classic, was produced by FASA in 1993. Players of the original version of Earthdawn will recognize many similarities in the game system, game world, and artwork between Classic Edition and 3rd Edition. You can read my preview of Earthdawn 3rd Edition for a better understanding of the game world and history.

I played the FASA edition of Earthdawn extensively when it came out. Living Room Games did produce a second edition of the game, but I never played that version (unfortunately, neither did many other roleplayers). So I will be comparing the new 3rd Edition to Earthdawn Classic as well as describing what it has to offer for new roleplayers.

Game Concepts
Veteran Earthdawn players will recognize that the 3rd Edition rules system has not changed drastically from the original edition of the game. There are slight mechanical changes throughout the rules system, but for the most part the game remains relatively recognizable to the first edition.

One example of a small change that I noticed upon examining the rules system was a modification in the Step/Action Dice Table. This table only uses D6, D8, D10, and D12 now. In previous editions, it also used D4 and D20 dice. Statistically, the averages still work out to be the same.

Small changes, such as the one listed above, can been seen throughout the book in every facet of the rules system. Overall, it seems like the majority of the rules modifications were done in the spirit of balancing, speeding up and modernizing the system. There aren’t too many complete overhauls to any parts of the system. Most of the changes are smaller modifications to make things more balanced or in line with other parts of the game.

Characters – Namegiver Races and Disciplines
The namegiver races and disciplines will be extremely familiar to players and game masters that know the Earthdawn setting. In fact, they may be a little too familiar for veteran Earthdawn players. The races that can be chosen for player characters are the exact in 3rd Edition as they were in the original Earthdawn books. These races include: Dwarfs, Elves, Humans, Obsidimen, Orks, Trolls, T’skrang, and Windlings.

The disciplines are also the exact same that were included in the original edition of Earthdawn and follow-up supplements. These disciplines include: Air Sailor, Archer, Beastmaster, Cavalryman, Elementalist, Illusionist, Nethermancer, Scout, Sky Raider, Swordmaster, Thief, Troubadour, Warrior, Weaponsmith, and Wizard. Personally, I would have liked to see more Disciplines added into the game. Perhaps this will be addressed in future supplements provided by RedBrick Limited.

Character creation and advancement has slightly changed in the 3rd Edition. The Earthdawn Player’s Guide includes information for each Discipline up to the eighth circle. Attributes and skills have slightly changed, but for the most part remain very similar to Earthdawn Classic. Karma had one of the more drastic changes. Every character gets a D6, instead of it being different for each race. The maximum Karma for each character is no longer based off race either.

Magic – Thread Magic, Blood Magic, Spells, and Summoning
The fundamentals of casting spells, using thread magic, blood magic, and summoning didn’t change drastically in this edition, but they did change. One of the most notable changes is the modification to the Willforce talent. They have now added 1 point of strain to the use of the talent, which most players on the Earthdawn boards are considering a slight ‘nerf’ to the classes that use Willforce (spellcasters).

The flavor of magic and magic items still is the same though. All disciplines use magic in some shape or form. Spellcasters use Spell Matrixes and Thread Weaving to cast their spells. Magic items are still extremely unique, requiring time and effort to coax the magical abilities out of them.

Combat
Combat has been changed in several ways to make it more user-friendly on a hex map. I believe these changes are to bring the game in line with more modern roleplaying games that are heavily influenced by hex/grid map combat. I think this is a change for the good, as this type of combat and the mechanics involved will be more familiar to newer roleplayers and just flat out easier to use.

One example of a change in the combat system is with the movement rates of characters. Movement rates in the game have been drastically changed to be friendlier with playing on a hex map. Movement is determined by race; with an average movement being between five to seven hexes (Windlings can fly eight hexes). I think this is a welcomed change from the first edition, due to the fact that movement rates used to be very high and difficult to deal with in combat.

The World
From what I’ve read, the setting for Earthdawn hasn’t changed much in this edition. The game is still set in a fantasy world similar to that of Dungeons & Dragons. A primary focus of the game is the magical destruction that the world has endured through and the rise of the Horrors. There is a decent amount of world information in the Earthdawn Player’s Guide. However, I think they reserved the majority of the world and setting information for the Earthdawn Gamemaster’s Guide and subsequent books.

Overall
If you have played the earlier editions of Earthdawn and are considering buying the Earthdawn Player’s Guide, 3rd Edition, here are some things you should know. The game itself is very much the same in 3rd Edition as it was in the Classic Edition. Earthdawn 3rd Edition is not a drastic overhaul from the first edition. Instead, RedBrick Limited chose to keep the original rules and world of Earthdawn intact. Instead of making a drastic change, like Wizards of the Coast did with 3.5 to 4e, RedBrick chose to go the route that Paizo did with Pathfinder. They took the rules that they liked and refined them. This may be a big disappointment to someone looking to purchase the book if they are looking for a dramatically different game. But for those looking to keep Earthdawn that way it was, with new products coming out in the near future, this will be a good thing.

The artwork in the book is largely taken from previous Earthdawn products. I, personally, was a bit disappointed that I was looking at the same pictures that I already own in numerous other Earthdawn products that I have purchased over the years. There definitely is some newer artwork, especially towards the back of the book. In spite of re-using of artwork, Earthdawn 3rd Edition is overall a much more visually pleasing book to look at and read. It has a much better layout than previous editions and it is much easier to find what you are looking for.

If you are looking for Earthdawn with a new rules system, you will be disappointed with 3rd Edition. If you are looking for Earthdawn with a newer, refined, and more modern rules system, you will be very happy with 3rd Edition. If you are a new player to the Earthdawn world, you should be pleasantly surprised with a unique fantasy setting that includes a solid rules system that has been modified and improved over the last sixteen years.

Overall, the game is solid. The 3rd Edition rules haven’t changed too much from the original version of the game, but the quality of the book seems better than previous editions. Once RedBrick Limited has finished releasing the Player’s Guide, Gamemaster’s Guide, Player’s Companion, and Gamemaster’s Companion, hopefully they will start to bring out completely new and unique products for the world of Earthdawn. Until then, they have rebuilt and retooled what was, and still is, a good fantasy roleplaying game.