Advice for a new player/gm

[Neferkem]

I am new to the world of Earthdawn and was wondering what advice would you give to a new player/gm? Like what is the best way to learn the game? What are some of the most common pitfalls and high points of the system? Years ago a friend got part way through character generation trying to learn the system and gave up and never played.

[Kasbak]

First of all, welcome to the fold.

I would say one of the biggest high points for the system is also one that trips up most newcomers; the Step System. Most players are used to other systems that modify the end die result. Here, you change the Step which then modifies the actual dice being rolled. It takes a bit of getting used to thinking in terms of what your modified Step is rather than just what your modifiers are. However, once you can get past that hurdle, you'll see the great assests of the system. Most immediately obvious are the chances for roll ups when you max the die. Having a system that is open ended also gives you a LOT more possible results, a lot more room for description, and it generally makes your dice rolling more interesting. If you're a math nerd, you'll also see just how mathematically beautiful it is.

Next biggest high point that I see is the world building and immersiveness of the game. Most of the writings are things your character could actually find and read, and most of the terminology is actually used in character. It makes it a lot easier to keep in character playing your role when your character can talk about needing to meditate on a Talent so that they can go up Circle rather than having to shatter the immersion and talk about needing more XP so you can level up.

As far as advice, I would just say to make sure you are looking for a game more heavily influenced by that role play and immersion, and to do the necessary reading so that you can be well versed in the game world's lore. As long as that is the kind of game you want to play, Earthdawn has a LOT to offer. If you're just looking for a quick combat simulator for a more kick-in-the-door style of game, Earthdawn can still work that way, but you're missing out on a lot of what the game world has to offer (and you'll probably just find the setting info cumbersome anyway).

[Neferkem]

One of the things I am having trouble wrapping my brain around is thread magic and spell magic (spell matrix) both seem overly complex. What help/advice for that?

[Razan_GM]

Read a lot of books, train your brain.

Spell matrix = spells you can cast safe way. Raw magic casting can be deadly (but you can cast any spell you know). Its all in in the game world's lore.

Thread magic (again) its all in in the game world's lore.

First read history of Barsaive, and Thread magic chapter, then you will know its not "overly complex".

If you have some questions about how it works ask them. But first read rules and fluff, and then ask questions.

[Panda]

Spellcasting is, in general, the most complex sub-system in the game, so any confusion is understandable. Like many things, it makes sense when you see it in action, but until then it is very tied into the metaphysics of the setting. To help with this, let's just look at the mechanics and ignore some of the more complex aspects of how they interact with the setting and minor mechanical details which are not necessary for "everyday" use. This will all be specific to fourth edition, though I will try to note the places where these differ

There are four fundamental pieces to spellcasting in Earthdawn: the Spellcasting talent, the appropriate Thread Weaving talent (e.g. Elementalism, Illusionism, Nethermancy, and Wizardry), a spell matrix talent (e.g. Standard Matrix and Enhanced Matrix), and a spell.

Spell matrices hold spells and allows them to be cast (they can be cast without a spell matrix, but we will be ignoring this for now as it only complicates things unnecessarily). A spell matrices are generally talents, which means they have ranks. The rank denotes the maximum circle of spell which it can hold; e.g. a rank 3 Standard Matrix (referred to as a Spell Matrix prior to ED4) can hold spells up to circle 3. A spell may be freely cast from a spell matrix with no limit to the number of times per day. After 10 minutes of meditation, the spells held within a character's spell matrices may be freely switched out. Spells to not naturally leave a spell matrix until they are specifically removed. On short notice (one round), a spell may be changed in a process called "Reattuning on the Fly". We will get to this shortly

The mechanical premise behind this arrangement gives a spellcaster limited access to spells at any given instant; they must decide what spells will be on hand. However, when there is no time crunch they have free access to all of their spells. This makes their options more limited in combat (where combat characters should be the stars of the show), but very versatile and powerful outside of combat when they can bring all of their tools to bear as needed.

How the Spellcasting talent relates to spells should be fairly straight-forward: it is to spells as Melee Weapons is to swords.

As the name describes, Thread Weaving is used to weave magical threads. It is also used to Reattune on the Fly. Some more powerful spells require magical threads to be woven prior to being able to cast them. This is noted in the "Threads: #" row of a spell; e.g. a "Threads: 2" spell requires 2 threads to be woven before it can be cast. In ED4, spellcasters may weave additional threads to improve the power of a spell. The specific effects of an additional thread are selected from the options presented for each spell.

The mechanical premise behind threads is to give spellcasters access to powerful effects, but require additional time for them to take effect. This gives them the big toys common in other fantasy games without having them dominate any given conflict. Extra threads also allow them to spend more time (with a limit) to increase the power and flexibility of a given spell. Thus allowing them to adapt to a given situation and allow for spells to scale more naturally as circles increase.

The first number in the "Weaving: #/#" row is the difficulty to weave the thread. The second number is the difficulty for Reattuning on the Fly. The values are standard for each circle and are given by the formula "X/X+5". The formula given (X/X+5) and the standard values for X are only accurate for ED4. Previous editions do not have consistent difficulties for each circle, but are different for each spell.

Reattuning on the Fly involves making a Thread Weaving test against the Reattuning Difficulty (the second number). This allows for a spell to be switched in a single turn, instead of taking 10 minutes. Which means the spellcaster can gain access to a spell which they did not realize would be vital, if necessary. This costs 1 Strain to perform and if the test is failed, the original spell in the spell matrix is dumped (the spell matrix is empty), but the new spell also is not added.

Hopefully this helps clear things up somewhat. Please let me know if anything is still confusing, or if there are any specific examples you would like.

[Mataxes]

Neferkem, welcome!

I don't necessarily think that "read a bunch of stuff" is the best way to answer somebody that is having trouble with the game.

That said, perhaps you could provide a bit more context for how you are having trouble wrapping your head around those concepts? What about them seems overly complex?

Edit to add: And of course, I get ninja'd by Morgan, who provides a pretty decent overview of spellcasting.

[Neferkem]

Thank you for you explanation of spell matrixes and Thread magic. I have only read through the rules once I plan to read through them at one more time if not two.

[Slimcreeper]

I'd get a buddy to run a little mock encounter before running an actual game and test out the systems. You'll be grateful that you did.

[Kasbak]

[Mataxes]

Apparently.

Of course, my initiative does tend to suck.