[Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Discussion on the Earthdawn game line, errata, and feedback not related to playing or GMing.
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Marzhin
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[Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by Marzhin » Sun May 28, 2017 9:18 am

For people who are curious about the Japanese edition of Earthdawn, I created a page with a gallery of covers and artworks.

http://fondationdraco.fr/2017/05/28/ear ... earthdawn/

Earthdawn was published in Japan in 1997 by Media Works Inc., a subsidiary of publishing giant Kadokawa, and the translation was handled by a company named Group SNE (who also translated -- and heavily modified -- Shadowrun 2). As far as I can tell Earthdawn is a straight translation, they didn't change anything to the setting. Only the core rulebook, the Barsaive campaign setting, Shattered Pattern and Mists of Betrayal were translated (the latter with a brand new cover artwork by Shunya Yamashita), as well as the novel Talisman.

Thanks to my Japanese-reading friends, I also managed to put together a summary of the two original novels written by Megumi Tsuge and illustrated by Keita Amemiya's studio Raptors (who do a pretty good job except for the weird-looking t'skrang).

The books tell the story of the Braves of the Dawn, a group of Adepts led by a female t'skrang swordmaster named Oru-oru (other members include the obsidiman wizard Amandite, Au the ork beastmaster, Horuto the windling thief, and Growl the human nethermancer). They also rescue a young girl named Jesla who become the group's chronicler.

During their journey, they discover a mysterious magical dagger, and spend most of the novels looking for clues about the blade's past. This eventually leads them into a confrontation with a nasty Horror during the second book's climax.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
(Groucho Marx)

Slimcreeper
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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by Slimcreeper » Sun May 28, 2017 11:52 am

I dig those Japanese t'skrang.

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Marzhin
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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by Marzhin » Sun May 28, 2017 4:37 pm

Slimcreeper wrote:
Sun May 28, 2017 11:52 am
I dig those Japanese t'skrang.
Note that only the novels use this design. The cover of Mists of Betrayal has regular t'skrang.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
(Groucho Marx)

PiXeL01
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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by PiXeL01 » Sun May 28, 2017 11:35 pm

:shock:

I'm so happy the T'Skrang were not designed like that from the beginning.
The Japanese version from the novels is nauseating. Looks more like a fish than a lizard.

But each to their own

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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by Slimcreeper » Mon May 29, 2017 4:30 am

Perhaps they are intended to be filizards.

Graymayne
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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by Graymayne » Tue May 30, 2017 11:10 pm

while not my personal choice of design, considering the Galeb-Klek, Vorst, etc, it wouldn't be hard to believe that a "version" of t'skrang could have that kind of look.

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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by PiXeL01 » Tue May 30, 2017 11:38 pm

Horror marked for sure

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Re: [Curiosity] Earthdawn in Japan

Post by Marzhin » Wed May 31, 2017 10:16 am

Graymayne wrote:
Tue May 30, 2017 11:10 pm
while not my personal choice of design, considering the Galeb-Klek, Vorst, etc, it wouldn't be hard to believe that a "version" of t'skrang could have that kind of look.
I'm wondering if the artist saw the artwork of Shivoam from Denizens of Earthdawn and wrongly assumed female t'skrang had that kind of face.

Image
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
(Groucho Marx)

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