Earthdawn Companion?

Discussion on the Earthdawn game line, errata, and feedback not related to playing or GMing.
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Marzhin
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Marzhin » Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:59 pm

Geekabilly wrote:
Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:08 pm
I don't think there's enough going on in the Jomon to really draw an awful lot of inspiration from, they were basically just a hunter-gatherer society I don't think they stand out a lot from other prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
Not when there's mythical Yamatai, the Yamato kingdom, Kami myths, the Uji clan structure etc not to mention all that good stuff you could pull out of the Kojiki & Nihongi. Add a big helping of Great Dragons and you've got a good start on an Earthdawn take on Japan. Beats samurai and feuding daimyo in my opinion.
That's why I specified aesthetic inspiration. I can totally picture a Jômon-inspired Ji'poh character drawn by Jeff Laubenstein... :D
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Slimcreeper
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Slimcreeper » Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:23 pm

Jomon pottery is really cool.

Bonhumm
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Bonhumm » Wed Mar 07, 2018 12:35 am

Image
T'skrang wearing Obsidiman Skin Armor. Ji'pon, late 4th Age.

Geekabilly
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Geekabilly » Wed Mar 07, 2018 8:27 am

Marzhin wrote:
Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:59 pm
Geekabilly wrote:
Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:08 pm
I don't think there's enough going on in the Jomon to really draw an awful lot of inspiration from, they were basically just a hunter-gatherer society I don't think they stand out a lot from other prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
Not when there's mythical Yamatai, the Yamato kingdom, Kami myths, the Uji clan structure etc not to mention all that good stuff you could pull out of the Kojiki & Nihongi. Add a big helping of Great Dragons and you've got a good start on an Earthdawn take on Japan. Beats samurai and feuding daimyo in my opinion.
That's why I specified aesthetic inspiration. I can totally picture a Jômon-inspired Ji'poh character drawn by Jeff Laubenstein... :D
Oh yeah! That would be kick ass, I see what you mean :)

Geekabilly
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Geekabilly » Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:33 pm

Bonhumm wrote:
Wed Mar 07, 2018 12:35 am
Image
T'skrang wearing Obsidiman Skin Armor. Ji'pon, late 4th Age.
:lol:

BRW
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by BRW » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:24 pm

By the very human nature forums are more inclined to complain than to give positive feedback, even if the audience's reception is generally warm.

So let me just write that I am absolutely pleased with the idea of skill use for talent knacks. Actually, for some time I was considering asking on this forum whether "Skill Knacks" are valid homebrew option.

Panda
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Panda » Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:05 pm

BRW wrote:
Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:24 pm
So let me just write that I am absolutely pleased with the idea of skill use for talent knacks. Actually, for some time I was considering asking on this forum whether "Skill Knacks" are valid homebrew option.
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you very much.

This notable change was part of an early design shift to address a few different topics at once, but there are two major facets. First, it allowed some abilities which were a little too narrow as talents to live on in another form (knacks), but also still be available to everyone. If there's a talent missing in the 4E Player's Guide which seems curious, that's probably its fate.

By virtue of the nature of things, the world expands and there are cool new ideas. Which means new skills and previously new talents. However, this leaves older material in the dust because it was written before these things existed in the rules, but surely they existed in the setting. This was a notable problem because altering talent lists was in the realm of specializations and things quickly got messy. By introducing the new ability as a knack accessible as a skill, the appropriate Disciplines can get access to it and it exists in the setting. Tying this back to the first point, this means some skills can be introduced which aren't really worth being talents, but certainly have value as an easily accessible knack.

A comparatively minor, but still important point to this is it also means entire subsystems can be generated without fundamentally changing the structure of a Discipline. For example, this would be an easy way to introduce abilities necessary for mass combat which don't currently exist.

Hopefully this has been at least an interesting peek behind the curtain regarding one of the new frameworks we're putting in place to make introducing new material easier.

Best regards,

Morgan

TheOracle
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by TheOracle » Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:20 am

I must admit that I haven't been as hyped for a rulebook as I am currently for the compendium for a long time. :D

utsukushi
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by utsukushi » Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:44 am

Geekabilly wrote:
Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:08 pm
Not when there's mythical Yamatai, the Yamato kingdom, Kami myths, the Uji clan structure etc not to mention all that good stuff you could pull out of the Kojiki & Nihongi. Add a big helping of Great Dragons and you've got a good start on an Earthdawn take on Japan. Beats samurai and feuding daimyo in my opinion.
I just wanted to say that sounds awesome. You should send in a proposal or something - apparently those can sometimes turn into actual things.

I'm not a particularly astute student of Japanese history, but I have long suspected they might have had more than one era. I'd love to see something that hasn't already been done sixty times.

Tattered Rags
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Re: Earthdawn Companion?

Post by Tattered Rags » Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:08 pm

Not being exceedingly familiar with the game, that all reminds me of Legend of the Five Rings.
Adventure I'm running:
Under the Stars

Adventure GM post-mortem:
Under the Stars Postmortem

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