I am returning to gamemastering Earthdawn after twenty years. I ran a few Earthdawn campaigns in the '93-'97 timeframe but haven't touched it since. I've been trying to get caught up on all the material that came out after I stopped collecting and I find that I have a wide range of possibilities regarding the theme and setting of my nascent campaign. I am writing here to seek some advice. Here's what I've got so far:
- PCs are crew of an airship
- said airship and her crew are agents of the Theran Empire
- In a period of growing unrest following Theran defeat at Sky Point, the Therans need teams of highly mobile troubleshooters
- The PCs are one such team, traveling with a cover story as an independent airship but also a magical seal of authority, should the need arise to present credentials to local Theran authorities.
The reason I'm going to a Theran agent game is that once we'd decided, as a group, that we wanted to do an airship crew, it didn't really make any sense to do a Barsaive-only game. When the PCs can travel hundreds of miles per day, you kind of have to broaden the scope of the game world.
I also intend to include the moral and ethical ambiguity around being agents of Thera. I picture it as no different than if I were to run a game in historical Rome. I'm going to dial back the mustache-twirling villainy that the Barsaive-centric voice of the published game material highlights, but I'm not going to turn them into a force for good in the world either.
Anyway, I'd welcome thoughts regarding the feasibility of this campaign concept and any guidance regarding sources I may have missed that could help me.