FASA Games, Inc.

One thing that has bothered me about Earthdawn ever since Living Room Games took over until present is the lack of new setting material for the game.
It seems that we just get constant updates to the core rules books and reprints of older sourcebooks and its been something like 20 years since Earthdawn was first released.

A Kratas book was a great move but I didn't personally see a need for Cathay material when there is so much of Barsaive and the Theran Empire left to detail.
Iopos, Travar & Jerris could all benefit from city books (Especially Iopos) and then we have the Theran Provinces introduced in the Theran Empire book that haven't been expanded upon and the likes of Shosara and Sereatha that still have yet to be detailed (Although I remember reading a while ago that an Elven Kingdoms book was planned)

So with the move back to FASA will we be seeing some expanded setting or are we just getting yet another edition of the rules and reprints of the old FASA sourcebooks?

A key post to read that should help:

One of the main problems I believe that 1E suffered from was TOO much setting and ambiance (or fluff) and not enough system material and concrete rules (or crunch).

There were multiple volumes published on the various places in Barsaive, with a total of perhaps one or two handfuls of other much needed things to flesh out the world we already had. Earthdawn desperately needs an expanded weapon and equipment list, new magic items (mundane or legendary) and additional spells. You may disagree, but let's look at potions for example. We have what, ten potions in the game? The people of Earthdawn have had magic for hundreds of years, but alchemists have only ever gotten around to creating ten potions. And don't get me started on creatures (both monsters & mundane animals) or horrors. The Earthdawn RPG has been around for 20 years and all we've ever gotten was one slender book on creatures and one on Horrors.* Furthermore, those new items/horrors/etc. which did appear were scattered about like leaves on the wind. You had to have a command of every published book if you wanted to incorporate any of them into your campaign.

This created a massive vacuum which was left up to the gamemasters to fill, and even the most experienced gamemasters can be intimidated or frustrated by that. Not only do you need a good grasp on game mechanics and overall game balance, but you also need the time to dedicate to create ALL THE STUFF as well as the desire to do it - which is just as important as knowing how to do so.

I know that some of this has to do with having a limited budget. It would be difficult for a smaller gaming company to do the yearly compilations of creatures and gear (which made appearances in the plethora of modules or other publications released that year) like WOTC and Paizo. Still, I feel that this has long been a missed, overlooked, or ignored opportunity, and one of the main reasons that Earthdawn never quite caught on. The writers of Earthdawn were too busy trying to describe the world to us that they didn't take the time to fill it with the wonders they hinted at.

I really hope that 4E takes some steps towards improving this before they even consider expanding the known world.

*Yes, I know that Living Room Games tried to amend this by publishing a second Horror book, some of which was quite interesting, but that material is likely lost to the void, so I'm not including it.

I hadn't thought much about these points, but there it is. I guess I've always loved the setting and fluff so much that I didn't feel the 'stuff gap' as much as I would have otherwise. But now I will. Thanks a ton you guys!

There were all of those magical plants in . . . one of the books. I think it all found its way into the EDC.

I'd actually like to see all of the diverse items/spells/Horrors/locations from all of the 1st edition adventures compiled into a single volume. A lot of really interesting stuff popped up in those books, but it sucks having to sift through all of them trying to find them.