FASA Games, Inc.

I played Earthdawn as a kid. I have every first edition book that FASA came out with and they were right at the brink or the Second Theran War with Prelude to War. So I know Earthdawn 4th edition will take place 5 years after the Second Theran war. I never played or read any of the 2nd, 3rd or Classic editions of the game. Were there any time lapses or significant story events in any of those editions? Is FASA picking up where they left off with 1st edition or are they making all the books Living Room Games and Redbrick printed canon also?

Welcome to the forum! The second edition by living room games furthered the meta plot. They had Barsaive at War and Barsaive in Chaos. Third edition rolled that back.

Fourth Edition sounds like it may cherry pick a few things from those books, but for the most part pretend they never happened. Hope that helps!

These details were teased in the rpg.net IRC chat Q&A (link's around here somewhere). I'll try to find the bullet points from there.

Yeah I'm pretty sure I read the irc chat. That was the one with josh Harrison answering questions? The link is one the kick starter page if it's the same one. Josh mentioned that it would be 5 years after war and that some things would be different in the new timeline, like The status of Vivane. But I wasn't sure if that was because it was 5 years after the 2nd Tehran war or because they were rewriting history. Thanks for your help guys. I had the idea they were rewriting then I read the chat log and was unsure. I want to start a new campaign, and want my story to flow into the 4th edition story.

To answer the question, ED1 and ED3 are considered "canon" for ED4. The events of the Second Theran War will bear some similarity to the supplement Barsaive at War that was put out for ED2, but that is because the starting conditions for both are the same, and will use the rough outline of the War for inspiration.

Some things will change -- as I mentioned elsewhere, Vivane is not going to be a ruined city of the undead. Also, the destruction of Vivane with Stormhead is not going to be accidental. The Great Dragons knew exactly what they were doing.

Yeah, that particular detail was always something that struck me as wrong. (I even said as much in my review of Barsaive at War way back when.) You mean to tell me that these powerful creatures from the previous magical age, who may have forgotten more about magic than your typical Wizard will learn in his lifetime, made a mistake with their ritual? That they miscalculated? Really?

And don't forget, dragons are generally presented as being above the concerns of the "lesser" races -- Mountainshadow and Vasdenjas are noted as being the exceptions. Even Icewing, who occasionally entertains visitors, has a vengeful streak a mile wide (remember what he did to Hefera?) The Outcast cares about his progeny (for certain definitions of caring), but doesn't give two figs about the rest. The destruction of Vivane and the loss of life that resulted were, for the most part, a tally on a balance sheet. The opportunity to win the latest hand in their ages-long struggle against their wayward children, and remind them just who they were dealing with...

Let's just say that "Never deal with a dragon" has been an expression for a very long time, and for very good reason.

Yeah, I think Usun introduced ketchup to Barsaive just so people would use that.