GM's Guide -- Anything you would like to see?

[Tanthalas]

I would really like to see how a 'standard' Earthdawn campaign is envisioned. One of the hardest things for me is pacing overarching plots that incorporate months of down time here and there. I think I have slowly gotten the hang of it, but a loose campaign structure or narrative arcs that incorporate this down time could be useful.

Including travel times in various terrains and weather patterns for various regions would also be very helpful. There was talk of color plates, I would love to see nice drawing of key locales, cities, and monsters (though monsters is way down on my list).

The art of crafting and purchasing on the black market sound more like a 'companion' thing for me. I have many thoughts as to what should go into that book, but that isn't the question yet!

[Lys]

I would very much like to see an solid description of how the probability works under the step system. The 3e Player's Guide covered the basics briefly, and that's probably enough for that book, but something a bit more detailed would be really nice for the GM's Guide.

[Slimcreeper]

I agree with the post about costs and availability healing/potions/herbs etc. I don't get the justification for leaving all of that vague.

[Utsukushi]

[Panda]

That would be Josh (the Line Developer) and his site.

[kosmit]

I would like to see more on architecture. Some basic floorplans (not necessarily with grid) of houses, taverns, villages etc. More info about population, and how does average house in Throal, jerris, Urupa and so look like. Prices of houses, shops. Just some basic architecture and demographic information.

[Dougansf]

Trade is a strong component in the background of Barsaive. I'd like to see some import/export information for the various locations. Where are the best places for finding such and such resource?

Either in the city descriptions or in a merchant chart for easy access.

[Lys]

I passed this question along to my gamemaster, this is what he had to say:

"I would like expanded rules on making monsters and magic items. Maybe some discussion on Horror cults. Maybe some way of dealing with insanity. I mean Earthdawn is suppose to be a Horror Fantasy game but there are no mechanics for dealing with mental truama and such. Also more social encounter stuff would be good. As well as some discussion on how to set up Kaers and traps!"

You know, I have to agree about the insanity and mental trauma stuff. Earthdawn does have some horror elements but there really isn't anything dealing with the psychological aspect of that. More social encounter stuff would also be excellent.

[Kasbak]

Ooh, the comment on traps is a good point. I have always struggled to come up with decent traps, and with limited info on them, it's hard to just drop them into a scenario without breaking flow to come up with stats. A small section similar to the weapons list would be welcome, with a chart showing cost, initiative, damage, set and disarm difficulty, and then some basic descriptions after.

[Flowswithdrek]

I'm going to third the insanity/psychological aspect of dealing with Horrors. There seems to be plenty of Horror Scarred Madmen running about, but no rules. This could add a new layer of grittiness to the game.

I thought the traps section was quite good in the rule book as it stood. However, I guess if you compressed it into a table you could squeeze some more in there. I've never had any need to price a trap before as most traps in my games are usually found in kaers and are leftovers from the scourge.