Best adventure

[LADRILLON]

Hiyas!

Sagely Ones:
Fairly new to ED: I was wondering what there to avoid , what's there as a "must buy" in adventures/campaigns (of all editions)?

I also was wondering what's the best "starting off" (totally newbie group) adventure/campaign for ED?



Thanks!
L

[galafrone]

for me, the "Must" start is always "ardanian" a kaer still "underground", that thanks to the adventurer's actions is opened once again to the world
this because it allows you to start with 1st circle adepts that dont' know too much about the "world outside" the old kaer.

after that, if you want take full advantage of the already published adventures you can go for the RB Adventure Compendium" that contain 4 very good adventures of the past 1st edition but reformatted for the RB edition (the first of the 2 RB, basically a pre-third and almost fully compatible with the 3rd edition)
in that compendium you will find 4 adventures that were set before the actual 3rd edition timeline (so you have to adjust the dates for ardanian, if you want use those 4 adventures before the world hit the fatidical 1510 (i suggest 1505-7 for ardanian).

the third edition Players guide, the gamemaster guide, the player companion and the gamemaster companion are a must (the first 2 above all)
namegivers of barsaive is another "almost must" book imho
of the others book, what can i say
you cant miss them, but you can have difficulties to find someones
depending on what kind of "base" you want give your players, the 3 that i found out the best were
Nations of Barsaive 1 (kingdom of throal)
Nations of Barsaive 2 (the serpent river)
and Kratas
the 2 shards book (8 adventures) can come handy for periods between your main campaign and are plenty of good ideas anyway
we have just NofB 3 (kingdom of cara-fahd) very nice for the ork campaign and NofB 4 the crystal raider for a troll involving campaign, that are great setting books, but you can skip them at start (you can have even troubles finding them anyway)

if, otherwise, you are more set with Pathfinder or Savage Worlds, yo can always opt for those 2 ruleset, but they arent (imho) capturing the "epic flavor" of my beloved 3Rd edition.

feel free to ask if you have other questions about what i wrote and supplements in general

[Nahor]

If you can find the RB download (when will all the downloads be back!?) or the old 1st edition version, Kaer Tardim is a great adventure tailored for 1st circle characters. Other than that, what galafrone said is perfect.

[LADRILLON]

You wrote about "REDBRICK'S ADVENTURE COMPENDIUM." This book is unknown to me, is that it's formal name?


Thanks!!
L

[Oofje]

The 'Earthdawn Adventure Compendium' is a First edition only book.

If (and i suggest you do) you go for Third edition, it would be wiser to go for the 2 Shards collections, which have been re-written for third edition.

I'm not sure if it is allowed to post links to online shops, so i won't do that here, but if you do an internet search, i'm sure you will find it (or watermarked PDF versions), along with the Player's and Gamemaster's Guides and Companions.

[Telarus_KSC]

Slight correction. The 'Earthdawn Adventure Compendium' was a Classic Edition book. It compiled the big 5 Earthdawn adventures:

- Mists of Betraqal
- Terror in the Skies
- Infected
- Shattered Pattern
- Blades

The last 3 of which were a set of interconnected story arcs. You could hunt them down individually, but the Classic PDF is still available from RB:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2 ... Compendium

[LADRILLON]

As a digression , should I pretty much stick with 3E sourcebooks or items such as the two 2ndE "Ways" books are cool to buy too?


Thanks!
L

[galafrone]

no, they arent. they were basically useful if you had the second, because you have all that stuff into the player companion book

[LADRILLON]

Hi:

Alrighty right right... gotcha, droogie. Is it safe to say all 2ndE sbs & stuff aren't essential, since the 3rdE stuff that has come out?


Thanks!
L

[Penagain]

Third Edition sort of disregards Second Edition--so it isn't that the material from LRG's 2nd Edition isn't useful, it just doesn't get referenced. There are also some mechanical differences, as happens between any editions of a game line, but those are easily overcome.

The big stumbling block is that the primarily plot-inspired or plot-driving books from ED2 (Barsaive at War (sorta ED1, sorta ED2), Barsaive in Chaos, Scourge Unending, and certain refinements in Book of Dragons) happen later in the timeline than where ED3 is currently situated.

You *could* look at those books as hints of what is to come--or you can view them as an alternate trajectory for Barsaive. What ED3 will bring to the table when the timeline progresses to the years covered in the ED2 books I mentioned is not yet revealed--but that's part of the fun!

I subscribe to the "alternate trajectory" camp and find myself not referencing those materials very often. Taking them away from ED2 doesn't leave much there, to be honest... I prefer the Adept's Way writeups (now found in the ED3 Player's Companion) over the Way of War/Wanderer's Way writeups, personally.

So it's pretty easy to skip ED2 entirely, but there are definitely some nuggets of coolness in there if you care to dig and adapt!