This is perhaps the most frequently asked question in regards to our revision of the game. This article intends to keep you up to date and help you answering that question.

Today, on August 19, 2008, we celebrate Earthdawn's 15th Anniversary. It's been a long and interesting journey, on a bumpy road indeed.

We're happy to present the following essays from people who worked on the game over the years!

So I got your letter, kid. I take it from your questions about Kratas that you might be considering a move here. Let me warn you against it. And, no, I’m not trying to keep this fat plum all for myself. Kratas may be a paradise for most thieves, but it’s the opposite for us. Oh sure, it’s great to retire to if you’ve already made a big score somewhere else, as I have. But the pickings are slim here.
Remember, as confidence tricksters, we are the most skilled of all thieves. We don’t pick pockets when people aren’t looking, or bash somebody’s skull in, in a dark alley. When we steal, our victims give us their money with handshakes and smiles on their faces.

While the basics of the Step System are easy to grasp, its finer nuances are less intuitive than other role-playing game systems. This article looks "underneath the hood" of the Earthdawn game, taking a closer look at the engine that drives it. The first part examines the foundation of the system: the single-die steps. In the second part, we look at the range of two-die steps and the shape of their probability curves. The third part looks at one of the most persistent questions in fandom: "D20+D4 or 2D12?". In the final part, we look at an often overlooked, but equally important part of the Earthdawn engine—the Results Table.

Note that this article is aimed at people interested in how things work on a statistical level. The article is explicitly not recommended reading for beginners!

Earthdawn is a pen-and-paper roleplaying game designed for two to six players. Like many other roleplaying games, Earthdawn has an open-ended style of play. That is, the game has no definitive ending, no preset time limit or number of turns of play, and no single goal that, when achieved, marks the end of the game. Unlike other types of games, however, there is no winner or loser. The object of the game is to have fun while exercising your imagination. When this happens, everybody wins.

The world of Earthdawn is one of legend. Its people and places are larger than life, the stuff of song and saga. Heroes fight the monsters of this and other worlds; their bold exploits light a beacon of hope for the future, as word of their deeds spreads across the troubled, fearful land. Earthdawn is a world of high adventure, high magic, and terrible danger. Those dangers lurk not only within long-forgotten kaers, but also within the minds of people forever corrupted by the Horrors. To rebuild its heart and soul as well as its outward aspect after the devastation of the Scourge, the world needs heroes. The players of Earthdawn, by creating their characters and playing the game, provide these heroes.

Earthdawn characters are tough, and they only get tougher over time. If you’ve ever run a campaign that brought your player characters to Journeyman level (Circles 5-8), you might have noticed that there is a rapid shift in power. Magic items, group patterns, more attacks and a lot of potent spells help your group to overcome everything you threw at them in earlier Circles with ease. Most gamemasters don’t expect this, and are often confronted with the frustrating situation of having to fudge die rolls and Death Ratings to keep the game challenging. This article will help you to find out how to keep your players’ characters on their toes.

The Player’s Compendium intends to be the definitive book for Earthdawn gamers, taking characters from the First to Fifteenth Circle in their Disciplines. We have worked for about 18 months to include everything needed in an extended campaign lasting for years. The following should give you an overview of what has changed from First Edition - bear in mind that this is only a loose summary, for most of the details you’ll need to read the book.