While Earthdawn is dead now, AFAIK...Luckily, nope!
As for planned in the beginning?
No.
Remember, Shadowrun was published in '89. The idea of a game branching out into different timeframes from LAUNCH was a foreign concept. Who knew if Shadowrun would even be usccessful?
As it took off and did well, THEN you had some people spinning things off with connections to the long longago and, eventually, when enough intrest was built up, starting the Earthdawn branch, but, it's safe to say that it wasn't planned from launch.
(Mind you, while I've *played* since '89, I wasn't part of the design crew, so, not Word of God here or anything.)
Remember, Shadowrun was published in '89. The idea of a game branching out into different timeframes from LAUNCH was a foreign concept. Who knew if Shadowrun would even be usccessful?I am guessing that SR came about as someone noticed how popular the whole Cyberpunk thing was, and wanted something in that style. But they needed something to stand out and they landed of a what if about the Mayan calendar. And presto here he have the 6th world. Then later someone starts wondering about the previous cycles and we get Earthdawn (mind you, was the whole Ethan speech written before or after Earthdawn?).
As Critias said, Earthdawn is alive and well in its 3rd edition. It has even spun off (or is about to, have to check the release dates) for both Pathfinder and Savage Worlds.
Check out this link (http://redbrickllc.com/shop/index.php?main_page=page&id=5) for more info.
If I remember correctly ED is published currently by Mongoose.
Aff? Wow, we are REALLY going back to the old FASA datafiles, huh? Or did FASA use "aff" in Shadowrun as well as Battletech/Mechwarrior?
Aff? Wow, we are REALLY going back to the old FASA datafiles, huh? Or did FASA use "aff" in Shadowrun as well as Battletech/Mechwarrior?
Mechwarrior and Battletech are alive and well, also. BOLS is even covering BT every so often.
Mechwarrior and Battletech are alive and well, also. BOLS is even covering BT every so often.
Please dont tell me you mean that Dark Age crap. I think copious amounts of meth were involved in its creation.
As it took off and did well, THEN you had some people spinning things off with connections to the long longago and, eventually, when enough intrest was built up, starting the Earthdawn branch, but, it's safe to say that it wasn't planned from launch.Not at all true (assuming you mean "not at ED's launch").
(Mind you, while I've *played* since '89, I wasn't part of the design crew, so, not Word of God here or anything.)I also wasn't part of the team itself - but had regular access to, and conversations with, more than one of them. :)
I also wasn't part of the team itself - but had regular access to, and conversations with, more than one of them. :)
As for planned in the beginning?
No.
Remember, Shadowrun was published in '89. The idea of a game branching out into different timeframes from LAUNCH was a foreign concept. Who knew if Shadowrun would even be usccessful?
As it took off and did well, THEN you had some people spinning things off with connections to the long longago and, eventually, when enough intrest was built up, starting the Earthdawn branch, but, it's safe to say that it wasn't planned from launch.
(Mind you, while I've *played* since '89, I wasn't part of the design crew, so, not Word of God here or anything.)
I also wasn't part of the team itself - but had regular access to, and conversations with, more than one of them. :)
Is it story time? :D I'd love to hear about the early days of ED when they were linking it to SR.
Well, back when I was a young whipper snapper, this great game called Earthdawn came out. We weren't quite sure what to make of it, but it had one of the (in not the) most interesting game mechanics I had ever seen.
Just thinking about it makes me feel young again.
Savage Worlds uses progressively larger dice for the characters. That's one.
Savage Worlds uses progressively larger dice for the characters. That's one.
Have the mechanics changed at all, or is it still the same?The mechanics have changed. Drastically. SR4 is, aside from the setting and backstory, just about completely unrecognisable compared to SR1.