What, yet another fantasy RPG? Wrongo folks. Let's face it, the market is flooded with bland fantasy role playing games. Has this become the hack genre of choice? Today's gamers are a pretty savvy bunch. Sure, a big company like FASA certainly has the resources and talent to put together a snazzy-looking game, but can this newcomer compete?

To survive in the modem FRPG wasteland, you've got to have two things going for you: a friendly, comprehensive system and an innovative setting. Most importantly, the system and the setting must mesh smoothly. Gamers don't want adventures anymore, they want stories. Is it any wonder why fantasy role playing classics like AD&D ™ (it is the industry standard after all), ARS MAGICA, JORUNE and TALISLANTA have endured? Obviously, any newcomer to the genre faces stiff competition, but I believe FASA's EARTHDAWN deservers to be on that list of classics too.

I'm not going into a drawn-out description of the background, Theresa Verity did a pretty good job in SHADIS #9. In short, the world of EARTHDAWN is still recovering from a magical apacalypse called The Scourge. During the Scourge, a flood of Lovecraft-style monsters, called - appropriately enough - Horrors, swept across the land, ravaging and corrupting everything in their path. Even the gods were not spared.

Thanks to the Book of Harrow, texts which survived an earlier Scourge, the world was able to prepare for the coming of the Horrors. It seems that magic works in cycles. At its peak, the magical levels are high enough to allow the Horrors to cross over into this world. Knowing that there was no way to fight the Horrors, the various cities built magical vaults called kaers. Protected by powerful traps and wards, provided at larcenous rates by the evil Theran Empire, the people waited for over four hundred years. However, the Horrors were crafty and determined, not all kaers survived intact.

Now, about fifty years since the end of the Scourge, the magical energies have dropped low enough to for most, but not all, of the Horrors back to their own world. Most of the surviving kaers have opened and the people have begun to rebuild civilization. The topography has changed, but the plant life has grown back due to some inexplicable magical effect, but I couldn't tell you how the animals managed to survive.

Unfortunately, the Theran Empire also managed to survive and seems bent on reestablishing its former glory. The game is named after the ill-fated airship assigned to scout and chart the reborn world.

All of the standard races are here: Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Orks and of course, Humans. There are also a few new additions: Windlings, small fairy-like beings; T'skrang, swashbuckling lizard men with whip-like tails; and Obsidimen, powerful rock men. In a nice change of pace, Dwarves are the political movers and shakers of EARTHDAWN. Short people of the world unite! Unfortunately, very little information is given about some of the races, especially the Windlings.

Character generation is pretty standard, and an archetype option is provided to speed things up. FASA promises additional archetypes and professions in future supplements. The only problem I had here was that there are no standard stats for each of the races. Without a baseline for comparison, attribute values can be pretty meaningless. When I spoke to FASA, I was told that they were aware of the oversight and that sample stats would be appearing in the next supplement.

In EARTHDAWN, you play an adept. Players of SHADOWRUN will already be familiar with the concept, which has been expanded for this game. For the most part, adepts use magical talents instead of mundane skills. I could sum it up by saying that adepts are what legendary ninjas were to mundane thieves and assassins. For example, thieves use the lockpicks to do the job. Not all adepts are thieves, however! Cavalrymen adepts don't just ride their horses, they "mind-meld" with them. Beastmaster adepts can grow vicious claws. Most characters will have relatively few skills in favor of these cool talents. Currently, there are 13 different types of adepts, including four varieties of spellcasters.

The game is based on a step system. At each step, the player rolls higher scoring dice. Dig out those d8s and d12s - you'll be needing all six dice again. To perform any task, find the step value for the attribute + talent for skill total, and roll the corresponding dice. Depending upon the type of task, you'll be comparing the value to your opponent's physical, social or spell defense.

Now, down to the second major point - does the system really work? To get a designer's opinion on the game, I spoke to Lou Prosperi, designer and project coordinator on EARTHDAWN. He's very confident about the future of EARTHDAWN. He commented, "A complete world with a story is what sells a game now. EARTHDAWN is a cohesive and integrated game, there's a reason for everything. Dungeons are explained, as are the traps and monsters that dwell within. But if the system is poor, the players will leave. I think this system will keep them there. You can play and tell a story at the same time - it's just fun to play!"

I think this is a fairly accurate evaluation. Even with the $30.00 price tag, the game is an impressive sight. This 300 page hardcover is fully illustrated by the usual crew of FASA artists. The color plates are a nice touch. In fact, if you can get your hands on it, the limited GENCON edition sports extra color plates and a red, simulated leather cover with a gold logo. The game is prefaced with the usual FASA story and background, although both are a good read. The relaxed writing style makes it easy to follow.

As much as I loved the game, I have to admit that I had a problem with the organization of the game. Though not as bad as SHADOWRUN 1st edition, this does lead to some frustration. Some of the rules are needlessly scattered throughout the game. I felt I had to do too much flipping back and forth to review rules and specific talents. For example, rules for the use of karma (bonus dice) are spread throughout the book and rules on coinage appear in two totally separate sections. However, the game is well indexed, so this is nothing more than an inconvenience. Some rules seem incomplete. The rules on blood magic, a powerful kind of magic that draws on the user's life force, seemed more limited than the background originally implied. Other things, like using thread magic (see below) to affect people and places are mentioned in passing but not covered at all. I asked Lou about this. He said that considering the size of the game over 300 pages - some things had to be cut due to space limitations. He promised that these would be covered in future supplements. Fair enough.

The only thing I can recommend is patience. The book is crammed full of rules and details, particularly in the magic system, but everything is explained eventually. For this reason, it should be noted that, like SHADOWRUN, EARTHDAWN is not a pick-up and play game, It will probably take the GM a few sessions to become conversant with all the rules. Players should cut their GM some slack. It'll be worth the wait.

The magic system, as I mentioned before, is extremely detailed. Casting a spell is a very complicated procedure. First, the spellcaster must create a matrix, an artificial construct in astral space that holds a specific spell. Any spellcaster desperate - or stupid - enough to cast without a matrix risks injury and risks announcing his presence to nearby Horrors as well. Never a good thing. Unfortunately, a matrix may not be able to hold the entire spell by itself. The spellcaster may need to weave magical threads to the spell to complete the pattern for casting. Once that's finished the caster may attempt to cast the spell. Whew!

Magic can be very powerful, but players shooldn't go into the game expecting to play combat mages. It's just not going to happen. Magic takes time to cast, and beginning spellcaster have a limited number of matrices available, so they will have to choose their spells carefully. Reattunning a matrix for a different spell is possible, but it takes time. The process can different spells is possible, but it takes time. The process can be rushed, but only at the risk of blowing the matrix and having to start over from scratch, Personally, I think the system is fair. Some of these spells, like Razor Orb - just as nasty as it sounds - are very powerful and ignore the benefits of armor.

The use of magic items is just as complex. At each level an item will have a new power that can be mastered. To master that power, the character must first weave a thread (here we go again!) to them. That's the easy part. At some of these levels, there's also a Key Knowledge that must be learned before progressing to the next level. However, the sample magic items had key knowledges at some of the levels - but not all. What's a GM to do? Make up key knowledges? I called Lou. He told me the character can go head and weave the thread if there is no key knowledge for that level. The only condition is that the character must be a high enough level to weave the thread. Thanks Lou.

The combat system, unlike magic, is very streamlined. For the most part, combat is resolved with a simple attribute+talent skill roll versus the opponent's physical defense. Roll for damage using the weapon's step value and subtract the armor value from the damage inflicted. Some types of armor also protect against magic. Optional rules are provided at the end of the chapter.

In many games the experience system feels like an afterthought. I don't understand that. Designers work hard to create a distinct flavor for their world, and then they create an irrelevant experience system with no flavor at all! I think the experience system in EARTHDAWN works well within the framework of the game. As usual, characters earn experience, called Legend Points, with which they can improve attributes and talents, advance in levels, and buy additional karma, The cool part is that the Legend Point Total is used to determine the character' fame and status as heroes. The rules are designed so that heroes have a better chance at performing impossible tasks. Higher status has other benefits, like free room and board. On the other hand, people expect more of you - like ridding their town of a Horror.

I still believe that EARTHDAWN's greatest strength lies in its background . In fact, Lou's chief concern was that people wouldn't realize just how flavorful the world is. As he put it, "Magic is more persuasive in EARTHDAWN. Unlike most other fantasy games, you can walk into a store and buy magical potions. In fact, some of the archetype characters begin the game with magic items!" The game is rounded-out with a beastiary, a pantheon of gods, a brief overview of the major cities and regions, and travel rates and times. The details on the cities are limited to a paragraph of two a piece, but overall this is good stuff. The dragons of EARTHDAWN are probably some of the most powerful creatures I've ever seen - can these thing be killed? They obviously didn't survive two Scourges for nothing! In an interesting twist, some of the gods of EARTHDAWN, were driven mad during the Scourge by the influence of the Horrors.

I was somewhat dissappointed that an introductory scenario is not included with the basic game, although there is a small section on designing adventures. Granted, most experienced GMs won't need this kind of coaching, but beginning GMs my feel abandoned. Fear not! Lou assures me that EARTHDAWN will be fully supported with new supplements every 5-6 weeks - not just rehashed SHADOWRUN material. The first supplement, the GAMEMASTER PACK, is already on the way.

One thing FASA is trying to avoid is the hackneyed dungeon-crawling, grab-the-treasure-and-run scenarios that marked the early years of AD&D ™ . Although the introductory story is about a lost kaer, most of the adventure ideas are not. There's a whole new world out there to explore - use it!

To sum it up, I think EARTHDAWN is going to be a classic. The background is unique and rich with adventuring possibilitles. The rules, though voluminous, won't take a lifetime to understand and won't turn an adventure into a numbercrunching session. The game isn't 100% perfect, however. There are some problems, such as the organization of the rules. In addition, I would've liked to have seen more background in the basic book instead of having to wait for supplements. As I mentioned before, these problems are more of an inconvenience than an impediment, and can be excused considering the sheer size of the game.

I give EARTHDAWN an "A-". Check it out.

Writer's Note: As I was completing this article, the first supplement, the GAMEMASTER's PACK, has hit the shelves. I haven't gotten a chance to read it in detail yet, but it does include additional material on blood magic, NPC archetypes, and designing adventures. There's also a GM screen, new artifacts, optional rules and errata - including concise rules on the use of karma!