Earthdawn 4E: Anatomy of a Discipline 01 - Introduction

This is the first 4E Anatomy of a Discipline, an ongoing series about Earthdawn Fourth Edition. Introduction and Index.

Everything contained here is the work of a fan and not associated with FASA Games.

The numbering for this series has restarted as this is the first entry for the new edition, Earthdawn Fourth Edition (ED4). This particular entry will not have an analysis of a particular discipline. Instead, I'm taking this as my opportunity to look at how things have changed and how my various Earthdawn columns will change.

As you hopefully noticed, there is a new bit of italic text at the top. This is going to be present in all of my ED4 posts which deal with mechanics and design. The reason for this is I feel it is important to separate my work here from the development for FASA Games. There may be some crossover and things which made their first appearance here may end up in an official release. However, until they are present in an official ED4 release, everything here is just the work of a fan.

There is going to be a global shift in how I approach various topics given my own change in perspective. While I am always going to strive to be as objective as possible, my analysis of ED4 is going to be tinged with subjectivity from my involvement. The good news to this is I will be able to offer an insider's perspective on how things ended up the way they did - why choices were made and what the goals were. My hope is this means the quality and value of each entry will go up because of those additional insights.

Another space I intend to explore more is introducing new material which I'm toying with on my own time. This will include doing updates of disciplines, spells, and thread items which have not been introduced in ED4 yet, in addition to new entries for each of those. My hope is to have all of the development be open so everyone can get an idea of how my process works.

To everyone reading this, here is your chance to make requests of things you would like to see or provide feedback to what you do see. Everything here is for the Earthdawn community.

Thank you for reading.