EDSG Episode 283 - Mailbag II Electric Bogaloo

* Vivane: History and Daily Life* Founding and early development* Theran Arrival and Conquest* The Scourge* Post-Scourge and Theran Return* Theran Houses* Theran Garrison* Militia: Red, Blue, and Green Squads* Carrying Weapons* Taxes* Therans vs Provincials* Imperialism, vassals, and corruption* Magic is CommonplaceFind and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Mailbag (the Sequel)!* Josh is neck deep in final week of rehearsals and didn't have time to do full show notes!Find and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Mailbag!* Email from Matt: Anything we feel the narrators of the books got completely wrong?* Josh can't think of anything offhand* Talking about in-character vs out-of-character information* Email from Bernard* Sidebar about Josh listening speed* Table tales from Bernard* Josh talks about Names and Naming* NPCs getting a life of their own* Looking at the world through an Earthdawn lens* Context for difficulty for learning Key Knolwedge* Question about what happens when Horrors are defeated?* TL;DR: It depends on the Horror!* What is up with the weight of windlings?* How did citadels work?* Archers and fire cannons?* Finer points of the Icy Surface spell?* Astral space in relation to our world and magic level.* Pop culture references for adepts* ClosingFind and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Vivane Adventures: Shadows* Written by Teeuwyn Woodruff* Upper Novice Tier (3rd & 4th Circle)* Jailbreak in Vrontok* Helping Aberdeen; recommended to introduce him before the adventure* His son Thillik was arrested and made a slave in Vrontok* But also... Thillik doesn't recognize his father.* Primary purpose: Free Thillik* Secondary purpose: Learn about the amnesia* Mervyn and his goons: Lackeys of the Mayor* Shakedown highlights the corruption in Vrontok's society* Not a real physical threat, but group is trying to lay low* The Wingsticker Tavern; information gathering from NPCs* Complication: Mervyn and his goons drink at the tavern* Caravath's Laboratory and rescuing Thillik* Soul Spiders: Make their victims submissive and pliable* Likely outcomes and complications* Straightforward adventure with a dark secret* Potential follow-up stories* Final commentary and discussionFind and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Vivane: The Theran Quarter* The Mailbox is empty!* Catching up with life stuff* GenCon and upcoming product delivery* Theran Quarter: aka The Old City or the Walled City* Walled off from the rest of the city.* Overgovernor's Palace* Least damaged by the Scourge and most rebuilt since then* The Grand Walk* North and South Barracks* Walls along the Flamewalk River* Contrast with Barsaivian Vivane* Wealth, class, exoticism of influences from other cultures* Aquaducts providing water from the river, also used for riot control.* Presentation and design; white, clean, imposing.* Inspired by 19th and early 20th Century impressions of ancient Rome and Greece* The Hanging Ziggurats* More exoticism; display of magical might* The Wedge: Middle class homes and businesses* Artisan District* Theran Quarter Slave Market* Presenting things to the player characters; experiences and sensations* Play up the differences and cosmopolitan influence of the Empire* What's in store for the future?Find and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Vivane/Sky Point Adventures: A Message to Vivane* A quick update on where we are.* Which came first for Josh--theater or gaming?* Shakespeare!* Josh has run this one.* Espionage and combat* Part One: The Commission* Hired to deliver information to the Vivane Resistance* How Josh tweaked the intro for his group.* What is the information being delivered?* Part Two: So This is Vivane* Arriving in the city and meeting the contact, Kron* Introduction to Theran corruption and get a taste of the exotic* Part Three: Delivery* Meet contacts and get raided by the Red Squad* It's just a coincidence! The Therans don't know about the group.* Chase scene!* Part Four: At the Manor House* Safety after the chase... for a moment.* Another Theran Raid* Another escape* Part Five: The Secret Room* Into the Undercity (reference to previous adventure in this collection)* Learn the scroll was sold to a crime boss.* Decide what to do; help recover the information, or escape the city.* Reasons why groups might take either option.* Part Six: Marikis's Gang* Attacking the crime boss* Opportunity to get out some frustrations through combat.* Adjustable difficulty of the combat and the dozen or so gang members* Aftermath: Slipping out of the city and meeting Kron later in the campaign.* Espionage in the way James Bond or Jason Bourne is espionage* Linear in the way Josh likes linear to be; it plays fair* Relatively simple task, just dealing with complications and problems* Vary "Shadowrun", spy thriller* "A bunch of stuff is happening, we just need to deal with it."* Lessons on making a situation, not a plotFind and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Mailbag!* Some discussion of why we've been away for so long* Email from Felix: Non-adepts humans and Versatility?* Email from Kevin (Jacklifear): Kudos and stuff going on.* Email from Aaron: Update on his home game* Coming at some point... the FASA Games Wiki* Upcoming Kickstarter and products?* Josh talks about Urupa book* Suggestions for Horror minions and theming* Another email from Felix: Garlen's ideals taken to extremes* Josh sidebars about "Survival of the Fittest"* Josh plugs summer Shakespeare! Find and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Vivane Adventures: Chasing the Snakeskin Boots* Lower Circle Characters* Written By Carl Sargent* Lots of background action* Feels "Shadowrunny"* Act 1: Group hired to recover stolen property* Original owner (Daragast), current owner (Shand), Barsaivian thief* High pay for what seems to be a simple job, but urgent* Best for a group that doesn't have a problem working for Therans* Act 2: Track the thief through the Broken Quarter* Different avenues of investigation* Low risk; no real danger of violence* Act 3: Into the undercity* Multiple possible encounters that don't relate to the group's goal* Resistance meeting, triplicant ambush* Find the (dead) thief, all but one coin taken* Act 4: Recover the coins* Beastmaster who killed the thief* Complications: Agents of the original owner, Resistance members* Possible consequences and fallout that can establish relationships and low-grade enemies* Not especially heavy on "plot"* GM needs to be flexible and willing to roll with character choices* Strong feeling in the climax of "What *now*?"* Final verdict and summaryFind and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Vivane: The Broken Quarter* Largest region of the city* Bisected by the Longwater River* Much damage from past Theran bombardment* Only about one third of the buildings are undamaged* Part of Barsaivian Vivane, no interest from Therans to fix it* Few clear cobblestone streets, mostly mud and overgrowth* Neighborhoods of the Quarter* The Warrens, The Arrow, High Gate, Ratside* Historical inspiration: Lower class areas of Elizabethan London* Patrols and militia* Old City Graveyard and the Deeptombs* Burial laws in Vivane* Not criminal or corrupt, but its own "flavor of wretched"* Bottom of the class pyramid in Vivane* Residents squabble among themselves, but unite against outsiders* Conflict between Green Squad militia and Broken Quarter locals* Hotbed of anti-Theran resistance* Strong place to highlight the cost of Theran Imperialism* Brief aside about novel "Shroud of Madness"Find and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW

* Exploring Vrontok* This is our second go at this topic* Located in the shadow of Sky Point* Desperate, lawless, crowded town built on the slave trade* Not a vacation spot!* Like Bartertown... but darker* Combination of town, slave market, and military base.* Stealing slaves is the most serious crime.* Only punishments for crime are enslavement or death.* Fortified by a high wall and dry moat with sharpened stakes.* Three gates: Empire Gate (SE), Vivane Gate (NE), Outlaw Gate (NW)* Theran citizens are not subject to laws in Vrontok* Mayor T'rask, former slaver with large force of thugs.* Taxes: House Tax, Guest Tax, Exit Tax* T'rask focused on keeping the Therans from getting upset.* Lots of business that serve the slave merchants: taverns, gambling halls, brothels.* Result of imperialism; empires thrive on exploited labor.* Reflections on Thera and Vrontok in light of present-day economic and political systems.* "Keep politics out of rpgs!" is a crock.* Contrast of Sky Point's wealth and power to Vrontok's "wretched hive"* Fourth Edition changes and updatesFind and Follow:Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@EDSGPodcastFind and follow Josh: https://linktr.ee/LoreMerchantGet product information, developer blogs, and more at www.fasagames.comFASA Games on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fasagamesincOfficial Earthdawn Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialearthdawnFASA Games Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/uuVwS9uEarthdawn West Marches: https://discord.gg/hhHDtXW