Summer 2015 Status Update on Eä RPGS & Eä d20 RPG Development
As Tolkien Moot XI ( http://www.tolkienmoot.org ) nears (less than 40 days now!), once again work on Eä RPGS and Eä d20 picks back up. There haven't been a lot of changes to the 3.5 branch over the past year, just a few tweaks and minor edits, that I need to get uploaded for everyone. Expect this the week before Tolkien Moot (as usual).
The more significant update is announcing the beginning of work on the 5th edition branch! If you didn't already get the posting from the website, here is the link with what is going on so far:
http://earpg.com/news/beginning-work-on-ea-d20-for-d-d-5th-edition
I don't expect to have this ready in time for this year's Tolkien Moot. Most of the work will happen after the moot, as I'm currently researching and writing the main convention adventure.
I am approaching the development of 5rh edition in two ways:
* The usual minimal modification to the corerules
* But also offering some significant house rules to better balance the new system for a Middle-earth campaign.
5th edition has a lot going for it, especially in character generation,
and is far less of a mess than 3rd and 4th edition D&D. Even better, it maps much more readily to the Middle-earth sources used for Eä d20.
However, it suffers from (for my style of DMing in general, and
especially for a Middle-earth setting) some inordinate imbalances in magic, damage, healing, and game play that have been borrowed too heavily from the video game world, and do not fit well in a Middle-earth setting.
I will work on the usual Races & Cultures version as in the past, but of course adapted to 5th edition D&D (I have run a dozen groups since it came out a year ago). And I will create a Magic in
Middle-earth version as well.
But I am also now going to offer a core rules optional rules set. This makes some fundamental tweaks to the core rules to better fit the Middle-earth setting. This will include optional rules for:
- Healing, especially rest recovery.
- Combat, to include detailed injuries.
- Herbs, to address the detailed injuries that raw hit point healing can't address.
- Magic, especially cantrips, and of course the Broadcast & Residue rules developed in Ea d20 3.5. Also addition of spells to address healing specific critical injury mending (bone healing specific spells, joints, muscle, etc.)
These are basically the house rules I have been testing and retesting with groups to find the sweet spot in game balance, without completely overhauling the system. I haven't decided what to call this book just yet. Maybe it will just be an addendum to the R&C book, I haven't completely decided, and welcome suggestions from all of you.
SUMMARY
Eä d20 0 (zero) for Original D&D: Barely begun, ongoing progress. Expect significant updates over the summer.
Eä d20 1 for AD&D 1st Edition: Moderate progress. Intermittent progress. Might be some significant updates over this summer.
Eä d20 2 for AD&D 2nd Edition: Barely begun, little progress, and little demand for more. If folks want this to continue, let me know that it is something that you value.
Eä d20 3.5 for D&D 3.5. Significantly developed. Lots of progress previous years, slight progress this past year. Expect some updates over the summer, but the lion's share of Eä d20 branch development will be the 5th edition version.
Eä d20 4 for D&D 4. Some progress initially, but little-to-no-demand to continue development. On hold indefinitely unless others speak up requesting it.
Eä d20 5 for D&D 5th Edition. Just begun in June. Expect lots of development over this summer.
Eä RPGS Basic Rules: Fairly well developed. Only some development this past year. Mostly just polishing and tweaking expected going forward.
Eä RPGS Standard Rules: Significant updates sporadically over the past year. Expect significant progress over this summer.
Eä RPGS Advanced Rules: Still some intermittent updates, but primary focus for Eä RPGS branch will be the Standard Rules version.
Many thanks for all the help and support.
Namarie!
-Hawke
http://www.earpg.com