Spellbound Items - Earthdawn, anybody? ;)

[CptKangaroo]

I just watched the new video on spellbound weapons in "The White March - Part 1" and I have to say that this new mechanic reminds me very much of the way in which magic items are being handled in Earthdawn. Here are the key similarities:

 

- PoE: Items advance in power level with the character that wields them. / In Earthdawn this is generally done by expending "Legends Points" (similar to XP in most RPGs), the same ressource that is being used to advance your player Character.

- PoE: Spellbound Items require certain deeds to be fulfilled by the character / in Earthdawn, certain heroic tasks have to be fulfilled in order to tap into the higher tiers of power for each specific item

- PoE: The lore behind each Spellbound Item is being gradually revealed as you progress to untap its power. / In Earthdawn certain pieces of "Keyknowledge" are needed before you may attempt to advance its power any further (such as "who built said item", "which legendary hero used to wield it", etc.).

 

I found these similarities so striking that I have to ask: Were any of you guys at Obsidian influenced or inspired by Earthdawn? Have you ever played it or may even be playing it regularly?

 

For my part, I think Earthdawn has some of the most compelling and coherent lore and its core rules (every RPG should make use of "exploding" dice somewhere) make for some of the most awesomely unbalanced player characters I have ever had the joy of playing. And anything even remotely Earthdawn-related is much appreciated. I may be going off on a bit of a tangent here but I have to say that I would really love to see an Earthdawn PC RPG some time in the future - and if anyone has what it takes to make it work, it has to be Obsidian. Just saying.