The Wanderer's Way: Makers of Legend Volume 2 An Earthdawn Sourcebook Paperback, 79 pages, MSRP $18.00 US Review by AJ Reardon Finally, after years of waiting (well, I was waiting), my Saturday gaming group is playing Earthdawn. If you're a long-term reader of my Playing God column, you already know that Earthdawn is my favorite gaming system. It's always a blast to play, and the sourcebooks are a great read. It's one of those games where I want to play everything, and no matter what I settle on, I'm pleased with the choice. In honor of our new campaign, we picked up the most recent Earthdawn sourcebook, The Wanderer's Way. Unfortunately, this book was published in 2005... That's right, there hasn't been a new Earthdawn book in two years! Living Room Games' website hasn't been updated in almost a year, and the Earthdawn section has gone a year and a half without any changes. Their forums still have activity, so apparently the company is still alive and kicking, but the lack of any new material is distressing for a die-hard fan like me. That said, even if they aren't bringing out new books, at least their existing books are easy to get. We had Wanderer's Way in hand a week after asking our local game store to order it. By contrast, it took months to get a copy of Creatures of Rokugan. Get your act together, Alderac! The Wanderer's Way is the second volume in a three-part series known as the Makers of Legend. It's something of a sequel to the old first edition FASA book, The Adept's Way. Each book examines several of the Disciplines, or classes, available in the Earthdawn game world. Now, the reason why I love Earthdawn books is they're written from an in-character point of view, only dropping out of character to explain game mechanics later on. As such, this series of book consists of essays written by assorted members of the Disciplines discussed, explaining their point of view and experience with the Discipline. Primarily, the Makers of Legend series serves as a roleplaying guide. It helps players understand the mentality of the various Disciplines and perhaps gives them an idea of how to shape their character and use their Talents in unique ways. Although a veteran roleplayer like me may not need that sort of nudging as much as a newbie would, I still find it to be an enjoyable way to immerse myself in the world. After I read The Wanderer's Way, I could not wait to jump into our Earthdawn campaign! There's more to the books than just that, however. There are variants of Disciplines, which substitute different Talents to give the character a unique flavor and a slight change in role from the traditional members of that class. And the essays are peppered with mentions of expeditions, lost treasures, and other exciting things that a GM could easily use as a springboard for an adventure or even an entire campaign. And then, of course, there are the Talent Knacks. Talent Knacks are little extra abilities that can modify a character's Talents. For instance, if you were a Warrior with the Thrown Weapons Talent, you could take the Throw Anything Knack, and now not only are you great with knives and axes and darts, but you could take someone out with a well-flung beer stein. Think of Knacks as being similar to Feats in D&D, except that they're cooler, because everything in Earthdawn is inherently more awesome than its D&D counterpart. Trust me on this one. The final purpose of the Makers of Legend series is to introduce new Disciplines. The Wanderer's Way presents the Mountebank, a smooth-talking, polished con artist. This is a very socially inclined class, with some combat abilities. It would be most at home in a game with lots of opportunity for intrigue, and less useful in a combat-heavy campaign. I can definitely see it being a big hit with those who enjoy roleplaying the rakish type, though the inherent smarminess of the Discipline may make it hard to fit into a traditional group. Whereas The Way of War covered fighter-types, and the as-of-yet unpublished Way of Will covers casters, The Wanderer's Way covers those characters who fall somewhere in-between. The Air Sailor, Beast Master, Scout, Thief, and Troubadour are all examined within the pages of this volume. Those interested in playing any of these Disciplines would do well to pick up the book, but I think every Earthdawn fan would enjoy the read. As an example, I've never given the Scout much thought. Not that I disliked them or anything, but I already had other Disciplines I really preferred. After I read the Scout section, however, I had this urge to play one, they just seemed that cool. It wasn't enough to make me give up the Troubadour who I've wanted to play for years, but it's given me some ideas for future games. Though The Wanderer's Way was overall enjoyable and fairly well-written, there were a few spots where it could have benefitted from an editor. The occasional misused word stands out, and passages that don't quite make sense. This is within the essays, however, and the actual mechanics still come through loud and clear. Anyone who doesn't automatically proof-read everything that's put in front of them probably won't even notice the things that bothered me. As for the artwork, some of it was quite good, some of it was just ok, and none of it was bad. I was happy to see that Denise Jones is still contributing her drawing skills, and many of the artists were familiar from the other second edition books. One final note: Pirate enthusiasts will be happy to see that one of the Air Sailor essays is from the point of view of a skyship pirate. I'm sure this will be very popular with some players and game masters, while some who never quite caught on to this decade's pirate mania will simply groan. In closing, I highly recommend this book for any Earthdawn enthusiast out there, whether they be a veteran player or a newbie to the system. My only hope is that someday I'll be able to complete my Makers of Legend collection!

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Copyright © 2007 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.com