(Sorry for the wall of text.)

Are there any fans of the Earthdawn setting here or--even better--the shared meta-setting that includes Shadowrun?

I have some questions that are more versed in either the system (Earthdawn) or the settings (Earthdawn/etc.) and would love to noodle over theory and ramifications.

Caveat: As I'm "converting" the setting, the specific implementations may differ from the original system/setting. I just like to start from the canonical/RAW first.

In this conversion, I'm currently stuck on a number of items that are related around Thread Weaving and Pattern Magic, namely:

• Pattern Items
• Thread Items
• Unique/Legendary Items

As I understand it, Pattern Items are created by an individuals continual, or significant, interactions with magic by a thing with a True Pattern. (Things can have patterns, but True Patterns are reserved from Named things.)

You can have a total of five Pattern Items that are ranked from minor (created naturally), major, or core (created deliberately). If someone else has your Pattern Item, they can use Thread Magic to weave one or more threads to it to either buff themselves or nerf the subject in specific ways.

Thread Items, on the other hand, are items that are enchanted/created. These items usually have different "Ranks" that you can attach a "Thread" (a unit of magical energy, I suppose) to to empower that thing. Just how many "Threads" that you have depends on your "Thread Weaving" ability.

Finally, Unique/Legendary Items are powerful magical artefacts from the past that were wielded by heroes and which reflect the heroe's story/legend.

* * *

So, now the first set of questions.

• The rules say that you can Name an item and make it a (core) Pattern Item. What happens to it after that in terms of acquiring the kind of powers that we see with Unique/Legendary Items?
• If someone Names a Thread Item, that would change its Pattern and, presumably, destroy the enchantments that made it into a Thread Item? If so, then refer to #1.
• Based on the above, if you (re)Name an item does it have certain residual energy that is redirected into the individual's conception of what their item would do?
• If someone weaves a Thread to a Unique/Legendary Item, what happens here? Can they extend the "legend" of the artefact and, if so, how?
  

* * *

In the conversion, I'm working on the principle that individuals can Name items and use that connection to begin to use their Legend to place powers into that item. For a sufficiently advanced character (Warder? Master?), if they were to die the "story" of their Pattern Item would be concluded and the item becomes a Unique/Legendary Item.

I'm also wondering about Legendary Items and their power relative to an Adept--especially lesser powered Adepts. As a literary example, I'm thinking about the armour of Ashen Shugar from Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga and how it relates to Thomas. Without spoilers, the armour has its own legend and tries to propel Thomas into conforming to that legend--it slowly corrupts him.

Any help? Again, sorry for the wall of text.

I wish I had more input for you. I loved DMing Earthdawn. (1st Edition) But we didn't go heavily into thread items beyond "This is how magic items work in Earthdawn".

I did take the idea of items that gain abilites the longer you own them (weaving higher threads) to "Leveling Items" in other games. I really simplified it down to, the level of the character affects the level of the item. The idea was to have items that the characters don't "outlevel", and reduce the amount of unused items.

Hey Kage,
It's been a LONG time since I've read Earthdawn, but if you can get a hold of Shattered Pattern and The Blades of Cara Fahd, you have a set of Legendary Daggers as the basis for that campaign module and there are examples and rules about using them, threads, etc.  At least if I'm remembering right.  Is this for a GURPS conversion?

Quote from: Ratman_tf
I did take the idea of items that gain abilites the longer you own them (weaving higher threads) to "Leveling Items" in other games. I really simplified it down to, the level of the character affects the level of the item. The idea was to have items that the characters don't "outlevel", and reduce the amount of unused items.

Aye, I can totally empathise. One of the reasons that I wanted to build upon the nature of Pattern Items, and what seemed like a missed opportunity with the fact that Named items become Core Pattern Items, was to double down on the noted reason why Thread Items exist: so you don't just chuck away your +1 Sword because you find a +2 Sword.

While it might seem the height of arrogance to Name your own sword (or whatever), the idea that the artefact grows as your legend grows just seemed to cool of an opportunity to ignore. For significant actions that suit the theme of the artefact, you get to pour points into it to give it cool powers that reflect your legend and its own.

And that directly leads to the question about Unique/Legendary artefacts and whether you, the acquiring PC, can buff those powers even further? That even gets into the wrinkle of who "owns" the legend at that point. Do you become a legendary wielder of Grabthar's Hammer, a mere cipher in the legend of the weapon? Or does something else happen.

(I've even considered that if an item is so "powerful" and you weave a Thread to it, the item can begin to make subtle changes to your PC sheet as a form of corruption.)

Quote from: crkrueger
It's been a LONG time since I've read Earthdawn, but if you can get a hold of Shattered Pattern and The Blades of Cara Fahd, you have a set of Legendary Daggers as the basis for that campaign module and there are examples and rules about using them, threads, etc.  At least if I'm remembering right.

Yeah. There are oodles of examples scattered across the various editions' books--anything from the GM Screen from 1e, the Adventurer's Guide to Barsaive etc. So, memory is certainly working correctly.

I'm less looking for examples of Thread or Unique/Legendary Items and more thinking about how they could operate, what people thought about the ideas and whether they would bend/break Earthdawn etc.

So for a quick 30,000-foot view of those ideas it would be:

• Pattern Items work as usual, but you can also Name a Pattern Item. In so doing, you dictate one of your five Pattern Items and make a Core one (which bypasses the RAW on Pattern Item formation). It sucks at the beginning because you've got a more durable "thing" that people can pilfer from you to do nasty things. Bonus is that you get to buff it with your experience/Legend Points as the game progresses.
• If a character of low Circle happens to stumble upon and bind a significantly powerful Unique/Legendary item, how does that play out in terms of the magic and their respective Legends? As above, I'm inclined to view it that powerful artefacts can subtly "corrupt" the individual by shaping them depending on their theme/nature.

In other news, does anyone happen to know what happens when things--to include people and places--are re-Named? Any thoughts, ideas, official rules?

Quote from: crkrueger
Is this for a GURPS conversion?

*looks shifty*

Maaaaybeeee...