>But why? Unless the things you've done to gain X experience are the
>kinds of things that would make a big splash, you can become VERY
>experienced and NOBODY will know who you are. This has been an
>ongoing theme in many of my campaigns. The only game I've found that
>ties fame into ability gain properly is Werewolf; first of all the
>different Changing Breeds recognize different kinds of reknown, and,
>second of all, it *makes sense*. Since you learn Gifts from Spirits
>or from other members of your Breed/tribe/sept/pack, you have to prove
>that you have the wisdom/bravery/cunning/innovation/whatever to handle
>that ability.

Its the same in Earthdawn. You have to have a teacher of a higher rank than you to learn a skill or talent. You have to be able to prove your worth to them. Also, a very common theme throughout the rulebooks are the troubadours singing the praises of heroes. A game in which the heroes are unknown and work behind the scenes is really cool, and can work in Earthdawn to a degree, but eventually the word is going to get out, although it takes an enormous amount of experience for the general populace to know who adventurers are.

Lets take Truss' character for example. He's 4th Circle which puts him at having around 15,000 legend points. Thats a pretty hefty accomplishment in EarthDawan and has taken him quite some time to achieve (I assume). Even at that level, he is only known about in the very largest of cities, and even then only by name. The next breakpoint for legendary status is so far off, that it would take another year of gameplay for him to reach (at the rate I've inferred from random threads). Characters aren't instantly well known just because they killed a band of thieves, it takes a lot of time and heroic actions before the world at large will know who they are, but by the time they can take on a dragon, people are gonna know about it.

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Whoa! What IS it?!

Matt Thompson, officially in rant mode