Too tired to remember exactly what, but something seemed strange or funny about Horrors arriving and magic increasing...maybe something about wondering about the strength/threat - mana correlation charts, comparing the curves of Humans and Horrors (sounds like a D&D knockoff). Heh, if the mama levels rise enough, do we start playing Exalted?
I'm sure you meant "mana."
IMO, Earthdawn is a better game than Exalted. Don't get me wrong, Exalted is ridiculous amounts of fun to play, it's even some fun to run. It's so over-the-top fun that one can't help but be captivated by it.
But Earthdawn did the high-magic-prehistory thing first and better. Sure the core game system is heavy on crunch (but then, so is Exalted when you add in all the books for different Exalts), but the core ideals are very similar to Shadowrun. There are large forces working in the background, but the players can affect those forces, even if it is only a small impact. The difference between SR and ED is the high mana level.
Adepts in the 4th world can get insanely powerful, even to epic, change the face of the world powerful. But they start at roughly the same strength as mundanes. it's only the higher Circles that allow adepts to run roughshod over mundanes. This power also lets them take down, or have a chance at taking down, many of the Horrors that are present in the world.
But no one comes along and tells them "it's your destiny" and grants them power, or some crap like that. En Exalted, the character is unique and potent because someone else said so, not because of anything on the character's part. In ED, when the character gets powerful and earth-shaking, it's because THEY became that way. "I am King by my own hand!"
That's why I prefer ED.
