13TH AGE Battle Scenes: A Sneak Preview Of The Upcoming Book Of Set Piece Battles

An important skill in running a combat encounter in a tabletop roleplaying games is creating varied and interesting battles. To that end, Pelgrane Press has a new book coming out entitled High Magic and Low Cunning: Battle Scenes for Five Icons, which contains no less than 45 set piece battle encounters designed for various tiers of play. These battle scenes are connected to five of the setting's thirteen Icons: the Orc Lord, Prince of Shadows, Archmage, High Druid, and The Three. Pelgrane has very kindly sent me along a preview of the third battle in "Rafting Razoredge Gorge", the Orc Lord themed series of battles. The PCs have been rafting down a river while being attacked by orcs, and now they've come to a stop right beside the main orc camp. Take a look!

High Magic & Low Cunning: Battle Scenes for Five Icons brings you 45 challenging and memorable sets of battles, against enemies connected to the Orc Lord, Prince of Shadows, Archmage, High Druid, and The Three. Drop these fights into your game at every tier of play from adventurer to epic, and bring them to life with gorgeous maps by our expert cartographers.
With High Magic & Low Cunning, you can:

• Give the PCs compelling reasons to fight based on their icon relationships, their stories, and your campaign
• Pit them against NPCs and monsters whose icon connections make them meaningful opponents—not just random foes
• Use traps and terrain to provide a challenging environment with opportunities for clever tactics
• Unleash all-new monsters on the PCs, along with new magic items to wield in battle.
• Easily adjust battles to make them easier, or harder
• Use the provided storylines to link each battle to the ones that come after, taking the PCs from one full heal-up to the next using only the battles in the set – with room to expand on these stories to fill multiple sessions of gameplay.

From a white-knuckle white-water ride past orcish hordes, to abseiling kobolds and a perilous magical cloud fortress, High Magic & Low Cunning takes your players on an unforgettable journey to adventure.
You can also get the complete set of High Magic & Low Cunning printed color maps in the High Magic & Low Cunning Map Folio.

Download the PDF of all the above here.​

 

[JeffB]

This looks super cool! I got very excited about this, and went to pre-order.


:screechinghalt:

$30.00 for a PDF is nuckin futs.

$40 + shipping for a softcover and PDF is still nuts.

Maybe it's the exchange rate, IDK, but everything from Pelgrane is super expensive.

 

[Zaukrie]

Ya, that seems pricey for a pdf. Looks cool though, I love their work.

 

[RedSiegfried]

Yeah, it might seem a bit pricey but I didn't blink too much. You do get a 192 page book, a 90 page color map folio, and the pdfs for your $40.

I'm kind of excited about this so I ordered. I don't need the stories so much, though I do sometimes like to skim them, but I do like to have lots of combat set piece ideas to drop into my stories. What would be even cooler is if the maps were scaled to standard minis since we love to play with full size tactical battle maps and miniatures - makes that relative position thing and intercepting a lot easier.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Did I miss the map dimensions? Are they fold out 18 x 24?
I sure like the idea, but the map looks like it was made in MS Paint

 

[JeffB]

You do get a 192 page book, a 90 page color map folio, and the pdfs for your $40..

I missed the bit about the print map folio. That isn't a benefit for me personally, but that makes the price more bearable for some , I am sure.

Am I reading correctly that if one wants the map folio PDF and the book PDF,the price is $50? ($19.95+ $29.95) It's cheaper (not including shipping) for the Print? (edit- with print, you get PDFs...of both? or just the book?)

 

[Jer]

Am I reading correctly that if one wants the map folio PDF and the book PDF,the price is $50? ($19.95+ $29.95) It's cheaper (not including shipping) for the Print? (edit- with print, you get PDFs...of both? or just the book?)

Those are all Print+PDF prices - that's how Pelgrane does new releases. PDF only will be released some time after the initial Print+PDF release. I think usually a few months after, but since I always buy in print I can't say for sure.

 

[Zaukrie]

Ah, I misunderstood the post above mine.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Do you tear the maps out of the folio or are they just to look at to get the idea?
Do they have any kind of 1" grid on them?
Are there 2 versions of each, one for the players and 1 for the GM?

 

[Pelgrane]

High Magic and Low Cunning is 192 pages in print, with the PDF included, as well as the PDF of the map folio. It includes 45 battles scenes like the one above. The book is $30.

If you want the map folio in print form, loose, letter size, with both GM and player maps, it's an additional $10.

13th Age doesn't uses grids, so we don't include one.