Pre-Release Review of 13th AGE (Part 2) by Pelgrane Press

Revinor · Sep 10, 2012

I don't really like the kickstarter running in background. I'm completely ok with them cutting the monk/multiclassing/whatever from the core due to time constraints/lack of enough playtesting and putting it into splat book. But I'm bit afraid that instead of balancing and polishing the base, they are now pressing F5 on kickstarter page, getting all excited about what they will be able to put there.

Starting new interesting project before you have finished previous one usually ends badly for the older one...

Estlor · Sep 10, 2012

I can see the point about disliking class abilities that trigger based off the die roll. It's kind of a drag when you just don't know what your attack is going to do when you hit until after you roll. But, to be fair, you do get to choose what your randomly triggered options are. Given that the default combat assumptions downplay the tactical aspect of combat seen in 4e, you're basically picking from stuff that's bonus freebies after a hit.

Though I'll toss the disclaimer that I haven't seen the Escalation playtest, so my understanding of the entire 13th Age system is a little outdated. So here's your grain of salt.

waderockett · Sep 12, 2012

Revinor said:
I don't really like the kickstarter running in background. I'm completely ok with them cutting the monk/multiclassing/whatever from the core due to time constraints/lack of enough playtesting and putting it into splat book. But I'm bit afraid that instead of balancing and polishing the base, they are now pressing F5 on kickstarter page, getting all excited about what they will be able to put there.

Starting new interesting project before you have finished previous one usually ends badly for the older one...

I'm one of three people working on the Kickstarter, and can assure you that Rob, Jonathan, Lee and Aaron's focus is on finishing the core game. Rob is helping us out by sending us some blog entries to post as updates, and the team has had input into the rewards and stretch goals to make sure they're comfortable with them and will be able to deliver on them once it's time to start work on the expansion.

Aside from that, they told us from the beginning that there's no way they could be directly involved in the campaign given the work that needs to be done to incorporate playtester feedback and get the manuscript finalized and laid out for publishing. Writing and updating Kickstarter copy, creating and posting new reward tiers based on community input, responding to comments, emailing backers, getting quotes from vendors, replying to media requests, making general announcements, answering questions and concerns on forums like this one, and obsessively pressing F5 have all been delegated to us.

The next version of the Escalation Edition should be out today, so you'll be able to see what they've been up to while we're worrying about the expansion. I hope this helps!

Quickleaf · Sep 22, 2012

I'm new to this whole 13th age phenomenon, but it sounds like a great game!

How does one buy the core book? Has it been released yet? Barring that, how does one buy/acquire the playtest document? The Pelgrane website is oriented for those in the know and I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Also, exactly which races/classes are included in the current book/rules? And up to what level do those rules cover? Simple enough question, but I've been searching the Internet for almost 45 minutes looking for the answer!

Thanks in advance!

Eyes of Nine · Sep 22, 2012

Flwq?

What does the acronym FLWQ mean?

Eyes of Nine · Sep 22, 2012

Thanks for the great thorough review.
Questions:
Skill Challenges? Anything resembling those? I really like those in 4e. Perhaps the more fluid roleplay style obviates the need for structured skill challenge rules, or not?

Scaling an external adventure source (say an AD&D or 3.5 or PF or 4e) game to 13 Age? Any discussion of that? Since 13A only goes to 10th level, while 4e goes to 30th, and 3.5 goes to 20th, wondering if there is some sort of scaling recommendation?

Thanks,
chris

Nikosandros · Sep 22, 2012

Quickleaf said:
I'm new to this whole 13th age phenomenon, but it sounds like a great game!

It is!

Quickleaf said:
How does one buy the core book? Has it been released yet? Barring that, how does one buy/acquire the playtest document? The Pelgrane website is oriented for those in the know and I couldn't find what I was looking for.

It has not yet been released. If you pre-order now from here you'll get both the book and the PDF when it is released. You'll also get immediately the current playtest document.

Quickleaf said:
Also, exactly which races/classes are included in the current book/rules? And up to what level do those rules cover? Simple enough question, but I've been searching the Internet for almost 45 minutes looking for the answer!

Thanks in advance!

The races are: humans, dwarves, high elves, wood elves, dark elves, gnomes, half-orcs, halflings, dragonspawn (dragonborn), aasimar, dwarf-forged (war forged) and tieflings.

Classes: barbarian, bard, cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer and wizard.

A supplement for which the Kickstarter just ended will add: chaos shaman, battle captain (warlord), druid, necromancer, monk, occultist and multi-classing rules.

Nikosandros · Sep 22, 2012

chrisshorb said:
What does the acronym FLWQ mean?

I've seen it written as LFQW, but I guess it's the same: linear fighters and quadratic wizards. It refers to the fact that in pre-4e D&D casters get both higher level powers and get better with their lower level powers, thus scaling in power approximately with the square of their level.

Nikosandros · Sep 22, 2012

chrisshorb said:
Thanks for the great thorough review.
Questions:
Skill Challenges? Anything resembling those? I really like those in 4e. Perhaps the more fluid roleplay style obviates the need for structured skill challenge rules, or not?

There is nothing like skill challenges. I would like to see something like that as long as it was far more flexible than the rules in 4e (I really hate those and never use them).

chrisshorb said:
Scaling an external adventure source (say an AD&D or 3.5 or PF or 4e) game to 13 Age? Any discussion of that? Since 13A only goes to 10th level, while 4e goes to 30th, and 3.5 goes to 20th, wondering if there is some sort of scaling recommendation?

No scaling or conversion so far.