(I originally posted this on RPGGeek)
First, my personal opinion on the icons:
I loved much about 13th Age, but I have a conflicted relationship with the icon mechanic (pun intended). On one hand its free-style storytelling potential and the way it entwines plots and interests is just my thing. On the other hand, it feels a bit limiting IMHO, while it should be versatile. It feels like everyone in 13th Age is supposed to be an agent. Why should there even be a figure such as the Archmage? Maybe there are a dozen powerful wizards, with not a single on standing out. Surely there can be more than one Dwarf Kingdoms? Demons, for example, usually have such a convoluted hierarchy, with factions, many different powers and goals, but in 13th Age they end up all under the umbrella of a clear leader, the Diabolist. I know that's just the way the game is designed, it's not supposed to fit all settings and play styles, but I gave it a shot to make it more to my liking. I know I'm not alone in this; I've seen many people mention using organizations as icons, for example. I reinterpreted icons as "concepts". Just wanted to share what I came up with.
The story behind this:
D&D 4E had many good fluff books, but the Neverwinter Campaign Guide was by far my favorite. It is small scale (designed for Heroic Tier, which are the first 10 of 30 possible levels), full of gray areas, convoluted agendas and intrigue. I ended up using Neverwinter in my one-shot 13th Age game (back then I just ignored the icon rules) which turned into a campaign. Some disclaimers: I'm a newbie DM. The campaign is just started. I'll butcher the NW setting. I'll also butcher the icons.
My idea in a nutshell:
To fit the smaller scale of the setting, I consider my icons "non-global". So the Prince of Shadows in Neverwinter might not be the same person in Waterdeep or Icewind Dale. This raises the issue: how does one character relate to the Prince of Shadows if they don't know him personally (at least at first)? To fix this, my second idea was to make the icon a concept, not one particular person or organization. Here's what I have so far:
The Emperor: In the setting, Lord Neverember is self-appointed ruler of NW, while the Sons of Alagondar are an opposing group of rebels that served a previous lineage of rulers. There's no real "Emperor" here, it's just the concept of ruling NW that matters. So if a player works for Neverember and is hated by the Sons of Alagondar, he might have a conflicted relationship here. If he supports the rebels and Neverember doesn't know about it, it might be a positive relationship.
The Archmage: Based on the party wizard's background, I had an order of wizards investigating the Spellplague in the city. He's one of them. He receives patronage from the leader of his order, in a manner that resembles a less powerful version of 13th Age's Archmage. There are other wizards in NW, they can also come into play in Archmage relationships.
The Lich King: Easy one. The Thayans are active in the region in the form of the lich Valindra. You can be sure any undead business in the region has her fingerprints all over it, so necromancers and undead hunters will certainly know of her. She responds to Szass Tam, but as far as the setting is concerned she's the biggest deal (of course, of she dies this could change).
The Diabolist: The Ashmadai cult worships devils in NW, so I had to adapt a little, but it's close enough. The wizard Mordai Vell is a leader of the cult. They have relationships with many other factions/icons such as the Thayans, Aboleths, the "Emperor" and the Netherese, in true 13th Age fashion.
The Great Gold Wyrm: The Harpers: "A group that seeks to help NW develop into the bastion of good it was before". Close enough for me, just needed a bit more paladin!
The Orc Lord: Another easy one. The Many-Arrows tribe is in the region, with a vanguard in a ruined area inside the city itself. The leader of the vanguard is Vansi and she's power-hungry and a bit of a pain in the neck for Orc King Obould. So it's unclear who the real Orc Lord is, even though Vansi is being slowly twisted by the Abolethic Sovereignty.
The High Druid: without an obvious equivalent, I replaced him with the Uthgardt lycanthrope barbarians who inhabit the mountains known as the Crags, keeping the "attuned to the wild" theme.
The Elf Queen: The elf city of Sharandar is ruined in the setting. I like the idea of the Elf Queen, so in my game she's there ruling elves in the woods, albeit among the ruins of a once greater fey empire.
The Priestess: In my game the priestess in the Prophet Rohini, and she's bad. This icon is secretly in league with the Abolethic Sovereignty. There are still many good people in Helm's Cathedral honestly trying to illuminate and guide the people, such as Brother Satarin, and there's bound to be a conflict between the clerics and priests of Helm and the Abolethic Sovereignty. I expect this "icon" to evolve a bit during the campaign. Servants of Oghma can come in here as well.
The Prince of Shadows: I I thought about the Netherese (in the setting they are led by Clariburnus Tanthul, one of the twelve Princes of Shade, so very appropriate) but decided to subdue them in my campaign, so I opted to increase the influence of the drow spy/informant group Bregan D'aerthe, led by Jarlaxle, and any other drow in NW.
The Dwarf King: somewhere beneath NW lies the great ancient halls of Gauntlgrym. Many dwarf adventurers seek it. I decided that a good relationship here means just that the PC is somehow famous among dwarves in NW (a negative relationship would mean he's infamous).
The Three: These look a lot like their original icon counterparts, since there's no clear equivalent in NW. I liked Drakkenhall, so I made the Blue ruler of Luskan to the north of NW. The Red sleeps inside the volcano instead of the setting's Primordial. The Black is somewhere in the wilderness.
The Crusader: Sabine is NW's ruthless chief law enforcer and leads the Mintarn soldiers stationed there. They are theoretically on Lord Neverember's side, but I made them more independent and now they are a mercenary group who operates in various militaristic matters.
Overall it was interesting to see how some of the associations were pretty easy to make. It's not perfect, and it's certainly more difficult to keep track of the icons and what they represent, but allows me to use the icon rolls in my setting to guide the story. I'd love to see similar stuff people have come up with. Any suggestions are also very welcome.
First, my personal opinion on the icons:
I loved much about 13th Age, but I have a conflicted relationship with the icon mechanic (pun intended). On one hand its free-style storytelling potential and the way it entwines plots and interests is just my thing. On the other hand, it feels a bit limiting IMHO, while it should be versatile. It feels like everyone in 13th Age is supposed to be an agent. Why should there even be a figure such as the Archmage? Maybe there are a dozen powerful wizards, with not a single on standing out. Surely there can be more than one Dwarf Kingdoms? Demons, for example, usually have such a convoluted hierarchy, with factions, many different powers and goals, but in 13th Age they end up all under the umbrella of a clear leader, the Diabolist. I know that's just the way the game is designed, it's not supposed to fit all settings and play styles, but I gave it a shot to make it more to my liking. I know I'm not alone in this; I've seen many people mention using organizations as icons, for example. I reinterpreted icons as "concepts". Just wanted to share what I came up with.
The story behind this:
D&D 4E had many good fluff books, but the Neverwinter Campaign Guide was by far my favorite. It is small scale (designed for Heroic Tier, which are the first 10 of 30 possible levels), full of gray areas, convoluted agendas and intrigue. I ended up using Neverwinter in my one-shot 13th Age game (back then I just ignored the icon rules) which turned into a campaign. Some disclaimers: I'm a newbie DM. The campaign is just started. I'll butcher the NW setting. I'll also butcher the icons.
My idea in a nutshell:
To fit the smaller scale of the setting, I consider my icons "non-global". So the Prince of Shadows in Neverwinter might not be the same person in Waterdeep or Icewind Dale. This raises the issue: how does one character relate to the Prince of Shadows if they don't know him personally (at least at first)? To fix this, my second idea was to make the icon a concept, not one particular person or organization. Here's what I have so far:
The Emperor: In the setting, Lord Neverember is self-appointed ruler of NW, while the Sons of Alagondar are an opposing group of rebels that served a previous lineage of rulers. There's no real "Emperor" here, it's just the concept of ruling NW that matters. So if a player works for Neverember and is hated by the Sons of Alagondar, he might have a conflicted relationship here. If he supports the rebels and Neverember doesn't know about it, it might be a positive relationship.
The Archmage: Based on the party wizard's background, I had an order of wizards investigating the Spellplague in the city. He's one of them. He receives patronage from the leader of his order, in a manner that resembles a less powerful version of 13th Age's Archmage. There are other wizards in NW, they can also come into play in Archmage relationships.
The Lich King: Easy one. The Thayans are active in the region in the form of the lich Valindra. You can be sure any undead business in the region has her fingerprints all over it, so necromancers and undead hunters will certainly know of her. She responds to Szass Tam, but as far as the setting is concerned she's the biggest deal (of course, of she dies this could change).
The Diabolist: The Ashmadai cult worships devils in NW, so I had to adapt a little, but it's close enough. The wizard Mordai Vell is a leader of the cult. They have relationships with many other factions/icons such as the Thayans, Aboleths, the "Emperor" and the Netherese, in true 13th Age fashion.
The Great Gold Wyrm: The Harpers: "A group that seeks to help NW develop into the bastion of good it was before". Close enough for me, just needed a bit more paladin!
The Orc Lord: Another easy one. The Many-Arrows tribe is in the region, with a vanguard in a ruined area inside the city itself. The leader of the vanguard is Vansi and she's power-hungry and a bit of a pain in the neck for Orc King Obould. So it's unclear who the real Orc Lord is, even though Vansi is being slowly twisted by the Abolethic Sovereignty.
The High Druid: without an obvious equivalent, I replaced him with the Uthgardt lycanthrope barbarians who inhabit the mountains known as the Crags, keeping the "attuned to the wild" theme.
The Elf Queen: The elf city of Sharandar is ruined in the setting. I like the idea of the Elf Queen, so in my game she's there ruling elves in the woods, albeit among the ruins of a once greater fey empire.
The Priestess: In my game the priestess in the Prophet Rohini, and she's bad. This icon is secretly in league with the Abolethic Sovereignty. There are still many good people in Helm's Cathedral honestly trying to illuminate and guide the people, such as Brother Satarin, and there's bound to be a conflict between the clerics and priests of Helm and the Abolethic Sovereignty. I expect this "icon" to evolve a bit during the campaign. Servants of Oghma can come in here as well.
The Prince of Shadows: I I thought about the Netherese (in the setting they are led by Clariburnus Tanthul, one of the twelve Princes of Shade, so very appropriate) but decided to subdue them in my campaign, so I opted to increase the influence of the drow spy/informant group Bregan D'aerthe, led by Jarlaxle, and any other drow in NW.
The Dwarf King: somewhere beneath NW lies the great ancient halls of Gauntlgrym. Many dwarf adventurers seek it. I decided that a good relationship here means just that the PC is somehow famous among dwarves in NW (a negative relationship would mean he's infamous).
The Three: These look a lot like their original icon counterparts, since there's no clear equivalent in NW. I liked Drakkenhall, so I made the Blue ruler of Luskan to the north of NW. The Red sleeps inside the volcano instead of the setting's Primordial. The Black is somewhere in the wilderness.
The Crusader: Sabine is NW's ruthless chief law enforcer and leads the Mintarn soldiers stationed there. They are theoretically on Lord Neverember's side, but I made them more independent and now they are a mercenary group who operates in various militaristic matters.
Overall it was interesting to see how some of the associations were pretty easy to make. It's not perfect, and it's certainly more difficult to keep track of the icons and what they represent, but allows me to use the icon rolls in my setting to guide the story. I'd love to see similar stuff people have come up with. Any suggestions are also very welcome.
