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13th Age Discussion: A Love Letter to The Best Parts of D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Isaac Chalk" data-source="post: 5942812" data-attributes="member: 96952"><p>So what does <strong>13th Age</strong> have? Here's a list:</p><p></p><p>- <em>Icons:</em> Each character gets a set number of dice to roll in relation with the setting's big movers and shakers. <strong>13th Age</strong> comes with its own set of icons, but they're the same sort of Movers and Shakers you'd find in any fantasy universe. Eberron, for example, could have Icons in each Dragonmarked house, each of the religions, each of the Five Nations, the Inspired, the Order of the Emerald Claw, the various druid sects... you get the idea.</p><p></p><p>Relationships can be positive, negative, or complicated - a positive relationship means you're allied with them, a negative one means you're opposed, a complicated one is just that. These relationships are the game's version of alignment - rather than alignment with abstract philosophical notions, they're alignment with actual organizations and people who have a complex web of relations with each other.</p><p></p><p>- <em>Backgrounds:</em> There are no skills in <strong>13th Age.</strong></p><p></p><p>Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. There are skills - but they are very loosely defined, and they come out of your experiences in life. For example, if I was playing a thief-styled character, I would have five background points in Thief. I would roll this every time I needed to do thiefy things.</p><p></p><p>But if I want to open this up a little, I could say "Trained by the Silver Cloak order of thieves" at +5, which suggests a story or two and also potentially expands what the background can do. Maybe the Silver Cloaks have a specific grift they specialize in - or maybe this background can be applied to skill checks to persuade members of the Silver Cloaks.</p><p></p><p>Essentially, you create your own skills in <strong>13th Age.</strong></p><p></p><p>- <em>The Escalation Die:</em> One thing about D&D is that as fights go on, characters get weaker. They accumulate status conditions or run out of powers and the fight starts to drag. Not so with <strong>13th Age</strong> which has an escalation die - essentially, the biggest d6 you can find, laid squat in the center of the table, and each round beyond the first, you increment this die by 1, capping at 6. Player characters get this bonus to their attacks.</p><p></p><p>This represents characters figuring out the holes in the enemy's defenses, fatigue on the enemy's side, adrenaline, getting into the groove... whatever you wish to call it, this ensures that fights hit a point where monsters start dropping and dropping fast. Several class abilities are unlocked by the die - your fighter, for example, may start cleaving through entire squads of enemies once he's got their number, and clerics have a chance to retain spells when the die is over a certain number, to illustrate their gods giving them strength when it's most needed. </p><p></p><p>- <em>Unique Ways To Fight:</em> The common criticism of 4th Edition was that everyone had at-will/encounter/daily powers which were samey. I don't think they played the same, but with <strong>13th Age</strong> it's a moot point. Every class has unique features and ways to clobber those who have it coming.</p><p></p><p>The bard's songs come to a crescendo and a climax that grants a bonus in the round they end. The rogue's attacks build up a trait called momentum that unlocks more dangerous attacks, built up by attacking without being counter-attacked. The monk uses opening moves, follow-through attacks and finishing combos in the fight. The fighter calls upon a list of tactical maneuvers that allows them to switch up their style - they can be the classic defender, an archer in heavy armor, or a two-handed buttkicker. The sorcerer can super-charge spells by taking extra time to cast them. The wizard can get extra effects out of her spells if she comes up with an awesome, long-winded descriptor of what the spell does.</p><p></p><p>- <em>One Unique Thing:</em> A feature every character has is something that sets them apart from the other PCs, that has no real combat applicability but allows them to do things that other people could not. This is entirely up to the GM and is one of the best customization options in the game, a catch-all that allows for concepts not explicitly anticipated by the designers.</p><p></p><p>In my playtest game, one character had Son of a Lich, which meant he traced his bloodline back to the game's Lich King, and he had special insight into their machinations, magical abilities and organization. Another had Star Born, which meant that his character was an avatar created by a far-off star, acting as a font of divine power. Another had Empathy, which meant that he'd catch emotional states and lies that others would miss.</p><p></p><p>One Unique Thing becomes a catch-all rule that can accomodate things that aren't explicit, and in turn, are a symbol of <strong>13th Age's</strong> design ethos, which encourages unique campaigns, unique characters, and for the players and GM to collaborate on the adventure they'll be sharing.</p><p></p><p>- <em>Truly Special Magic Items:</em> There are two grades of magic items in <strong>13th Age</strong>: consumables, such as potions, runes and oils, and true magic items. Consumables can be bought fairly easily, but a true magic item is priceless.</p><p></p><p>There are no +1 swords. Every item has a unique history and a unique personality quirk. For example, the Sickle & Star would be a pair of weapons that would encourage teamwork and would occasionally give off the impression that the player character should consider more Five Year Plans and controlled economies. These urges can be ignored or indulged as the player wishes... </p><p></p><p>... unless they wind up with more magic items than their level, at which point they are essentially taken over by the personalities of their items, and our friend up top with the Sickle and Star would start plotting the overthrow of the Dragon Emperor and planning a system where the workers shall control the means of production.</p><p></p><p>Magic items you choose to keep are going to be staying with you your entire career - no trading in Magic Sword for Even Better Magic Sword, an aspect of D&D I felt cheapened the magic of magic items.</p><p></p><p>- <em>Tone:</em> Not a game feature, but a writing feature. Heinsoo and Tweet write this game as less a pair of scribes handing down the Holy Writ From On High, but as a couple of people who know you'll get jokes about gazebos. Their writing is from the GM and player's perspectives of "how does this actually work in a game?" They give advice, suggest alternative house rules, and talk about the design ethos of the game. It's refreshingly transparent.</p><p></p><p>- <em>What Else?</em> A lot. Soon you'll be able to preorder it and find out yourself - or talk to other playtesters, myself included, who will be happy to talk about the game.</p><p></p><p><em>Find out more about 13th Age <a href="http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/?page_id=7741" target="_blank">here.</a></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Their pre-order page is <a href="http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=8354" target="_blank">here</a> as well, with advance PDFs of the rules available for download soon.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>13th Age is on the Twitters <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/13thage" target="_blank">here.</a></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Adam Drey at Legendary.org goes over his experiences with the game <a href="http://adam.legendary.org/thoughts/?cat=5" target="_blank">here.</a></em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><a href="http://yfrog.com/nw911jej" target="_blank">THIS</a> is the proper size of escalation die. (Hat Tip to <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/datainadequate" target="_blank">datainadequate</a>)</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Isaac Chalk, post: 5942812, member: 96952"] So what does [b]13th Age[/b] have? Here's a list: - [i]Icons:[/i] Each character gets a set number of dice to roll in relation with the setting's big movers and shakers. [b]13th Age[/b] comes with its own set of icons, but they're the same sort of Movers and Shakers you'd find in any fantasy universe. Eberron, for example, could have Icons in each Dragonmarked house, each of the religions, each of the Five Nations, the Inspired, the Order of the Emerald Claw, the various druid sects... you get the idea. Relationships can be positive, negative, or complicated - a positive relationship means you're allied with them, a negative one means you're opposed, a complicated one is just that. These relationships are the game's version of alignment - rather than alignment with abstract philosophical notions, they're alignment with actual organizations and people who have a complex web of relations with each other. - [i]Backgrounds:[/i] There are no skills in [b]13th Age.[/b] Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. There are skills - but they are very loosely defined, and they come out of your experiences in life. For example, if I was playing a thief-styled character, I would have five background points in Thief. I would roll this every time I needed to do thiefy things. But if I want to open this up a little, I could say "Trained by the Silver Cloak order of thieves" at +5, which suggests a story or two and also potentially expands what the background can do. Maybe the Silver Cloaks have a specific grift they specialize in - or maybe this background can be applied to skill checks to persuade members of the Silver Cloaks. Essentially, you create your own skills in [b]13th Age.[/b] - [i]The Escalation Die:[/i] One thing about D&D is that as fights go on, characters get weaker. They accumulate status conditions or run out of powers and the fight starts to drag. Not so with [b]13th Age[/b] which has an escalation die - essentially, the biggest d6 you can find, laid squat in the center of the table, and each round beyond the first, you increment this die by 1, capping at 6. Player characters get this bonus to their attacks. This represents characters figuring out the holes in the enemy's defenses, fatigue on the enemy's side, adrenaline, getting into the groove... whatever you wish to call it, this ensures that fights hit a point where monsters start dropping and dropping fast. Several class abilities are unlocked by the die - your fighter, for example, may start cleaving through entire squads of enemies once he's got their number, and clerics have a chance to retain spells when the die is over a certain number, to illustrate their gods giving them strength when it's most needed. - [i]Unique Ways To Fight:[/i] The common criticism of 4th Edition was that everyone had at-will/encounter/daily powers which were samey. I don't think they played the same, but with [b]13th Age[/b] it's a moot point. Every class has unique features and ways to clobber those who have it coming. The bard's songs come to a crescendo and a climax that grants a bonus in the round they end. The rogue's attacks build up a trait called momentum that unlocks more dangerous attacks, built up by attacking without being counter-attacked. The monk uses opening moves, follow-through attacks and finishing combos in the fight. The fighter calls upon a list of tactical maneuvers that allows them to switch up their style - they can be the classic defender, an archer in heavy armor, or a two-handed buttkicker. The sorcerer can super-charge spells by taking extra time to cast them. The wizard can get extra effects out of her spells if she comes up with an awesome, long-winded descriptor of what the spell does. - [i]One Unique Thing:[/i] A feature every character has is something that sets them apart from the other PCs, that has no real combat applicability but allows them to do things that other people could not. This is entirely up to the GM and is one of the best customization options in the game, a catch-all that allows for concepts not explicitly anticipated by the designers. In my playtest game, one character had Son of a Lich, which meant he traced his bloodline back to the game's Lich King, and he had special insight into their machinations, magical abilities and organization. Another had Star Born, which meant that his character was an avatar created by a far-off star, acting as a font of divine power. Another had Empathy, which meant that he'd catch emotional states and lies that others would miss. One Unique Thing becomes a catch-all rule that can accomodate things that aren't explicit, and in turn, are a symbol of [b]13th Age's[/b] design ethos, which encourages unique campaigns, unique characters, and for the players and GM to collaborate on the adventure they'll be sharing. - [i]Truly Special Magic Items:[/i] There are two grades of magic items in [b]13th Age[/b]: consumables, such as potions, runes and oils, and true magic items. Consumables can be bought fairly easily, but a true magic item is priceless. There are no +1 swords. Every item has a unique history and a unique personality quirk. For example, the Sickle & Star would be a pair of weapons that would encourage teamwork and would occasionally give off the impression that the player character should consider more Five Year Plans and controlled economies. These urges can be ignored or indulged as the player wishes... ... unless they wind up with more magic items than their level, at which point they are essentially taken over by the personalities of their items, and our friend up top with the Sickle and Star would start plotting the overthrow of the Dragon Emperor and planning a system where the workers shall control the means of production. Magic items you choose to keep are going to be staying with you your entire career - no trading in Magic Sword for Even Better Magic Sword, an aspect of D&D I felt cheapened the magic of magic items. - [i]Tone:[/i] Not a game feature, but a writing feature. Heinsoo and Tweet write this game as less a pair of scribes handing down the Holy Writ From On High, but as a couple of people who know you'll get jokes about gazebos. Their writing is from the GM and player's perspectives of "how does this actually work in a game?" They give advice, suggest alternative house rules, and talk about the design ethos of the game. It's refreshingly transparent. - [i]What Else?[/i] A lot. Soon you'll be able to preorder it and find out yourself - or talk to other playtesters, myself included, who will be happy to talk about the game. [i]Find out more about 13th Age [url=http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/?page_id=7741]here.[/url] Their pre-order page is [url=http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=8354]here[/url] as well, with advance PDFs of the rules available for download soon. 13th Age is on the Twitters [url=http://twitter.com/#!/13thage]here.[/url] Adam Drey at Legendary.org goes over his experiences with the game [url=http://adam.legendary.org/thoughts/?cat=5]here.[/url] [url=http://yfrog.com/nw911jej]THIS[/url] is the proper size of escalation die. (Hat Tip to [url=https://twitter.com/#!/datainadequate]datainadequate[/url])[/i] [/QUOTE]
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