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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: 5943956" data-attributes="member: 96952"><p>On Icons.</p><p></p><p>The equivalent of the nine-panel alignment grid in <strong>13th Age</strong> is the Icon Grid, with "Positive Relationship," "Conflicted Relationship," and "Negative Relationship" along the x-axis, and "Heroic Icon," "Ambiguous Icon," and "Villainous Icon" along the bottom. Depending on which panel you select on this grid, you can spend 1, 2 or 3 of your Icon Points on a relationship.</p><p></p><p>(By default certain icons fall into certain catagories, but it's a snap to slide an icon over into another catagory if you think that, say, the Diabolist gets a bad rap.)</p><p></p><p>Let's say that Baron Von Evil is a Villainous Icon, and I want my character to have a negative relationship. I would pick the "Negative Relationship with Villainous Icon" section of the grid, which tells me I can spend up to two points on this particular enmity. I can do so, and still have points left over to define a relationship elsewhere on the grid with another icon - or if Baron Von Evil is secretly my uncle, I can spend those points on an ambiguous relationship instead, putting me in a more complicated situation but potentially wresting benefits. In 13th Age, there are - appropriately - 13 icons, which allows for quite a wide matrix of alliances.</p><p></p><p>Each point put into an alliance gives me a d6 to roll. In a situation where my relationship might come up - for example, if the group needs particular insight into the tactics and practices of Baron Von Evil - I suggest an Icon roll to the GM, who says yea or nay. Then I roll. I hope that a die comes up a 6, which is an unqualified success; I will also accept 5s, which is a qualified success, in that I may attract unwanted attention or wind up owing someone a favor. If you roll both 5s and 6s, you get circumstances that are extra-advantageous AND extra-interesting. (This is where the GM smiles, rolls dice behind the screen, and does their best Tex Richman impression. "Maniacal laugh. Maniacal lauuugh.")</p><p></p><p>The Icons in the current age of 13th Age are: </p><p>- The Archmage, finest spellcaster in all the Empire, maintains extradimensional wards</p><p>- The Dragon Emperor, the head of the Empire and the most politically powerful human alive</p><p>- The Great Gold Wyrm, one of the mightiest dragons in history, who willingly sacrificed itself to seal a demonic rift - and even now, inspires its followers to take up arms against demonic menaces</p><p>- The Priestess, a sort of over-priest of the pantheon of the Gods of Light</p><p>- The Dwarf King, ruler of guess who?</p><p>- The Elf Queen, queen of all the I can't possible figure this out</p><p>- The Crusader, the tip of the Dark God's spear, who will crush the demonic menace no matter what gets in his way - nice ambiguous anti-hero</p><p>- The High Druid, who holds nature in higher regard than mortalkind - any threat to nature earns her wrath, be it demonic or mortal</p><p>- The Prince of Shadows, legendary thief, confidence man and scoundrel, if Han Solo and Tyrion Lannister had a baby who trained under John Constantine</p><p>- The Three, three of the oldest, wisest, most cunning dragons that ever lived, playing games with the lives of mortals on an unimaginable scale</p><p>- The Diabolist, demon summoning specialist who dabbles with things Mortalkind Was Not Meant To Know</p><p>- The Lich King, lord of the undead, master of the unliving, but most pointedly NOT the wielder of Frostmourne, so put the lawyers away, Blizzard</p><p>- The Orc Lord, the supreme royal chief head-smasher in charge of the orcish hordes, who - if he unifies his people - may smash entire countries under the thunder of green feet</p><p></p><p>Of course, these are easily tweaked, removed, or reversed for your favorite campaign. Nearly all fantasy universes have some "big men on campus" or related organizations. Examples might be the Red Wizards of Thay, the Sorcerer-Kings, the Church of the Silver Flame, the Dustmen, House Stark, the Ravenclaws, those <em>muey</em> sexist creepy people with the slave collars in Robbie Jordan's Wheel O' Time, or just about any significant collection of people who'll play a part in the campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Isaac Chalk, post: 5943956, member: 96952"] On Icons. The equivalent of the nine-panel alignment grid in [b]13th Age[/b] is the Icon Grid, with "Positive Relationship," "Conflicted Relationship," and "Negative Relationship" along the x-axis, and "Heroic Icon," "Ambiguous Icon," and "Villainous Icon" along the bottom. Depending on which panel you select on this grid, you can spend 1, 2 or 3 of your Icon Points on a relationship. (By default certain icons fall into certain catagories, but it's a snap to slide an icon over into another catagory if you think that, say, the Diabolist gets a bad rap.) Let's say that Baron Von Evil is a Villainous Icon, and I want my character to have a negative relationship. I would pick the "Negative Relationship with Villainous Icon" section of the grid, which tells me I can spend up to two points on this particular enmity. I can do so, and still have points left over to define a relationship elsewhere on the grid with another icon - or if Baron Von Evil is secretly my uncle, I can spend those points on an ambiguous relationship instead, putting me in a more complicated situation but potentially wresting benefits. In 13th Age, there are - appropriately - 13 icons, which allows for quite a wide matrix of alliances. Each point put into an alliance gives me a d6 to roll. In a situation where my relationship might come up - for example, if the group needs particular insight into the tactics and practices of Baron Von Evil - I suggest an Icon roll to the GM, who says yea or nay. Then I roll. I hope that a die comes up a 6, which is an unqualified success; I will also accept 5s, which is a qualified success, in that I may attract unwanted attention or wind up owing someone a favor. If you roll both 5s and 6s, you get circumstances that are extra-advantageous AND extra-interesting. (This is where the GM smiles, rolls dice behind the screen, and does their best Tex Richman impression. "Maniacal laugh. Maniacal lauuugh.") The Icons in the current age of 13th Age are: - The Archmage, finest spellcaster in all the Empire, maintains extradimensional wards - The Dragon Emperor, the head of the Empire and the most politically powerful human alive - The Great Gold Wyrm, one of the mightiest dragons in history, who willingly sacrificed itself to seal a demonic rift - and even now, inspires its followers to take up arms against demonic menaces - The Priestess, a sort of over-priest of the pantheon of the Gods of Light - The Dwarf King, ruler of guess who? - The Elf Queen, queen of all the I can't possible figure this out - The Crusader, the tip of the Dark God's spear, who will crush the demonic menace no matter what gets in his way - nice ambiguous anti-hero - The High Druid, who holds nature in higher regard than mortalkind - any threat to nature earns her wrath, be it demonic or mortal - The Prince of Shadows, legendary thief, confidence man and scoundrel, if Han Solo and Tyrion Lannister had a baby who trained under John Constantine - The Three, three of the oldest, wisest, most cunning dragons that ever lived, playing games with the lives of mortals on an unimaginable scale - The Diabolist, demon summoning specialist who dabbles with things Mortalkind Was Not Meant To Know - The Lich King, lord of the undead, master of the unliving, but most pointedly NOT the wielder of Frostmourne, so put the lawyers away, Blizzard - The Orc Lord, the supreme royal chief head-smasher in charge of the orcish hordes, who - if he unifies his people - may smash entire countries under the thunder of green feet Of course, these are easily tweaked, removed, or reversed for your favorite campaign. Nearly all fantasy universes have some "big men on campus" or related organizations. Examples might be the Red Wizards of Thay, the Sorcerer-Kings, the Church of the Silver Flame, the Dustmen, House Stark, the Ravenclaws, those [i]muey[/i] sexist creepy people with the slave collars in Robbie Jordan's Wheel O' Time, or just about any significant collection of people who'll play a part in the campaign. [/QUOTE]
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