New 13th Age 'Escalation Edition' Coming Next Year!

There's a new version of 13th Age coming! Pelgrane Press announced at Gen Con that the 13th Age 'Escalated Edition' will be coming to Kickstarter next year. It will be backwards compatible with the current game. They'll be starting a playtest program very soon, which they are inviting game groups to join.

13th Age was released in 2013, designed by Rob Heinsoo (D&D 4E) and Jonathan Tweet (D&D 3E), and is a 'variant' of D&D.

 

[Cadence]

The solution to "I'm slow at subtracting / adding" (for monster HP tracking) is not "get better at it / use a calculator", it's make the arithmetic SO EASY a caveman troglodyte could do it.

"But Joshua, HOW?" I hear you cry out.

Simple:

• Before combat, round all monster HP to the nearest 5 HP (lower levels) or 10 HP (mid and up).
• At low levels, round all incoming damage to the nearest 5 HP.
• At mid-to-high levels, to the nearest 10 HP.
• At very high levels, you can round to the nearest 20 HP, although typically rounding to the nearest 10 HP still works fine.

What this does is mean you are only ever adding/subtracting by 5s or 10s, which, when the monster HP are already a multiple of 5s or 10s, is super easy and fast.

"But Joshua, doesn't this punish piddly amounts of miss damage and splash damage?" Yes it does, and I am entirely fine with that "drawback".

If the goal is minimal math, why not just use all kinds of smaller values and dice instead of doing variable rounding?

Instead of the 53hp (round to 50) monster that does d6+1 damage (round the 1-2 to 0, and the 3-7 to5) with one attack and d12+1 damage (round 1-2 to 0, 3-7 to 1, 8-12 to 2, and 13 to 3) with the other, make it a 10 hp monster that does 1 and d2?

 

[Joshua Randall]

If the goal is minimal math, why not just use all kinds of smaller values and dice instead of doing variable rounding?

Instead of the 53hp (round to 50) monster that does d6+1 damage (round the 1-2 to 0, and the 3-7 to5) with one attack and d12+1 damage (round 1-2 to 0, 3-7 to 1, 8-12 to 2, and 13 to 3) with the other, make it a 10 hp monster that does 1 and d2?

Because that’s a lot more work and the goal is to reduce work.

 

[Cadence]

Because that’s a lot more work and the goal is to reduce work.

Ah. I thought you were talking about a possible thing the new 13age books could have as a rule or set-up.

 

[ruemere]

There’s no reason to be tolerant of racism. No one’s suggested otherwise. As stated up thread there are real genetic differences between ethnicities that can doom lives when medical treatment does not take these differences into account. Accepting the findings of modern science isn’t racist.

ETA: To be perfectly clear. Acknowledging genetic differences between populations is not racist. It literally saves lives. Thinking those genetic differences makes one group superior to another is racist. And should be fought.

Thank you. I promised myself I would not comment on this topic myself, as there are simply too many instinctive reactions to r-word.

@Umbran , I would like to specifically distance myself from your interpretation of my words: I am not proposing to be tolerant of r-expletive-ist ideas. I referred to people, specifically one Jonathan Tweet.

We are multinational, multilanguage community here - with a bit of understanding, we can talk things out, right?

Disclaimer: A few days ago, 15 km east of my homeland border there has landed a proof that one cannot reason with some.

 

[ruemere]

Ah. I thought you were talking about a possible thing the new 13age books could have as a rule or set-up.

The big issue with 13A rules was that due to certain cadence of growth of damage/HP, characters in the end game fought similar number of creatures, but the numbers crunched reached three digits, or in some cases, four (Tarrasque, HP 2k+). Also, the number of dice rolled reached two digits.

While unlikely to be a big issue, this definitely contributed to the length of a character's turn.

In my game I have tried several approaches, probably most successful being fixed damage with many sided die at a top, and number of hits being close second (one hit is worth N minions, takes three hits to down a trooper, 1 for archer or caster, 5 hits for a boss; crits upgrade the number of hits scored).

 

[Joshua Randall]

Length of combat is like length of lovemaking: it’s the right length as long as you are still enjoying it. Which differs person to person and mood to mood. Game rules can give you levers to pull to adjust (perceived) duration, but rules cannot dictate one true answer.

 

[Umbran]

As stated up thread there are real genetic differences between ethnicities that can doom lives when medical treatment does not take these differences into account. Accepting the findings of modern science isn’t racist.

As was stated upthread by the man who owns the site: Debate of the science involved is not a subject for EN World.

 

[Iamoutofhere]

Length of combat is like length of lovemaking: it’s the right length as long as you are still enjoying it. Which differs person to person and mood to mood. Game rules can give you levers to pull to adjust (perceived) duration, but rules cannot dictate one true answer.

Joshua Randall…the Swiss Tony of RPG’s lol

 

[ruemere]

A

Length of combat is like length of lovemaking: it’s the right length as long as you are still enjoying it. Which differs person to person and mood to mood. Game rules can give you levers to pull to adjust (perceived) duration, but rules cannot dictate one true answer.

While I agree with you, here are the observations for default 13A combat encounter (based on simulations and in-game tests):

• the fight, the significant portion of it when the outcome is changeable, lasts 3 rounds. These rounds need not be consecutive (a chase, a fight distributed over a large area, or a temporary barrier may introduce a delay)
• the players tend to use dailies on the first or third round.
• mopping up phase (when the fight is already decided) is best resolved in a short manner with minimum rolls.
• minions are crucial to player's fun - these guys can bite if left alone, and they make very satisfying splat - while troops are least enjoyable - no risk, no pain
• high level minions are incredibly dangerous - and if they are ranged, even more so - I had a TPK almost on my hands

That said, default encounters are sometimes a bit bland. I have a ton of notes on how to spice 13A combat... for example, running no holds barred fight among big tents - scared war elephant, sudden fire or just a few cunning rogues with saws...

 

[waderockett]

Rob Heinsoo has started posting details about the new edition on his personal blog, expanding on the items in that Gen Con flyer list.