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I used the Escalation Die in 4e straight up and it worked great. Though I do use a number of other house rules in 4e to make monsters tougher that don't come from 13th Age. :)

This is good advice. Pathfinder classes are uneven in power and balance, with spellcasters almost always better and more powerful than non-casters. I had mostly optimizers so they avoided the underpowered classes. But if you have a mixed group of optimizers and role-players who don't try even a...

I've played and DMed for 3e, 3.5e, 4e, and Pathfinder. I like Pathfinder and 4e both, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. Going from 4e to Pathfinder can be rough, especially for a DM. Firstly, even if you are running an AP, there is a lot of prep time necessary for the DM. First, you...

Different weapon damage dice is dumb to me. A dagger specialist should be just as viable as a greataxe wielder without needing some fiddly feat chain or prestige class to make it viable. ALL weapons should generally use the same damage dice (or the rough equivalent with another die type), but...

This. The entire notion that articles on wikipedia need to be deleted at all (unless they are factually incorrect) is frankly absurd. Its WIKIpedia, not a formal printed encyclopedia with a limited page count. Who the hell are these people to decide what's notable or not notable? Who cares...

Wonder Woman has been able to fly for some time. She is one of the most powerful beings in the DC universe, with strength, durability, and speed even beyond any female Kryptonians. She's not quite as strong as Superman, but its close. Captain Marvel is as strong as Superman, however. He was...

Smite scales with level in that you do half damage even on a miss with a smite attack. That's not just half of your Smite damage, that's half of ALL the damage you would normally do on a hit. Including all smite bonus damage, damage from your level, strength, magic, etc. Its not as sexy as...

My FLGS is extremely successful and its due to a number of factors. It is centrally located between the two most populous cities in the greater Portland metro area (Hillsboro and Beaverton) along a major highway, so its relatively easy to get to. They are in an older strip mall so their rent is...

Indeed. I never thought about it, but you're right. Even when an edition does something I don't like (which they all do to some extent), I usually feel its enough of an improvement over the things I didn't to move forward. So I pretty much have always moved forward with each edition. Right now...

My list in order of personal preference: 13th Age 4e Pathfinder 3e 2e 1e Basic Too early to say where 5e will fall, but based on playtest it will be below 13th Age, but above 3e. Not sure if its as good as Pathfinder or 4e yet, though. I want to see the finished rules and then I'll decide.

Pathfinder is no more, or less gamey than 4e. Its all just a matter of perspective and personal taste. I've run games in both systems and never had an issue mapping what happened mechanically in play to the fiction of my world. Pathfinder, and 3e in general, does a better job of obfuscating its...

I think the DM providing a list of suggested backgrounds is a great way for a DM to get the players focused and thinking about theme and tone if the DM has a specific campaign in mind. It also allows you to implicitly determine the breadth and the scope of the backgrounds you want to see from...

There is certainly no wrong or right way to play. But my take is that by giving them X uses of their background per session, or per day, or whatever, you're essentially turning the use of Backgrounds back into a resource to be strategically managed. You're telling the player they get an X% worth...

I'm still waiting for the book here in the US. If it doesn't arrive today, I'm e-mailing Monte Cook Games to see if there's a problem.

To me this is a "feature" not a bug. I think you miss the point of backgrounds entirely because you're viewing 13th Age backgrounds through the traditional D&D lens as a game of strategically managing limited resources. Hence the misplaced concern that a player is somehow "getting away with...

While its extremely helpful, I don't think its needed. I always made my 4e PCs by hand, by looking through the books and using notebook paper to write down my PC and abilities. I've found for new players that DDI can be option overload.

13th Age is my favorite, with 4e as a close second.

I've been running my 13th Age game more like traditional D&D and its been great so far. And I haven't used the icon rolls at all yet. I'm saving that for a more improv heavy session when I don't have something planned. I would say let 13th Age work with your style of play. If the Icon rolls...

As someone who likes 4e and has a lot of experience playing and running it, I'd say no. 4e really plays best when done as a more story oriented game with big cinematic set piece battles. Its not really designed to be played as a game requiring careful hoarding of strategic resources. Grinding...

Go for it! 13th Age is all about tweaking the game and making it your own. I rather like your rule myself. :)