Enrico Poli1
Adventurer
4 out of 5 rating for 13th Age Core Book
Good points (beside the amazing writing style): the Icon Relationships points, the One Unique Thing, the Escalation Die (true reason: because it adds the variability of the time factor to fights!). However, Backgrounds are too much free-form IMO. Ironically, all these elements can be easily taken away and used in another system.
Bad points: 1) the rule system isn't flexible enough, I have always the feeling of being limited in my options. 2) The indie aspect of building the story collaboratively between master and players is handled in very confusing ways (IMO). I go mad when the players are left free to change the lore/history of the world or whatever!
To sum things up, I have the bad feeling that the rule-system of 13th Age is dualistic, suffering from a rigid division between Flesh (the combat crunch, which is not flexible enough) and the Spirit (the non-combat aspects, that are so fantastically free-form and so unrelated to the crunch to result very difficult to manage).
The system deserves a 4-points rating for its better ideas (Icon Relationships, One Unique Thing, Escalation Die) AND because of the excellence of two system-dependent products: the Bestiary and Eyes of the Stone Thief, each in the Top 10 of their respective category (Bestiary and Adventure).
Good points (beside the amazing writing style): the Icon Relationships points, the One Unique Thing, the Escalation Die (true reason: because it adds the variability of the time factor to fights!). However, Backgrounds are too much free-form IMO. Ironically, all these elements can be easily taken away and used in another system.
Bad points: 1) the rule system isn't flexible enough, I have always the feeling of being limited in my options. 2) The indie aspect of building the story collaboratively between master and players is handled in very confusing ways (IMO). I go mad when the players are left free to change the lore/history of the world or whatever!
To sum things up, I have the bad feeling that the rule-system of 13th Age is dualistic, suffering from a rigid division between Flesh (the combat crunch, which is not flexible enough) and the Spirit (the non-combat aspects, that are so fantastically free-form and so unrelated to the crunch to result very difficult to manage).
The system deserves a 4-points rating for its better ideas (Icon Relationships, One Unique Thing, Escalation Die) AND because of the excellence of two system-dependent products: the Bestiary and Eyes of the Stone Thief, each in the Top 10 of their respective category (Bestiary and Adventure).
