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<blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 9591806" data-attributes="member: 6809274">Interesting question, Mike.Here's my hot take: I believe that most of the innovative 13th Age mechanics are DM Aids in disguise. Take Icons, for example. Icon Relationships live on the character sheet. But they’ve helped me immensely. Need to give some depth to that mummy? Easy enough when the wizard has a relationship with the Lich King. Need an NPC to lift the mummy’s curse? Easy enough when the paladin has a relationship with the Priestess–he knows a cleric in the next town over. Need the cleric to have some sort of complication? Easy enough when the rogue is former lovers with the lieutenant of the Prince of Shadows who swiped the cleric’s holy book and is auctioning it to the highest bidder. Backgrounds and even the Escalation Die are also DM Aids.I'm about 30 sessions into my first 13th Age campaign. I've found that most of these mechanics simplify my life but actually complicate life for the players. &quot;Roll a Medicine check DC 20&quot; is much easier for them than &quot;Explain to me how your Background as Orc Lord Courtesan allows you to lift the curse&quot;.As an aside, my perfect version of 5E would include relevant subsystems in each adventure campaign. For example, Tomb of Annihilation would have had expanded rules for exploration more in line with what Level Up has. I don’t think the DMG needs to pack in every single DM Aid. They can show up when relevant for a campaign with the adventure acting as a sort of tutorial for how, when, and why to use them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="THEMNGMNT, post: 9591806, member: 6809274"] Interesting question, Mike. Here's my hot take: I believe that most of the innovative 13th Age mechanics are DM Aids in disguise. Take Icons, for example. Icon Relationships live on the character sheet. But they’ve helped me immensely. Need to give some depth to that mummy? Easy enough when the wizard has a relationship with the Lich King. Need an NPC to lift the mummy’s curse? Easy enough when the paladin has a relationship with the Priestess–he knows a cleric in the next town over. Need the cleric to have some sort of complication? Easy enough when the rogue is former lovers with the lieutenant of the Prince of Shadows who swiped the cleric’s holy book and is auctioning it to the highest bidder. Backgrounds and even the Escalation Die are also DM Aids. I'm about 30 sessions into my first 13th Age campaign. I've found that most of these mechanics simplify my life but actually complicate life for the players. "Roll a Medicine check DC 20" is much easier for them than "Explain to me how your Background as Orc Lord Courtesan allows you to lift the curse". As an aside, my perfect version of 5E would include relevant subsystems in each adventure campaign. For example, Tomb of Annihilation would have had expanded rules for exploration more in line with what Level Up has. I don’t think the DMG needs to pack in every single DM Aid. They can show up when relevant for a campaign with the adventure acting as a sort of tutorial for how, when, and why to use them. [/QUOTE]

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