My 13th Age Report

[JeffB]

I missed the old theater of the mind combats I used to run in AD&D. 13th Age lets me have my cake and eat it too. Monsters are mechanically interesting, but much simpler than 4e monsters. And you can run combats totally on the fly and without a grid.

My natural DM style is very improvisational, and I always struggled to run good games in Pathfinder or 4e without some prep. With 13th Age, I feel comfortable completely winging things. The way I used to run AD&D games years ago. Its been quite refreshing for me.

This is me, too. And why 13th Age also interests me very much (redcap entry aside ). It seems to have a bunch of the things about 4E I love with the ability to run gridless and and on the fly like my OD&D games.....

 

[waderockett]

Thank You Evilbob. Very helpful. I feel better now I will definitely check this out when it hits the shelves.

One more question...it looks like conversion of older edition material may require alot of work...are there plans for adventure support for 13th age?

There are! We've announced Rob Heinsoo's Shards of the Broken Sky adventure, and I know that more adventures are being pitched to Pelgrane. Also, because the game is released under the OGL, there's an opportunity for strong third-party support. I've been working on a series of icon conversions for Kobold Press.

The thing to keep in mind about converting adventures is that those adventures are designed with a different set of assumptions than 13th Age has. To really get the most out of the game you'll want to figure out how the adventure can be customized based on the PC's uniques, backgrounds and icon rolls.

For example: I'm converting my Midgard convention adventure Danger at Deathless Gulch to be 13th Age compatible, and I'm strongly considering making all the encounters dependent on the PC's icon relationships. If you have a negative relationship with the Ghoul Emperor, the darakhul are after the prize. If your foe is the Sultana, you run into the dragonkin. If you have a positive relationship with the First Duke-Admiral Cadua, you fight pirates.

 

[JeffB]

There are! We've announced Rob Heinsoo's Shards of the Broken Sky adventure, and I know that more adventures are being pitched to Pelgrane. Also, because the game is released under the OGL, there's an opportunity for strong third-party support. I've been working on a series of icon conversions for Kobold Press.

The thing to keep in mind about converting adventures is that those adventures are designed with a different set of assumptions than 13th Age has. To really get the most out of the game you'll want to figure out how the adventure can be customized based on the PC's uniques, backgrounds and icon rolls.

For example: I'm converting my Midgard convention adventure Danger at Deathless Gulch to be 13th Age compatible, and I'm strongly considering making all the encounters dependent on the PC's icon relationships. If you have a negative relationship with the Ghoul Emperor, the darakhul are after the prize. If your foe is the Sultana, you run into the dragonkin. If you have a positive relationship with the First Duke-Admiral Cadua, you fight pirates.

I am not famiiar with all the 13th age jargon, but sounds like work I would rather avoid.

But thanks for the FYI on other adventure material.

On a unrelated note...can anyone tell me approximately how many monsters are in the core book?

 

[drothgery]

On a unrelated note...can anyone tell me approximately how many monsters are in the core book?

116, and some rules for designing your own.

 

[JeffB]

116, and some rules for designing your own.

Thanks to you!

Not bad.