D&D General The 13th Age 2nd Edition Kickstarter Has Launched

13th Age was released 10 years ago as a 'love letter' to D&D. Designed by D&D 3E's Jonathan Tweet and 4E's Rob Heinsoo, it streamlined the game and introduced innovations such as the Escalation Die, and it's One Unique Thing, a trait that every character has which is individual to them.

2nd Edition is now here--streamlined, clarified, backward-compatible, and updated with revised classes, monsters, and more. And, unlike the single book format of the original, this version comes in the form of a 240-page Player's Handbook and a 160-page Gamemaster's Guide.

You can pick up both books for £40 in PDF or £100 in hardcover format, plus dice, a GM screen, and more.

There's a free preview document available (12-page PDF).

Designer Rob Heinsoo spoke to EN Publishing's Jessica Hancock about 13th Age 2E last year on the Not DnD show.

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[Weiley31]

The beta test rule packets are out if anybody signed up for Playtest materials before. These I think, according to the email, are the most completed version of the rules bar further playtesting.

 

[Ramaster]

Making my way through the rules since yesterday. This game looks great! I always regretted not playing 1e more. Hopefully I'd be able to give 2e a go!

The only thing that I don't like all that much about the system is Icon relationships. They feel very "forced" to me. I don't mind the Icons at all, I think that's an interesting/bold design choice. But making it so that EVERY character has a connection to them... feels a bit lame.

My two cents and, as I've said, the rest is looking super neat!

 

[Baumi]

Ramaster, the good thing is that you can ignore Icons if you want. There might be a few Talents that feed into that but just ignore it and it will play fine.

I found Icons very Intersting and helped me shape my campaign (it shows what the Players are interested in and automatically includes in in Gameplay), but at higher levels I got overhelmed with the number of Icon Events that I had to fit in. I hope the new Rules fixes this, and from a very short thumbthrough it looks like that it is now more in the hands of the players instead of the gm .. this should take a bit of the load off.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Here's hoping they addressed some of the issues with the Paladin, which was always a bit of a disappointment in 13A.

 

[Lord Shark]

Here's hoping they addressed some of the issues with the Paladin, which was always a bit of a disappointment in 13A.

Looking through the playtest beta, they've added champion- and epic-tier talents to the paladin, so you're not stuck picking from the same little pool of talents for your paladin for your entire career (like the 5E battlemaster). Smite and Lay on Hands are now both class abilities so they don't cost a talent pick. Smite also scales in damage by level rather than by tier (up to +10d12).

It's still one of the simpler classes though.

 

[Ramaster]

Ramaster, the good thing is that you can ignore Icons if you want. There might be a few Talents that feed into that but just ignore it and it will play fine.

I found Icons very Intersting and helped me shape my campaign (it shows what the Players are interested in and automatically includes in in Gameplay), but at higher levels I got overhelmed with the number of Icon Events that I had to fit in. I hope the new Rules fixes this, and from a very short thumbthrough it looks like that it is now more in the hands of the players instead of the gm .. this should take a bit of the load off.

Yes! That's one of the things I like about the system. It's quite modular.

If you don't like the "Backgrounds as skills" systems you could just implement a rudimentary skill system similar to D&D / PF with very little effort, for instance.

 

[Yaarel]

Ramaster, the good thing is that you can ignore Icons if you want. There might be a few Talents that feed into that but just ignore it and it will play fine.

I found Icons very Intersting and helped me shape my campaign (it shows what the Players are interested in and automatically includes in in Gameplay), but at higher levels I got overhelmed with the number of Icon Events that I had to fit in. I hope the new Rules fixes this, and from a very short thumbthrough it looks like that it is now more in the hands of the players instead of the gm .. this should take a bit of the load off.

Somethings are better as an opt-in, rather than an opt-out.

The Icons themselves are interesting. But I agree the relationship to them and even which persons become Icons need to be more optional, and up to the players.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Somethings are better as an opt-in, rather than an opt-out.

The Icons themselves are interesting. But I agree the relationship to them and even which persons become Icons need to be more optional, and up to the players.

Swapping out the existing icons for something totally different (ie FR-style gods) seemed like the easiest thing to change in 13th Age, at least to me.

You just need to make sure your replacement has global (or at least setting-wide) reach.

 

[Blue]

Making my way through the rules since yesterday. This game looks great! I always regretted not playing 1e more. Hopefully I'd be able to give 2e a go!

The only thing that I don't like all that much about the system is Icon relationships. They feel very "forced" to me. I don't mind the Icons at all, I think that's an interesting/bold design choice. But making it so that EVERY character has a connection to them... feels a bit lame.

My two cents and, as I've said, the rest is looking super neat!

Icon Relationships make the character important before they are powerful, often a failing with level-based RPGs. It connects them to the world in positive and negative ways. The Icons are intended as the movers and shakers of the world, and this is also a clear signal to the DM which you want to see in play often. If several characters have positive or complicated relationships with the Priestess and negative or complicated relationships with the Archmage, that signals interest in a very different focus than if those were with the Elf Queen and the Orc Lord, for example.

I ran a 4 year campaign using the first edition, with a good number of characters. Icon Relationships help me steer and give the players various spotlight times - they were a welcome tool.