| Title | : | 13th Age Core Book |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published August 1, 2013 |
13th Age Core Book Reviews
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When most gamers sit down and decide to write 'D&D but better', we call it a fantasy heartbreaker. When Rob Heinsoo and Johnathan Tweet (lead designers of D&D 4e and D&D 3rd respectively) decide to do that, the result is an elegant and exciting roleplaying game that combines the best features of many D&D versions.
At the core of 13th Age are the Icons, 13 powerful mortal archetypes who shake the world and whom the player characters have a relationship. The Icons are a mechanical realization of the big NPCs in many settings, but in 13th Age they're divided against each other in tangled alliances and enmities, stretched to the limits of their abilities, and poised on the edge of catastrophe. The whole setting feels like Europe circa 1914, in a good way. The game is structured for thing to fall apart and the players to decide how the rubble will land.
Character classes are another highlight of 13th Age. Classes have been compressed into 10 levels, and are made nicely distinct from each other. For example, Fighters can pick what power they use after they attack, Bards sing songs where the final verse has an escalating effect, and Sorcerers charge their spells before attacking. Within classes there's plenty of room for diversity by picking Talents and attacks individually from a list, and enhancing them with Feats. Characters will only master three skills by the end of the game, which makes for satisfying but reasonable choices.
Combat is no longer tied to the grid as it was in 4e, with a more flexible system of engaged/disengaged replacing detailed movement rules. Much of the built in complexity of 3rd is removed, such as rules for Grapples, Trips, and Disarms. Hitpoints as the sole measure of combat endurance along with a Helaing Surge style mechanism (resurgance) are welcome 4e carryovers. Spells and weapons remain competitive through the level, with a 10th level warrior doing 10d8+3*Str damage with their longsword and 10th level wizard unleashing similar spell damage damage. Save-or-suck only works on creature with low hitpoints, so powerful enemies have to be whittled down first.
The GMing section provides a basic stock of monsters and magic items, and some useful guidelines on how to create your own, although as a single source book, there's definitely room for expansion. The default setting is some of the most gameable generic fantasy I've seen, but there are plenty of blank spots on the map and it's easy enough to swap out one to all of the Icons to change up the setting.
That said, there are some weak spots. The full page illustrations are gorgeous, the monster art less so. I'm not sure how well rolling firstful of dice will work in combat, and some groups may rebel at the entire idea of having to have relationships with the Icons. That said, these are minor gripes, and 13th Age is my next go-to game. -
So great, really great, ideas here mixed in poor presentation and a terrible conversational style. This book needs polish - an editor, a reorder, and maybe a total rewrite - but some good ideas are worth the digging.
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A pretty terrific RPG (at least on a playless read), though that shouldn't be a surprise given the pedigree. It adopts lots of ideas from 4e, but adopts them for mechanics that are simpler, more abstract, and more oriented toward easy play. It also piles on lots of story ideas from the indie community. The result still feels pretty combat-oriented, and is still clearly a variant of D&D ... but it's D&D for players that would like an epic story that they in part determine.
Very well presented too. -
Really fun TTRPG book. Lots of great backgrounds you can build, and each background informs the ongoing story. An elegant system, where the adventurers are fairly strong, and they themselves help make the world around them.
Great stuff, and a fun D&D alternative because it feels familiar enough, but still different. -
D20 + relevant ability modifier + level + relevant background points Vs. DC set by the environment UGH MATH
This is a really solid system for folks shifting away from D&D. I'm not at all sure I'd play it for its own strengths, though it does have them - if nothing else, the escalation die is a FANTASTIC idea. It's also yet another thing to add to rolls. I have dyscalculia.
There's a lot to digest from this one, though a lot is the same as 5e, and I really appreciate the SRD. Very solid "I like it." -
A great fantasy RPG - easy for GMs, accessible for players. With role playing games (RPGs) like this one, it's difficult to separate the review of the book from the review of the game system it goes with. Therefore I am reviewing both and providing some additional context, like how players and gamemasters will interact with the book.
In short:
13th Age is my go-to fantasy role-playing game using 20 sided dice. (It uses other ones, too, but that's been a common shorthand for Dungeons and Dragons and D&D inspired games for a while.) It's fast and fun and it does what it wants to.
The background:
In terms of evolution, 13th Age is an off shoot from D&D. It aims to provide a similar kind of fun and is written by Jonathon Tweet (3rd edition D&D head designer) and Rob Heinsoo (4th edition D&D head designer). But putting "Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover also carries certain expectations, and so 13th Age allows this skilled designers a little more free reign. It's also from a different publisher; D&D is from Wizards of the Coast while the much smaller Pelgrane Press publishes 13th Age.
The result is a great system and a great book. In terms of value for money, it's great - you can easily run a 13th Age game with just this one book, instead of two or three. The 13th Age corebook contains the rules for the game, rules for player characters, some monsters, items, and some sample adventures.
Of course, there's a whole line of additional items, encounters, more player options, and monsters. But this book is all that you strictly need.
For newcomers:
13th Age is a great place to start if you think you might be interested in this whole role-playing or D&D type game experience. It can be hard to learn just from books; many books do assume you have some familiarity with how to set up a game and the flow of a session. You can find some great examples on youtube, and the publisher has linked numerous ones on their website. Or, if you're into podcasts, you can often find "actual play" examples.
One of my favorites starts here:
https://www.sixfeatsunder.com/campaig... though you may want to skip ahead, since they were using playtest rules at the very start.
It can also be hard to make characters or your own adventures at the start. Fortunately, there's a sample adventure in the book. The publisher, Pelgrane Press, has also put out free 13th Age adventures (with premade characters) every year for Free RPG Day. These scenarios are lots of fun and are available at the Pelgrane Press website.
For players:
I love 13th Age as a player because it puts almost all the information you need in one place. There's the base rules, which everyone has to know but are mostly remembered and executed by the gamemaster.
Then, for example, there's a section for the Rogue. If you're playing the rogue, you can simply use those ~ 10 pages and it has most of what you need, with Rogue specific powers and easy to follow advice on making your character for the first time.
One speedbump in many RPG systems is that making a character is the hardest and most involved part of the whole thing and new players can't make informed decisions, because they're just starting. 13th Age makes that easier by providing guidance and by the fact that all the starting options are pretty solid.
The trade-off is that there's not as *many* options as something like Pathfinder, but I personally prefer a more manageable amount.
13th Age encourages you to think of your characters as competent, world-affecting heroes, even from level 1. I like that approach but not everyone does, so it's worth mentioning.
One of the coolest implementations of this is that each player gets to define the "one unique thing" about their character. It can be small ("no one remembers me for some reason"), strange ("my family was killed in a mirror accident"), or big ("I am the secret child of the Emperor and the Diabloist" / "The Priestess told me the day of my death").
Most of those are examples from my current game. They're a great way to tell the gamemaster what you are interested in for this character and to leave a mark on the world.
For gamemasters:
Rules:
13th Age is fun to run. The system is pretty snappy and there's lots of fun interactions between player and monster powers. It doesn't shy away from the "game" type portion, so if you find healing surge type mechanics distracting, it is not going to be as much to your taste.
I've found that players have a lot of fun with things like powers that adjust die roll results and trigger more powers. Even better, 13A considers class complexity, so you can recommend a particular class to players based on how many rules they want to engage with. The wizard is, as ever, more complicated but has a lot of options. But for someone just starting out, you can give them a ranger or barbarian as they learn the basics.
The encounter building math is pretty simple and seems to work reasonably well. There's also lots of published material (some free, see above for Free RPG Day scenarios) that you can borrow encounters from until you're more confident making your own.
Monsters are also pretty simple, with streamlined statblocks that make it easy to find the information you need. They have an element of randomness with some powers that only go off on certain die results. This is a lot of fun, because it gives the monsters some surprises without just seeming like you are picking on the players. And, as the GM, it's fun to be surprised sometimes too.
There are also some great "quality of life" type changes if you're used to other fantasy RPGs. In combat, players get bonuses to their attack rolls as the combat goes on due to the escalation die. This is a simple bit of design that keeps fights from dragging on too long while making players feel like heroes if they get through a couple unlucky or difficult rounds and then turn the tide of a fight. It's a good example of how well thought out and enjoyable 13th Age's mechanics are.
Setting:
You can certainly build your own setting from scratch, but 13th Age comes with the deliberately "half-finished" setting of the Dragon Empire.
It's not half-finished in the sense that it's poorly written. In fact, the write-ups of the setting's major players (the Icons), cities, and monsters are really fun and spark lots of interesting ideas. But there's a lot of unanswered questions, to invite players and gamemasters to make their own version of the setting. Each group is encouraged to figure this out, mostly through play and answering questions over time.
I love this approach because it fits the way I run games. But if you are more interested in detailed answers for the history of the dwarven empire, more like Forgotten Realms, you are not going to find that here. Things like the previous 12 Ages are deliberately left vague so each campaign can figure them out - if they want to.
Online play:
Finally, in the post-COVID world (and just an ongoing concern for distanced groups), how does 13th Age play online? The answer is "pretty well." There's not the same absolute depth of support that a current edition of D&D will have, but there are excellent options out there.
First of all, the core book (and several follow up books) are covered under a system reference document (SRD). That means that they're freely available here:
https://www.13thagesrd.com/
This is hugely helpful for players and gamemasters and it makes it easier for virtual table top programs to incorporate 13th Age material. I believe all the major virtual table tops have 13th Age support. There is a free adventure on Roll20, for instance. My preferred virtual table top is called Foundry; it supports 13th Age rules as an add-on to the base game. (Foundry requires a one time $50 fee for gamemasters but not players, so this option does add to the price tag.) The Foundry 13th Age support is excellent, with all the core player classes and numerous monsters already present in a SRD that can be quickly imported into your game. It otherwise takes me a little time to build battles, but a virtual table top makes building and running battles a snap.
That said, virtual table tops all have a learning curve. At least for me, setting up the game at the start was a lot more involved and a lot less fun than running it.
There's also numerous resources available here, from the publisher:
https://pelgranepress.com/13th-age/ (click on the resources tab)
Overall:
I think 13th Age is a great game for fans of D&D who would like to try something just a bit different. It's also good for beginners - I personally find it much easier to learn, teach, and run than most editions of D&D. It's also just fun - fun to play, fun to read, and fun to run. It's great! Check it out! -
This RPG provided a different slant on ground that has been tread often. The writing is excellent as is the organization of the book. I found the notes from the designers to offer some great real-world perspective.
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Another skim-read of another RPG bundle. (In case you're wondering, I've bought 23 bundles since 2013. Hence my attempts to finally read them. Who knows, maybe some day I'll even play these games.)
This bundle consisted of:
1) the core rpg;
2)
13 True Ways, a book of additional options;
3)
13th Age Bestiary, a book of monsters;
4)
13th Age: Eyes of the Stone Thief, a mega-dungeon adventure;
5)
Shadows of Eldolan, an adventure;
6)
13th Age Book of Loot, a book of treasure;
7) and a few short articles.
The short version of the pitch is: this is D&D (probably 4th edition) with a lot of influence from narrative indie games. So there's an emphasis on combat and the cool moves you can do, but there's also a lot of leeway with creating fantasy heroes. For instance, yes, there's class and race rules, but there's also a "one unique thing" about you that may be useful for the GM as a hook or a story engine. In other words, you're not just playing an elven fighter, you might be playing the last living elven fighter who practices a particular martial art (or has human ears or has etc., etc.).
Or take this character bonus for the Necromancer class (in 13 True Ways): if you spend all your actions casting a spell "that ordinarily only requires a standard action—while screaming grandiloquently, cackling maniacally, or megalomaniacally describing the grandeur of your plans and the futility of your enemies’ resistance—" then you get a bonus. That might seem silly, but you can also see how that would lend itself to a high fantasy, maybe cinematic experience.
In fact, Heinsoo and Tweet -- the co-creators -- have been designing games for a while, and just about everything here is crafted with an eye towards creating a fantasy of epic proportions. For instance, characters start out powerful and every class has some cool move, while the longer a fight goes on, the higher the bonus for the named characters ("the escalation die"). There's even the notion that a "failure" on a roll might be described as a success that complicates things more.
Similarly, some RPG settings that I love, like the Forgotten Realms, occasionally had a problem with some powerful NPC stealing the show from the PCs. Here, it looks like Tweet and Heinsoo have embraced that problem as a way to avoid it: rather than have important NPCs occasionally steal the PCs' thunder, here there are 13 icons -- the high druid, the archmage, the emperor, the crusader, etc. -- and while they may be the movers and the shakers, the PCs are explicitly tied to them and to the setting with some relationship mechanic.
Lastly, and especially in 13 True Ways, the designers have hit on a really nice balance of painting the world (there are sky islands and living dungeons and 12 giant behemoths that migrate), but also leaving a lot of room for the players to contribute, offering a dozen different rumors, all of which might be the playable truth. (This, to me, shows the influence -- and some of the actual work -- of Robin D. Laws.)
What do you do in this game? You play larger than life fantasy heroes, killing monsters, taking treasure, and getting involved in the cosmic battles for the soul of the 13th Age.
What does this game offer that others don't? A blend of trad D&D concepts with indie narrative concepts.
Am I excited by this? Well, if I were playing something fantastical, I'd look at this for sure.
And a new question: What does this give me if I'm not going to play it? From a game perspective, I think there's a lot here to like about blending the trad and the new, or even some narrative tricks you might steal for your own game.
From a non-game perspective, maybe this is interesting for its mix of traditional fantasy tropes (dragons, dungeons, etc.) and out-there material (living dungeons, flying islands, etc.). -
I think that out of all of the D&D / D20-based RPG systems out there, this one is by far the best.
Not being American, I began my RPG journey with different systems (Warhammer and The Dark Eye) and only tried the most famous one of them all - D&D - afterwards. My first experience was with the Star Wars version, which was based on 3rd edition D&D. Then I played a little bit of 3E, which I didn't like. After that, I tried the Star Wars saga edition, which was a precursor to 4E. I really liked saga and in fact, I loved 4E even more. In my opinion, the fourth edition of D&D was the first one where the designers actually prioritized rules that allow for a fun and collaborative game experience for all the players AND the DM, rather than some sort of abstract simulation of what a fantasy world would really be like. Nevertheless, I did have some issues with 4E. I felt the game would get overwhelming after a while and as characters increased in level, combat would start to become extremely complicated and long-winded. Still, it was the most fun I ever had with a D20-based ruleset.
Until 13th Age came along.
This game took everything I loved about 4E (in particular, no silly overly complicated magic nonsense with spell slots and what have you) but made it more streamlined and specifically brags about handwaving anything or anything that stand in the way of having a fun experience.
Furthermore, the game really doubles down on what makes tabletop games different from video games, encouraging narrative input for players, improvisational storytelling and collaborative world-building. All of these things are encoded into the rules.
Whereas skills were still a complicated and dry part of 3rd edition D&D, in 13th Age they're gone and replaced by one simple rule: your character background should inform the GM whether or not you get a bonus to your check. That's it.
Then there are the icons, the most important figures in the game world. Think avatars of deities. Your character will have some kind of relation to one or more of these icons, and this influences gameplay directly.
Finally, your character is certain to be unique because there's a rule for that in the game. Every PC has a One Unique Thing. It doesn't affect the mechanics, but it will affect the storytelling and make you important.
Combat is varied and interesting, just like in 4E, but MUCH faster and simpler. The power system from 4E makes a comeback but it's used a lot more sparingly. You can use miniatures but you don't have to.
What the game does with magic items is again streamlined and highly original, plus fun.
There are only 10 levels, which take you from hero to superincredible megahero. This is actually a lot more doable for people with busy schedules if you ask me. And it avoids the creeping increase of complexity that other games have.
Finally, what makes this game completely amazing is the fact that the core rulebook contains everything you could ever wish for. You really don't need anything more than just the one book. Even though there are a ton of original monsters in it, it also contains an easy ruleset to create your own, opening up endless possibilities. Nevertheless, 13th Age has published additional monster manuals, books with even more classes (such as the highly original Chaos Mage) and published adventures.
13th Age is the best D&D ever made in my opinion (VASTLY superior to the massively overrated 5th edition) and one of the best tabletop RPGs ever published. -
13th Age is the classic swords-and-sorcery tabletop game, modernized. It’s a system built for fast, fun combat that also encourages role-playing and improvisation. It tries to balance the races and classes available to players while also making every choice feel distinct. And it trades in-depth simulation of its fantasy world for simple-yet-clever game mechanics.
This shouldn’t surprise you once you know that this game is the brain-child of Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo, lead designers of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd and 4th edition, respectively. 13th Age is very much a descendant of those games, but it is able to jettison a lot of their baggage. It’s simpler and faster than 4th Edition and more tactical and balanced than 3rd. And it also adds mechanics specifically to encourage role-play, something no edition of D&D has ever done.
This game is not for everybody. If you prefer an exhaustive fantasy simulation that has tables that list the overland travel speed of a one-donkey cart or an entire sub-system of grapple rules this is not your game. But if you want a game where a mission from the Archmage finds you fighting storm giants on top of a migratory terrasque, well, you’re gonna like this.
The major new mechanic of 13th Age is the Icons. The important thing about icons is that every piece of the game relates to them - the setting, the story, the rules… and the players. Each player will pick three Icon Relationships at the start of the game, and they will roll to see which relationships will factor into a given game session. The Icons themselves are fantasy archetypes: the Archmage, the Dragon Emperor, the Great Gold Wyrm and the Prince of Shadows, among others. Most of them will fit just about any fantasy world, although 13th Age comes with its own sandbox setting for them to play in.
Combat in 13th Age does away with counting squares or hexes and tracking movement speed. You are either near enough to hit that orc with your axe or you are not. The ‘escalation die’ mechanic makes sure that combat keeps getting more exciting without overstaying its welcome. Abilities for both monsters and players trigger off the natural values of the d20. Many attacks do damage on a miss. Leveling doubles, then triples, then quintuples damage and HP. This really is a ruleset that is simple and elegant yet still looks fun to play.
The book itself is no slouch, either. It is nicely bound with color-coded pages, full-page color illustrations and a nice map. It contains everything you need to run a game: the rules, character creation, monsters, treasures, the setting and a sample adventure. Tables and charts are reproduced at the back of the book for convenience, and the index doubles as a glossary of terms! Nice touch.
The style of the book is conversational, with frequent sidebars explaining the intent behind many of the rules. Wonder why a half-elf would want to lower their d20 roll by 1? No need, a sidebar explains the significance (many powers trigger on natural even rolls). Often the designers will offer their personal preferences, especially when it comes to optional rules (such as rolled stats vs. point buy). No trap feats or powers here! Well, there is one, but it’s called out hilariously in, yes, a sidebar. This book is not trying to give the edge to the rules lawyers or trick unwary players. I appreciate that.
My one beef is that the authors actually needed to spend more time on Icons. There are no concrete examples given of how Icon relationships should work in actual play. For a new mechanic that is so central, this seems like an oversight. Granted, by reading the sample adventure and listening to some podcasts I was able to figure it out, but others will not be so patient.
Chapter 1 introduces the concept of Icons as well as the thirteen Icons themselves. Each one is given a motivation, allies and enemies. The chapter ends with a grid showing the alignments of all thirteen.
Chapter 2 outlines the basics of character creation, including two more mechanics new to 13th Age: backgrounds and One Unique Thing. Backgrounds replace skills in this game, basically taking the skill system and making it a little more open-ended and RP-driven. A character’s OUT is just what it sounds like, a feature that sets them apart from anyone else in the world. A player could make it a fun little quirk or it could be something that has a profound impact on the setting. The player is discouraged from choosing an OUT that has mechanical effects on combat.
Chapter 3 is the Race chapter. All the traditional races are present, as are several of the ‘second tier’ races such as Tieflings and Warforged that players have come to expect (these latter are optional). Races provide an ability and a choice of two stat bonuses.
Chapter 4 is one of my favorite chapters, the Class chapter. Most of the traditional classes are here (Monk and Druid will appear in a later book) and brilliantly executed. Every class feels distinct and interesting without negating the unique feel of sorcerers and wizards. Sorcerers get a cool ‘gather power’ ability that lets them store up energy for really big hits, and Wizards get an eclectic mix of spells that will help them shine both in and out of combat. But I was also very impressed by the implementation of some of the other classes, including the oft-maligned Bard.
Chapter 5 are the combat rules. They will be familiar to D20 veterans, but there are enough important differences that they shouldn’t be skimmed. I really liked the full heal-up mechanic that encourages players to fight more battles in a day instead of fewer, although it may be too ‘game-y’ for some tastes.
Chapter 6 is for DMs running the game. Of special note here is the concept of ‘incremental advance’, where players gain ‘partial levels’. This is a simple but cool idea which could easily be applied to other D20 games.
Chapter 7 lists several dozen monsters. Monsters have self-contained stat blocks (no spell lists) which makes them very easy to use, modify and level up (or down). Despite their simplicity, most monsters have creative abilities that should give them a very nice flavor. Many monsters also have optional ‘nasty’ abilities that DMs can tack on to challenge experienced parties.
Chapter 8 describes The Dragon Empire. The setting is something of a grab-bag, which I think is by design. There’s some really good ideas in there, but I’m not sure it all comes together. Still, there’s lots of stuff to pillage for your home game, which was probably the intent.
Chapter 9 is devoted to magic items. This introduces two more unique 13th Age mechanics: quirks and chakras. Mechanically, quirks and chakras attempt to avoid the Christmas Tree Effect where high level players are decked with magic items. But it does so with a credible role-playing explanation. You see, magic items have personalities and characters have relationships to them. Having too many magic items can actually overwhelm the character’s own personality and place them in thrall to their items. Many players and DMs will note with glee the presence of a handful of Cursed Items.
Chapter 10 is a short sample adventure. Sample adventures are hard to do well in any game, and 13th Age is especially challenging because the adventure must account for the players’ icon relationships. Still, Heinsoo and Tweet do a fairly good job of coming up with a compelling story, albeit a short one.
The remainder of the book contains the index/glossary, the map, the character sheet and reproduction of most of the important tables and charts. Yes this book is pricey, but you are really getting plenty of value for your money here.
Overall I am impressed with the book and excited for the game. When I first heard of 13th Age it sounded like exactly the D20 system I had been looking for. And now that I’ve read it, it’s actually better than I expected. I really cannot wait to run a game! -
A couple months back I came to the conclusion that once my current campaign is done, I don't really want to run 5th edition D&D any longer. But although Mork Borg and Spire are very good for their sort of game, it still leaves a gap that needs to be filled; I need a new system to run that sort of high fantasy adventure that 5th edition does, as I do really like that genre.
This is the first book I've read in detail as part of that search, though of course I didn't read it word for word, but plenty enough to get a sense for what it's doing. I knew somewhere in the class descriptors that I wouldn't be running it, though there are a few things worth discussing.
The icons system gets a lot of attention, but as far as I can tell it's just a fancier and more system-integrated way to run factions in your game. Absolutely nothing wrong with this really, it's a great tool to have, though I'd change the lore completely, as the lore of the icons (and indeed generally) is pretty uninspiring and flat. Coming off something like Spire, with its relentless inventiveness, this can't help but feel like a letdown. That said, I do really like the conversational tone that the book has, the two authors constantly explaining and justifying their decisions, interjecting with how they tweak things for their own games, often in ways contradictory to each other. This is a nice touch, and really alleviates what can otherwise be the tedious task of reading a set of rules.
But by and large this is still too complex a system for my tastes. There are too many numbers, too many stats, too many calculations to make. There are little pieces I like: the escalation die, which turns every combat into a train constantly accelerating towards a cliff; the 'one unique thing' that each player character has, really making them stand out; the way every class has a set of unique powers and spells with no overlap, so truly everyone can bring something different to the table; and the fact that this core book really is the only thing you need to play--there are supplements, but this is player's guide, game master's guide, and monster manual all in one.
It's not for me, but I really admire a lot of the work and thought that's gone into it. Onwards with the search then. -
What Pathfinder should have been.
When I first picked up 13th Age, I was disappointed. I was sad to see the same boring base classes and races as every other D&D knockoff. But I was wrong. I was missing the point entirely.
13th Age isn't trying to be something new, it's refining what 3.5 wanted to be. It took lessons (the right lessons!) from 4e, and built something that is truly D&D 3.75.
The biggest problem with 3.5 is that spellcasters cast 5 spells and then are useless. That combat for everyone else boils down to "I hit it with a stick...again". 4e fixed these problems with at-will powers. They went a little too far down that path, and we got a (lovely) tactical game that many felt didn't have enough RP in their RPG.
13th Age finds the perfect balance with abilities for each class that are effectively At-Will, Encounter, or Daily, without overwhelming players with choice. Similarly, rather than having pages and pages of feats, 13th Age has about a dozen general feats, and then each class has a handful of progressions they can take to get better at what they're already doing.
I could talk about this game all day, but what I'll say is this: every aspect of it is elegant. For me, it's definitely the Pathfinder / 3.5 killer. And it's definitely worth your time. -
I really wish I had read this sooner - had it on my electronic bookshelf for 4 years and once I finally opened I I discovered it was full of oh so much goodness.
1) resolves the issue of the 15 minute adventuring day and the wand of 50 cure moderate wounds spells makes sure we're at 100% in every encounter with a healing and recovery system that leans straight into "simulation be damned, this rule makes the best game experience" and not blinking. The solution is innovative and easily workable.
2) the icon rules slot neatly into existing game settings and give a clear way to weave the PCs into game setting's politics and society.
3) the monster stats - stripped down, easy to read and making simple mini-programs for randomizing the monsters actions is sweet and fun.
So much to love. Even if you don't want the setting it comes with (which is perfectly serviceable) and want to slot some ideas into other rules sets it;s easy to do so. -
I think I love this system. It takes a lot of what makes D&D fun, and cuts away a lot of what makes it tedious. I've only run one intro scenario thusfar, so I can't say for certain, but so far I'm very impressed. Things I like, in no particular order:
(*) One Unique Thing - Each character creates something that makes them unique, that should make it into the story in some fashion.
(*) Magic Item Quirks - Manageable if PCs have at most their level in magic items, but the quirks tend to take over if they get more.
(*) Variability in play style/complexity for PC classes.
(*) Simple systems for making monsters feel distinct
(*) Simple instructions for creating/leveling/deleveling monsters.
Probably more that I'm forgetting, but that's at least a start. -
Being new to role play games like this, I find it interesting and overall good but has some weird idiosyncracies that make actual implementation of gaming difficult (leveling, character development, role-to-anything).
Good, engaging, but could stand some second or third edition do-overs and clarification. -
Lots of really interesting ideas in here, but the kinds of stories you can tell with this seem to be a bit limited. With buckets to dice, armloads of special abilities, and huge pools of hit points, this game seems to be for almost cartoonish epic fantasy only rather than simple dungeon crawls or grim dark fantasy.
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This is 5th edition with some minor added factors - not much more meat here.
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I wish I had known about this system sooner. I could have skipped D&D 4E entirely and have been immensely happier. Now that 5E is out and runs more along my 3.5E tastes, I'm not sure I'd reach for 13th Age over 5E.
However, there are some key concepts/mechanics in 13th Age I plan on incorporating into future campaigns, namely:
- Icons (powerful NPCs) and relationship mechanic
- One Unique Thing
- Backgrounds instead of Skill Lists
- Fixed damage from monsters -
A very interesting update on an old formula. It does enough new & interesting things to get me excited about running a fantasy genre game again, which is saying a lot as I have been quite off the genre for awhile.
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Definitely not a core book for beginners, as lots of the rules assume you're familiar with D&D at the very least. I appreciate the generic feel of the setting. Let's you overlay it on top of any other game, really.
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It's 4E with a dash of hippie game design. Not my thing.
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Solid, fun system.
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If I were going to run a d20 game again, it would likely be this one.
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Okay finally went back and finished the combat section of this book. I didn't read it cover to cover but I read all the general player sections (not so much of the running the game stuff.) I like a lot of the ideas in this system, especially the icons and how that connects the players to the world.
