Sep
I often talk about how icon relationships are a powerful resource in the players’ hands. In this article, I’m going to discuss how I use the presence of multiple icons as a designer and a GM to make things interesting and challenging for the heroes.
The icons provide background and context for the events in the world, either directly or indirectly; and because player characters’ relationships with the icons embed them in the world, it makes those world events significant to them. If someone attacks one of the Elf Queen’s towers, it matters to a hero with a positive connection to the Elf Queen. If it turns out that one of the Crusader’s generals is behind the attack, that matters to a hero with a relationship to the Crusader—and it could create some hard choices depending on whether it’s a positive, negative, or conflicted relationship. If it turns out the Prince of Shadows has been secretly pulling the strings all along, it adds another layer of intrigue and complication for heroes who have relationships with that icon.
- In the 13th age, the Dragon Empire is ruled by 12* demigodlike beings known as icons.
- Every icon has their own agenda. Every iconic agenda has the potential to bring about the cataclysmic end of the age if it comes to fruition, or if it fails.
- In terms of their relationships with one another, some of the icons are allies; some are enemies; and some are ambiguous.
- Icons rarely take direct action, instead relying on heroes and champions to advance their agendas and block others.
- At this moment in history there’s a fragile balance of power between the icons that could be upended at any time, bringing about the end of the 13th age and the beginning of a new one.
- This age-ending apocalypse has happened twelve times before, and it will happen again. Whenever there’s a shift in the balance of power at the icon level the wise ask themselves, is this how it begins?
- At some point in their careers the heroes will have to confront the question, are you going to help bring about the end of the age, or stop it?
This also applies to adventures and campaigns in other settings, with some differences. For example, there’s no risk of the icons in my post-apocalyptic, science-fantasy setting Gamma Draconis bringing about the end of the world, because that already happened—most people just struggle to stay alive amid the wreckage.
When plotting an adventure for my table, I try to involve at least two of the icons the heroes are connected with and focus on the friction between them. In my home campaign of Blackmarch the Orc Lord and the Diabolist are the major villains. The other icons are the Crusader, Emperor, Archmage, and Elf Queen—all of whom are opposed to the Orc Lord and Diabolist. However, their sense of urgency and preferred method of dealing with the threat don’t all align. For example, the Crusader didn’t care about orcs at all until the Diabolist allied with the Orc Lord and used stolen magic technology developed by the Archmage to bond orc troops with demons. Now that the orc threat and the demon threat are combined he’s decided to lend his aid in the effort to contain the Orc Lord; but he’s pretty pissed at the Archmage and dismissive of the Emperor, who was late to recognize the danger.
This puts the heroes in a dicey situation where the alliance of their icon patrons might fall apart, or even turn into open hostility. They also aren’t sure whether the Archmage is as trustworthy as they thought, whether the Emperor is treating the situation with enough concern, and whether the Crusader can be relied on. The revelation that the Elf Queen magically created the first Orc Lord as a living weapon against the Wizard King, and then helped betray him when he became too powerful for the icons’ comfort, makes her complicit—but she might be the icon best equipped to deal with the threat. Meanwhile, demon-infused orcs, trolls, ogres, and other horrors march relentlessly toward Foothold, led by a dark paladin possessed by a monarch of the Abyss!
When designing an adventure for publication, you have a couple of choices. You can decide for yourself which icons are involved, and limit icon relationships to those in the adventure to ensure that the heroes are invested in the outcome. This can be a useful approach in adventures designed for one-shot use or convention play. More often, though, you’ll decide on one or two icons who are definitely involved, and provide options and guidance to the GM for incorporating other icons that the heroes are connected to. Crown of Axis is about a threat to the Emperor from a long-ago age, so the Emperor is always involved; but which icon backs the villains is up to the GM. Blood and Lightning, the introductory adventure in the 1e core book, offers three possibilities for who controls Boltstrike Pillar—the Archmage, the Elf Queen, or the High Druid—but one villainous icon is at the bottom of the troubles regardless of whether the heroes are connected to that icon.
The presence of multiple icons with conflicting agendas or approaches creates lots of opportunities for intrigue, and situations where heroes have to navigate their complicated loyalties. The fate of the age may depend on their choices!
* In 13th Age Second Edition the Orc Lord is dead, leaving 12 icons and an opportunity for the GM to introduce a 13th icon.
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