With a sly flourish on Twitter, Michael E. Shea asked how Jonathan Tweet and I ask for skill checks: Attribute? “Choose an appropriate background?” First Method There are a couple of ways to call for checks in 13th Age. Jonathan’s is simplest, and he gave it on Twitter (at @JonathanMTweet if you’re not following him […]
Author Archives: Rob Heinsoo
by Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo When creating characters in a d20-rolling RPG, some of us will always want to roll ability scores. Others hate the randomness, or the risk of rolling up a less-then-competent characters, and opt for point-buy systems. In our games, we let players choose the method they like. When we make […]
Cal Moore created the lightning elemental as part of the newly published High Magic & Low Cunning: Battle Scenes for Four Icons. I tweaked the stats a bit to get them to play more like our other elementals. High Magic & Low Cunning includes stats for the 7th level version of the lighting elemental. The […]
by Jonathan Tweet Keep large bugs as pets, sometimes very large ones and often edible ones. Ferment food in holes in the ground, a treatment that nicely softens bug exoskeletons. Worship ecstatically, even violently, in front of shapeless idols. Mark family relationships with stylized scars. Cut mementos off the bodies of the dead before burning […]
I’m excited about this year’s 13th Age Monthly lineup. The first three months show off the mix of GM material and player goodies we’re aiming for. The artists are doing splendid work, and in fact for much of the year, 13AM is likely to be the place to see color 13th Age art. As you […]
The Icon Riffs series offers inspiration for adventure design and improvisation at the table. The ideas presented aren’t numbered, because numbered lists imply a certain consistency between results. These lists are evocative rather than consistent. They’re also not thorough. This isn’t an attempt to list all the things that could be associated with the icons. There are huge numbers […]
When many people give you the same feedback about your game for years, it’s got to have some truth in it. Today’s probable truth: “The combination of the wizard’s Evocation talent and the force salvo spell is broken.” Some GMs even report that the combo skews their thinking as they set up battles, since they […]
Jonathan and I usually agree on the mechanics of 13th Age, but our memories don’t always agree when it comes to how key mechanics were created.* The escalation die is a prime example. I remember using the escalation die in a bizarro 4e game, fighting minions of Torog, back before we started work on 13th Age. […]
The Icon Riffs series offers inspiration for adventure design and improvisation at the table. The ideas presented aren’t numbered, because numbered lists imply a certain consistency between results. These lists are evocative rather than consistent. They’re also not thorough. This isn’t an attempt to list all the things that could be associated with the icons. There are huge numbers […]
An interviewer once asked us, “If someone has never played a tabletop RPG, why would 13th Age be a good game for them to try?” Well, that interview never ran, so we’re going to share our answers here. We designed 13th Age for experienced GMs, but it can be a great entry point into the hobby for new […]