Backgrounds are something I've swiped for my OD&D and C&C games as well. You can use them in a mundane way like "cutpurse" or "fisherman", but I prefer to tie them into a campaign setting kind of like a prestige class- "Reaver of the Black Coast", "Ranger of the Gnarley Forest", "Red Wizard of Thay", etc.

I looked at this because Humble Bundle has a 13th Age pile of stuff (PDF, not paper) on sale at present, for whatever it's worth. They list 34 items at a $383 value for $25+, going to Oceana, a lobbying effort for ocean preservation. I imagine that a good portion of the maps, adventures, and the like in the package can be adapted to other systems. I do not work for Oceana nor Humble Bundle; the bundle just made me curious.

You may also want to check out Rob Schwalb's Shadow of the Demon Lord, which is like an alt version of 5e but with elements from 4e and a bit of a love letter to Warhammer Fantasy.

My favorite modern version of D&D, BY FAR. Have had a ton of fun with 13A.

@richmcgee434

3 жыл бұрын

Seconded. I've been playing since the late 70s and this is the best effort I've seen to date.

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

You do realize this isn't D&D, right?

@JBASH2011

Жыл бұрын

@@mattpace1026 d20 rolls. Classes. Levels. Saving throws. Hit Points. Classic monsters and tropes. I've been playing since 1977. It's D&D AFAIC.

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

@@JBASH2011 Dude, do you have any idea how many other games use those concepts? Might want to get out from under your rock and look around a bit.

@JBASH2011

Жыл бұрын

@@mattpace1026 of course I do. What is your point in bringing up my year old post? nerd rage because I dont agree withour definition of a game of faeries and elves? GFY.

Regardless of how you feel about the game as a whole, there are mechanics in 13th Age that can can be cribbed and used in any roleplaying game. The escalation die is great for producing more dramatic fights and keeping combats from bogging down, the background system is a solid replacement for any d20-derived skill system and can be plugged into other engines with some work, and the entire icon system (with your own set of campaign appropriate icons) offers a good way to model PC relationships with the "powers that be" in their game world. I've seen Icons used to good effect in a GURPS game about Chicago bootleggers in the 1920s, with each icon a different mob boss, politician, important police official, etc.

13th Age has given my group a lot of good gaming through a year or so when it was new to us. Although we have been playing other games since, I feel we will return again to 13th Age - which is for me the sign of a good game, being one you definitely would play again. 13th Age combines some narrative features with d20 and 4e elements. The "story game" features are not overpowering and add some nice elaboration to the more familiar mechanics. The one unique thing about each PC can lead to so many fun moments in play (in my experience).

Just reading through the book now. The use of backgrounds for skills is just one of the best, most flavourful mechanics I've seen. Looking forward to trying out the system.

This game is a breath of fresh air

About the production quality: note that it has a real stitched binding, so it won't fall apart like 5e books. ;)

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

You must treat your 5e books really damn poorly.

@DocEonChannel

Жыл бұрын

@@mattpace1026 The first printings of 5e were notoriously bad. It's not just me saying that.

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

@@DocEonChannel Okay, but even if that is true, they obviously fixed that problem, so I fail to see how bitching about it now makes any sense.

@DocEonChannel

Жыл бұрын

@@mattpace1026 Quality control is always worth encouraging. If you fail to see that, I guess I'll just have to write you off as a lost cause. ;)

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

@@DocEonChannel Jesus, you lose your shit over a problem that's been fixed. No way in hell you have a single friend.

You should check out the adventure Eyes of the Stone Thief. It'll rock your socks off :)

Thanks for covering this! I'm so glad to explore these alternative systems here. If you have any interest in covering Mutants and Masterminds or Astonishing Swords and Sorcery of Hyperboria (3e just kickstarted), I would appreciate it.

Certainly seems to be an interesting game. Looking forward to a more in depth review. Be well and stay safe!

He explains this on the video, but for those who didn't watched it thoroughly and found it weird that it "only" has 10 levels: Although the system uses a 10 level system, the 1st level character is kinda equivalent of a 3rd level adventurer of other d20 (lvl 1-20) system. It also doesn't mean this scenario is a "gritty" or less "high fantasy one". A character of levels 8 to 10 have a great pool of hit points (HP escalates in a sort of curve with leveling) and have strong spells/powers/abilities that can make them face things like adult dragons, demon lords, storm giants and the like (endgame monsters). At 5th level the adventurers enter the "champion" tier of play, while at 8th level they already enter the "epic" level of play, Also yeah, the damage from weapons are multiplied on higher levels (x2 on 5th level and x3 on 8th). This goes for all classes. Martial classes will have abilities that can do more damage and effects, which will all be added before the multiplier. Same goes for damaging powers and spells.

any one else here after the dnd one OGL leak?

@NataliePine

Жыл бұрын

Yep!! Glad I took a look, this system seems really interesting!

One of the only D20 games where feats are actually fun and meaningful. IMO

Thanks for the review, very interesting. I am quite surprised the escalation die doesn’t apply to all monsters by default.

5:58 Being critical of 3/3.5 or 4e would be a bit like saying they hated their own work - Rob Heinsoo was lead designer on 4e and Tweet was lead designer of 3.0 - and would likely have been more heavily involved with 4e if he'd been with WotC after 2008, when he was one of many victims of the massive layoffs and restructuring that year.

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

Wouldn't surprise me if they pretend to hate anything to do with D&D after no longer working on it. I've noticed a definite trend with game designers being ridiculously against any big games they used to work on. If you want an example, look up Monte Cook.

Last edition of the escalation magazine had options for delaying full level ups

I've been intrigued about this system for a long time and I'm really liking the look of it. Can't wait for a more in-depth review My only criticism would be about the video itself. The camera was a little shaky but it didn't detract too much from the content Anyway, distractions aside, another good video and can't wait for the next one

@DravenSwiftbow

3 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately there isn't much I can do about that currently. It's a combination of my cameras focus and the tripod having a flexible arm to hold it. I do plan to get a new one in the near future though so hopefully that will help.

@theophrastusbombastus1359

3 жыл бұрын

@@DravenSwiftbow no worries buddy. I was just telling you in case you weren't aware. Like I say, I was still glad you gave us the content. It looks like it'll be my next purchase. Thanks again

@fisherjam5182

Жыл бұрын

@@DravenSwiftbow it's a very minor screen shake of you set up the camera on a wider shot and use black magic - resolves stabilisation feature it would eliminate it pretty well.

you can find 13th age on humble bundle.... great deal.

One of the games I have the book for but have yet to play.

Probably worth noting that the game's deliberately designed with classes that have varying complexity levels, which are called out in the book. They're all broadly equivalent in terms of usefulness in an adventuring party, but classes like the wizard and bard are more mechanically complex than the barbarian and paladin are. In most cases the difference is the amount of resource management involved, and all of them give you some impactful choices to make during creation and levelling up, but if want to minimize how much tracking you need to do at the table barbarians are a fine choice, whereas if you dig having a bajillion potential tricks to choose between bards are probably your meat. New players may have an easier time with the simpler classes, but even the complex ones aren't too much of a stretch. The simple ones are still rewarding to play for a veteran player, with fewer tricks to choose between but the ones they have are pretty strong. Not a design feature I've seen much touted in other game systems.

31:47 you asked about whether weapon attacks do miss damage. This depends on the class. If you look at the melee basic and ranged basic attacks in each class section, you'll find whether that class deals damage on a miss for either (or both) basic attacks.

@DravenSwiftbow

3 жыл бұрын

Cool, thank you! I recall seeing that but wasn't 100% sure.

@TimBaker

3 жыл бұрын

@@DravenSwiftbow, sure thing! 13th Age is my favorite system, and I've been running it since its playtest in 2012. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about it or direct you to one of the many 13th Age communities.

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

It is possible to do damage even when the attack misses? That is such broken nonsense.

@TimBaker

Жыл бұрын

@@mattpace1026, I think it depends on how you view hit points. And in fairness, I feel like "hit" and "miss" are communicating the wrong nuance, but are adhered to for the purpose of making 13th Age feel familiar to D&D players. If you view the PCs as the heroes of the story being told, which is the default for the tone of the game, then a "miss" is more of like a partial success in other game systems. You didn't get everything you wanted, but you're so effective, that you still moved the combat forward and eroded some of your foe's remaining stamina. Only a fumble is a complete failure, where you do no damage, and get none of the benefits of the attack. The word "miss" in this context can lead to that disconnect where players initially struggle to understand how they're doing damage on a "miss." Reframed as a partial success, or a secondary action that deals a bit of damage (e.g., "I can't connect with my sword, but I still manage to kick the enemy"), and I've found that players really enjoy the mechanic.

@mattpace1026

Жыл бұрын

@@TimBaker Okay, A: That still means is too easy. B: How in the hell does it being bad terminology make it better? It just shows the creators didn't have a clue what they were doing.

Thanks for the videos! Did you get to try this system out yet?

@DravenSwiftbow

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. Unfortunately I haven't as of yet.

Look forward to a deeper discussion of this. With vaccinations finally rolling out (being fully done myself), I look forward to getting to play in person.

📝 You forgot to do the Review of 13th Age.

@DravenSwiftbow

Жыл бұрын

I haven't forgotten, but unfortunately I have a lot of new products coming in and this had to take a back seat. I dohope to get back into reading it later this spring.

It seems like they had some knowledge of Lords of Creation when it comes to the levelling up. That one also has ten levels, but there are many ways your character can change between levels, so it never feels like your character is stagnant. Wizards parent company Hasbro had acquired the rights to Lords of Creation in 1998. Sadly though Hasbro has done very little with all they got from Avalon Hill.

8 years is hideously old?

10 levels isn't a bad thing. A level 10 character rolls 10 dice for damage and has 10 feats. Believe me a 20th level D&D character can't even do that.

@DravenSwiftbow

Жыл бұрын

Honestly I totally agree the more I think of it. Most of my games usually end around 10th level and those tend to be the most fun levels to play to.

Some interesting ideas in there but nothing particularly original and it suffers from the beginnings of DND feature creep - not surprising as it's based on 3e & 4e. Nowhere near as bad as the 'more is better, much more is much better' philosophy of 5e & its fans but still too much for my taste.