Oh, wow. So I've got a backlog of updates for this blog concerning the "The Crown of the Lich King," the first 13th Age Organized Play adventure. Over the course of the last six weeks, I've run every session, some more than once. Our weekly game is at Melrose Music and Comics in Los Angeles, but I also ran a session with my regular gaming group at a friend's house, a session at a weekend retreat for a video game company, and three sessions at Gateway Strategicon.
Overall, I found 13th Age very easy to run as a GM, and the feedback I got on the sessions, both from the players directly and through others (e.g., the organizers of Strategicon), was almost universally positive. Before I get into more specific comments about the game in the "after-action reports," I figured I'd run down some general pros and cons of 13th Age as a system:
PROS:
- The system requires very little prep. Monster stats are compact and easy to "re-skin." You don't need to prepare overly detailed maps, NPCs, or traps. A related "pro" of 13th Age is the loss of the grid system, now replaced with "engaged, near, far, very far." Tactical without the minutiae: I like it.
- The Escalation Die. Easily the best new mechanic I've seen this year. There are some minor aspects to it that involve triggering certain attacks and whatnot, but the real key is that it gives an ever-growing bonus to the PCs over the course of a battle. This means that monsters appear unbeatable at first, but if the heroes can hold out for 3 rounds or so, the bad guys start dropping like a ton of bricks. Very cinematic. Very exciting for the players.
- Backgrounds. I hate traditional d20 skill systems. They're reductive, boring, and unimaginative. Backgrounds define your character organically and incentivize imaginative play. Hooray for backgrounds.
- The classes are simplified, but still feel iconic and "true." They're also distinct from each other, because of the features and talents. Special mention to the Rogue's Momentum abilities and the Fighter's flexible attack. Good stuff that forces you to pay attention. Another good thing: the classes are balanced in and out of combat.
- Montages. Montages give every character a chance to shine, which is nice. But they also take some of the pressure off of the GM (because the players are coming up with obstacles), and they help cram in more events without getting bogged down in mechanics (because there are none). It's elegant and efficient, and gives the GM another opportunity to reward imagination.
- Unique Things. It's so simple, but it works so well. YOU ARE DIFFERENT. YOU ARE SPECIAL. "OUTs" are also great for generating story hooks, and they're related to another aspect of 13th Age that works well: all adventurers are influential agents in this world. That feels good, especially at lower levels.
- Icons (and Icon Relationships). There is no intricate, unnecessary litany of pantheons, eras, events, or places in 13th Age. The Icons offer just enough to make the world feel epic without making it all seem overwhelming and "inside baseball." Very good for pulling people in who aren't comfortable reading a 300-page tome of world lore before designing their character.
- Less bookkeeping. Money doesn't really matter. Ammo doesn't really matter. WHAT weapon you have doesn't matter. You have whatever gear you'd probably have. Let's just get on with adventuring, right? It's all flavor anyway.
- Power limits. One reason money doesn't matter is because you can't buy magic items with it, and your total magic items are limited by level. Perfect. No incentive to stockpiling.
CONS:
- There is sometimes a lack of choice. 13th Age is not alone in this, but it's more obvious when so much of the game is freewheeling and improvisational. If you build a fighter, for instance, you just move into your preferred range and attack. Sometimes (not often) you can choose between two different flexible attacks, but even that's merely reactive. Whenever a player's turn begins with "well, I guess all I can really do is…" that game isn't fun for them at that moment.
- Missing classes. The High Druid is an Icon, yet there is no Druid class. How does that make sense? I get that it's coming (along with the Monk) in the first expansion book, but there is no Monk Icon, is there?
- Missing rules. Again, I recognize the need for simplicity, but there are no rules for *poisons* in the core book. Do you know how many Rogues have asked me where the poison rules are? Same thing with mounted and vehicular combat.
- GM attention strain. So there's very little bookkeeping from scene to scene, but within a scene you have to pay attention to a LOT as a GM. Stronger monsters deal ongoing damage (that stacks and requires saves at the end of different turns), you have to up the escalation die every turn, there are death saves, attacks that trigger off of other conditions or certain natural rolls, etc. etc. It can be exhausting, and I've honestly never run a combat without forgetting some huge element that I had to hand wave in the end for balance.
- It puts a lot of pressure on the players. Not all players are super-clever or imaginative, and the game can grind to a halt if you say "let's have a montage" and are met with blank stares. Part of this is bad habits the players have picked up from other games, but sometimes everyone is just tapped out--and then it falls to the GM to scramble. Not cool.
- Relationship Dice. In improv, "pimping out" a partner means doing something that puts them on the spot. Rolling relationship dice does that to GMs every single session. It's bad enough when four people roll 6s for four different Icons--or they all roll 6s for the same one, and you need to come up with four different hooks for the same character. But 5s complicate things further, because you need a positive AND a negative hook. And you need to generate them on the fly! That's hard, no matter how long you've been doing this.
Overall, I love 13th Age, and it's my new go-to system for players who want a fantasy game. It combines the best parts of Pathfinder and D&D with some design philosophy from collaborative indie games, forming a nice amalgam of the two that's recognizable without adhering to too much of the detritus that's accumulated in that sub-genre of gaming. That being said, I HAVE tweaked the game with a few house rules that make it easier to run or more dynamic for the players.
HOUSE RULES
- Hero Points. Whenever a player does something really cool, funny, interesting, or whatever, I give them a Hero Point, which is really just an extra mini d6. They can roll it whenever they roll a d20 and add the result to their check (this "uses it up"), or they can trade it in to re-roll damage. They can also trade it in to "make something true" in the game world. I also give everyone who shows up to the session one for being on time, and I give one to whoever's my initiative monkey for the session. It incentivizes helping out and staying engaged, while also allowing players to reassert control when the dice are being mean.
- Roll relationship dice at the end. I haven't done this yet, but I'm instituting it at the next session. Basically, I want some time as a GM to build these hooks in, rather than scrambling before we even start the adventure. I also want an incentive to show up every week. If you didn't show up last week, there's less chance of your Icon showing up this week.
There are more pros, cons, and house rules, but that's all I can remember for now. I'll list some more as I go through the sessions themselves. Big thanks to Pelgrane Press for putting out this game, Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet for designing it, Melrose Music and Comics for giving me space to run it, and all my players for playing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment