tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58778738407632280012024-03-13T05:54:30.155-07:00Rob HeinsooGame Designer & WriterRob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.comBlogger276125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-16359388244494479672024-02-27T14:59:00.000-08:002024-02-27T14:59:22.680-08:0013th Age 2E Beta Playtest Packet is coming in a few weeks<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10CbKnC7czCDLAkLxww781q-OUhJZvJFFbCgP0IbY7TbvbDlHddCpyWnhEL8Bu45eDcdv4V9AccmGrgmwtgULx95pl6_ZpMOZY_kgaNWOwb9pvHSPqQlPcsl9BCz7Lb_E1ZCaMelyxdPXq67A4Yj4chLbsfNyaRUmz8SxxOE8_LRWlSrjNr1Dthc8ptQ/s3124/IconNotation1.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="3124" data-original-width="2305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh10CbKnC7czCDLAkLxww781q-OUhJZvJFFbCgP0IbY7TbvbDlHddCpyWnhEL8Bu45eDcdv4V9AccmGrgmwtgULx95pl6_ZpMOZY_kgaNWOwb9pvHSPqQlPcsl9BCz7Lb_E1ZCaMelyxdPXq67A4Yj4chLbsfNyaRUmz8SxxOE8_LRWlSrjNr1Dthc8ptQ/s320/IconNotation1.png"/></a></div>
<p><p>
I’m thrilled to say that we are now weeks away from sending out the <b>13th Age 2E Beta Playtes</b>t packet! Highlights of this second draft include:<p><p>
• A thorough revision of the Monsters chapter to better support monster roles and to make every monster juicy.<p><p>
• A bard class that’s magical, musical, and surprising. <p><p>
• Far more attention on the icon connection rules, with many examples so GMs and players can see how we use them in play. <p><p>
• A magic item update so that all items are worthwhile regardless of the hero’s level, including adventurer-tier items in the hands of epic-tier characters.<p><p>
• Significant changes to every class based on Alpha feedback.<p><p>
Our ambitions for this second edition grew in the last couple years. Even so, we’ve kept 2E fully compatible with <i>13th Age</i> books published for the first edition. You wanna run Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s <i>Eyes of the Stone Thief</i> using 2E? With some party-size tweaks to the numbers of monsters you’re facing, that won’t be a problem. (In fact, you may be more likely to survive!)<p><p>
Playtesters, you won’t have to check your inboxes for a few weeks yet. I’ll speak up here when the Beta playtest packet goes out so that the mass mailing has less of a chance in getting lost in spam folders.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-56147618853920321042024-01-29T12:10:00.000-08:002024-01-29T12:10:53.398-08:00Greg Stafford & the First Copy of D&D<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<p></p>
<p>
<i>(Young Greg painted for <b><a href="https://a-sharp.com/kodp/">King of Dragon Pass</a></b> by Stefano Gaudiano)</i><p>
Before you read my story, read the story in Greg's words from the Chaosium
blog,
<a
href="https://www.chaosium.com/blogfrom-the-qa-did-chaosium-founder-greg-stafford-own-the-firstever-copy-of-dd-sold-bought-directly-from-gary-gygax-himself/"
>February of last year</a
>.
</p>
<p>
It's a great story and I was extremely amused to read it. But my amusement may
not have been the same as your amusement, because I was comparing it to the
story as Greg had told it to me, back when I worked at Chaosium!
</p>
<p>
Greg was a storyteller supreme. The best. I can see why he might have been
more circumspect in the codex than he was with me. I'm not certain which
version shades more towards truth. That doesn't really matter to the
story . . .
</p>
<p>
When Greg told the tale, we weren't talking about
<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>. We were talking about <i>White Bear & Red Moon</i>,
specifically about how Greg had tried to work out a publishing deal with
various companies, shopping it around. I think it was after the first printing
had sold out, he wondered if there was a way to publish the boardgame with a
bigger company.
</p>
<p>
And he went to see Gary Gygax at TSR. As Greg told the story, Gygax was doing
well at that time, he received Greg in a nice office. But it did not go well
for Greg and WB&RM. Early in the conversation, Greg told Gygax that he thought
he had owned one of the earliest copies of D&D . . . and here we diverge!
</p>
<p>
The way Greg told it, most of the copies of D&D had been stuck at the printer
because the bill hadn't been paid yet. They weren't releasing the games to
Gygax. And Greg's brother-in-law worked at the printer, or had business there,
and saw the game, and thought it looked like something that Greg would like.
One way or another he got a copy and sent it to Greg at a time when Gygax was
being prevented from getting copies out to anyone else.
</p>
<p>
Maybe Gygax was amused later, but according to this telling, he wasn't happy
with Greg at that moment. The attempt to publish WB&RM through the resurgent
TSR went nowhere, and in this telling, Greg turned the story into a sort of fable about waiting
until after the deal is done to tell funny stories that will only be
funny to you.
</p>
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<i>(Greg the storyteller, again painted by Stefano Gaudiano for <b><a href="https://a-sharp.com/kodp/">King of Dragon Pass</a></b>)</i>Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-69511270253006278412023-11-14T13:26:00.000-08:002023-11-14T13:26:11.096-08:00The Bard, an intro adventure, and two playtest campaigns: 13th Age 2E progressIt has been a busy month!<p><p>
<b>Kin powers on the Pelgrane website: <i></i></b>I’ve been running some of the new kin powers on the Pelgrane Press website. These are powers that may change in the design process. They’re not guaranteed to be what shows up in the Beta packet, but they’re what we’re using now. <p><p>
Humans are <a href="https://pelgranepress.com/2023/10/13/friday-the-13th-age-human-kin-powers-in-13th-age-2e/">here</a>. Dwarves are <a href="https://pelgranepress.com/2023/10/24/13th-age-2e-kin-powers-for-dwarves/">here</a>. And the silver elves, aka drow, are <a href="https://pelgranepress.com/2023/11/14/13th-age-2e-kin-powers-for-the-silver-folk/">here</a>. <p><p>
<b>Jonathan’s work:</b> We played through the first playtest of the new introductory adventure Jonathan wrote for the back of the book. It went great and it covered territory not explored in Blood & Lightning, our original intro adventure.
Jonathan helped Paul, a new 13th Age GM, with GM-support material while Paul was running the intro. Jonathan has also been working on the monster chapter and analyzing the current state of several revised 2E classes, with results feeding into the playtest.<p><p>
T<b>eachers from the Court:</b> Our second-level playtest spun out of the intro-adventure is now called “The Teachers from the Court,” since that became our PC group’s cover story. The campaign has spawned notable shifts in the barbarian, and seems likely to create some things for the ranger. <p><p>
<b>Bards among us: </b>And since last week, the playtest includes the actual 2E bard!
The high-elf dance-bard that Sean had been using with was entirely playable but had little to do with the direction the bard class is headed. I’d handed Sean a playable pseudo-bard that I’d mocked up to play in J-M DeFoggi’s <a href="https://iconicpodcast.com/2023/09/11/s7-e08/">Rumble in the Stacks</a> adventure that’s being serialized on the Iconic podcast.<p><p>
My main job last month was to create a bard with a structure that hasn’t been seen in other F20 games. Given that bards have generally not entirely lived up to their potential, I’m happy to experiment with something new. I’ve got the class playable up to 5th level and later this week I’ll be tackling higher level spells. <p><p>
<b>The Dwarfoids Campaign:</b> For nights when we don’t have a full quorum for Teachers from the Court, I’ve restarted the third level campaign I was running before we started designing 2E. The initial concept: Suicide Squad for dwarven deviants looking to prove themselves to the Dwarf King. I call it Spearpoint, the players call it Dwarfoids, and their irreverence is winning. You’ll find the original outline of the campaign <a href="https://robheinsoo.blogspot.com/2021/08/spearpoint-13th-age-mini-arc-for.html">here</a>. <p><p>
Now that we’re testing 2E, several characters experienced personal transformations. <p><p>
<i>Tuli</i>, the lava dwarf chaos mage, has kept his back story but is now a cleric. To differentiate him from the cleric in the Teachers campaign, Tuli is the most random and worst cleric possible. By which I mean, healing is not his thing, and all his talent/domain choices have been chosen as the things we think players are least likely to embrace. Testing by setting oneself on fire. Tuli can take it. He’s a lava dwarf. <p><p>
<i>Djkuud</i>, the disturbingly almost-undead ‘hopping monk’ who’d served the Gold King, is now a spellfist sorcerer, testing the breath weapon approach the sorcerer in the Teachers campaign avoided. Less mobility, more firepower. Same creepiness. <p><p>
<i>Jak Manbloo</i>d is still proving that he’s the dwarfiest of all fighters, and now he’s doing it using the new maneuvers and without using the Combat Rhythm talent, because our playtest nerf-hammer seems to have pounded that talent down far enough that it is not necessarily the correct option. <p><p>
T<i>he Occultist, Thorinn Oakenshiel</i>d, has retired to be the charismatic leader of the derro clan who call themselves The Startouched, now converted—by our heroes—to a way that’s closer to the King’s Forge. And instead, Jonathan is playing <i>Gurski</i>, a half-orc barbarian. In this campaign, half-orcs are derived from dwarf barbarians on the frontiers rather than from humans. Gurski has a secret One Unique Thing that none of the rest of us (including me, the GM) know about. What we do know is that Gurski is testing a promising revision of the rage mechanic. <p><p>
And finally, a photo taken during the Teachers from the Court game by Rob Dalton. Jonathan added a caption to it, using my nickname, Beto.<p><p>
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<b>Beto</b>: Hmm, these rules are too harsh. Must adjust.<p><p>
<b>JoT</b>: Hmm, these rules are too forgiving. Must adjust.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-21143777592664986302023-10-08T14:16:00.000-07:002023-10-08T14:16:34.172-07:0013th Age 2E early October Update
In the last couple weeks, I spent a bit of time going over Jonathan’s work on the magic item chapter. It’s one of the chapters I’ve managed to digest all the playtest feedback on, and the version we’re finishing now is quite fun. <p><p>
Mostly I’ve been working on the revision of the sorcerer class. I’m about one talent, five spells, and a bunch of level-by-level math short of finished. <p><p>
The core of the original sorcerer class remains but every talent and spell that survives has been revised. The adventurer-tier playtest game we started last week should reveal whether the new twists in the sorcerer’s action economy and turn-by-turn choices will survive and show up in the Beta playtest packet. <p><p>
Speaking of our at-home playtest, Jonathan’s work the past couple weeks was to finish the first draft of the new introductory adventure that will be in the back of the 2E book. Our friend Paul is GMing and I haven’t read the draft of the adventure because Jonathan wants me to find out what’s-really-going-on organically, along with the rest of the players! Jonathan is playing, but has made it clear that for a change, his low-Intelligence dwarf barbarian (well, he calls himself a fighter, but he’s awfully rage-y for a fighter) will not be offering sound tactical or strategic advice.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-219543312825744912023-07-29T13:27:00.001-07:002023-07-29T13:27:47.122-07:00Heino Heinsoo, 1929-2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Xy6N2DUINdhR8joa_-zdbEkJsNVK0Iec_AW854-fSeXkzPNJH_IrQAAcYOO2TSqBuZwFqkRlxVy3ndgddjgXjqoLQURczP29489t5Sajv6-1du1qpUQWJGPO7yPyTqsMHC4MxYaars8S0cYqIZt6zBmox-VGtFH73BKvEvMRERcFeVSHpu_Y03atYOY/s2004/2023_HappyDad.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="2004" data-original-width="994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Xy6N2DUINdhR8joa_-zdbEkJsNVK0Iec_AW854-fSeXkzPNJH_IrQAAcYOO2TSqBuZwFqkRlxVy3ndgddjgXjqoLQURczP29489t5Sajv6-1du1qpUQWJGPO7yPyTqsMHC4MxYaars8S0cYqIZt6zBmox-VGtFH73BKvEvMRERcFeVSHpu_Y03atYOY/s400/2023_HappyDad.jpg"/></a></div>
My father, Heino Heinsoo, died last week at <a href="https://musgroves.com/tribute/details/321606/Heino-Heinsoo/obituary.html#tribute-start">the age of nearly-94</a>. <p><p>
The final fall was bad. There were a couple beautiful moments after the fall. <p><p>
Family, friends, and hospice came together to help him die at home, in the same room where he cared for his wife, my mom, when she died fourteen years ago. <p><p>
I'm going to miss GenCon. I'll be in touch with the 13th Age 2E playtest folks and my other projects some time in August, I expect. Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-10157572888260329632023-06-09T14:16:00.000-07:002023-06-09T14:16:54.517-07:00Vault of Mini Things!Last week before our <i>13th Age</i> 2E playtest, Jonathan handed me a big plastic bag full of Cardboard Heroes. They were mine, the bag I used as D&D minis and <i>Earthdawn</i> minis and <i>The Fantasy Trip</i> minis back before I mostly switched over to the pre-painted plastic figures we were making for D&D at WotC. I’d loaned the cardboard heroes bag to Jonathan ages ago when he needed more baddies for the 3e Elysombra game and the bag had been forgotten in a box of game supplies. <p><p>
I spent a couple minutes rummaging through the cardboard zombies and lizardfolk and dragons, wondering which I might use. And then Sean noticed the rummage and told me about the all-grown-up version of flat-hero minis that’s being funded on BackerKit right now. It’s the <a href="https://www.backerkit.com/c/tinkerhouse-games/The-Vault-of-Mini-Things#top" target="_blank">Vault of Mini Things</a> from TinkerHouse Games. <p><p>
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I love this project! I currently use prepainted plastic minis, and I sometimes use painted metal when it matters and I’ve got the right figure handy. I’ll be supplementing and occasionally replacing those minis with the figure in this set.<p><p>
Marshall Short’s art on these figures and the various terrain settings is fantastic, and he also has a <a href="https://www.patreon.com/PrintableHeroes/posts" target="_blank">PrintableHeroes Patreon</a> that includes VTT figures. <p><p>
The Vault’s organization and storage system is clever and will pack a huge number of options into a relatively compact box. <p><p>
And terrain is often the weakness of my games, and I’m excited about using this Vault’s selection of terrain either alone or supplementing maps. <p><p>
The official BackerKit campaign lasts another week. <p><p>
It’s worth browsing the site to see all the great minis and terrain that’s included. Here are three snippets that caught my eye: a pair of side-by-side heroes that I’d like to play as a team (frog guy! sorcerer gal!), some of the dungeon terrain, and a few of the magic items/spell effects that I definitely don’t have miniatures of anywhere else! <p><p>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7tJ6wHYThfIZW2LXciovOBE87bu6wf8zKZwjoC5tGOVn1-o-Y5Jyu-9XcsuEkh_U19ubPEsq0H3ulsHjotIuqKjzw6mmR9dE4DkL41XYKvv9KRJWclbgDLknmhYiugT_dsCDoR5qP9S7v1Ntfmib_nipDS4Zc9GuYIZsSSprh3_ora0qXaej-wCo/s663/VaultofMiniCarpets&Spells.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="565" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7tJ6wHYThfIZW2LXciovOBE87bu6wf8zKZwjoC5tGOVn1-o-Y5Jyu-9XcsuEkh_U19ubPEsq0H3ulsHjotIuqKjzw6mmR9dE4DkL41XYKvv9KRJWclbgDLknmhYiugT_dsCDoR5qP9S7v1Ntfmib_nipDS4Zc9GuYIZsSSprh3_ora0qXaej-wCo/s320/VaultofMiniCarpets&Spells.jpg"/></a></div>
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-51187970469820840672023-05-04T12:55:00.001-07:002023-05-04T13:16:06.437-07:00Badger Badger Skunk, aka Badgery!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkGTz53mCo6Gl_-PP0ul8kPliz_697fvQH5xQRXfN1hPGvWFPJ7ic4JwtSUJAjepzZaiFXlOkzi4ZLx0P_yu4lzysjIme9XXGuuU1GNbrx-X7KOgf7OHqPgbi8qXORAMglBo8CQ060TrPZti1c4fyChCYmGaUI30pkLnk7gf7AiboPBvC-fBsCyKq/s973/Badgery2%20copy.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="973" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkGTz53mCo6Gl_-PP0ul8kPliz_697fvQH5xQRXfN1hPGvWFPJ7ic4JwtSUJAjepzZaiFXlOkzi4ZLx0P_yu4lzysjIme9XXGuuU1GNbrx-X7KOgf7OHqPgbi8qXORAMglBo8CQ060TrPZti1c4fyChCYmGaUI30pkLnk7gf7AiboPBvC-fBsCyKq/s400/Badgery2%20copy.jpeg"/></a></div> <p><p>
Two years ago on my birthday, I ran a 13th Age game centered on a game-within-a-game, a sport played underground that the gnomes involved called badgerbadgerskunk.
It was the 31st session of the <i>Adventurers’ Lament</i> campaign. Gherophy, the gnome bard who glows golden when rocks are placed against his skin—who still manages to walk in shadows like a rogue thanks to blessings from the Prince of Shadows—was celebrating his birthday in Axis and the local gnomish community put together a special game of badgerbadgerskunk in his honor. <p><p>
<b>Campaign Background:</b> What you need to know about gnomes in this campaign: <p>
a) They are frequently scoundrels, bandits, edge-workers, masters of the grey areas whose culture heroes are people like the Dread Pirate Fishstick; <p>
b) They’re natives of Glorantha, emigrants to the Dragon Empire, and whenever there’s something weird going on with the gnomes, the players (who are the ones who decided on this) wave their hands and say “Well that’s Glorantha for you,” and <p>
c) They talk with animals, especially underground critters like badgers and bulettes. <p>
Maybe it was the Glorantha connection that got me thinking about a sport the gnomes would play. I’ve always loved Gloranthan trollball, where the ‘ball’ is an expendable trollkin that scampers when fumbled and is definitely going to need to be replaced several times each game. <p><p>
<b>Gnomeball: </b>For the gnome version, I decided that the ball was gonna be a badger. You’ve gotta sweet talk the ball into going along with you or it’s gonna tear your ear off. Unlike the troll game, the gnome game makes seriously hurting the ball an unthinkable faux pas sure to get you ostracized . . . after the badgers have had their fill of you. <p><p>
Of course it’s not just badgers. My starting mechanic for the game was that 1 in 6 balls are a skunk instead of a badger. The new ball gets hurled up out of a hole in the center of the underground playing burrow, a central zone with various tunnels and levels of chambers and corridors and slides, with teams attempting to carry the ball across the other team’s goal line at the far ends of the burrow. In long games, you’d expect that the ‘new ball’ might be a badger or skunk that has already been in play earlier in the game, so you’d better make friends with the ball or you’ll pay for it all game long.<p><p>
<b>The Birthday Game:</b> Gherophy’s team started with threee NPC gnomes: Gimplenappe, Rusty, and Pumpkin-who-wants-to-be-known-as-Grimkin. These ne’er-do-wells had been introduced as members of a quickly-defeated gang of gnomish bandits. They were childhood friends/tormentors of Gherophy, and the PCs spared them instead of treating them like other bandits. (Good thing: later they become our low-level PCs for all-gnome sessions!) Getting the badgerbadgerskunk game organized was the low-gnomes’ moment of glory.<p><p>
Gherophy’s team was allowed to have two dwarves, the central combat-ready characters in the Adventurer’s Lament PC group. This was viewed as a handicap by the opposing team, because although dwarves are pretty close to being able to stand up straight in most of the chambers of the badgerbadgerskunk burrow, they’re also likely to get chewed on and sprayed whenever they attempt to advance the ball. Dwarves have no communication skillz, not in gnome-terms.
This held true for Bromach, the group’s dwarven barbarian, who got clawed, sprayed, and sprayed again. Eventually he realized that there weren’t many rules about illegal blocking and so he took out his frustrations on the other team. <p><p>
But Dhomnin, who the group always speaks of as a paladin (thanks to his earnest domination of high-Moradin ground and his golden-spiral GGW helmet), is actually a dwarf ranger who puts a lot of effort into his relationship with his monitor lizard animal companion. Dhomnin hit very difficult skill rolls skunk-after-skunk. He couldn’t quite talk with the beasties, but they came to an understanding involving treats and I-no-longer-remember-what, so even when Gherophy wasn’t grabbing the ’ball’ and spinning through shadows, the group’s offense kept humming. <p><p>
And I did say, skunk after skunk, not skunk after badger. Because dice are my friends and when I’m rolling a d6, a 1 in 6 chance of a skunk instead of a badger turns into a single badger mixed in with 4 skunks. Whahahahahaah! You’re all getting sprayed! <p><p>
Most of the rest of the dice rolling I left to the PCs, treating skunk-talking, badger-carrying, skunk-tracking, gnome-tackling, and tricky goal line hand-offs as skill checks of various types, some easy, most normal or hard. Everything was harder for the two dwarves but that didn’t faze Dhomnin. <p><p>
I did a bit of dice rolling myself for a couple skunk and badger attacks when it was dramatically suitable. Poor Rusty, good thing he has a left ear. But it wasn’t a game about running out of hit points—for the real heroes, getting damaged applied penalties to your next skill checks and made it more likely your team would get scored on. <p><p>
The PCs won in high highlight style with moments of glory evenly distributed and a barrel of Klinkhammer’s finest Black Dog ale to soothe the barbarian’s cuts!<p><p>
<b>Post-game Show & the Wider World:</b> Yesterday I talked with Lee Moyer about badgerbadgerskunk. By the end of the day, after phoning me a couple times to ask questions about where the game might be played, Lee came up with his preferred name for the game, Badgery. And then he designed the logo that’s painted on a signboard outside the arena-burrow of the Badgery HQ in Concord, the Dragon Empire city where gnomes feel most at home. The Badgery Concord League! <p><p>
So yeah, I’ll have to do more with this, won’t I? Thanks, Lee! <p><p>
If you use badgerbadgerskunk in one of your 13th Age games, let me know at 13thAgePlaytest@gmail.com.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-26508079276350299532023-04-27T17:25:00.000-07:002023-04-27T17:25:32.602-07:00EN World Interview about 13th Age 2E Streaming Monday the 1st of May<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zRQ2oV363HwWqebDK_iIjwfYi7fbpzNt7wyXHMA2OK9uw4aHCbThQxrgdG0KgbAdXnoO8BQbHaJbbJ7ih5mvxw0uKwUvFHHvHIqQnd6FiCp0CLqLeoMzDnkSWM0w3sWZjbeU-eHKhOEWe2G8CR16D3tqeRCiFlbwZ0cZYYmUSJBLEwe1tL_QQwsR/s3240/Not%20DND%20logo.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="3240" data-original-width="3240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zRQ2oV363HwWqebDK_iIjwfYi7fbpzNt7wyXHMA2OK9uw4aHCbThQxrgdG0KgbAdXnoO8BQbHaJbbJ7ih5mvxw0uKwUvFHHvHIqQnd6FiCp0CLqLeoMzDnkSWM0w3sWZjbeU-eHKhOEWe2G8CR16D3tqeRCiFlbwZ0cZYYmUSJBLEwe1tL_QQwsR/s320/Not%20DND%20logo.png"/></a></div>
<p><p>
<i>13th Age 2E</i> was voted as one of the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/here-are-your-10-most-anticipated-tabletop-rpgs-of-2023.694158/">most anticipated RPGs of 2023</a>! <p><p>
So Jessica Hancock of EN World and I will be spending part of our May Day doing a streaming interview about 2E on the <b>Not DnD</b> livestream, one of the podcasts based at <a href="enliverpg.com">enliverpg.com</a>. <p><p>
That's Monday, May 1st. We'll be on for an hour starting at 10 p.m. BST, which is 5 p.m. EST in the USA, and 2:00 in the PST afternoon here on my West Coast. <p><p>
The show will be streamed live in the following four places...<p><p>
Twitch - <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/enpublishing">@enpublishing</a> <p><p>
Facebook - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/enpublishingrpg">@enpublishingrpg</a> <p><p>
Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/enpublishingrpg">@enpublishingrpg</a> <p><p>
Youtube - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ7ByBXPqZRg-Q-J-_0YEA">Link here</a> <p><p>
If you can't catch it live, you'll also find it available along with 47 earlier Not DnD episodes as a podcast.<p><p>
The show usually opens with Jessica asking how the interviewee got into gaming. Since I put my first dungeon on graph paper in 1974, we'll find out many stories Jessica wants drawn from that well!<p><p>
When we get into 2E I'll aim to stay in tune with viewers who are new to 13th Age while providing some news for Alpha draft playtesters who gave us excellent feedback and are now waiting for the Bravo draft!<p><p>
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-56212095244484078972023-01-16T13:15:00.000-08:002023-01-16T13:15:54.728-08:0013th Age 2E Playtest UpdateThe 13th Age 2E playtest is rolling, with a lot of feedback coming in already on the first playtest packet. I’m still welcoming in new folks, though I’ve fallen a bit behind on that front and have some more typing and list maintenance to do this week.<p><p>
On Wednesday nights, we’re midway through our own champion-tier playtest campaign, moving up a level after every 3 battles. Actually, after just two battles at 4th level, where Jonathan pulled out dragons and double-strength fights and gave my troll (think: dwarven half-orc) fighter the unusual experience of spending many recoveries they did not actually possess. <p><p>
Jonathan has set this campaign in the wilds of the Dragon Wood, a High Druid centered area that's not really part of the Empire, where humans are known as Huggers (as in tree-huggers), the elves are 'witches' and definitely not to be trusted, and sky-dwarves (dwarves crazy enough to like it on the surface) seem a lot more reasonable than the dwarves who live underground. We're troubleshooters sent by allied icons, the Dwarf King and Great Gold Wyrm. We've got two different versions of the fighter, a puissant cleric, and a sentient magic staff who functions as our wizard. Sessions are alternating between desperate combat and cross-culture diplomacy. <p><p>
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Meanwhile, as most everyone reading this knows, WotC's OGL-foofarah has been a rapidly developing show-on-the-side. I found myself heavily distracted for a week, but it now seems clear that good things are going to come of this, and 2E work is proceeding unaffected. We're figuring out which interesting new path we're going to take through the world of license-or-not, and no matter what we decide I’m grateful and happy to see how Paizo has responded to this cluster of events. We'll come to a decision along with Pelgrane before we put out another playtest packet, or perhaps sooner.<p><p>
Speaking of timing, it's clear I’m not getting the second playtest packet out before the end of this month. So I’m now aiming at early February. I’m also taking a glance at some of the feedback, partly to see whether I want to account for obvious changes in the next packet, along with the bard/rogue/sorcerer, or whether we’ll save all feedback revisions for the third packet.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-8783694133822980382022-12-06T12:27:00.000-08:002022-12-06T12:27:28.224-08:00Alphabet Prime Music: Ada Sings Aie Aie AieMy Alphabet Prime playlist has 200+ songs that at one point in time, and probably for a lot longer than that, were my favorite songs. It's a playlist of music I listened to over and over that I'm still happy to hear again.
<p><p>I'm counting up the alphabet a few song titles at a time, adding occasional notes relevant to gaming and travel and stories where they exist. The alphabet prime label at the right will take you to other pieces of the count-up. <p><p>
The three songs in this installment have two things in common: a) dudes singing; b) many other great songs surrounding them on their albums. <p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWvaJASbAuKiNq641ToJthhH4iknFzQGEoCCPy3KrSIPHJ8zl2uKSZxJUG1UyD3g9SbNyIUQnx7K2-6uE5o2qlI2qji4kPvd2HH6vYgVGD4q30GGE2krXHUCLBXD3gFuHg3aF_0nDtPVBwWItF87xBjPEnZh-c6L8It2KiJQr7B1RuFl8t_rPksl4/s316/TheNational-Boxer.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWvaJASbAuKiNq641ToJthhH4iknFzQGEoCCPy3KrSIPHJ8zl2uKSZxJUG1UyD3g9SbNyIUQnx7K2-6uE5o2qlI2qji4kPvd2HH6vYgVGD4q30GGE2krXHUCLBXD3gFuHg3aF_0nDtPVBwWItF87xBjPEnZh-c6L8It2KiJQr7B1RuFl8t_rPksl4/s200/TheNational-Boxer.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03mavnL8Fyo" target="_blank">Ada</a>, The National. <p><p>
I love this album. I'm not sure whether I like it better than their other albums because it was the first album I heard from them, or because it's the best. <p><p>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBW9Klm1Y-o">Against Pollution</a>, The Mountain Goats. <p><p>
Music, lyrics, a deadpan transition from the humdrum to lethal violence to the final days. The entire <i>We Shall All Be Healed</i> album feels like some sort of <i>Unknown Armies</i> or <i>Over the Edge</i> campaign, which, given subsequent <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/689317960/the-mountain-goats-announces-dungeons-dragons-inspired-album">roleplaying developments</a> from the Mountain Goats, wouldn't be out of character. <p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVN8QYVGMpBR0AkB85uc9PE0MhPTdluS-t2ELhNQBhIYlWAd8Ryfv4TnliD1_Ux8wCrzWT20eFU4qiNLk4fFHDw76o19NxPTL3tl-2JC9nwuFRGa5RtL79a4ksGtucSIKBa0RVQx7MPTbnSgxsafsUPjIs2sQpf4IX0Zh5Wl3kqsFk00PkOsJSUH-/s300/MadeInMedinaRachidTaha.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVN8QYVGMpBR0AkB85uc9PE0MhPTdluS-t2ELhNQBhIYlWAd8Ryfv4TnliD1_Ux8wCrzWT20eFU4qiNLk4fFHDw76o19NxPTL3tl-2JC9nwuFRGa5RtL79a4ksGtucSIKBa0RVQx7MPTbnSgxsafsUPjIs2sQpf4IX0Zh5Wl3kqsFk00PkOsJSUH-/s200/MadeInMedinaRachidTaha.jpg"/></a></div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfxq2UBo-lk">Aie Aie Aie</a>, Rachid Taha, Made in Medina<p><p>
The friend who I was certain introduced me to Rachid Taha doesn't much like him and says she has never had a mixtape CD that included his songs. So my origin story of how I thought I first heard Rachid Taha while traveling with her in Hawaii is probably mistaken. Apparently many theater-goers first heard Taha on the soundtrack for <i>Blackhawk Down</i>, but in line with my ongoing cinematic illiteracy, I read the book and didn't see the movie. <i>Made in Medina</i> is a great album. I'm not sure it turns up later in the alphabet but I know Taha will.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-4528796541289836362022-12-03T17:55:00.001-08:002022-12-03T18:12:24.422-08:00Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War Notes & Variants<i>Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War</i> is an expansion of <i>Three-Dragon Ante</i>, just out from WizKids. (Earlier blog post <a href="http://robheinsoo.blogspot.com/2022/04/three-dragon-ante-giants-war.html">here</a>.) The set plays off D&D’s story of an ancient war between dragons and giants. Most of the new cards are based on D&D’s familiar giants: frost, fire, storm, stone, hill, and so on, along with Giant God cards for the bigger-than-I’d-originally-remembered giant pantheon. <p><p>
You need the original 3DA set to play using <i>Giant Wars</i>, because every gambit awards one stake to the strongest dragon cards and the other stake to the strongest giant cards. <p><p>
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<b>Time & the Endgame</b><p><p>
<i>Three-Dragon Ante</i> has always played differently with different numbers of players. With two stakes that can be won each gambit, instead of one, Giants War increases the distinctions between three-player, four-player, and larger games. <p><p>
So far, in my experience, three-player games are the most likely to invoke the variant end game. If no one has won after you’ve run out of cards in the main deck and shuffled in the middle game, score three more gambits and end the game after the third gambit’s toast. To win a three-player game before the toasts, you sometimes need to push the ante heavily instead of giving opponents time to recover. That’s true in all forms of 3DA, and more true when there are three players and two stakes per gambit.<p><p>
Even if you’re not playing 3DA as a drinking game, I recommend raising beverages as you toast these final three hands. And if you’re making the toasts aloud, the final toast echoes better as “To fools like us!” <p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvxvjfimwTxg5yrN-G6Tt4oWNOuXB-JqvDQruPHLoRXXkW479UuYTEjREgG3UNnNThInQA4K54-7iLSapSTJ02F3MuYMnivHK69XKb15NS_FjCyH75buvjkOhcAMdUCxmiNTNqBza3ZOKqbXKFHmSVPpsf9e3_DEQC-ej3Exmuq-TOJ7S3_4StOuy/s4032/3DA_Gold&Shadow.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyvxvjfimwTxg5yrN-G6Tt4oWNOuXB-JqvDQruPHLoRXXkW479UuYTEjREgG3UNnNThInQA4K54-7iLSapSTJ02F3MuYMnivHK69XKb15NS_FjCyH75buvjkOhcAMdUCxmiNTNqBza3ZOKqbXKFHmSVPpsf9e3_DEQC-ej3Exmuq-TOJ7S3_4StOuy/s320/3DA_Gold&Shadow.jpg"/></a></div>
<b>Variants for One-Stake Games</b> <p><p>
If you want to play a straight 3DA game with just one stake, all three of the new dragon suits will work so long as you shuffle the Mortals and Legendary Dragons (including the new Io and Shadow Invader) into a separate Legendary deck at the start of the game. You’ll need to play with either or both of the new Copper Dragon and Gold Dragon or the Legendary deck will be untapped. The new Gold Dragon from Giants War will always get to draw a Legendary card as long as someone else has played a card in the gambit, but if you lead with the Gold Dragon, you’ll only get a regular card.<p><p>
I haven’t tried this variant. It seems like the Legendary deck will be kind of slim without all the Legendary giants, so I believe you should skip shuffling cards from the Legendary deck into the main deck at the start of the game. <p><p>
If you’d rather play strictly with dragons and the original 3DA rules, skipping the Legendary deck, the new cards to add to the game are Io, the Shadow Dragon suit, and the Shadow Invader. <p><p>
Both the new mortals—the Emperor and Ranger—will work in either variant. In fact, they’ll be more powerful than they are in Giants War games. <p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyr6OkIEsaWdp3YlohL8eTZc5SdrvG4XW5aoXdX5xSorAx48Cs_VXoFpb9UDNZ7OW8kd27sxas5UAC7pgQNtwMiIaSCjqaVjs7FiGaPiaGll3tfgsACNW9l-dh140eUKvK37tR2vI7_0_50DL-AREadrAgyv0pD5jlb06if39LYDVjNo-_lwJfZAZK/s4032/3DA_EmperorFire.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyr6OkIEsaWdp3YlohL8eTZc5SdrvG4XW5aoXdX5xSorAx48Cs_VXoFpb9UDNZ7OW8kd27sxas5UAC7pgQNtwMiIaSCjqaVjs7FiGaPiaGll3tfgsACNW9l-dh140eUKvK37tR2vI7_0_50DL-AREadrAgyv0pD5jlb06if39LYDVjNo-_lwJfZAZK/s320/3DA_EmperorFire.jpg"/></a></div>
<b>No Emperor’s Gambit</b><p><p>
And speaking of the Emperor, yes, this is a very different version of a card that was at the core of the <i>Emperor’s Gambit</i> expansion for the original version of 3DA.<p><p>
People often ask if the <i>Emperor’s Gambit</i> set that WotC published in 2010 going to be reprinted or revised. I’m pretty sure the answer is no, because hardly any of the dragons that were the core of <i>Emperor’s Gambit</i> have been brought from 4e forward to D&D 5e. 3DA licenses D&D’s dragons. Even if one or two of the iron, adamantine, mercury, earthquake, etc. dragons that populated 4e show up in 5e, I doubt the rest will appear. <p><p>
So while we wait for dragons that probably aren’t going to show up, I’ve recruited some of the characters and mechanics from <i>Emperor’s Gambit</i>, including putting the Earthquake Dragon’s heavy-roller power on the new Fire Giant.<p><p>
<b>The Start-Small Variant</b><p><p>
One more variant before I go, which started as an accident when I forgot to shuffle cards from the Legendary deck into the main deck at the start of the game!<p><p>
Instead of correcting the mistake and re-dealing, I thought about it a second and decided it wasn’t bad to start everyone out with normal cards as their first hand. It feels a little bit like the “no dirt on the first trick” rules that some people use in Hearts. So, the Start-Small variant rules that you shuffle the 6 Legendary cards into the main deck after each player has been dealt their starting 7-card hand. Yes, ‘dirt’ in the form of a Legendary card might show up as you draw cards during the first gambit, so that’s a tiny bonus for people playing to draw.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-52510100926075962692022-11-21T23:37:00.000-08:002022-11-21T23:37:59.863-08:00Speeding Up, Letting Go, What the Hell<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMdZsHq3TNcKKfAHiF6xrzO6LnFRQ_6b65Ga3ncSTlJPZ-_Ye8v8pM52oRt7KxF9KoLHRJAxf1m0GnOKX8C2JskUrdLOhnVnozwsta0Awx6ddEzIAyz1obW1sgtBOqB321Pr5_ZIh7uQtTnqVDrF-4q2lkvE7yU-kdCyU4-LVf46ciplYcYeQEDAoF=s1300" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMdZsHq3TNcKKfAHiF6xrzO6LnFRQ_6b65Ga3ncSTlJPZ-_Ye8v8pM52oRt7KxF9KoLHRJAxf1m0GnOKX8C2JskUrdLOhnVnozwsta0Awx6ddEzIAyz1obW1sgtBOqB321Pr5_ZIh7uQtTnqVDrF-4q2lkvE7yU-kdCyU4-LVf46ciplYcYeQEDAoF=s320"/></a></div>
For a person who always loved games, it took me too long to learn that I'd be able to play more often if everyone enjoyed playing with me. I wasn't a bad loser, or an intolerably bad winner. I was just soooooo slow. I played "well" because I analyzed all options and wasn't quick about it. When my wife Lisa started talking about using a timer, or just not playing some games with me, I got the message. <p>
These days I work at playing quickly, carving off a couple slices of analysis and putting the rest in the "yeah, things might get messy there" bucket. It's not always easy just-letting-go, and sometimes I have to roleplay reasons that I'm not going to work hard at being clever.
<p>For example, playing <i><a href="https://renegadegamestudios.com/lanterns-the-harvest-festival/">Lanterns</a></i>, I limit myself to a one-minute turn, and the last game I played when it felt like I might be making a mistake, I said something like "Well, we dropped the oars and were scrabbling around in the bottom of the boat when we should have been lighting lanterns. So we've gotta dump the lanterns overboard before the boat catches on fire, now!"
<p>Playing <i><a href="https://www.gmtgames.com/p-724-commands-colors-samurai-battles.aspx">Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles</a></i> for the first time a couple months ago, I played from the beginning saying that my commander was nursing a bad hangover. Did a good job of roleplaying that too, since I ended the game by charging disastrously with the wrong unit, snatching defeat from victory. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eijanaika_%28film%29">Ee ja nai ka!</a> <p>
Playtesting new games with skilled designers and tournament players, I sometimes run into a variant of the same problem. Even in their first game, players who don't really understand the rules yet tend to want to analyze everything instead of just-playing-through. <p>
So I've recently been starting introductory boardgame and testing sessions with roleplaying advice: "Pretend we're drunk! We're not going to get everything right. You don't know the system and I'm not gonna do a perfect job explaining things all the way through, so you won't make the right decisions, let's just plow through and if something goes wrong, well, it's my fault, what the hell!" <p>
[[art by <i>By Kawanabe Kyōsai - National Diet Library Digital Collections, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2183868</i><p>
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-42752358653120288582022-11-08T19:13:00.003-08:002022-11-08T19:14:27.937-08:0013th Age 2E packet going out on WednesdayIt's done, and formatted. <p><p>
I'm showing it to Pelgrane and peeps to catch any glaring errors as I figure out Mail Chimp's current configuration and add newcomers to the playtest list. <p><p>
I think giant problems are unlikely at this point. I should be able to get the playtest's Alpha draft sent out on Wednesday, November 9th. <p><p>Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-63993770523464844812022-11-06T22:52:00.003-08:002022-11-06T22:52:34.187-08:0013th Age 2E playtest timing: Tomorrow or Tuesday...We've got the chapters together except for some adjustments in Monsters. <p><p>
I should finish that creative and editorial work tomorrow, and that should mean that the Mailchimp packet can go out to people in the playtest on Monday the 7th or Tuesday the 8th. <p><p>
If there's a problem with this timing I'll speak up again on this blog. <p><p>
I'm very excited, what we've got in the packet has turned out to be quite fun.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-25044587402242158812022-10-30T18:27:00.000-07:002022-10-30T18:27:39.996-07:00Re-remembering the Dragon Empire<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhwa2O7jTyy1f7P81S5z9bLjSGo8PJy6jcJKD4CdQvzcILDEsjVYL42UZ5m8LE1UXRoiUVlGlNLtlUpNOC4RqFuGIxH4FdY_Sn-Wf7ASoGg_lsI135rRWI90un1Px2lLc4cQ1liVOwwcES-rBvP9D5Kt0g7TTCdwAvOLA18oaefQol3YKyzVZdkPX/s500/MemoryCalledEmpire.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVhwa2O7jTyy1f7P81S5z9bLjSGo8PJy6jcJKD4CdQvzcILDEsjVYL42UZ5m8LE1UXRoiUVlGlNLtlUpNOC4RqFuGIxH4FdY_Sn-Wf7ASoGg_lsI135rRWI90un1Px2lLc4cQ1liVOwwcES-rBvP9D5Kt0g7TTCdwAvOLA18oaefQol3YKyzVZdkPX/s320/MemoryCalledEmpire.jpg"/></a></div>
<p><p>My work rhythm for this week has been to work on game design for an hour, then read ten minutes. So I'm always going to associate this final week of preparing the first playtest packet of 13th Age 2E with Arkady Martine's <i><a href="https://www.tor.com/2019/03/26/book-reviews-arkady-martine-a-memory-called-empire/">A Memory Called Empire</a></i>. What a great book. The author is a scholar of the Byzantine Empire. Sometimes when scholars write novels their learning sucks up the oxygen. In Martine's case, she's using what she knows to enhance excellent storytelling. <p><p>
Meanwhile in our not-really-Byzantine Dragon Empire, we're going to have the first 2E playtest packet out in the first few days of November. Four chapters of the packet are done. The classes chapter still has math underway, along with some epic-tier powers and a bunch of feat-checking. <p><p>
I believe we've got a couple of days work left on the playtest manuscript, followed by a day making last minute additions to the playtest list, writing the playtest questionnaires, and wrangling the distribution. Either of those timelines might or might not add a day, so I'm aiming at having the 2e playtest packet out on November 4th.Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-60993205555217143802022-08-18T11:48:00.001-07:002022-08-18T11:48:56.976-07:0013th Age 2e: More Info<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicB75qC08cIb5ioI6rmlVKjx1UsAcCerrEDCVduMbNF_T81QXhgADsg8nNyUR0vPdbuiCbXi5V-OOk_xpkSi12KmJhDk38Jw36cTS7bt2mnFNnM7MDjyCv8I2mIsnUhv9RslayRuJRrDr2am4IKQ1wcNlEQssSWa0HXYEHQz-X9GrdGdt-amSVueX-/s943/2e%20flyer%20August.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="611" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicB75qC08cIb5ioI6rmlVKjx1UsAcCerrEDCVduMbNF_T81QXhgADsg8nNyUR0vPdbuiCbXi5V-OOk_xpkSi12KmJhDk38Jw36cTS7bt2mnFNnM7MDjyCv8I2mIsnUhv9RslayRuJRrDr2am4IKQ1wcNlEQssSWa0HXYEHQz-X9GrdGdt-amSVueX-/s600/2e%20flyer%20August.png"/></a></div>
<p><p>
As I promised in <a href="http://robheinsoo.blogspot.com/2022/08/announcing-13th-age-2nd-edition.html">the first installment</a>, here’s a look at the final five bullet points on the list of “Here’s (some of) what’s coming in 2e”. People interested in joining the public playtest in six or eight weeks can write me at 13thAgePlaytest@gmail.com and I'll ping back when I've added you to the list. <p><p>
<b>More flexible handling of kin/ancestry powers: <i></i></b>We’re not using the term ‘race’ in <i>13th Age 2e</i>. I should have listened to Jonathan when he suggested we skip the word back in 2012. Some games have moved toward speaking of ancestry. That works. We’re trying ‘kin’ in our current playtest document. <p><p>
Unlike in the 1e core book we’re providing two or three possible ‘hero powers’ for each kin, giving players the opportunity to make their character less cookie-cutter—if your group has two high elves in it they’ll have more interesting choices than who uses their teleport power that round. <p><p>
We’re also making it clear that you can tell the story of your character by mixing ability score bonuses and hero powers that don’t usually go together. The manuscript’s current note looks like this: <p><p>
<blockquote><b>Customizing your kin:<i></i></b> Thanks to the fact that character classes provide a choice of two ability scores, it’s generally possible to play a pretty-good character of any class, no matter what kin you’re playing. But given that you’re also coming up with your character’s backgrounds, and a One Unique Thing, there are compelling story options for most any character to use the ability scores and hero power of any kin they choose. <p><p>
Are you the only human adopted by the Dwarf King? Maybe you look like a human but say That’s Your Best Shot? like a dwarf (page XX). Are you a silver folk rogue who teleports in a silver flash and calls your power silverspark teleport? <p><p>
You can mix and match kin looks, outlooks, ability scores, and powers as you like. Leverage backgrounds and uniques if you wish, or let your character’s story evolve during play. <p><p></blockquote>
As part of adding choices for everyone, hero powers that weren’t that great have been improved or replaced with better options . . . and yes, Elven Grace has been nerfed. My players will no longer torment me with all-wood-elf parties. Pre-playtesting, Elven Grace looks like this: <p><p>
<blockquote><b>Elven Grace (Hero Power)</b>
<p>
At the start of each of your turns, roll 1d6 to see if you get an extra
standard action. If your roll is equal to or lower than the escalation die, you get an extra standard action that turn. You then stop rolling for Elven
Grace until you've taken a quick rest. Alternatively, you can pass on the
extra action and keep rolling each turn.
<p> <i>Champion Feat:</i> Once per day, roll a d4 for elven grace instead of a d6.
If you don’t get an extra action, this daily option is not expended.</blockquote>
</p>
<p></p>
<b>Scarier monsters and cooler treasures:<i></i></b> We’re not changing monster math, but we are adding nastier specials where they belong and rethinking some of the large and huge monsters that made it hard to design interesting encounters at high levels. <p><p>
Digging into the math, we realized that some of the treasures PCs have been using don’t keep up at epic tier, or come all that close to keeping up. So… cooler treasures? Yes, with math that shouldn’t be a problem to apply to previously published treasures. <p><p>
By the way, I should mention that all the benefits that 2e PCs are enjoying aren’t being balanced by changes in monster math . . . but we are changing the recommendations for how tough battles should be for experienced players, and testing methods of doing that without increasing combat length. <p><p>
<b>More banter, better advice: <i></i></b>We understand the game a lot better. A lot of the advice we gave nine/ten years ago turned out to be only half-right (or worse). So, we’re writing advice we are sure will be useful, and arguing about real things instead of talking hypothetically about campaigns none of you had gotten around to running yet! <p><p>
<b>
New and better take on the fighter: <i></i></b>If you like the original fighter, you can keep playing them—but you’re probably going to love the new fighter. For now I’ll just say that most of the fighter talents stayed, maneuvers turned into things you choose to do instead of deciding everything after your attack roll, and the fighter has a talent that encourages them to maintain a balance of offensive and (somewhat) defensive maneuvers. Also: I adapted good stuff from the Humakti class in <i>13th Age Glorantha</i>!<p><p>
<b>
New cover from Lee Moyer & Aaron McConnell:<i></i></b> Not just a cover, but also new art, they’re both extremely excited to show the results of their level-ups since 2013. <p><p>
As are we. More soon.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-55185816131580703852022-08-18T11:48:00.000-07:002022-08-18T11:48:06.513-07:0013th Age 2e: The Same Core TeamSeveral people have wondered whether Jonathan Tweet is working on the 2nd Edition of the <i>13th Age</i> core book. The answer is yes. The <i>13th Age</i> core book was a collaboration between Jonathan and me, teaming up to create the game we wanted to play together, with Lee Moyer and Aaron McConnell providing the art. The same core team is creating <i>13th Age 2e</i>. For the final manuscript we’ll bring in the game’s current line editor, a new sensitivity reader, and a new layout artist. <p><p>
Why? Because I can’t create a credible revision of <i>13th Age</i> without Jonathan. He and I don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but we share a vision for this game, we have synergistic skills, and we’ve been talking for years about how to make <i>13th Age</i> better—qualities that can’t be replicated with another designer. Pelgrane has long wanted to publish a 2nd edition of the game, and the community has been asking for one for even longer. I told Pelgrane that I couldn’t do it without Jonathan—either it would be a collaboration between me and him, or <i>13th Age</i> 1e would be the only edition. Pelgrane and I knew that without a second edition, <i>13th Age</i> would stagnate and the game would wither away; so they agreed to publish the new edition with the original creative team. <p><p>
Beyond the core book, I will continue to run the line of supporting products without Jonathan—an arrangement that suits both Jonathan and Pelgrane. After his contribution to the manuscript is finished Jonathan will start work on a new children’s book to follow up on <i>Grandmother Fish</i>. I’ll move on to finishing <i>Icon Followers</i> (up to 128K words at present), one of the <i>13th Age</i> books that will follow up on <i>2nd Edition</i>. <p><p>
Unlike the first time we created this game, we’re working pretty quickly. We’ve already run several playtests and plan a full playtest packet for wide distribution in the next few weeks.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-55108372034106102352022-08-16T18:37:00.000-07:002022-08-16T18:37:22.812-07:00Announcing 13th Age 2nd Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLCRUVflrkVUgyejdr95Y-pz65_uGuoW-lvg5utz5-INGxg4K0n-nxSewGS2Wcg82raB5Ke6e2ov5HhYG45DB4vyQu6vYqXpGJxVATARdy7pxqu4N_8Y2rI6mjRt9pDx3gl3eyPPRZqfrSUoTjFibN0GlQqvRWICE9oVuPST6cMC4j9i0pkQKAIQKM/s943/2e%20flyer%20August.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="611" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLCRUVflrkVUgyejdr95Y-pz65_uGuoW-lvg5utz5-INGxg4K0n-nxSewGS2Wcg82raB5Ke6e2ov5HhYG45DB4vyQu6vYqXpGJxVATARdy7pxqu4N_8Y2rI6mjRt9pDx3gl3eyPPRZqfrSUoTjFibN0GlQqvRWICE9oVuPST6cMC4j9i0pkQKAIQKM/s600/2e%20flyer%20August.png"/></a></div>
<p><p>
Yes, we’re making a 2nd Edition of <i>13th Ag</i>e! And yes, that’s present tense: work has already begun, and you can sign up to playtest the new edition by writing me at 13thAgePlaytest@gmail.com.<p><p>
The image you see here is a slightly edited version of the playtest flyer we handed out at GenCon, revealing more of the updates we’re making to the game. Today I’ll say a few words about the first four items in the list and talk about the remaining items in a future post. <p><p>
<b>Backwards compatible:<i></i></b> I love it when new editions let players use all the books they’ve already bought and the ideas they’ve created in their campaigns. We’re not interested in making you buy new versions of the Bestiaries or do frustrating conversion work to use previously published adventures. There’s going to be an appendix in 2e suggesting things like “You could use the new default bonus for the magic belts in <i>Book of Loot</i> and <i>Loot Harder</i> since we’ve changed that in 2e,” but the core math and the combat rules will be the same. You won’t need to re-buy books, not even <i>13 True Ways</i>. If there’s a 13TW class or two that needs brushing, I’ll handle that in another book focused on character classes. <p><p>
<b>Better options for class talents, powers, and spells:<i></i></b> As originally published, some classes have a lot of great choices for talents and spells, while other classes have a few great choices and a significant number of meh choices. One of the biggest goals of 2e is to give every character more interesting choices. Spells that sounded fun but turned out to be not-so-good have been improved. Talents that didn’t measure up have been downgraded into class feats. Feats that were originally epic feats now frequently appear as adventurer-tier feats, with champion-tier and epic-tier feats above them that truly feel epic instead of like small math-bumps. <p><p>
<b>Each class gets +2 additional pages: <i></i></b>Classes like the ranger and paladin that were always quite simple now have talent options that can make them more interesting for experienced players. Classes like the sorcerer get more spells with a greater range of effect. Most of the classes are getting quite a bit more than 2 pages; so far it’s only the rogue that hasn’t grown beyond that. <p><p>
<b>Improved icon relationships:<i></i></b> Thanks to feedback from GMs over the years we’re aware that our original icon relationship rules weren’t as clear or simple as we hoped. Ask five <i>13th Age</i> tables that are happy with the icon rules which method they’re using and you’ll get four different answers! We’re working to suggest icon relationship rules that more tables will find natural to use in play. <p><p>
<b>Other talking points: <i></i></b>I’ll post about the remaining five bullet points soon. I’ve also been seeing speculation and questions about who is working on this book, and whether that team will work on the line going forward. I’m writing a separate post about that to hopefully clarify things.<p><p>
We expect to send out the first widely distributed playtest packet sometime in September or October, and like the flyer says, you can write us at 13thAgeplaytest@gmail.com any time before then if you’re interested.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-45119476446149361242022-08-02T14:11:00.001-07:002022-08-16T18:28:05.331-07:00Games I've Got at GenCon & Scheduled Panels
I'll be seeing some of you at GenCon in the next few days! <p><p>
Mostly I'll be at the Pelgrane booth, booth #423, talking with people about the news for what's coming for <i>13th Age</i>, and the wonderful <i>Drakkenhall</i> book that's out at this show: <p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xEm6L5gVbX_eLI06U-7Xida5g5xDpx2_uSdxFy1XNoAkyHozcjO2tdLoJXIN7JIlYLid_i3cgMOfebzV7H4h-d8KRaDpS6OxDdVhj_6EKisuED3qyLk6rDpB8kcxYyrpssjcuqhbyyBh8E6YPSsDjCMTQ9G0aXC8Y3tzU_0R2tg2t8mHH8S-tXmd/s953/DrakkenhallCoverFinal.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xEm6L5gVbX_eLI06U-7Xida5g5xDpx2_uSdxFy1XNoAkyHozcjO2tdLoJXIN7JIlYLid_i3cgMOfebzV7H4h-d8KRaDpS6OxDdVhj_6EKisuED3qyLk6rDpB8kcxYyrpssjcuqhbyyBh8E6YPSsDjCMTQ9G0aXC8Y3tzU_0R2tg2t8mHH8S-tXmd/s320/DrakkenhallCoverFinal.jpg"/></a></div>
<p><p>Here are some panels I'll be involved in for Pelgrane or with Pelgranistas. . . .
<p><p>
<b> Friday August 5th, 12:00-1:00 p.m.</b> [Hyatt Studio 1] <i>Ken & Robin Talk About Stuff</i>. Robin has to stay in Toronto, so Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and I are joining Ken to talk about roleplaying, conspiracies, writing, and conspiracies about roleplaying writing. <p><p>
<b>Saturday August 6th, 4:00-5:30 p.m.</b> [The Stadium: Meeting Room 8] <i>Swords, Spies, & Shoggoths: The Pelgrane Press Panel</i>. There are a lot of fun projects surfacing soon that I didn't know about until the pre-con planning session, so I know panel attendees will be pleasantly surprised. <p><p>
<b> Sunday, August 7, 11:00 a.m.-12 noon</b>. [Hyatt Studio 1] <i>13th Age Monster Workshop</i>. Attend the panel and make suggestions. Or heckle. Our rogues gallery of <i>13th Age</i> designers and developers and a publisher will spin the suggestions into a publishable baddie. I slated this madness for Sunday since it tends to leave us punch drunk.<p><p>
Other fun....
All con long, Dara Studios at Booth 2400 will be running demos of the <i>Storybook Brawl</i> board game <a href="http://robheinsoo.blogspot.com/2022/07/storybook-brawling-onto-tabletop.html">I wrote about last week</a>. I'll be there when I can, or you can ask me about the game when you find me nearer Pelgrane. <p><p>
And Wiz-Kids at booth 1715 will have copies of <i>Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War</i> to show off, but I don't believe they'll have enough copies to have them on sale. It was close, so that means the game should be out in retail soon. <p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmvSW7prKn3FHkKw-fsrRnCHvgQSHAqhQtfVNqd9M649Nbz9IKx-yDHC-mEMZn6dLBhTA3pEi4SFTlLvnd0ME9As-WLkQ--I9YW1pn-uwwBeUv6_FIL9iAkMvkIeoE1aLHM4wD3iuplPDDC4oF6sPoSTEiX2PcHzZWEF2cVRHZMONnvitaGniCe7D/s1024/D&D-3DA-GiantsWar-Solicit-Images-Cover.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmvSW7prKn3FHkKw-fsrRnCHvgQSHAqhQtfVNqd9M649Nbz9IKx-yDHC-mEMZn6dLBhTA3pEi4SFTlLvnd0ME9As-WLkQ--I9YW1pn-uwwBeUv6_FIL9iAkMvkIeoE1aLHM4wD3iuplPDDC4oF6sPoSTEiX2PcHzZWEF2cVRHZMONnvitaGniCe7D/s320/D&D-3DA-GiantsWar-Solicit-Images-Cover.jpg"/></a></div>
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-14729058624225337032022-07-28T13:05:00.002-07:002022-07-28T13:17:58.020-07:00Storybook Brawling onto a Tabletop<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivne3dcmdQcPQuG-WEfz802LqvEHBwd982JWAN8hnWsIF8YQynCsCWZ4R8YKyeMGaxpyHvx0KZ04EHNs2twTyBDKVTVoxGRRuoSq-L6ncnb3OJtDnbRXH3FJdWIYsfaeFxXFBR_2HmbcOrMfdTaNuWkpJRJuxOFfFP7t0j76zTv4IhmNAkG8PDl4bp/s3000/Page_03_Flights_by_Moonlight1.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivne3dcmdQcPQuG-WEfz802LqvEHBwd982JWAN8hnWsIF8YQynCsCWZ4R8YKyeMGaxpyHvx0KZ04EHNs2twTyBDKVTVoxGRRuoSq-L6ncnb3OJtDnbRXH3FJdWIYsfaeFxXFBR_2HmbcOrMfdTaNuWkpJRJuxOFfFP7t0j76zTv4IhmNAkG8PDl4bp/s320/Page_03_Flights_by_Moonlight1.png"/></a></div>
The art above is called <i>Flights by Moonlight</i>. It’s the first storybook image we got from our amazing artist, Ekaterina Chesalova, for the <a href="https://www.dara-studios.com/storybook-brawl"><i>Storybook Brawl</i> boardgame</a> I’ve been working on the past year with designers from my company, Fire Opal Media, and other designers from Good Luck Games. <p><p>
One of the coolest things about designing games is that sometimes the games you play turn into games you’re working on. In 2021, I was playing a lot of <a href="https://storybookbrawl.com/">Storybook Brawl</a>, the digital auto-battler-style game of twisted fairy tales on Steam. I knew some of the designers. I loved the game. My business partner Jay Schneider and I got in touch and we ended up signing on to design a board game version of Storybook Brawl! <p><p>
If you’ve played the digital version, you’re probably aware that most of the mechanics that make the digital version tick don’t translate into a board game. The truth is that it can be liberating when mechanics are so untranslatable. We had to evoke the feel of the digital game, and the fun of its brawls, in a board and card game environment that would stay fun for players of many ages instead of gradually eliminating people until only one winner was left. <p><p>
I love this type of challenge! <p><p>
Sometimes my early designs are reasonably close to the final design. This was not one of those times. Jay and the rest of the development team did so much work and redesign, and along the way we realized that the way to set up the brawls at the heart of the game was with a storybook that would double as a scenario guide! <p><p>
The <i>Flights by Moonlight</i> picture above? That’s one of the early scenes from Act II: Home Realms, showing the moment Mrs. Claus and Pan’s Shadow meet after their stories have been shuffled together. The storybook’s opposite page gives each player a choice between three Plot Twists before that round’s brawl: <i>Workshopping</i> (just some gold to buy better cards); <i>From Up Here, Everybody Else Looks Tiny</i> (the right to buy cards from your shop for a tiny price this round); and <i>Moonlit Reconnaissance</i> (banishing a random card and acquiring two new cards). <p><p>
Yes, it’s a deckbuilding game of sorts. And each brawl leads to another story later on in the storybook, until the grand finale. I’m thrilled with the game and in love with writing storybooks for it! It’s one of those games I’m going to struggle to keep a copy of because my wife Lisa is gonna be giving it away as a gift. (Seriously: I’ve had to borrow copies of <i>Three-Dragon Ante</i> and <i>Epic Spell Wars</i> from friends because all of our copies had been gifted!)<p><p>
The <i>Storybook Brawl</i> board game is going to be <a href="https://www.dara-studios.com/storybook-brawl">published by Dara Studios</a>. It will go on Kickstarter later this fall. Come by booth 2400 at GenCon next week to see a prototype, check out the storybook, and to play a demo for between 2 and 4 players. <p><p>
I’ll usually be at the Pelgrane booth, #423, and though I’m mostly doing <i>13th Age</i> things there, I’ll be happy to talk about <i>Storybook Brawl</i> and will probably be at booth 2400 running/playing games now and then.<p><p>
I’ll post in the next couple days about the Pelgrane-and-other-things I’ll be up to at GenCon.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-55452859306991369652022-05-13T09:33:00.000-07:002022-05-13T09:33:44.346-07:00Games for Charity<b>Here's a guest post from Jonathan Tweet . . . . </b><p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg057luV9BlqhkJuEcRJuihwVoJXWgPgq4ecVzQPwW39YNoly-dV2iTDQJut9i0THhJQv_ruuUDgwVBRK9lm_oMpnsAtrSOJ2p_g4YC8MD61fXkmgwtF3O7AZl9aTQ042YdXBk6_JsVWCzJKWObJ17189NQ5RJWRT_v2eodKcQRdYkdQxZItU6vmm9/s2457/JoTalislantaBooks.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1382" data-original-width="2457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg057luV9BlqhkJuEcRJuihwVoJXWgPgq4ecVzQPwW39YNoly-dV2iTDQJut9i0THhJQv_ruuUDgwVBRK9lm_oMpnsAtrSOJ2p_g4YC8MD61fXkmgwtF3O7AZl9aTQ042YdXBk6_JsVWCzJKWObJ17189NQ5RJWRT_v2eodKcQRdYkdQxZItU6vmm9/s320/JoTalislantaBooks.jpeg"/></a></div>
<p><p>This month I raised $50 for my late wife’s favorite charity, <a href="https://www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/onlineactions/6iOI0_HnUUmPu_6_SRgayg2?sourceid=1006442&ms=4NALz2100K1N1A&gclid=Cj0KCQjwg_iTBhDrARIsAD3Ib5g-k-TmOraBvNJqdhN0ezrhu73l6PRptDM5T30kQshp389uqjr0JqMaAlmdEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank">Planned Parenthood</a>, by shipping my old Talislanta books to a fan of the game in exchange for his donation. There are a lot of old games in my basement that need to find good homes before I move out of here, and I figure I can raise money for charity while I’m at it. In addition to regular piles of game books and cards, there are a bunch of oddball games and personal effects, such as my campaign notes from the hacked version of D&D that I ran in high school. Some stuff I can easily offload onto a local game store or something, but lots of items I would rather place personally. <p><p>
Talislanta was a peach of a project for me. Revising the rules for Wizards’ 3rd edition was a fun project, and the standalone adventure <i>Scent of the Beast</i> was filled with promise for an upcoming “adventure path” that never materialized. It was sad to see it go but gratifying to pass it along to an old fan of the setting.<i> --Jonathan Tweet</i>Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-90187086888926142612022-04-04T14:53:00.001-07:002022-04-04T14:56:24.032-07:00Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWGWqMCgnOXt2YclJq8Dy2c3a7DLhSeNsvauoENOAMKVT5nWWkOtnhnK_TahTkVaCb9QLj584Cn9cbPWX-_9M2Bvni0yaG-0WG-8va4orjfFcm4X3Ye3dPKWvRvx8_5F8nvVaDIL4BgOYQpRvPZPQI7n4DIFL0n_i5OVQI9AUXqYeU63wbBm1OOcc/s1024/D&D-3DA-GiantsWar-Solicit-Images-Cover.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWGWqMCgnOXt2YclJq8Dy2c3a7DLhSeNsvauoENOAMKVT5nWWkOtnhnK_TahTkVaCb9QLj584Cn9cbPWX-_9M2Bvni0yaG-0WG-8va4orjfFcm4X3Ye3dPKWvRvx8_5F8nvVaDIL4BgOYQpRvPZPQI7n4DIFL0n_i5OVQI9AUXqYeU63wbBm1OOcc/s400/D&D-3DA-GiantsWar-Solicit-Images-Cover.jpg"/></a></div>
Ante again! Some time around July 2022, WizKids is releasing my sequel to <i>Three-Dragon Ante: Legendary Edition</i>, a 100+ card set called <i>Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War</i>. <p><p>
This new set of blue-backed cards introduces 4 colors of good giants, 4 colors of evil giants, 3 colors of dragons, a full pantheon of giant god cards, and rules for fighting for a giants’ stake and a dragons’ stake each gambit. (Hint: you only score your flight for the stakes you are strongest in, so feints and strategy-shifts abound.)<p><p>
The backstory of the game is based on the Thousand-Year War between the giants and the dragons, back when the world was young. The history of the war appears on page 19 of <i>Volo’s Guide to Monsters</i>. Short version: the giants lost their world-spanning empire. The game might be a bit of a sore spot for the giants. . . or maybe they like the reminder that they were once in charge, and could be in the future?<p><p>
I’ll have more updates later. For now, let’s go through the three cards shown in this preview image!<p><p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjSNaG_C4IPSq4m6nIB7hZoN5U6ZmfEpJ4-GAJdx7fJkn_efzMgYV-swERf7SRKm68SJOBz5D1tT67e4wApYAPlAPLIpVBqLqxIco4BA_v3IJciph3iGIU7jHcKleh-VK4UQDHIsU1vD7tcXHXgIk48_nLM4uUHcmg7C4WjDXg4H7YYbVUVSIKmV8u/s1024/D&D-3DA-GiantsWar-Solicit-Images-Splay1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjSNaG_C4IPSq4m6nIB7hZoN5U6ZmfEpJ4-GAJdx7fJkn_efzMgYV-swERf7SRKm68SJOBz5D1tT67e4wApYAPlAPLIpVBqLqxIco4BA_v3IJciph3iGIU7jHcKleh-VK4UQDHIsU1vD7tcXHXgIk48_nLM4uUHcmg7C4WjDXg4H7YYbVUVSIKmV8u/s320/D&D-3DA-GiantsWar-Solicit-Images-Splay1.jpg"/></a></div>
<p><p>
<b>Frost Giant: </b>One of the four colors of evil dragons, of course. Relishes competition, when its power triggers you collect gold from anyone else competing for the same stakes. If you’re playing first in the gambit, or slipping in to try and take a stake without any competition, you’re not giving the Frost Giant the fight it wants, so it won’t earn you any extra gold. <p><p>
<b>Surtur:</b> Yes, the set comes with the full pantheon of giant gods! The giant gods, dragon gods, legendary giants, legendary dragons and legendary mortals get shuffled into a single Legendary deck at the start of the game, with six cards from that deck shuffled in with the normal deck of giants and dragons. Many cards’ powers let you draw a card from the new Legendary deck, so there’s a decent chance that Surtur might be competing with other gods. He’s worth at least +2, a total of 12 for the Giants, if his power triggers, and when your opponents are taking a gambit seriously he could be worth more. <p><p>
<b>Copper Dragon: </b>A new Copper Dragon card! The original Copper Dragon is still great for games that don’t use giants and the Legendary deck. But the original Copper Dragon power, that adds a random card to your flight and triggers its power, is not much fun when you’re carefully managing which stakes, dragons or giants, you’re fighting for. So the new version plays off the Copper’s gregarious nature—your weakest opponent gets to draw a card, and then you draw a card from the Legendary deck. This type of sympathy for the weak isn’t the type of thing the new giants cards go in for, but you’re fighting for the dragon stakes and maybe setting yourself up with a power card.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-52587263972790968142022-03-15T10:56:00.001-07:002022-04-20T12:17:37.860-07:00Drakkenhall: City of (Surprisingly Amusing) Monsters<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR397iu7RO3U-5YARZOfimnceME0sKEVgO9twNHPIp6LAavD8tXwUcOgisLZpFfPy-zjU2gfUHu_c3QaJ2EHNEtJqOs1Xe4t5wxmwqZw6UCwakBgmfJhe7ai67Z4Ei_P7lewvO-EzoiffJClWGe_FV1rio_vMz6N4imGE-i8K-KBcbFaTX1Wx8NJsl/s953/DrakkenhallCoverFinal.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR397iu7RO3U-5YARZOfimnceME0sKEVgO9twNHPIp6LAavD8tXwUcOgisLZpFfPy-zjU2gfUHu_c3QaJ2EHNEtJqOs1Xe4t5wxmwqZw6UCwakBgmfJhe7ai67Z4Ei_P7lewvO-EzoiffJClWGe_FV1rio_vMz6N4imGE-i8K-KBcbFaTX1Wx8NJsl/s320/DrakkenhallCoverFinal.jpg"/></a></div>
<i
>cover by Roena I. Rosenberger
<p></p>
<p></p
></i>
You wouldn't know it from the seriously beautiful cover, but Drakkenhall: City
of Monsters is a seriously funny book!
<p></p>
<p>
You *might* know it from the back-cover text, because having multiple chapters
that made me laugh out loud translated into the easiest copy-writing job I've
ever had. It goes like this:
</p>
<p></p>
<p>
<b>Monsters are people too!</b>
</p>
<p></p>
<p>
The Emperor expected a city of monsters to destroy itself, but instead the
Blue and her people have created a city that’s wickedly unique: Drakkenhall!
</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>Make a splash in the social season alongside a fashionista ooze!</p>
<p></p>
<p>Spend the night at a dybbuk inn at the docks, where possession is a perk!</p>
<p></p>
<p>Dodge the amputation golems until you can get your healing spells back!</p>
<p></p>
<p>
Explore the Rubblehoods, the neighborhoods that have been left as monstrously
energetic ruins!
</p>
<p></p>
<p>
Shop (OK, OK, plunder) the Goblin Market and admire (fight) its pet otyughs!
</p>
<p></p>
<p>
Prove yourself as the most dangerous monster of all–an Adventurer worthy of
joining the S.M.A.S.H. Society!
</p>
<p></p>
<p>
<i>Drakkenhall: City of Monsters </i>is a 124-page 13th Age sourcebook for GMs
running adventurer and champion-tier campaigns. Contents include Ailor the
Draco-Druid, kaiju shark mooks, 60 other monsters, the secret history of the
Dragon’s Orc statue, a couple gnarly ideas for replacing missing limbs, urban
planning notes (city of monsters-style), and light rules and guidelines for sea
travel in the Dragon Empire that Gareth managed to slip into the chapter on
the Docks!
</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>******</p>
<p></p>
<p>
Giving each of the book's authors a full chapter of their own worked better than I could have hoped. Drakkenhall is
<a
href="https://pelgranepress.com/product/drakkenhall-city-of-monsters-pre-order/"
target="_blank"
>already on pre-order</a
>
in the Pelgrane store and we're in the last few days of the layout process, so
the final PDF will be part of that pre-order soon. Pick it up and attune your <i>dance card</i> for the Houses of Decadence!
</p>
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-17785994449159774792022-03-11T11:01:00.001-08:002022-03-14T21:17:58.622-07:00Kor, the Ograkshasa Monk<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgk_XLaJ_UoaDe-21GoGvXNn4yOLxBEMeD1UbTUKZeyVt1-vpj863l953eM0q2lcLuBhiy5Apr1IPLqTW3r2tSJMkNoXfUeQ6JF6otmLVpqVfDyUJtSacfnwd6cU-v68n3daSkoHYnivnQQmt5efIvPcuakXOBJTPwLwz-1xPIG0bDHmVyF7zYldFO3=s446" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgk_XLaJ_UoaDe-21GoGvXNn4yOLxBEMeD1UbTUKZeyVt1-vpj863l953eM0q2lcLuBhiy5Apr1IPLqTW3r2tSJMkNoXfUeQ6JF6otmLVpqVfDyUJtSacfnwd6cU-v68n3daSkoHYnivnQQmt5efIvPcuakXOBJTPwLwz-1xPIG0bDHmVyF7zYldFO3=s320"/></a></div>
What does rebellion look like when dad is an ogre mage and mom is a rakshasa?<p>
In Kor’s case, rebellion looks like obtaining magic that makes you look mostly human and studying to be a monk in a monastery run by the Dragon Emperor. Of course, many of Kor’s forms don’t look a lot like styles practiced by Imperial monks. There are limits to how straight you can be when the Black Dragon is an old family friend. <p>
Yeah, Jonathan says this is the most-me character ever. <p>
I used the beastblooded modifiers and the <i>bestial fury</i> ability from <b>Book of Ages</b> (page 77). When Kor (it’s kinda Rak backwards, natch) goes <i>beasty-fury</i>, the spell making him look human drops temporarily and you get a glimpse of the tigrish-ogre beneath. I didn’t realize I could have sung “ograkshasa ograkshasa ogra ogra ograksasa” until now. <p>
I’m using the past tense because we were right there, deep in the Stone Thief (thanks in large part to the activities of Kor’s older sister Kyla), when Paul Hughes gifted me with the certificate that crafted Kor at HeroForge. I decided to keep Kor’s hands facing human-style, instead of trying to show him full-beast. And then my wonderful talented friend Brittany Broyles (@blondeofmystery) painted Kor. Now we know how to make sure campaigns don’t get played again: make a HeroForge mini of your character.<p>
Still, hope remains. If not back inside the Stone Thief, some other game. Maybe I’ll get really old school and blow a character created for one campaign into another version of the Dragon Empire, like a leaf in the wind. A leaf with fangs! <p><p>
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<i>(a much better photo from Brittany, with the other two minis she painted for me accompanying Kor)</i>Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-18478473795051314912022-03-08T11:21:00.000-08:002022-03-08T11:21:08.452-08:00The Wave & WaveYeah, it’s two great books with almost the same title. <p>
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<b><i>The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean</i></b>, by Susan Casey, is from the genre that mixes compelling science with the author’s personal experiences. The science concerns the physics of giant waves and interviews with the people who study them, along with an investigation of previous understandings of giant waves, and how we are still underestimating the frequency and effect of rogue waves of 80’ or more. The science chapters are fascinating.
<p>The personal-experience chapters eventually focus on time spent with champion surfer, inventor, and adventurer Laird Hamilton. The adventures on the waves are the closest I’ve come to reading a true-life Doc Savage story. If Hamilton isn’t bigger than life, we’re given an excellent picture of just how big life can be. For a more detailed review, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/review-the-wave-by-susan-casey/article4326329/" target="_blank">this one</a> is good. <p>
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<b><i>Wave</i></b>, by Sonali Deraniyagala, has an entirely different purpose and emotional register. It's not how big life can be, it's how big a disaster can be and how that hits one person. The cover design matches the book’s impact.<p>
The first chapters are a mind-wrenching account of being caught in the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. It’s unlike anything else I’ve read. The rest of the book follows a tortured path through survivor’s guilt and the mechanisms of a return to life. The copy I read didn't have a subtitle, but now it's subtitled "A Memoir of Life after the Tsunami." <p>
I found myself reading a number of disaster stories during the pandemic. A disaster this huge, that hit a world away from almost everyone I know, is one of those things I try to remember as part of maintaining perspective. I associated <i>Wave</i> with another book I loved, Annie Dillard's <i>For the Time Being</i>. <a href="http://robheinsoo.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-things-end-two-rereadables.html" target="_blank">Dillard's book I can reread</a>, Deraniyagala's, probably not.
Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.com0