DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HHE: The Haunted Helm INFO: Character Recruitment Abridged

The teaser was copied from the recruitment topic in Message Gaming Centre, but has now moved to HHE1: Prologue.

A recent member survey sparked an interesting discussion about 1st level characters in D&D-based systems.

It led to me offering to run a 13th Age game here on DreamLyrics.

There are several key features to this game.

• Creating a 1st level character. Embrace 1st-levelness and what it means to your character. You have very limited capabilities, which your backstory must match.
• How 13th Age makes even 1st level characters interesting, ties them into the world, allows them to be people of importance, and provides them massive potential.
• A short game, based on a classic D&D module. Relatively short-term commitment for a message game.
• Minimum of 2 posts per week; more expected of talkative, social characters.

You will need some knowledge of 13th Age (or D&D), available by reading the 13th Age SRD. This is so I don't have to write out/spell out everything to you.

The 13th Age setting runs the gamut from low to high fantasy. It's left intentional vague, undocumented, and is intended as merely a breeding ground for your own ideas.

First up, a check-list with links to the SRD.

1. GM input on setting. See below

2. Choose a Race

• Human
• Dwarf
• Elf, Dark
• Elf, High
• Elf, Wood
• Gnome
• Half-elf
• Halfling
• Half-orc*

*In 13th Age, half-orcs aren't necessarily born of an orc and human. Half-orcs are fully orc, and can be born to any of the above races. They're considered "half-orc" because they don't automatically serve the Orc Lord and instinctively rape and kill you. Some sages believe that half-orc are the world's own remedy for orcs.

3. Choose a Class
(Listed in order of ease of play)

• Barbarian
• Ranger
• Paladin
• Fighter
• Cleric
• Sorcerer
• Rogue
• Bard
• Wizard

4. Determine Your Ability Scores
Strength, Intelligence, Constitution, Wisdom, Dexterity, Charisma, using at 28 pt points-buy system.

5. Choose your One Unique Thing
And remember, whether you intend it or not, it will be unique.
See this post for more

6. Determine Your Icon Relationships
Your character will have a tangible relationship to the greatest powers in the world. You have 3 relationship points. The more points you spend on an Icon, the more useful the relationship is to your character. Note that the SRD contains sample Icons from a different campaign setting, not 13th Age.
A brief description of the 13th Age Icons

7. Backgrounds
You have 8 background points. Your Backgrounds are used for skill checks, but unlike older versions of D&D, you effectively create your own skills. Most importantly, this should add flavour to the character. It is not intended to be Happy Hour at the Munchkin Bar.
See this post for more

***

GM Input on Campaign Setting
The world of 13th Age has largely been seeded with ideas and left open for customisation. Some things are worth mentioning about the setting.

• It is a world being torn apart by magic, yet held together by it too.
• Its the Icons that either hold the world together, or threaten to tear it apart. The Icons are characters, they can even be player characters.
• There are many gods/deities, but there's no direct evidence of them and they aren't actively interferring with the world and each other, as they are in other D&D campaign settings. There is some debate in-continuity about whether gods even exist.
• There is an Overworld, high in the sky. Floating Realms, islands and continents, some even from different realities.
• There are Living Dungeons. These things burrow up from under the earth from time to time, often resting in one place for centuries before disappearing again. Some have garnered names and are legendary. This might be where the elves got the orcs from.
• There is a rent in reality in the south called the Abyss, that opens into Hell. It's not a popular tourist destination. It's prevented from tearing further apart by the sacrifice of the Great Gold Wyrm, who literally holds its edges together.
• There is a migratory route encircling the continent. The Koru Behemoths stomp along this path every year. These are massive kaiju-like monsters with entire civilisations on their backs.
• Orcs are now special too. See above.
• Magic items all have strong, overpowering personalities. Be wary of them all.

One Unique Thing

Deserving of its own post, this is not the cherry on top of your character, it's the concrete foundation.

Googling "one unique thing 13th age" will give you abundant inspiration, far more than the rule book even (which gives relatively little).

Your character's One Unique Thing will prove more important than your race, your class or your abilities. Not just to your character, but to other player characters and the setting.

When I first ran a demo of 13th Age for Gypsy, pchan, Jah and two non-DreamLyrics guys, here's what they came up with.

Chorus
"I am the Elf Queen's spy, who has infiltrated a secret society of elven wizards who serve the Three."
So a secret society of elven wizards, serving the Three, needs creating; that's easy enough. But why has the Elf Queen sent only one spy? And why did she herself send him, and not a spymaster?
Excellent! Intriguing questions. We never did find out the answers to this mystery, but evidence suggested there might be something very draconic under the skin of this elf.

Darrard
"I am the keeper of the sword Nir and know nothing about its past or what powers it posseses."
OK, so the concept is One Unique Thing. But every sword is essentially unique, whether you name it or not, as is every shoe or sock. What makes Nir so interesting?
Well, the One Unique Thing should not have a mechanical effect, so it can't be a +5 magic sword, for example. We decided that Nir must actually be a cursed sword. Whoever wields it takes on the persona and memories of its first keeper, Darrard.
This meant that Darrard could die, and be reincarnated as a different race and class, just by giving someone the sword, Nir!! Awesome! (Of course, Darrard never realises this.)

Dusko
"I am the only halfling to have graduated from the Academy of Shadows."
Well, he's just created the Academy of Shadows for a start. No-one knows what it is, neither player or GM. All we know is only one halfling has graduated from it, and it has a rather ominous name.
During the course of the demo adventure, Dusko came across a stairwell in a wizard's tower that was protected by Shadows. And suddenly it became clear. "Dusko, old boy, we haven't seen you in donkeys!!" Yes, it turned out to be an academy for Shadows -- as in the creatures of sentient darkness. No wonder only one halfling had ever graduated! (We never did find out about the syllabus.)

Kae
"Touching another creature's skin gives me knowledge of its past, even though I can't remember my own."
Interesting, and challenging. Because the One Unique Thing can't have a mechanical effect, we can't give Kae a psionic power. Also, since it has to be unique, it can't just be mind-reading. Plenty of creatures do that.
Although we didn't get a chance to explore this in the course of one demo play, I did wonder if perhaps Kae was a looper of some sort, a time-traveller who had fallen afoul of themselves and become trapped in a loop!

Vidar
"I swallowed the Lich King's missing eyeball when still a baby (and it didn't come back out)."
Hilarious. Magnificent. The character's legend is cemented in just this One Unique Thing.
It also allowed me as the GM to use the Thing as a gimmick. Vidar got nauseous, even projectile vomitting if powerful undead were near.

Your One Unique Thing could define years of gameplay, forming the basis of an entire campaign.

Backgrounds

These can trip up new players. After creating a very concise trait with your One Unique Thing, what often happens is players create a set of Backgrounds related to the One Unique Thing, that when it boils down to it, are all the same.

Backgrounds are not necessarily related to your One Unique Thing. Think of them as entirely separate, at least initially.

Let's see what Gypsy, pchan, Jah and the guys came up with in that demo play.

Chorus
Scholar +4, Elven Spy +3, Diplomat +1

Dusko
Thief +5 for free (from Rogue class)
Smuggler +4, Acrobat +3, Shepherd +1

Darrard
Folk Singer +4*, Retired Guardsman +3, Woodsman +1
*This is a good example of backgrounds. Darrard was actually a Fighter, but who said you have to be a Bard to carry a tune!?

Kae
Seeker of Forbidden Knowledge +4, Treasure Hunter +2, Fugitive +2

Vidar
Tracker +5 for free (from Ranger class)
Order of Curse-Eaters +4**, Dwarf Vs Food +4
**We started with no idea what a Curse-Eater is, but through play Vidar turned out to be a sort of Dwarven bloodhound, sniffing out dark magic. Curse-Eaters seemed to be sworn investigators and exterminators of such things. Sort of like pest control!

So you can see, Backgrounds should summarise your character's backstory to some extent. They don't have to be overly florid, but sometimes it's subtly important. Chorus is a Scholar, whereas Kae is a Seeker of Forbidden Knowledge, both could cover similar skills when you think about it, but it's not where they overlap that's important, it's where they differ.

OK, and before you all going falling in love with a name, I'm going to implement a meta-rule from TVS.

In message games, each post the character's name at the top of each game post. Each PC must have a name/label that begins with a letter unique to that character.

So you can have two characters:
Andrek Braegarssen
Braegar Andrekian

But one has to post as Andrek and one as Braegar, for example.

It sounds petty, but it does help people identify who's who and where they are in relation to each other. Also useful if you're using tactical maps.

Here's a link to the official 13th Age fillable PDF character sheet.

http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/wp-con...A_Fillable1.pdf

(If you use Adobe Reader, it should let you save the content.)