DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games HHE: The Haunted Helm OOC: The Table Pre-Game

Khamsin was using his Balladeer talent, one of the Bard's selectable special abilities. It allows him to sing a ballad, complementing one Icon and hazing another. The complemented Icon gets extra Icon dice, the hazed Icon gets a cursed Icon dice, which is like the bearded Spock version of Icon dice.

OK ... so what does the 'cursed Icon Die' do then? Does it subtract from the regular roll ... does it get treated separately in a similar manner i.e. 5 & 6 have results ... or perhaps it is 2 & 1 to have an effect?

OK, first of all I should explain that Icon dice effects are always beneficial.

This makes sense for positive and conflicted relationships, but what about negative relationships. What does a 5 or 6 mean then?

It simply means that someone (possibly your PC) has made a deal, or made plans that benefit you because of your negative Icon relationship.

A 5 might be Black Gugel rebels wanting to hire your swordarm, because your a notorious outlaw and enemy of the Emperor. A 6 might be Duke Voorhetzer making you guest of honour at his banquet, just to tweak the Emperor's nose. Etc.

As you can see, it's beneficial but is a fantastic excuse for the GM to get the PCs into trouble.

A cursed Icon dice is different from the above. It does not give you something beneficial. Au contraire. They indicate action against you from your negative Icon. They trigger on a 1 or 2.

The obvious example would be you roll a 1 and at some point in the game, that encounter with orcs has just been converted to an encounter with Imperial manhunters, out for your blood.

With all Icon rolls, the GM has to determine what they actually mean and weave them all into the fabric of the adventure. That's why a written 13th Age adventure should be bare-bones. Much of it, even plot, will be decided by the PCs Icon rolls.

Ahhh ... that makes things clearer. Thanks.

I recognize that i was a lurker but...

I am going to step aside. I simply can't carve out enough time to run my own GM games at more than a crawl right now. Real Life isn't letting up any time soon. sorry.

Sorry to see a leave PP, but understand completely :-/

Hey keep lurking... Always nice to have another voice commenting.

I bet you he'll be in the lounge playing Dragon's Crown again! <Scribbles note> Mustn't forget he's there when we order pizza later.

Well, I rolled 1d6,1d6,1d6 for Seyja for her Orc Lord Conflicted Relationship+3 and got 2,4,2.

Does that mean Seyja is being ignored at the moment?

Maybe he is waiting for the proper moment...

Not ignored by the Orc Lord, Exeter. Just no benefits from the relationship on this occasion.

So keep those character sheet notes coming in, guys, I'll work through those in a moment, I'm just scheming right now.

<Frantically scribbling notes>

Owain - who knows!

I do like 13th age for its flexibility, its character creation and the way the game runs.

So you have all created characters now.. what do you think of the system. I like the diverse amount of detail for very little pain!

So far so good. It is definitely setup for theatre of the mind, but it has enough details and quirks to be interesting up to this point. Like to see how things play.

Oh I am a fan.

Well character creation is very different from the D&D mold. D&D is very much about 'nailing things down' where 13th age seems to be more about 'opening doors' ... if ya see what I mean.

It will be interesting to see how the more 'open ended' character creation works 'at the table'.

<Doesn't look up from notepad>

I think 13th Age takes some pointers from modern RPG design, in that it makes the players more intrinsically involved in the storytelling.

That'll be the main challenge with this game, replicating that collaborative element, when in fact we aren't really here, sitting around the table, we're actually brains in jars, communicating by text messages sent through the ether.

It does seem like it is more engaging for the DM, requiring him to weave these background/icon relationships together into a coherent story.

Seems to me that the biggest difference is that 13th seems a lot less 'deterministic' that older D&D version. The latest is moving more in the direction of 13th age, but not so far.

That could be good for the story telling. Could be more problematic when a player thinks one thing should happen and the GM thinks something different. The players have to be willing ot place a lot more 'faith' in the GM.

5e does offer some additional interaction with the way they used to play. But they have gone the more streamlined approach. This can be good.

In 13th age instead of moving your figures tactically as dnd used to. It is much more open. Bit like 4th there are a lot more options both in and out of combat. So it depends on the flavor you desire.

I don't disagree <g>

It really depends on what 'style' of play you like. There are a lot of 'roll' players that want everything laid out in tables and a die roll or two will fix it all. The alternative (and I suspect the majority of players here fit in this category) want more 'leeway' to be creative and tell a story in collaboration with the GM <g>

The former like 'roll' playing the latter 'role' playing <wink>

I feel like they did a nice job of finding a middle ground with 13th age. It allows creativity and offers lots of options at all stages of play.

that's what I am here to find out <g>

<Gives a Vincent Price-style laugh>

Splendid! These Icon rolls have worked out well! They've put the flesh on the bones of this adventure, certainly. Expect something shortly...

Looking forward to this <g>

OK, I'm creating a little prelude for each character. A story told from the GM's perspective, if you will. Your character might remember what happened slightly differently and anecdote is quite brief. You can expand on them and fill in the blanks in your own mind, or incorporate it into your role-play.

For example, there are plenty of reasons why D would be fascinated by Lady Morgen of Rosencliff, the anecdote doesn't really go into it. It's implied that Omen, an emissary of the Diabolist is prompting him to go, expect him to go. It's implied that D might be actively looking for enemies of the Black as potential allies. Etc. We'll leave that up to Pandemonium to sort out.

In some cases, your character might gain a magic item from their Icon roll, if that's acquired during the prelude, I'll note it, otherwise you'll just have to find it during the adventure. I've started with Pandemonium and Khamsin's, that will give you all an idea of what to expect and ask away if you have any questions. I'm nearly done with the rest of you too.