13th Age: Character Creation and Initial Thoughts

I am GMing again, and yesterday evening was character creation for 13th Age. I'm excited about the potential, and I'm thrilled that my players, as they look at the system and the world are getting excited as well.

It is going to be an interesting game - variety of skill and "intensity" levels at the table, but I billed it as a "beer and pretzels" level of gaming for a reason - I just want to sit down, have some fun, and roll some dice and engage in hijinks. Not to say that I'm not going to interject drama and the occasional hard decision - but I'm trying something different than my usual style. 

It was fun watching one of the players go through the book, laughing at the personal moments in the book, "At the GM’s option, the drama requirement can be waived if the table joins in a group hug," or, much as I did realizing, "I believe you've picked a perfect game for the way you run, and this group."

My wife is working through the setting material and loved the bit about the Koru Behemeth migration pattern and how it trails across the entire map and then some.

Right now the character list stands at the following:

• Aurora, a half-elf born of human parents (it can happen on occasion), who is a Sorceress without any heritage that anyone can determine.
• Mairenne, a High Elf cleric, who bears a tear of her goddess around her neck as her symbol to fight against the injustices of the world.
• Mercillina, a Trueblooded Human (cause why should Elves be the only one to get fancy bloodlines) Bard, who has stood and looked across the demon-wracked Red Wastes and warded humanity against the inhabitants.
• A Dragonspawned fighter who can speak to the animals as if they were people and has learned in her years that the animals are far kinder and more reasonable than people.
• A Wood Elf Paladin/Courtier/Scholar who fights the good fight.

As a GM, I am loving how easy the system is to adapt and change. I've created a new talent for the Sorceress as she was struggling to find ones that worked for how she envisioned the character. I created races that give some different flavor to the past age.

Heck, I'm tempted to write up a psionic class, just to see if I can as I was inspired responding to something on Google+ about how psionics is different than sorcery, wizardry, or divine magic.

I am using Obsidian Portal again to host the game information, and the world is slowly being fleshed out.

Cultures In Review: Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Ogres

Handling classically "evil" races that have generally existed to be slaughtered by valiant PCs is always difficult. However, as I'm trying to make them viable PC races and cultures, which means that they can't just be classically evil and malevolent marauding bands of miscreants (yes, occasionally I write simply to amuse myself).

However, I do want them to fulfill their more traditional roles, which leaves me with having them been cast-out, exiled, and without a homeland, they are functionally refugees, filling in the gaps of other nations, living in ghettos and their own small clusters.

The fallen of Krenn wandering the Empire and surrounding nations, some looking to find a new homeland, others looking to just survive. While they all share similar personality traits being of the same culture, they are expressed differently.

Hobgoblins

Behaviors (5)

• Every year we remember what we have lost with those closest to us, Krenn and non-Krenn alike.
• We celebrate the victories that our people have wrought in these dark times.
• All debts and charities shall be remembered and repaid in kind.
• We are the Chosen to leads the Kren into the brighter future.
• [Player Chosen]

Archetypes (3)

• Mercenary Captain
• Destitute entrepreneur
• Political Mover and Shaker

Johari Traits (10)

• Able
• Assertive
• Clever
• Energetic
• Observant
• Organized
• Proud
• Sensible
• [Player Chosen]
• [Player Chosen]

Goblins

Behaviors (5)

• Every year we remember what we have lost with those closest to us, Krenn and non-Krenn alike.
• We celebrate the victories that our people have wrought in these dark times.
• A Pyrrhic victory is no victory at all, survival of the Krenn is the only true moral truth.
• We must live in the world that is, not what could be, or what was.
• [Player Chosen]

Archetypes (3)

• Shadowstalker
• Priest of the Old Gods
• Craven Lickspittle 

Johari Traits (10)

• Accepting
• Adaptable
• Clever
• Observant
• Patient
• Quiet
• Searching
• Sensible
• [Player Chosen]
• [Player Chosen]

Ogres

Behaviors (5)

• Every year we remember what we have lost with those closest to us, Krenn and non-Krenn alike.
• We celebrate the victories that our people have wrought in these dark times.
• If we sacrifice what we were, what will we become?
• Not confronting problems allows them to fester, and infect the community.
• [Player Chosen]

Archetypes (3)

• Linebreaker
• Neighborhood Mother
• Mason

Johari Traits (10)

• Bold
• Clever
• Dependable
• Energetic
• Giving
• Patient
• Powerful
• Sensible
• [Player Chosen]
• [Player Chosen]

Okay this I think is a workable solution for the goblin races of the Krenn. I'll probably sketch out history later at some point, but really, the point of this is for my players to go "Ooo, I want to play this, what do I need to do?" and not hand them 10 pages of notes regarding the history and interactions.

Cultures in Review: Elves

Where once there were three distinct races of elves, only one remains a viable population today, that's not to say there may not be a remote pocket of High Elves or Dark Elves, only the Wood Elves remain a viable force in the Eastern Nations, and even there, they are diffused over a wide territory and prone to infighting.

The Osani as they call themselves are a conglomerate of several different tribes of Wood Elves loosely bound together by family ties and agreements. There are five distinct major tribes of Wood Elves: Ashur, Hanisi, Kiya, Missun, and the Zan

The Osani, or Wood Elves,

Behaviors (5)

• Are honest to fault, preferring a direct conflict to deferential politeness.
• Honor the gods openly in public, and adorn with jewelry in their honor.
• Warriors earn their place only after leaving the tribes for a year and a day and returning to the tribe.
• "Me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousins, me and my cousins against the enemy."
• [Player Chosen]

Archetypes (3)

• The Unnamed
• Hedonistic Shaman
• Thief of the Flames

Johari Traits (10)

• Athletic
• Extroverted
• Confident
• Loving
• Religious
• Spiritual
• Idealistic
• Complex
• [Player Chosen]
• [Player Chosen]

Culture in Review: Dwarves

There are two distinct cultural grouping of dwarves current in existence. For sake of analysis we will call them "Northern" and "Southern" dwarves. The northern dwarven kingdom, Thale, has been assimilated by the Empire approximately 100 years ago, so the stories of what was still ring strong. The southern dwarven kingdom, Garne, stands free, but eyes the Empire of Dragons warily.

I've set up the following using Quinn's gameable culture idea, doing about 80% of the outlining, while leaving some space for the players, when I finally do run this game, to add flavor of their own to the cultures.

Thaleans, or the northern dwarves:

Behaviors (5)

• Maintain the Old Ways in the face of a changing world.
• Understand that personal relationships and favors are how the world truly works, no matter what the laws say on paper.
• Act in ways to maintain the dignity of the clan.
• Honor those who came before and lifted us to where we are today and lift those who follow us.
• [Player Chosen]

Archetypes (3)

• Soldier of the Line
• Apprentice Ritualist
• Traveling Merchant

Johari Traits (10)

• Spiritual
• Dignified
• Persistent
• Humble
• Helpful
• Insightful
• Caring
• Clever
• [Player Chosen]
• [Player Chosen]

Garnessians, or the southern dwarves,

Behaviors (5)

• Set aside personal need in order to follow the law.
• Know that how an object looks is of equal weight to how it performs.
• Prepare for the unexpected, else to invite misfortune into one's home.
• Worship the gods on their day, but no other.
• [Player Chosen]

Archetypes (3)

• Noble Guardian
• Manipulative Courtier
• Failed Craftsman

Johari Traits (10)

• Adaptable
• Able
• Energetic
• Observant
• Sensible
• Precise
• Assertive
• Proud
• [Player Chosen]
• [Player Chosen]

I hate naming things.

So I suck at naming places, people, things. Absolutely horrible at it. Linguistics was never my strong point, and while onomastics was always a good way to write a quick five or ten page paper in undergrad, I think it may have broken my ability to come up with syllables that sound "acceptable" to each other.

So I'm never sure what to do - I can go with nearly purely descriptors for names, and keep everything fairly fairly straight forward, or if I want alien, I can open up a translator with a particular language and start translating terms until I find one I like. As long as I avoid common languages, I will probably be okay with anyone at my table saying, "Um, that's totally the wrong variant/intent behind that word," because my only defense is "It may be, but it is the one that I can pronounce the easiest!"

So folks who name characters, places, things something other than good English names, how do you go about doing it?

What Creatures Populate the World

What sentient beings populate the world? One of the joys of fantasy is the ability to pretend you are a pointy haired being who dances with trees; a stout dour earth worker, or any number of other possibilities.

One of the curses is that all the nations feel about the same - there's one elf nation, one dwarf nation, etc., - humans of course have a multitude of nations. As I said before, I'm going to try and limit the variety of the "monsters" in play, however, I'm also going to try and widen what's a permitted "player race" - 13th Age makes this easy by limiting what benefits races get inherent to the game. I may widen and tweak that as appropriate as the game continues onward.

TMC: Developing Icons for The Malcontent's Cause

Icons are a neat bit from 13th Age - they are major larger-than-life NPCs who your character has a relationship with in some way, it can be positive, negative, or "complicated". What I like about this set-up is that these are powers with whom the characters interact, either directly, or with some part of their regime. They aren't gods, they aren't distant, they are right here, in this world, making decisions.

While the 13 icons they provide are good, they don't completely work with what I'm envisioning. Here's my first draft at developing Icons for the game.